What do you consider gaming (all kinds, from Super Mario Bros. to Modern Warfare II) to be?

Post your two copper defending your choice!

I picked a hobby because I spend a great deal of time and money on it, it's relaxing, fun and (sometimes) competitive. Also, it comes across as a social experience not only because of the MMO aspect of it but events such as Conventions or even 5 people lugging their laptops to my house to eat nachos and play Eve.

Also, I found an pretty cool article here on this topic

Why is cyborz not choice? Which on should I check for cyborz?

Cyborz would be Other...or Entertainment, depending on how/why you "Cybor".

why you cyborz should be your next poll imo.

No, you do it!

Lamiae said:

No, you do it!

constantly....but the poll should be about HOW and WHY.

I picked hobby, but I really think that gaming is both a hobby and entertainment, depending on the game and the level of time invested in it.

WoW is a hobby for me. I spend a lot of time playing and interacting with other players outside of the game on forums, etc. I feel attached to my toon, like I am Naiome...I don't talk about Naiome in 3rd person, because she's the online representation of me. If someone said, "Naiome!" I'd look around to see who was calling my name. Now everyone can call me weird. I'm also very invested in our guild and the people in it. I think that extension into my real life thoughts and feelings and amount of time I invest in this game make it a hobby.

Other games are entertainment form me. For example, I play Bejeweled or Scrabble on my phone while I'm waiting for the bus, or sing a few songs on Rock Band now and then. I consider that entertainment...something fun I do to pass the time, but I'm not really that invested in it.

Don't feel bad Naiome, I do the same thing :) Hell, I've even called my husband "Sanssa" by mistake (and earned myself a glare in the process).

But that raises an interesting point: What separates games that are hobbies VS games that are for entertainment/passing the time?

My definition of Hobby is a little more restrictive; Something that could realistically be a profession, but is done for fun instead. I would consider gaming entertainment. It's something I do for fun, but I don't have any delusions that it's a viable alternative to a job. Maybe I'm way off base, but I've never taken gaming too seriously because as soon as I do it becomes a second job that I'm not getting any compensation for. Hell, I'm paying for the privilege to be stressed out and unhappy. One of my many character flaws is that I don't have any kind of inherent positive feelings when I accomplish something. It's the same reason that I'm not very competitive. I really don't give a shit if I win or lose outside of the amount of time I spent persuiting the outcome. So that was long winded... meh.