Casual playing video games is not a hobby. Digital games can possibly be considered a kind of hobby if :
-someone tries to go through the game like speedrunners
-someone is creating game mods
-somebody's doing a game review
And so on.
I am talking about some possible broader activity related to the field of video games, and not simply providing oneself with immediate, easy, unconditional pleasure in a way that has been predetermined by the creators of video games.
There is a difference between a real, developing hobby and a compulsive, addictive delivery of instant, easy, unconditional pleasure (for which you don't have to work) through various, intensified stimuli in excessive amounts. Everything that can lead (and often leads) to addiction is such a factor. If someone really takes so long to assemble the models, or spends so much time at their car that they neglect to work and relationships with their loved ones, then in total it could also be pulled under the addiction. How many addicts do you know about playing an instrument, painting, sculpting, origami, modeling or tuning a car, and how many addicted to the Internet, television, games, drugs or gambling? And even if you call both addiction, you can see a clear difference between the two.
Pleasures can be divided into those healthy (creative, safe, developing, conducive to long-term and stable happiness) and those harmful (dangerous, addictive, deregulating the natural chemical balance in the brain). In the first group you have e.g. professional passion, various creative hobbies (e.g. creation of works of art, automotive industry, modelling, painting, sculpting, origami, playing an instrument, etc.), while the second group includes Internet, television, gambling, drugs and the like.
As for the difference between simply killing time with entertainment and real passion: you can simply ride a bike, and you can also read about new trends, be interested in bicycle parts, assemble bikes yourself with parts, repair them, replace parts and browse with fascination the new catalog of bicycle parts Specialized .
Another example: If a "beer fan" drinks because he just like dring beer, it is not a hobby. However, if he knows everything about beer, and not only drinks it, e.g. he can brew his own beer, distinguishes beers, knows how they are made, knows how beer foam A differs from beer B, it is a hobby in every way.
Generally, people often say that they are interested in something, but in fact, as with this beer, they only drink it and nothing else. So that's what I wanted to say in a nutshell to distinguish between so called "hobbyists" and real hobbyists.
