I find it slightly amusing (and kind of sad since I don't wish any hardship on anyone) that my parents always thought games were a waste of time and/or were act

I find it slightly amusing (and kind of sad since I don't wish any hardship on anyone) that my parents always thought games were a waste of time and/or were actually damaging, but my brother and I have turned out to be as or more well rounded people than a lot of the other kids we grew up with. Most of them were the kids of my parents friends (who you always find yourself compared to) who did not play games. That is not to say I think I'm more successful or better or anything, but a lot of the people that I grew up with had more "normal" social habits (that usually included drinking, parties and drugs none of which I'm necessarily against) but the end result was that a fair number had to drop out of college due to alcohol and drug problems or something else and a surprising number ended up back home or nearby not too many years after. I can't help but feel like video games, while not necessarily preventing alcohol/drug use can provide a more active outlet that can be social in and of itself. Looking back I do wish I had diversified more (more volunteering, for one) but given that I grew up in a really remote area without easy transportation, gaming (especially online) was actually a pretty great outlet and I ended up interacting with a lot of people I never would have otherwise. My friends and I got together last weekend to lay about and play video games (Paragon and L4D2 for what its worth) for the first time in a while (everyone getting married and having kids etc) and I can still feel the slight condemnation but given we're all stable, good job having members of society nobody can really say anything about it anymore ;)