No time for games?

[Maximum Bert]

Now first off this isnt about me becoming disillusioned about the state of gaming and yearning for the heady days of the C64 era where games were in their golden age (all games were great back then im sure of it).

No its simply about not having much time anymore. I still love gaming and a lot of games that come out but I am seriously considering getting out next gen not because of DRM or other company bullshit but simply because I just dont have much time to play them anymore. Last week I think I played for 30 minutes top.

I have always thought that if you want to carry on gaming you make time and I still think that to an extent I have watched friends and family members stop gaming at various points and when you ask them why they dont play anymore they say they dont have time then they sit in front of the TV for 6 hours and say they are bored.

I gave up watching TV back in 2000 because it was shit and havent looked back I also watch very few DVDs now in fact besides going out with friends on the odd occasions a few of us can get together my downtime is spent playing games and reading or rather was now it seems there isnt really enough time for both so I may have to sacrifice games to a large extent.

I never want to completely stop because I like them so much but it seems the days of playing an epic RPG are over for me before if a game offered less than 70 hours gametime I would be finished in a week now I am lucky to finish a 7 hour game in a few weeks.

I mainly spend my time studying various things such as Japanese Language and Game design (both for fun) and have a little downtime throughout the day usually 15 minutes here and there which takes up the majority of my day, but I also do karate and so have commitments there some nights and want to also learn the guitar and practice my drawing more and there just isnt enough time for it.

I have also just finished a story board for a short novel that I am thinking of fleshing out as I liked the way it has turned out. It will never see publication as it will probably be awful but I still want to give it a go and try and make something I am proud of.

Oh and I also work but thats part time as there is no way I have enough time to work fulltime I already get up at 3:30-5:00 (depending on tiredness and work level) so I am not getting up any earlier and I dont want to go to bed later than 23:00.

Basically although I love gaming I just feel I cant keep up. I have gone back to one of my original loved genres which are fighting games because I can play for short amounts of time and still improve (if very very slowly).

So anyone else experience this? obviously with age comes more responsibility but I have dodged a lot of that its just I have other things I want to do instead of gaming now but I still enjoy gaming so its difficult. Maybe I shouldnt torture myself by checking out new releases and visiting this page in my breaks.

 

[Gatx]

I'm in the watch TV for 6 hours while saying I'm bored camp. In college when I didn't have TV or cable I played tons of games and watched a lot of anime, but for some reason when there's a TV available it just sucks me in to watch reruns of Adventure Time and TBBT.

The last two games I got to seriously playing were The Walking Dead (did a chapter a day, really nice) and Mass Effect 3. I tried playing Skyrim again but getting started is a huge effort in and of itself - I spent my entire evening installing mods.

 

[Foolery]

Yeah. I spent over 50 hours at work this week, so I haven't had much time for anything. Lately it feels like I'm more into collecting games than playing them. Next-gen isn't looking all that appealing to me either. Also I regret selling my Gamecube, so I think I'm just gonna get another one and start getting some titles for it.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well responsibilities certainly piled up high but never to the point I would only have 15min of free time, if things got that busy I also wouldn't have time for games.

For me it mostly really is a case of watching stupid shows / reading forums and then lament how I didn't have time for games.

 

[Roxas1359]

For me it's a little different. While I have work Monday through Friday and school during that time as well it makes it difficult to play games. However, I also do Let's Plays and the time I spend playing are for whatever game(s) I'm doing at the time. Combine that with editing and an upload schedule that'll kill me and you don't get much time to play other games.

Luckily I'm on break from LPing so I'm actually playing other games and don't have to worry about recording or editing.

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

It's not that I don't have time, having recently gone back into school after having fulltime work I find myself in the uncomfortable position of probably having too much time to spare. It's rather that I can't play games for any extended period of time anymore. I can't sit still at all. If I sit still without doing anything productive for more than an hour I start to "tingle" all over and just feel odd and down. I think it's a psychological thing because I have no problem sitting still for extended periods of time if I'm doing something productive. I think it's the lutheran in me telling me to stop dicking around and go outside and build a house or something. Idle hands sin dont'cha know.

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

Very much so. During term time at university I almost entirely stop playing games. Other commitments inevitably come ahead of it, and even other leisure activities often. I find myself playing a very select number of games, and usually ones that I can dip in and out of.

 

[rasputin0009]

This almost sounds like a goodbye letter to gaming.

I'm in the same boat right now. I work between 250 and 300 hours a month so I don't have much free time as it is. My free time is usually spent trying to socialize/date so gaming might get an hour or two a month. I can't wait until I'm retired in 40 years so I can spend everyday playing a massive back catalogue.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

While I sympathize with the OP's busy schedule, I've never understood this persistent drama over running out of time or inclination to game. Do people experience this kind of angst when they have no time to read, or knit, or play soccer, or work on their model ships? Do they go to the model ship forums and make long posts entitled "DONE WITH SHIPS?!" and speak at length about how their new marriage or PHD studies or the new murder case they've been assigned to is eating all their time and DOES THIS MEAN THEY'RE DONE WITH SHIPS FOR GOOD? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

It means you're busy, OP. It means you're busy. You'll probably find that having a full schedule reduces your opportunities for many recreational activities. Such is life. Only so many hours in the day, and what not.