Is playing computer games an unwholesome activity? Recently I've slipped back into playing computers games. This morning I had a moment of clarity and realised that for me it is not a good activity and I've uninstalled them and I feel a lot better.

But generally from a Buddhist perspective is playing computer games an unwholesome activity? If so what aspects of it make it so. Or could one be a committed practitioner and still do a bit of gaming on the side. I appreciate we have discussed the impacts on violent games on Karma before but I would like to know if computer games of any description are unwholesome.

(Note - I'm not looking for my own computer game playing habit to be legitimatised so I can start it again. I'm satisfied that for me it is something best avoided. I am just wondering if it is something that Buddhists generally should avoid and if any modern teachers have discussed the issue).
There are different degrees of unwholesome activity. The term akusala (lit. unskillful, unwholesome) is a broad term that in addition to referring to 'bad' deeds (e.g. killing, stealing, adultery etc...) can refer to any kind of action that doesn't lead to the highest happiness. In this broader sense, all types of sensual indulgence such as food, sex, entertainment, wanting good clothes, etc... are akusala.

By teaching that sensuality is akusala the Buddha wasn't teaching that everyone must abstain from them or else they are being bad Buddhists, but rather that they don't lead towards Nirvana, and that renouncing them is superior, and that in the end when one becomes Enlightened, one will give up the desire for them. That doesn't mean that as practicing Buddhists we cannot enjoy sensual pleasures within moderation, but giving them up is in the long run a much better way of finding happiness.