Never had any negative comments said to me about it, but I would imagine I would say something a long of the lines of:

"Well it's a hell of a lot productive then watching tv (which everyone does), atleast your accomplishing something and you have a goal."

There isn't much of a stigma to playing games now like there used to be, but back then I would ask them in return:

"How often a day do you watch TV?"

They of course thought there was an immediate difference and watching TV was somehow better. To which I let them know that the main difference was the what they did required zero input, just sit like a fat lump and watch the TV, while what I did required actual thought and physical input.

Been putting bitches in their place since 1990.

Hell, my mom is addicted to video games and she's 55. I don't feel any shame in enjoying my hobby, anymore. Video games dominate our society. They get their own segment on shitty late night talk shows, had their own channel, have competitions (one guy that I work with competes all the time), get mentioned in rap music all of the time, and make more money than pretty much any other form of media out there. Anybody makes fun of me for liking video games will prompt me to ask, "Dude....what's wrong with you?"

I only get that from my wife who thinks I'm wasting my life. Until I point out she's wasted 4Xs more of her life that week watching TV which is even less mentally stimulating.

Otherwise Wii, Facebook, iOS, etc have really made vg mainstream, virtually everyone plays some form of vg at some time. Even my wife plays Just Dance and has a couple games on her iphone.

Biggest market for PC flash games - Women in their 40's. Wii/DS had close to 50% female ownership and did very well with the mature market. iOS/Android games are played by all.

However, I'm lucky if I get 2 hours of vg in a week. I'm a loser for being on forums like this 20hrs a week.

i say "who cares? i do it not for you, i do it for me"

i don't care if people collect pens, watch trash movies or like to read comic books 10 hours a day and because i really don't care about other ones hobbies i don't understand and as long as they do it because it is what they love and they don't annoy others with it , i also don't care if people think those people (me included) are losers.

a loser is only that guy to me who thinks he is something better because he is doing other things at that time. i have seen more of this planet most will ever see and i'm still not even 30. i have to laugh about people who think i miss something of this world when i play videogames. and even if i would miss everything, as long as i would do it because i like it more than other things, i see no problem in that.