I think you could have the whole spectrum of interaction without pointing to a specific segment as indicative of video gamers in general. The people who spend thousands of dollars buying Candy Crush power ups are certainly not going to present the people who go online and raid in an MMORPG every night.
Video games have evolved to fit an entire range of needs and motivations and healthy and unhealthy relationships exist within any activity.
While some people can find creative outlets in real life, video games can represent low barrier entry activities that provide those very same outlets. Perhaps your personal preferences make games an unideal form of entertainment for you but for most people at the end of their lives, wishing they spent less time playing video games is not a thing.
While I don't necessarily disagree with your statement, I have to disagree with this:
For most, probably, but you can't really say "it's not a thing", because I'm sure it is.
Especially for these folks:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/05/korean-girl-starved-online-game
It was an overgenralization to be sure. I'm kind of lazy to dig it up right now but there was a TED talk on what people wished for at the end of their lives and how video games fit into fulfilling all those particular needs.
I think for those that have the resources to travel and do awesome things, they should but for many video games is a way to work less and spend more time doing something you love possibly with people you like being around.