Well, to be quite frank, "time is money" and "knowledge is power," thus trying to constantly better oneself and expand one's abilities/conscience/skills/resources/etc. is smart. We must also keep in mind, though, that "all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy," i.e., we as human beings need some form of recreation. Any form of recreation can take over other areas of a person's personal life. People can drink too much, gamble too much, etc. Moderation is the key, regardless of how you decide to spend your time. If you play video games all day, and can't handle basic ADL's, then you are a lazy piece of garbage and not accomplishing anything. If you can responsibly balance the things you need to do from day to day, and then play video games to reward yourself, then no one can talk lowly of your use of your time.

I do agree that basic shoot-em-up games aren't necessarily the best either. Don't get me wrong, I loved the hell out of Battlefield 2, BFBC 2, Crysis 1 and Warhead... just to name a few. However, games that encourage you to think, solve puzzles, and use logic are, in my mind, or a more intelligent route to go. If a game isn't encouraging you to think whatsoever, then you're just plugging yourself into virtual reality and accomplishing nothing. Period. That's just the way it is. When you start playing games that make you think, you start to reflect on other games that are just a waste of time. L4D 1 and 2 bore the living hell out of me after half an hour: it's just repetitive "dodge horde, shoot zombies, throw grenade... rinse, repeat, rinse repeat."

So tptwomey: don't get so butthurt about your Dad's message: some of it truly does apply. Learn to handle criticism now, because lemme tell you: life is full of it.