What's The Longest Period You've Stopped Gaming?

[Rogmeister]

So what's the longest you've gone without gaming? I don't mean a day or a week or even two but really seriously taking a real break from gaming. I think I actually stopped playing for about 5 years. I had gone through the Atari 2600 and 5200 years and I had a 7800 and perhaps I was just disappointed in it. All I know is one day I put it away and didn't play another video game for about 5 years...at home anyway, I can't remember if I was hitting arcades at that time. I actually missed the entire NES period because of that.

One day I went into a Big Lots store and found a bunch of 7800 games for a buck apiece. I bought several and then hauled the machine out again. Then I started wondering about what current games were out and before long I bought myself a Super Nintendo and haven't stopped gaming since.

Beyond being disappointed with some of the offerings of the 7800, I think another reason I stopped gaming is I just didn't have anyone to share it with, or even to talk gaming with. None of my friends played games and there wasn't an internet full of boards llike this one and other sites. Now that there is, I'll play in one way or another as long as I'm able.

[Jed]

I've never taken a break, and I never will. Gaming has become a part of me, and it's an addiction I can't shake. But hell, there's a lot worse addictions out there that I'm glad I'm not a part of.

[unbroken]

I stopped gaming for about 3 years when I was in highschool, I even sold most of my stuff. I'm actually even thinking about taking another long break, as right now I don't even play any of my games nor do I have room for the stuff right now.

[chrisbid]

i took a 3 year hiatus in 1995. i was in college, and record collecting was taking up more of my time. i had an SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, and 32X, and i really didnt have enough cash or interest to plop down 400 dollars for a saturn. i didnt buy another video game until late 1997, when i picked up a playstation and final fantasy VII. though i enjoyed that game, i really didnt get hardcore into gaming again until the dreamcast was launched.

[hades]

I took a large break from video gaming from 95-98. During this time I even went as far as throwing out over 100+ NES empty boxes (I still kept the cartridges)

Really wish I hadn't done it, but I guess it was part of growing up. My father threw away baseball cards, I threw away video game boxes. Wow. ;-)

[legov8]

At most about 4 months.

[Sylentwulf]

Well, I didn't get a Colecovision until I was around 5, and that was my first one, so 5 years.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

The longest I've ever 'not gamed' was only a couple weeks. I was just doing other stuff and was having a good time and was only at home to sleep, if even that.

[Steven]

For some reason I don't remember gaming much in 1995... it was like my hiatus from gaming. Also, 1998-2000 I didn't play too much, either, as PSX was dominating and I didn't care much for it.

These days all I play though is my Saturn, and I see myself playing Saturn til the day I'm gone.

[MegaDrive20XX]

2 months solid was the longest I went, July till September of 2000.

[Cryomancer]

Can't think of any time this ever happened. So I'll go with another answer from above me, and say like, 3 or 4, because that's about how old I was when I got my 2600.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

I've taken breaks my entire life, gaming has never been a constant thing or even an addiction for me, so I've never taken extended breaks but there are many times where I did not game for months at a time or more.

[mario2butts]

Yeah, senior year of high school I got caught up in the "preparing for college and working my ass off" schtick and packed up all my games. Then I realized that I had eliminated all the fun in my life and they came right back out again... so I suppose I was gameless for a good 8 months.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Took a 2 year break around the time I graduated high school. I was working full-time and was more into metal and goofing around then playing games all day.

[Steven]

Yeah, senior year of high school I got caught up in the "preparing for college and working my ass off" schtick and packed up all my games. Then I realized that I had eliminated all the fun in my life and they came right back out again... so I suppose I was gameless for a good 8 months.

Heh, I know you're not alone. Me, my senior year I was just playing WH Perfect and FH Dynamite on my Saturn, and then later SF Alpha 2, BAM 2 and it was like a hamster wheel that don't stop.

Now I'm entering my last year of college... glad the game buying is about to stop! (collection almost done)

[Push Upstairs]

I missed the entire 32-bit generation and up untill 2000 because i was playing PC games.

But my situation doesnt count because i simply gave up Mario & Sonic for "Doom", "Duke3D", "Age of Empires" and so on.

So i don't think i have ever quit.

[Dunken Drogen]

3 weeks, lol :D

[Pantechnicon]

The longest I ever went without even semi-regular gaming would be about 2 years; i.e. - the whole of 1988 and 1989. This would have been the second half of my senior year in high school seguing into my first 18 months in the Marines. On the high school side of it my trusty old Atari 2600 was being largely ignored in favor of a semi-normal social life, girls, etc. Then in the Marines I moved around a lot doing training for the first nine months, then was put on a Navy ship which was not at the time a convenient place to have a game console, and I didn't do arcades either because as far as I was concerned arcades games from this period sucked. But then when the Gameboy came out in December 1989 I bought one and have had a fairly steady presence of games in my life ever since.

