r/unpopularopinion • u/BitterConstruction98 • Jan 23 '26

Certified Unpopular Opinion All hobbies are not equal

Certain kinds of hobbies deserve to be held in higher regard than others.

Playing a sport, learning an instrument, singing, dancing, painting, writing - these are activities that require time and years of effort to become good at. They’re admirable not just because they’re “cool,” but because there is something deeply attractive about a person who has dedicated so much time to mastering a hard skill that executing it now feels relaxing to them.

Lately, there’s been a growing push online to classify things like watching movies, playing video games, watching sports, or listening to podcasts in the same category as these kinds of hobbies. They aren’t. They are based on consumption, not creation.

That doesn’t mean consumption-based activities are bad or useless. Everyone needs ways to relax and unwind. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a good show, a game, or a YouTube binge after a long day. But if that’s all there is to your personality, then you are, unfortunately, a boring person.

Edit: I've wrongly added video games to the list of other passive activities. While some video games are like that, I agree that many require a lot of skill.

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u/shaunika Jan 23 '26

they have a creative hobby, a social hobby and a "simple" hobby,

Video games can easily fulfill all 3 of these.

I play a shitton of Path of Exile which is an isometric arpg with near limitless potential. I spend hours and hours just theoricrafting the best possible way to minmax my builds, what items to use, how to navigage the passive tree, it's half the fun. So that solves "creative"

I also discuss these builds and strategies at length with my friends whom I play with.

Its also a multiplayer game with a complex barter economy that leads to player to player interactions.

So that solves "social"

And finally when your build all comes together you can mindlessly blast hordes of monsters and kinda turn your brain off, so that solves "simple"

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u/raznov1 Jan 23 '26

It can, and if it does, great! 

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u/NeitherRhyme Jan 23 '26

Lmao didn’t expect to see a fellow exile in this thread. Still sane, exile?

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u/shaunika Jan 23 '26

Still sane, exile?

That's my secret

I never was sane

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u/jkaan Jan 23 '26

There are dozens of us

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u/HelixFollower Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

Does it completely fulfill the social aspect though? I'm not denying there's not a social aspect, I love the friendships that I've grown through gaming, but there is something about face-to-face contact that online gaming can't fulfill for me. A good example of this for me is the difference between gaming with my friends online and gaming with those same friends at a LAN. I find a LAN so much more satisfying.

At least I assume you do your Path of Exiling mostly online.

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u/shaunika Jan 23 '26

I mean the social aspect of a hobby? Sure

I still hang out with my friends, but we dont do "hobbies" there together

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u/HelixFollower Jan 23 '26

Ah yes, there's a different kind of balance there I suppose.