I think this may be a defining factor for a lot of people in this thread. As a kid, time management is extremely different. You presumably had much more time and less options of things to pick from, so for the most part, video games may have taken up a large percentage of what you enjoyed, and even what you cared about.
As a kid, I would sit for hours playing the nes Zelda and repeatedly dying, picking up the controller, and having another go. But now, now if I even have time to play video games, I just want to sit down and play some mind-numbing, flashy video game to blow off some steam. After a day of work, I don't want to continually be challenged and exert mental effort.
I just wish that both clever and mind-numbing games were still being built, but lately consumer trends have skewed towards the mind-numbing.. which I do believe is unfortunate for people with more time and interest in playing quality video games, namely the next generation of kids.
Ultima Online was amazingly fun and brutal. If you died your body was free to loot by anyone.
But ever since World of Warcraft. All we have are carebear mmos with soul bound items and no reason to explore or do anything besides grind.
I don't know how people find most of today's games fun. They are so boring.
I miss the games I played as a kid on my SNES and Sega Mega Drive. Hours sunk into games with no save points or having to be careful when low on items or health. :(