I recently watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKBRG_QgEAM and read this article http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/51954?page=1. Both of them relate to game addiction and how it's negatively impacted the lives of two different individuals. 

I already knew about the bad things that can come from gaming before I read/watched the article and video, but both of them made me think more deeply about things that I've always had on the back of my mind while playing games, buying games and posting on  gaming forums. I always feel guilty for doing those things, I sometimes hesitate before turning on my Playstation and then when I'm done, I feel bad about all the time I wasted doing something that doesn't provide me with a useful reward. 

I think back to all the times that I had an opportunity to do something productive with my time, but instead I played Oblivion for seven hours. I count all the games on my shelves and I remember how much money I've spent. I look at myself now and I realise that I'm living a second life. No one knows I play games extensively, no one knows about VG Chartz, Giant Bomb and Neogaf, no one knows about all those gaming podcasts on my I-pod and all these things make feel a little lonely. In highschool I was a Student Leader (Prefect), I had heaps of friends, I set up charities, went out all the time, hung out with my friends nearly every day and then as soon as University started, everyone dissappeared. I have a few friends left that I rarely see, I'm struggling in my course, I feel a little depressed and I've come to the conclusion that it all leads back to gaming.

Are games worth it? What do I get out of putting 100 hours into Fallout 3? Who am I talking to when I go online (forums or games)? What am I getting out of games that I can later use in life, what is my goal and achievement in these virtual worlds. I can't find an answer outside of just being entertained, but TV's, music and books also entertain, but they also take much less time to finish and none of them are continuous once the main storyline is done.

I'm not an addict by any means, but I do play a lot of games and I do visit a lot of forums and the amount of time they take out of my day can be pretty significant sometimes. Like right now for example, I should be asleep so I can get up early in the morning, go to the gym, do some shopping, but instead I'm making this thread. 

My question to VG Chartz is, do you feel guilty for playing too many games? Is it worth it in the long run? Should being a Hardcore Gamer be something to brag about?

I can see why someone would consider it to be a waste of time, but it could be worse...

I could be addicted to watching soap operas.

guilty? why

if you want to save the world,just go and do it

you can point to extreme of anything and blah,blah yawn

games are a hobby, theirs nothing wrong with it.

Do you feel guilty spending countless hours on any other hobby?

Sometimes, I do feel guilty for playing games, especially since that time can be better spent working on other stuff.  Still, it's not that hard to strike a balance between doing productive stuff vs non-productive stuff that makes you happy.  Denying yourself gaming entirely can be just as bad as playing WoW 80 hours a week.  My life is sort of lacking balance between internet and real world time, but at least I'm aware the issue exists, and I work on it by making an effort to be more social, and break routine to do new stuff whenever I can.

On the friends disappearing issue, that's a perfectly normal part of moving on to university.  For my part, my university friends scattered to the four winds when the program was over, and it meant I had to work to keep the ones I had, and to make new ones by trying new stuff that involves other people (sports, martial arts, etc).  Your network of friends will always be in flux as you move through life, so what you experienced is hardly caused by gaming alone.

In any case, don't sweat it too much.  I learned some very valuable financial lessons for real life by playing video games (example: investing in harvesters instead of tanks now gets you MOAR TANKS later = investing for the future is good), so it's not all bad.  Just make sure it doesn't consume too much of your time.

its my hobby along with cars,books and music i do enjoy them very much, so i don't feel any guilty when i am enjoying something, because "desire lurks beyond good and evil "

Well if you played or are playing WoW, you definitely wasted your life.

Also, this thread has little to do with being a hardcore gamer. It seems to be more about people who make gaming their sole priority and ignore just about everything else.

People do all sorts of useless crap to pass the time. I'm not sure why gaming is generally the form of entertainment attacked.

Now people you need balance in life

gaming isn't all bad, that guy in the video could of got the same effects from watching too much TV, gambling, alcoholism, drugs, excessive muscle building, addiction to about anything can do those effects.

But its all about Balance

Social -> Entertainment -> health

You must balance your social life by social interactions with people, right now with a socially interacting with each other as a community, online games such as FPS onlines have social interactions, Facebook etc.

Entertainment: Gaming is entertainment and people need entertainment or else you get depressed and live unhappy, entertainment comes in many ways but for around 500 million people Gaming is there Entertainment.

 Health: you must keep healthy, Walk every day, exercise every day, eat healthy. healthy body = healthy lives. 

Keep your balance and you will be find. 

people might say i am a gaming addict, but i have social interaction with people 6 days a week or almost every day, and for hours a day. I play Sports and run every day, and on top i enjoy video games as my main source of entertainment. 

This guy went over board and its sad but people can learn from there mistakes. 

You can say that for any other game in existence then.