I agree to a large part with what you wrote, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that kids would be completely ostracized for not playing games. And of course,

I agree to a large part with what you wrote, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that kids would be completely ostracized for not playing games. And of course, I also see the problem with letting kids do whatever they want simply because their friends do it. But a few things: * I was actually thinking about much younger kids -- elementary school, not teens in middle or high school. They often don't really have the option of getting new friends, since they're in the same class all day with the same (small) group of kids. * The line has to be drawn somewhere (and understandably at different points by different people). What if you never let your kids watch any tv or movies or listen to any music? At what point does not allowing such experiences fall into the category of "cultural deprivation" (or whatever vaguely evil term people like to use)?