additionally, if relevant, i’m running wayland and not x11

lutris-GE-Proton8-7.

However I am using an AMD card, so I can’t compare those settings to yours

I have it installed through Lutris in the same way you have, running on Arch instead but that should make no difference really. I don’t have those problems at the moment.

Perhaps your setting within Lutris are not right? Which version of proton are you running?

Here’s the thing:

Fatigue is normal, but will get worse over time if you don’t address it.

First, recognize that you might be putting too much on yourself. If you studied / programmed 10 minutes a day, every day, you would achieve more than someone who studied 2 hard hours every weekend. So consider whether you’d be fine doing a half an hour or less on some days if you don’t have the energy.

Also as others have pointed out, memorizing everything isn’t that useful, practicing is. Build something fun!

I work in the games industry. So it would be pretty surprising if there were a “social cutoff” in my circle.

I’ve met people who think playing games is weird for an adult, but then they don’t question watching TV or YouTube videos for hours. People who judge you based on where you find your entertainment tend not to be fun to be around.