Hmm. WRT to the "real gamer" thing, this is certainly true, but nonetheless I describe myself as a bad gamer. (At least for the video kind. I'm probably very much in the upper percentage of TTRPG players). That's in large part a lack of time investment.

I hadn't thought about the podcasts thing, but I'll bear that in mind for when I'm playing some game which will need some grinding. Maybe I should get back into some minecraft mod-pack? The last time I tried died for internet-connection reasons.

(And now you're making me feel guilty for reading stupid stuff on the internet and not actual books)