Y'know what? Fuck 'em. Show them that you can function perfectly fine while playing however many hours a day you want. In middle school, I would get home and play games for 6-8 hours a day, sometimes skip dinner. I was anti-social and didn't have a lot of friends. I'm still alive. I am actually thriving now because I have a girlfriend, i'm the varsity 120 lbs for my wrestling team and ranked #3 in the state with a good chance at being #1 before long. I fucking love games, and even throughout the decade I've been playing them, I've been attacked verbally and physically by my parents. Who gives a shit? I'm a perfectly functioning human being and I play a shit ton of video games. It doesn't hold me back from anything. You are probably younger than me because your parents still have influence over you, so I'll give you this advice. "In one ear, out the other." Put up with the shit that your parents are giving you, but completely ignore it. Ignore the teasing and bitching that they throw at you every day because that is what makes you a worse person. It's not the games, its the criticism. You become so self-conscious that you'll break down eventually. I broke down a lot. This post you made was like I read my own biography and really struck home, what I did was prove them wrong. If they start punishing you, there isn't much you can do, and oh god please don't try to argue with them. That only makes everything worse. Understand that they are 100% convinced that video games are ruining your life and you will grow up to be living with them at age 40 and have no job. I'll tell you right now, just because you play video games, it doesn't mean you are going to miss life. You'll still get your first car (if you havn't already). You'll still get your first kiss, first job, maybe a wife if you look hard enough. Don't stress out over anything because that is what ruins your life.