I guess much in the same sense that people would probably not be amused if you ran around a Comic Con telling everyone this is just make believe.
Yes something was lost. In Finnish there are different words for children's make-believe plays ("leikkiä") and sports/adult games ("pelata"). Your example of comic-con is spot on, I think.
> “If someone says we are playing, it strips away everything we made, it strips away the reality,” said Ms. Aarniomaki.
She’s objecting to being compared to comics instead of soccer, hence “the reality” being stripped — you’re accusing what they view as akin to gymnastics as being mere fantasy.
And yet, this is what an outsider would think (as someone who does not go but has friends who do). Some people would call tinkering with computers "playing", though my spending years on it resulted in a career path. I don't see the issue with "playing". At some point, if you're not doing it for a pay off, that's what it is, and that's fine.
Unless you mean housewiving, no one can be unemployed for life (save perhaps welfare queens). I still consider housewiving to be a job; it is quite a bit of work. To what are you referring?