Bozak has every right to choose whatever hobby he wants, provided it does not interfere with his other, more important obligations.
However, adults in a free society should have the right to question and mock adults who still play video games! Grow up, people. I have noticed a trend of adults acting like kids in our society and this is just one more example. As I near 40 years old, I have pretty much zero interest in any video games. Maybe someday I will be the outlier. And if I was an adult who still played video games, I probably wouldn't go public with that information. Kind of embarrassing if you ask me. Then again, this is being normalized nowadays.
Btw, did anyone listen to the Spittin' Chiclets podcast with Keith Tkachuk a few weeks back? He made fun of his son Matthew, who was up late playing video games when Dad was visiting. Keith said in his day, guys would be out at the bar, doing guy things, but nowadays guys just stay home and play games. When Keith asked who he was online playing with it was Mike Smith and Brouwer! Sigh, times have changed....
Why shouldn't there be a stigma regarding adults who play video games? It wasn't normal back in my day, which wasn't even long ago. Do you think the old school players of the past would be impressed? What would Gordie Howe think? I already mentioned Tkachuk thinks it's lame. Sure, it doesn't have to be a serious problem or addiction but as an adult I would be embarrassed to talk publicly about my video game hobby. Maybe there was a stigma for a reason.
By the way, not everyone has to agree with my opinion. But I feel I am entitled to believe that it's kind of lame for fathers and husbands to be playing video games in their free time. However, as far as I know being lame is not illegal.
Not bad, but I wouldn't call it good either. Neither is a particularly productive or beneficial hobby. Sure, if someone wants to escape the real world for a little bit, then go for it. Maybe some people do it to relax or unwind. But plenty of people watch too much TV and play too many video games. Most things are fine in moderation, but personally I think both are wastes of time.
However, we've been hearing more and more about video games in recent years. I haven't heard any hockey players talking about their TV-watching habits in interviews. And watching TV has been a socially acceptable hobby for people of all ages, but not until recently have we heard about full-grown adults having a video game hobby. Personally I think our society would be better off if people would switch off the TV and games more often.
So much to get into here (prepare for a long post). First, it should never be acceptable to mock people for being different than you, or even society at large. That is nothing more than school-yard bullying behavior and adults should rise above that. So the fact that you lead with that shows me a lot about your personality. You are advocating bullying someone due to their hobby. I am advocating enjoying your free-time with a hobby that hurts nobody. I am more than happy to be on my side of the fence, so mock all you want. To me, your ridicule will say far more about you than me.
Next, just because people thought a certain way in the past, doesn't mean it was right. People fear what they don't know but change is not necessarily a bad thing. There is a meme that has an old guy with the quote "People get outraged way too easily these days", and underneath says, "In your day, everybody would throw a fit if a black person used the same water fountain as you do." That meme makes a valid point that the older generations were far, far from perfect (so childish of me as an adult discussing a meme, right?). Just because something was a widely held belief in the past, does not make it a correct belief then, or especially now.
Third, I disagree that it is not a particularly beneficial hobby. There are lots of benefits to video game playing. It improves hand-eye coordination and critical thinking. It is useful in keeping the mind sharp. There are games specifically designed to keep the mind from deteriorating as people age. The military used video games to train soldiers on decision making in combat situations. Now they use simulations which are now a lot more in depth and specifically designed for that purpose. Yet it speaks to the ability of games to teach.
Games allow people to socialize with others from around the world. Gamers don't care if those on their fire-team are black, white, gay, straight, Asian, European, whatever, as long as they can play the game well. Speaking of teaming-up, the challenges in many game take precise team-work and strategy. There are tech companies that allow running a clan/guild in a video game as management experience when applying. Studies looking into the link between video games and violence have actually showed an opposite trend, that video games are a good outlet for frustration and aggression and can curtail violence in the real world. Next, its enjoyable to many, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying something. There is benefit to leisure if done in moderation.
Games are an art-form and as such can make statements and tackle difficult issues. Many games make people think about a wide variety of issues. Now plenty of games aren't trying to make a statement or provoke thought, at least not intentionally. But some main stream games and many, many indie games are trying to say something beyond entertainment. There are Indie games that exist solely to make a statement like "That Dragon Cancer" which a real-world couple chronicles the loss of their son to cancer through a game. As well as main stream games that paint interesting worlds that can make you think. Bioshock through a crazy plot-twist makes a very thought-provoking statement about the illusion of free will that I am still pondering to this day. I could go on and on, but I will likely bore you as a non-gamer. The point is that video games much like cinema can be elevated to a art-form (or near art-form). So lumping all games together as silly shoot-em ups is a mistake.
Finally, gamers do a ton for charity. An Overwatch event raised $16M+ for breast cancer. The Games done Quick twitch stream has raised over $15M for doctors without borders and other charities. Humble Bundle is a PC game sales site owned by the same company that owns IGN, the largest gaming site. Humble bundle gives a percentage of every sale to charity and has raised $132M for charity to date. The evil Fortnite game that Bozak played had a tournament recently whose grand prize was a $3M check made out to the charity of the winners choice.
So you obviously have a hobby of watching hockey. What are the benefits to watching hockey that make it so superior to the benefits of gaming I outlined above?
TL;DR: Mocking people is bullying and shouldn't be encouraged at all regardless of the targets hobbies. Past stigmas are not necessarily true. As an example, people in the past were racist. Finally video games have a ton of benefits. How much more beneficial is watching hockey, for example?
