It's all part of the culture of entertainment we've developed, that is surely partly to blame for the economic situation that western societies are finding them

It's all part of the culture of entertainment we've developed, that is surely partly to blame for the economic situation that western societies are finding themselves in. These anecdotes about individuals extrapolate easily to millions of people who are fixated on various ways to waste time. I played WoW for about six months when it first came out, and since stopping playing it (and most video games in general) I've often wondered what our society could achieve if the immense creative and mental exertion spent on games was spent on tackling real problems instead. Certainly some people are working hard at meaningful things and using games as downtime, but I suspect they're a minority.