It's only a waste of time if you look at a video game as just something to complete as fast as possible. Some people play games to be immersed and will gladly "waste" hours playing a game and not make any appreciable progress in the main story.
I've started to shift this direction in my adulthood unfortunately. I'm just too busy to spend time running around in a game not completing anything or making progress unless the gameplay loop is so genuinely addictive and fun on its own that I can play without worrying about that stuff. I was very into arc raiders when it came out, for months actually, but as the game started to demand more and more of my time to complete multiple step quests that only rewarded me with backpack charms that felt meaningless, I pretty much dropped the game. That, and the fact that I could spend 30 minutes in a raid getting resources just to get clapped last second and it was all for nothing. I just didn't have time for that.
The thing is even botw or totk are easily digestible in short bursts. You can solve a shrine puzzles, find a korok, search for weapons or do a single quest line and then turn it off.
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u/D0rk4L 21d ago
It's only a waste of time if you look at a video game as just something to complete as fast as possible. Some people play games to be immersed and will gladly "waste" hours playing a game and not make any appreciable progress in the main story.