Everyone has their opinion, but it is a fact, I know someone who, just because he knows that his mining equipment is state-of-the-art, makes him happy... it is a hobby, in fact he tells me that he loves the noise that the machine makes. It may be read as a joke, but it seems "strange" to me, but the guy can pay for electricity and buy the latest equipment, without being interested in a return, and that in itself is a breeding ground for turning it into a hobby.

A hobby does not have to be something that makes you sweat, laugh, if I explain, there are expensive and unnecessary hobbies, and mining has to be definitely one...

So, in equivalences, of which there are many, e.g. a desktop computer case is necessary with all those lights, etc. With this I mean that depending on the niche to which it belongs it will make sense, but that same niche will have purists who say that why so much paraphernalia of lights on a  tower PC case.. but it has become a hobby...

For some guys having mining equipment makes them part of something... I don't know, you have to be a collector or have some non-traditional hobbies to understand it, a hobby is not just reading a book or going to the movies.

imo!