YUP. Dropping some wisdom for the younger folk reading.
I was one of those young people who played a lot of games in their teenage years. I still play a lot of games, but I don't burn myself out on anything anymore because I understand the value of playing a game with intent, time management, and the feeling of burnout on things you love.
I sunk something like 3K hours into TF2 and 6K Dota 2 (free games like you mentioned) in my teenage years and had nothing to show for it. I was just "better than average" but not exceptional in any way where I could create content or stream because I just treated it like dumb fun to act as an escape from the stressors of life.
As a result, other areas of my life growing up suffered: mental/physical health, social skills, schoolwork, etc.
The issue is that adults who do not understand, frame this issue is addiction, but they do not understand the root cause. It has to do with the desire to escape from stress. Games are a really easy escape from stress, which can be attributed to many things. Home life, school, etc. Growing up is tough.
I feel incredibly guilty and I squandered the resources that were available to me growing up.
The game(s) that finally beat the right lessons into my head that I had to change the way I thought about life were fighting games, and dance games.
I have around 5000 hours dumped into TEKKEN. It gave me the cold harsh realization that there is no escape from stress, not even in videogames, because of how stressful fighting games are to play due to them being a solitary 1v1 game where you are responsible for everything that happens.
This is going to sound cheesy but to be decent at fighting games, you have to find inner peace through coping strategies that allow you to deflect stress off of your brain. Like, literally some finding nirvana shit. Your skill as a player is directly limited by your ability to flex detecting stress. Fighting games can teach you how to train deflecting stress so you can focus.
Once you learn how to deflect stress even in the most stressful of situations, you are able to think clearly and get shit done. It's amazing. It's such a freeing feeling.
In addition, when I started getting physical activity on a daily basis playing Stepmania, I noticed immediately that my ability to deflect stress went up. I feel a lot more focused in a lot of other aspects of my life, and inside of TEKKEN. Exercise does that, it is known.
Feeling great now physically and mentally. Not burnt out on work or games anymore. Thx for coming to my TED talk.
TL;DR: healthy body and healthy mind = better focus and no burnout