Relative to trying to relate “these are my interests” to “this would make me a good candidate” in an application, Gaming actually offers a cogent example.
Many (many!) years ago, I took an upper division CS course, Algorithms & Data Structures. It was the first real ‘gut’ course in the CS major. 120 students, primarily juniors. The vast majority of them were in the CS program at all because they “liked videogames” and thought that meant they were headed for a career in that field.
By the midterm, almost half the class had dropped out and changed majors. Faced with the actual challenges endemic to a professional in that field, rather thsn a broad overview or ‘elective’-level survey, many would-be majors realized that liking the products of a discipline doesn’t guarantee aptitude, nor even interest, in the discipline itself.
I’ve seen the same thing happen when people who major in English because they “like to read” hit Critical Theory. And again when students in the B-school hit macroeconomics.
Hobby != career path.
@lookingforward Of course gaming isn’t the only thing that comes to mind, but this thread was specifically about gaming, and my comment was about some opinions I head on the pleasure essay. The fact is, gaming is the first thing that comes to mind, which is why I decided to ask that question. I want to come at this process with a very open mind.
There are alternate paths that I could go with the essay, most more “respectable”, but still just as genuine, than playing CSGO and Kerbal Space Program. Playing music, swimming, cards(no gambling of course 
)…, but none truly relate to my major (mathematics). (the reasons for loving math will inevitably find their way in my application, pretty important)
I think It’s kind of hard to find “pleasure” activities relating to math.
There is the schools “leaning” to consider however, or just general activities and characteristics that a school is sure to be in favor of…
I also think it is very hard to see what a school truly “wants”, thinking too hard about it can make you come of as fake as well.
Part of me thinks that schools will see someone writing about something clearly not related to their major (remember, just talking about a pleasure essay) and feel a sense of “this kid wrote this because that is really what he likes to do”. And I want to think that that thought has value, but I’m just speculating.
@ProfessorD I agree with the last line (story is a good example).
This is why I think it is important to understand why you like something on a deeper level. Not just “I like this”, but “I like this because of this, this, and this” I think “why” is a very important question.
Just to play Devil’s Advocate, Kerbal Space Program is one of the odd cases where one could make a legitimate case for including it in an application essay, if you had made a mod that was picked up by NASA or something.
Mentioning gaming as part of an essay is very different than simply listing gaming as an activity. As part of an essay, you could potentially use gaming as a vehicle to talk about other things, using it more as a metaphor than actually engaging in a discussion about pwning n00bs.