Some hone skills that are broader than just that particular niche game.

e.g., chess and go hone the mind.

Minecraft could be used to hone some level of engineering thinking.

Sports hones the body and often relaxes the mind.

Guild leadership in MMOs hones the ability to lead human beings (that has no relation to the game itself though).

I like Minecraft, but I'd rather hack Lisp than play video games most of the time.