I have difficulty saying that gaming is my hobby at work

Tl;dr Im a new doctor in my 30s and I feel ashamed to tell people at work that my hobby is gaming. I fear that I may be judged and have work repercussions, especially from higher ups (being not hired, given privileges, etc). How often do you confidently say that your hobby is gaming?

Long version:

I’m in my 30’s and my work involves frequently moving to different locations and meeting new groups of people.

Every time there’s an icebreaker and we go around, introduce ourselves and say what our hobbies are, Im often amazed at how wonderful of hobbies that others may have.

However, being straight up honest, I don’t have the guts to say that my hobby is gaming because of the fear that people may be unimpressed or judgmental. I also fear that there may be indirect repercussions at my job.. I don’t know exactly what, maybe I’m just paranoid. So I say that my hobby is something else, even though I spend the most time in gaming than in my other hobbies.

Im ok with my wife, close family and friends knowing that I game a lot. But I do feel that I’ll be ashamed if other people that I just met learn that I am a gamer, especially my colleagues

I feel that there’s still some sort of a stigma attached to gaming, that people may think gaming is for kids or lazy people who sit around at home all day. I grew up hearing that from my parents when I was younger and maybe that’s why I still think this way.

I feel that with time, people will start to appreciate gaming more as the younger generation who grew up with games age and become a more dominant population in the society. I feel like we are not there yet, however, or may be we are but I just don’t realize it.

I want to be able to cherish my love for gaming and share it with other acquaintances, even at work. But I just can’t do it. And I don’t think I could for a long time.

Do others in this subreddit think of it this way? Or is it just me?

Edit: wow thank you for all your advices!

Edit 2: I am a new physician who’s locuming around in different clinics and hospitals. I fear that mentioning my love for gaming (during casual chats) could impact my chances of getting hired in that clinic/hospital but on the other hand, if they end of not hiring me based on my hobby then maybe I don’t want to belong in that group. I’d rather want to be hired in a work place where they accept you for who you are. In fact when I think about it after reading all your comments, there are more doctors and nurses who mention they play games than I thought. It’s going to take some time to develop but you all gave me the motivation to start opening up and sharing my hobby for gaming with my colleagues. Thank you!