Point taken, but depending on the game it could be a better way to relax than e.g. browsing social media. I'm actually curious what people think a legitimate, cheap way to relax on a weekend or while sick is, if not gaming.

Personally, I like reading (books, magazine, foreign langauge, physical and online - library is free! Bookstores are free if you don't buy!), learning new things - going outside, cycling, sports, etc.

Many of those things can be as cheap or as expensive as you want, the last two do have some cost of entry but, it entirely depends how deep you want to go.

I enjoyed gaming as a kid, but the older I become, the less tolerant of it I am. I was the sort of kid/teen that would dive deep into JRPG's and spend time on gamefaqs.com and other forums - so don't discount me as someone that never understood gaming - but now that I'm an adult I just don't enjoy it. Maybe it's because I understand how games are made, and what meetings/background context goes into publishing a game, maybe it's just that I have less and less freetime so I don't want to be involved in a computer-esque realted software type deal. There's also the whome gamification of society and microtransactions that really draw developers into extracting money every chance, and theres also marketplaces like Xbox Game Pass that offer unlimited gaming for a set fee.

I very much think we are in a true golden age of information exchange - letters - phone calls - instant transmisison via Internet to the point where we're conversing ways to relax with the time we have. And I don't mean to be negative of your hobby. As long as you enjoy the time you spend on it - that's excellent. :) And don't think I don't game now, I have a switch that I never use with a library of games that keeps piling up - heh.

Thanks for the recs! I used to read more, but I was having some trouble finding books in the sweet spot of (informative, classic/acclaimed/other evidence of quality, actually relaxing to read). (As an example of a book that meets all three criteria, I loved Andrew Carnegie's autobiography. Informs me about America in the late 1800s, written by a self-made tycoon who changed philanthropy, helps me relax by putting present-day events in historical perspective.) In general, with books I spend more time (proportionally) hunting for new books that are worth reading.

I also enjoyed gaming more as a kid. I found it easier to suspend my disbelief when I was young, and my patience for grinding/clunky interfaces was higher. I've never played a game with microtransactions, seems dangerous!

100 hours over one week, or 100 hours over twenty weeks? Makes a difference.

People pay $20 to be engrossed in a movie for 1.5 hours. Is that addiction?

I'm curious about what about spending $5 to be engrossed for 100+ hours sounds like it's a bad thing to you.