Currently playing games will only waste someone's time especially the pay is not too much, because in my opinion it is better now to spend time on things like trading, because market conditions are suitable for doing that, so make your time more valuable now.
It depend if you knew axie infinity those gamers that play that game profiting good on their benefits especially they earn token that can be traded on the market. Not all games are profitable but some have a good ecosystem that can sustain fun and even great profits. If you say this is a totally wasting time then it depend on how you handle it.
As you said, not all gaming ecosystem is profitable to play, and that is true. Better play on platforms that pay coin that is actively traded in the market rather than a token or coin which is not yet in the market. We have seen a lot of projects that die not hitting in the market. So if you want to waste your resources via playing, at least select the project with existing value in the market.