Wow, you really dont understand the concept that people are different and have different opinion do you. You are entitled to think what you want, but why tell other people they are wrong in what they think and like?

Feel free to list out all of your hobbies and what you do in your free time and we will all critique it for you.

This can literally be said of any entertainment.

Ultimately, everyone spends their time on what they enjoy; there's no award when you die for doing more x than y while you were alive.

I enjoy playing games, gardening, and riding motorcycles. My cousin enjoys socializing at bars, playing games, and doing woodwork.

Is one of our hobby sets more legitimate than the other's?

How is Exapunks[1] anything like a slot machine? Or Slay the Princess[2]? Or Minecraft? A blanket statement like "video games = slot machines" just doesn't work. I won't deny that there are many games that are predatory/mindless, but video games are such a broad medium.

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/716490/EXAPUNKS/

[2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989270/Slay_the_Princess...

Playing slot machines absolutely is many peoples' hobby, unfortunately.

As others have said, why don't you list out your hobbies (as I did mine), so we can understand exactly what recreational activities you think constitute "valid" hobbies? That will also make it easier for me to explain the difference between video games and slot machines to you.

Go play something like pathologic and come back to tell us how its like a slot machine.