[Jumpman Jr.]

I'd guess about 4 years. After I played my N64 to death in 2000 or so, I really had no interest in games. 4 years later, I started collecting them.

[tylerwillis]

Most of Junior High, all of High School, first half of College.

Luckily I had a roommate who smacked me upside the head and showed me the path again.

[heybtbm]

I stopped playing console games for the better part of 2002. I was busy with school and had too many tough classes that year (who here remembers organic chemistry?). I even sold my Playstation on Ebay and gave away my N64. I never had enough money for a PS2 and the Xbox just seemed boring (still is).

In the beginning of 2003 I saw the new Zelda was coming out and Gamecubes went down to $150, so I picked one up with Mario Sunshine, RE0, and Rogue Squadron II.

btw: I did end up getting my old N64 back and it will be staying with me for good this time.

[Blues]

About 2 to 3 months. went insane! @_@

[vectrexer]

I took a six month break in 1983 when I attended nuclear power school in the Navy.

I also took another 6 month break about ship when I was in between systems. Well, sort of. The CIC onthe Halsey (CG-23) did have a simulation that ran on all of the consoles. Think of it like a super Space War game for practising Operations Specialist (OS) skills. Very cool way to use a multimillion dollar system! :D

So I guess only a few months since I started gaming back in the Computer Space days. Lucky me!

[tuxedojoe]

I take a break from gaming every year. Not so much a pre-planned break, but I tend to have different phases. For example, sometimes I will be obsessed with buying and watching anime DVDs. Then other times I will be obsessed with buying and reading manga. Then other times I will be really into gaming and game collecting. And someimes I will buy up all the computer parts I can find and build computers and write (simple) programs. And yet other times I just give it all up and hang out with my friends (I tend to rudely dismiss my close friends when I enter my various 'geek modes').

[Chuplayer]

A few weeks. Long enough for my DC's internal battery to lose its charge and ask me for the date and time next time I booted it up.

[hobbes13]

I've taken several samall breaks in the past, they have lasted about 3, 4 months, 6 months tops(this was mostly when I was younger and I got bored for lack of new games). Recently though, I have just gone through periods of time when I play games less then others.

[diskoboy]

I took a long hiatus between '92-99

The 32 and 64-bit machines of the period didn't do much for me. The Dreamcast brought back the urge to play.

[miaandjohnrule]

I didn't really game much or able to own or afford much '97 -'01. I was in the Marines and moving around quite alot and spending entirely too much $$ on nothing (alcohol , women, and eating out). After I got out I realized I missed out on quite alot and I'm still trying to catch up. I still can't believe I went without for so long , I can't go a day without at least a little gametime.

[AlexKidd]

I can't remember my whole life but I know I havn't gone more than 3 days without video games in the last 2-3 years.

[jdc]

I've been gaming nearly everyday since 1996. I worked in the industry so it became a large part of my life as both entertainment and a way to bring home the bacon.

These days? My collection keeps getting pared down to the point where it will eventually become a very large collection of games that I enjoy actually playing. I've stopped owning games that I won't play. I just dumped over 50 N64 games that had no "play appeal" to me.

[cbroddy]

For a few years I have stopped playing games for a few years. I believe it was from 1998 to 2001.

[videogameking26]

6 months at the most

[stimmyjimmel]

when i was a kid and only had a genesis i only had a few games with no money for more and my parents wouldn't buy me any i stopped for about a year and pretty much forgot about it untill i found it in the garage probably about a year later. then there was the time where i got grounded from gaming for 6 months because i had bad grades... wich to tell you the truth was pretty harsh because the games had nothing to do with the grades.

[EricRyan34]

4 months for me

[ManciGames]

Great question.

I've had two breaks. The first one was from late '93 to late '95. I had become extremely bored with all the same crap that was coming out at the time. I took the Playstation to re-ignite my interest in games.

The second one was a six month break after we decided to end Manci Games Magazine. Man, they always say that when your hobby becomes your job, it ceases to be a hobby. Amen to that. I couldn't look at any game, old or new for about six months. But, that passed and it's all good again.

[ManciGames]

Double Post.

[Biff_McFresh]

Around 3 or so months if I remember correctly, has happened a few times.