The Loaded Word

Gordon from We Fly Spitfires writes an article that draws the community's furor on the opinion of whether to pity a hardcore gamer and the lifestyle they choose to obtain gaming greatness.

Here are many thoughts I have on the subject and of people's responses/arguments in the matter:

What are the exclusive differences and mutual ground between one that spends all their time playing their favorite mmo versus say a sport?
-exclusive to sports- there is the exercise factor
-mutual- communicate with others and develop relationships
-mutual- you can make something out of it (sports - pro teams or olympics, gaming - tournaments, professional gaming)
-exclusive to (specifically most)sports- face to communication in person on a daily basis; even with vent, or skype there is no face to face, personal connection; and though there is the arguement that the guild members can and do meet up, they aren't doing that on a daily basis; i would go to argue that both forms of dialogue are important but possibly face to face personal connection is more important until the day we're plugged into machines like The Matrix
-mutual- both processes are creative/productive (to what degree though is a difference)
-exclusive to gaming- special needs; with the stories of people with disorders/handicaps, it gives them an ability to communicate normally with other people
--i can't think of a situation where a person that can't play an mmo would be able to play a sport
-exclusive to sports- verbal control- professional athletes (the result of hardcore dedication to their art) learn to conduct themselves on a higher standard both on and off the field; they do obviously break that and are normally reprimanded for it (say Ben Roethlisberger); this normally corrects the breach and further actions are detrimental to one's career. In gaming, it is up to the community, and company mostly, to control bad behavior, though not normally too effective, hence the many unpleasant gamers encountered online
-exclusive to sports- variety of life- the implied argument that a person that plays soccer for 20 years of his life has done nothing with his life, is wrong. What does that person do when they're done practicing and competing? Spending their money, relaxing, volunteering, etc. That person has the ability to accomplish more than the person who is obsessed with just gaming, simply put. Though that person has spent 20 years on their craft, and it may be to a high degree of time inputted, this isn't something that happens for the whole year; there are breaks in their schedule which allows flexibility that gaming doesn't provide.

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Argument: that gaming is anti-social, but so can any other form of addiction/hardcoreness.
It has been argued that gaming is actually not anti-social but can be a very social part of the game, and reading all the time can be antisocial.
There will be extremes in both instances.
I would argue that both sides (gaming vs non-gaming hardcore dedication) can be have both social and anti-social aspects. The argument quote: "I know people from my working environment who read for as many hours in a week as this guy plays WoW. " That is their WORK environment, NOT what they do out of work. So it doesn't have much to do with the argument that doing something for too long is a bad things or detrimental.

Argument: addiction/hardcoreness which results in (basic poor time management) lack of sleep is a bad thing.
Sleep is important for good health: fact. Sometimes it needs to be sacrificed to achieve a purpose. I believe proper time management can cause one to achieve any reasonable amount of goals and still get enough sleep a normal person needs.
The question: are there noble goals one should strive for and ones that are not as important?Though not as altruistic as other goals, there can be altruistic contributions from gaining wealth and fame. Not that gaming cannot (ie. Penny Arcade charity events) contribute (and that fact shouldn't diminish it), but it hasn't been proven that it contributes in greater volume.
Another question: does health equal happiness in the end, or does unhealthiness equal happiness too?
People will smoke even if they have lung cancer and know it will kill them. People are aware that being obese is unhealthy, the cause of manyhealth issues, but don't make the effort to change. They don't change, they are happy and they die. Is living longer happiness? The last few years may be incredibly painful in some instances. Pain can be felt by others around that person. Can that kind of pain cause happiness or offset the happiness gained from ignoring the future reprocussions?
Is it necessarily smart to perpetuate something that you know can cause harm to one's health?

Argument: that knowledge of the game can be converted into useful contributions to society such as strategy guides.
That is only if the person's job then is related to such an output; I haven't read on what this hardcore player does in that time spent to achieve guild greatness, but not everyone that is putting so much time into a game is adding value for others in the real world.
Devil's advocate - other forms of contributions: there are also bloggers, forum go-ers, online unofficial strategy guides/walkthroughs
Still; how many of the hardcore gamers produce meaningful contributions to society? And then compare it to people of other activities.

Argument: pity is a person's opinion, something that is everyone's right that shouldn't impede or cause conflict with the person in question.
I have an opinion on him (Kruf), and so do you. Your opinion is that Gordon shouldn't pity Kruf. Gordon has every right to think that way and shouldn't care what the other person thinks. His opinion doesn't affect Kruf, and if Kruf knew him, his opinion of Gordon probably wouldn't affect him.

Argument: a person can excel in their job, and still spend a majority of their (non-working)life playing a game, BUT it is a rare case.
I was going to put in between 'excelling at their job' and gaming part with "rich full life", but find it is a loaded word with many interpretations. The only thing I can say from my own personal experience and from watching others is that gaming to such a high degree doesn't accomplish much in real life other than stress relief and relationships with people in-game. All other areas of life are neglected.
Whether one values those other areas is only determined by the sole individual. Can the same thing be said with other activities with the same time put into it? I can say for sports, would result a stronger body, reading being more knowledgeable, etc. But what benefit is there to gaming that is unique? Its my opinion that life needs balance, too much of anything is normally harmful; gaming is one of those things in particular.