People like listening to guitar, but there are also a lot of people who love watching others play videogames on sites like Twitch. Of course both playing videogames and playing guitar professionally aren't a realistic goal for most people.
I understand very few people get to be professional guitarists or gamers. However, after that there are rapidly decreasing returns for video games. Guitar can be a source of pleasure for people you meet. It's a far more interesting skill than playing video games decently well. Guitar challenges the brain more; its learning curve extends farther than any video game. Guitar opens up a world of creativity and improvisation, name me a video game that can provide something at that scale (I'm an avid gamer so I'm sure there are none). Plus, it can get you laid.
I just don't buy that playing video games can provide much benefit. It seems like a meager reason to justify a questionable habit.
We can probably agree the type of game matter. To me the skill that people display when expertly playing a real-time strategy game is really interesting and takes a certain kind of tactical/strategic genius to do well. It is basically speed chess with a lot more rules and space for creativity.
You've definitely got a point that guitar probably is a better way to impress most of the ladies.
I just want to make the additional point that video games are how a lot of us began our interest in computers that later turned into a fulfilling career. Many people first experienced a command line while installing DOS games. The modern equivalent is probably modding PC games, which can take a lot of technical literacy depending on the game.
Is it because he makes you feel bad that you wasted your time playing video games instead of learning the real guitar?
It's not about feeling bad or jealous. It's that playing a guitar in a room full of uninterested gamers would be as awkward as playing guitar hero in a party where nobody enjoys casual games.
Unless you go pro, these are all leisure activities. Some are older than others and some get more traditional respect, but why is that important? I choose to learn an instrument, but I don't see an inherent reason why learning an instrument is better or worse than video games.