Every inconvenience is a challenge.

[Sephrick]

Have people forgotten that video games...are... time sinks.

THERE I SAID IT

CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG

Everything in life is a time sink.

But when people use the phrase in relation to a video game they're referring to things with little or no entertainment value.

In XI it took time to wait for an airship and to fight your way through a Promyvion. One is entertaining and the other is just an obvious method to slow the player's progress.

Doing ToAU missions by traveling around Vana'diel, fun. Waiting till JP midnight after each mission, time sink.

Fighting an HNM, fun. Standing in place for three hours waiting for it to pop just to see it pop claimed, time sink.

It doesn't matter how long something in a game takes. As long as its an engaging experience the whole time. That's kind of the point of any video game -- to entertain.