> One hears this regret in talking to older gamers. “Of course gaming has interfered with any attempt to look for or do any serious work,” says Arturo, 29, who reckons he has spent 600 hours playing Kerbal Space Program, a space-flight simulator, and possibly more at Starcraft II, a strategy game. He doesn’t just miss the forgone income and opportunities; he could have been reading, he laments. But those hours are gone for ever.<p>I've been working for 10 years, since my early 20s. I've also played Dota (2) for 2000 hours, and read VB.Net books, and spent time with friends I no longer have contact with, and working out even though I'm now kind of out of shape for the last couple of years (started a c25k to catch back up).<p>My point is, a lot of things I've done in the past are "gone" now. A lot was leisure, some was exercise, some was work related. None of it is relevant now, to my life, to my work, etc, yet I see no point in regretting any of it.<p>All experiences shape you, no matter if they were good, bad, productive or not. And even if you spend all your (free) time being "productive", you don't guarantee that it's long term relevant, or that you don't die of stress.<p>A balance is probably good, and games are a lot better than other passive pastimes.