It is a hobby and more productive than watching TV or movies. When you play a game, you use your mind. You have to learn to think outside the box and that manner of thinking does indeed carry over to how your mind operates in the real.

Hand eye cordination, problem solving, and in some cases reading is all implemented into gameplay. It all plays a part, and while you don't have anything physical to show for it, it does have positive impacts to development as children and adults alike.

Now it CAN be a bad habit if it becomes an unbalanced obsession, but that can apply to ANYTHING in life.

So in short, no gaming is not a bad habit nor is it naturally counter productive.

I have learned English basically alone playing videogames.So yeah, more than productive.

For me, definitely. If I spent all my time gaming doing something in the mechanical engineering field, I would have quite a few more publications, I might have gotten in to MIT for grad school, and I would know a hell of a lot more about robotics. But, I waste hours and hours just playing games. It really is a fucking waste of time.

Well if you play games that make you think then at least you are probably stimulating your brain more than just watching TV or a movie.  Also, the general rule is moderation.  You have to do almost everything in moderation.  Too much water can kill a person just like too much of anything (like people dropping dead from binge gaming).

Exactly a fun hobby.

Bring 'em games, we are immune to their evil!

Can't hold back those of us that got no intelligence in the first place.

Claim seems contingent upon all *gamers* being intelligent, which of course is utter nonsense. Some intelligent people play video games, but most gamers are not intelligent. 

Additionally, intelligent people do not spend their entire waking moments devoted to maximally utilizing such cognitive skill. Their mental palate is whet by their occupation in most scenarios. It would be cumbersome to devise (in a contrived manner too) a scenario in which any amount of gaming would be considered a detriment to one's mental health. That is the only relevant aspect in which this topic can be pondered since it explicitly mentions intelligence, thus rendering the physical health component obsolete.

Q.E.D.

That is why strategical elements to games are important.

If all you're gonna play is point and shoot, or midlessly spam X button, then yes.

More culture to the people! ...and YES, games are culture as well as theatre, books, cinema, art, music etc.
Games and all culture makes us:

• fight less
• be more compassionate
• human

Many positive aspects of my life got to be the way they are thanks to gaming.For example, I knew basic English even before I came to the U.S. because of gaming.Thanks to the game The Sims 3 I discovered my love for interior design and made flipping houses much more easier and rewarding, as a result, I was earning six figures by the time I was twenty.Also due to my love for game modification, I learned basic programming, which then led me into mastering C++, HTML, and CSS, which proved pivotal when my partner and I decided to create our Startup.

Anyways I do realize that gaming didn't exactly give me those talents, I acquired them because I wanted to expand my knowledge and to improve myself, but gaming was the gateway for many of my major skills, and for that I'll be ever grateful to this form of art.