Do you make time for games?

[Miko]

I'm sure a lot of us are at an age where we are caught up in life responsibilities & other daily needs... or you know, adult stuff. I'm finding that the older I get the harder it is to make time for game playing (especially when I was working.) My husband is the kind of person who complains about wanting to play games but not having enough time - Whereas I'm the kind of person who finds it hard to be motivated to want to play games at times. Even with new released games that I really want to play - I tend to find them shelved relatively quick.

Can any one else relate? Do you have to make time to play games? Is there not enough time to play games? Or maybe it's important that you wind the day down with some relaxing farming/mining/murdering to end on a relaxing note?

Secondly, when do you find yourself playing games the most? Do you play throughout the week here & there or do you find yourself marathoning it out over the weekends/your days off?




For me, I'm getting a little better about gaming. My son is getting older which makes it easier to find some time to chill out. I'm very, very fortunate to have a stay-at-home position that allows me some downtime at home. So lately I find myself playing Stardew Valley (late to the party) to just mellow out with throughout the week. I wish I could say that we play a bunch more during the weekends but it's usually that my husband is working over-time or we are busy with other obligations like errands, family functions or other adult-related things... So it's like I have time, but not a lot. There's a lot of games coming out here soon though that I'm really looking forward to playing, so hopefully I can keep it up and actually beat them!

 

[Setzer Gabbiani]

I also have a similar situation as you. I usually spend my time playing a mobile game in the morning and at night time. There are days that I have to wait to get home to play a video game whenever I have to do groceries, look for a job, etc. I also sometimes take a break on a game that I am currently playing and spend those hours watching a good anime. Then I get back to playing video games whenever I feel playing it or when my friends comes by my house to play. That is what I've been doing all this time.

I have the time to play all day but there is a point when you get tired of playing the same game over and over again, and what to experience something new. I have currently been playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate on my Nintendo Switch to unlock all the characters, but after a few hours I get tired and find something else to do. That is when I start to watch a few anime, specially at night time. Been single with no children makes it easier for you to play video games at any given hour because you don't have any responsibilities to attend to other than yourself. But for those who does have a lot of responsibilities, it makes it harder for them to do whatever they please to do.

A job can take at least 4- 8 hours of your daily time even more depending on what job you are working in. Then you have to pick up your kids at school if they don't take the bus and help them do their homework, which can take nearly an hour depending on the amount of homework that needs to be done or projects. Then comes the dinner preparations which take about another 30 minutes or so depending on the food you are cooking. This alone will take most of the time you need to play the video game that you desire the most. The only conclusion that I can come up with is to play video games on your day offs or in the weekends.

 

[Dionysos]

I went for many months without playing any games at all. Then I started to play again but at best I'd be loading up my PlayStation for half an hour or an hour if I was feeling cheeky per night. That doesn't leave you much time to get anything done.

But then I started to play Heavensward more earnestly and decided to actually try and complete the story. I dedicated some time at weekends and was more strict with myself on some weekday nights to try and get some stuff done earlier so that I had more time to play. I've managed to complete Heavensward now so I'm caught up (with that expansion, at least.... Two more to go)!

I have a massive, massive backlog of games though because generally speaking I haven't figured out a system to allow myself more gaming time on a more long term basis.
I got Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 for Christmas last year... I managed to complete AC: Odyssey in, I think, May. That's the core story, minus DLC... And that had been the primary game I had been playing since December!
As for RDR2? As we approach next Christmas I still haven't progressed since chapter 3, I think.... I love the game, but it's a killer in terms of how huge it is. It's like moving into the Wild West for real.

Two massive games for Christmas nearly killed me!


To answer the question more precisely, I need to get better at the making time for gaming thing. I know plenty of people who have busy lives yet they still find ample time for gaming. I know people who buy games on the day of their release and manage to complete them in a matter of days or weeks rather than months...
I'm getting paranoid that time must flow differently for me or something.

 

[Mercurial]

Admittedly, I can't really complain about finding time.

I work decent hours, Monday to Friday, and live fairly close to work, so except on the days in which I go to the gym / socialising, I get home fairly early compared to most people working; I've also told work from the very beginning that emergencies aside, anything that is work related can wait until I'm next in work - my social belongs to me and not to answering work emails / issues etc.

My fiancée, whilst not a gamer, has no issues watching games either if they're story driven; games like Persona 5, Final Fantasy etc are a little harder to compromise with due the amount of gameplay / grinding involved, so I tend to leave them until she is not in. We don't watch a lot of TV either and only really go out of our way to watch series that we have a genuine interest in - otherwise, we tend to throw Netlifx / NOW TV on as background noise - so no one is competing to use the TV, and if someone does want to watch TV, I've always put gaming on the back-burner.

My main issue is simply the backlog I amassed for the PS4, I recently sold games off I will never get around to finishing: RDR2, Monster Hunter World / Bloodborne etc. As standalone games they would be fine, but collectively it's too much time - I'm also a bit of a completionist which doesn't help! Ultimately, it was a little bit of a waste as I got them on or fairly close to release, but it would be even more of a waste of money if they permanently sat there - plus, the sales have gone towards the wedding fund. Nowadays, I'm much more selective and only purchase games I genuinely want to play rather than for the sake of it.

Nintendo Switch titles are an exception to the above mind, as I've now amassed another backlog for that. However, as you can pick it up and put it down whenever you want, I don't mind the backlog, particularly as you're not confined to your house so can use it whilst travelling etc. It's closely becoming my favourite gaming device of all time for convenience.

That being said, if/when my fiancée and I have children (most likely within the next couple of years), I imagine all the above goes out the window haha.