Time for Gaming??

[bluenote]

How do people here find time for gaming? I know with myself being married, working full time, having a full social life, and having other interests, I find little time to actually sit down and play for a few hours.

I think this is why I've been getting into handheld gaming lately. I can play for a bit on the couch while my wife watches a show on TV that I have no interest in, rather than being by myself in our spare room upstairs playing video games. I just find that at this stage in my life, I don't have the time that I did when I was a teenager.

Does anyone else feel like this as well? Do you find that handheld gaming kind of solves this problem for you?

[Pantechnicon]

If you were into gaming before you got married then your wife must be to some degree aware that this is important to you. Try and work out some sort of flexible schedule where you can get in some gaming time without making the Mrs feel like you're ignoring her.

It helps to be a bit of a nocturne, especially if you have kids. Three night out of seven nights are mine to stay up late for studying and gaming. So on those nights once the kids are in bed around 8:30pm then I'm on my own until until 1:00am. If I've got studying to do then that comes first, but I usually still have the last 60-90 minutes of that time free for the consoles before heading up to bed. This system seems to work pretty well.

Try and work out something that accommodates both you and Mrs Bluenote, but remember that her needs concerning time spent with you have to come before the things you want as an individual.

[Rogmeister]

I guess I don't have that problem since I live alone, apart from some animals. They never seem to complain that I won't let them have Animal Planet on all the time. Portable gaming can help. I guess you can also have shorter gaming sessions...maybe for some old school games like Pac-Man or Asteroids. But for me, I play when I darn feel like it...which isn't as often as it used to be anyway.

[ClubNinja]

I think this is why I've been getting into handheld gaming lately. I can play for a bit on the couch while my wife watches a show on TV that I have no interest in, rather than being by myself in our spare room upstairs playing video games.

I'm not a huge fan of handheld gaming, but I've started doing it more regularly for this very reason. I could go into the back room or the basement and play any game I want - or I can play a handheld in the living room and be with the family. Lots more of the latter lately.

[Jumpman Jr.]

Its very hard for me to find time actually. With the exception of lately (finsihed school for the semester) I can usually find about 1 - 2 hours a week to play games. Of coarse, that number would increase significanty if I wasn't on DP for a few hours a day ;)

[Teknik_SE-R]

I have four kids (incl. two twin girls 14 weeks old), I work full time and I go to school full time.

I usually don't play vgs during daylight hours unless I'm playing with my kids and/or wife. I tend to play after the kids are asleep, but it depends on if the chores are all done, and depending on what my wife is in the mood for @_@. Other wise its the midnight hours or on the weekends for me.

when I'm not in school, i can get in a good 10-15 hours a week, but when school is in session, I'm limited to about 30 secs to 4 hours, depending on the week.

My solution for actually enjoying the 30 to 90 minute sessions a night are to play relatively simple games that are easy to catch onto (ie portable, puzzle, or classic games like SMB/contra), or dedicate myself to one single long-playing, more complex game like GT, MGS, Zelda, etc so I can actually get good at it. I did this with MGS2, when I dedicated all of my gaming time (2 hours a week at the time) for 3 months to this game and nothing else.

I have definitely been swaying more towards the easy to learn/quick games lately. I need a stress free gaming experience, and in-depth games don't really provide that for me lately.

for me, its not the portability of portable games that make them appealing to fit into a tight schedule, but the simplicity of the games.

my friend, I'm sure, would argue the exact opposite. cuz he has a crazy schedule, and is never home, and he loves his psp. With the PSP, he can play all the long-play, complex games of a home console on the go.

[Kejoriv]

I know its so hard for me to find time too. Between waking up for work Monday thru Friday at 5:45 am and getting home at 6:00pm, starting grad school, having a girlfriend, gaming is starting to be on the back burner. I probably play 2 or 3 hours a week. :(

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I think that topic already exists, but no problem for me. With work and study, my time is so little for playing. And when i have about 10 minutes, the phone rings, my girlfriend calls me or a cat is flying through the window. So, i´m 100% collector nowadays (only collecting, no gaming, that´s my destiny). That´s for weekdays, maybe in the weekends, i have a little time to play some emulator...but...that´s my actual gaming life...

Matías

[davepesc]

Well I havs a 3-year-old and a 7-month old, so I don't do any gaming during the day unless I'm playing with my 3-year old. And she wouldn't allow me to play a handheld, too tempting.

After the older one goes to sleep, usually around 8 p.m., I have a couple hours with the Mrs. before she goes to sleep around 11 p.m.

Then, I'm on my own. I'll usually play 'till about 1, then get up around 8 a.m. Every once in a while I'll marathon until about 4, but I pay a worse and worse price for that every time.

[alec006]

Since im in school my time for gaming is when i get out which is 3:45PM to 10:00PM then weekends and holidays are when i play the most 6-10 or more hours.

[cyberfluxor]

Commuting to school full time and working part-time on the weekdays is great for my weekends. I can sqeeze 1hr of gaming in each weekday, but anytime on the weekends, but usually have plans for doing other things. On the weekdays, sitting behind my work computer I respond to DP forums, so most of my posts are between 5-9pm EST. At school when I'm between classes, chilling in the computer labs, I'll either download or play a web game. So I'd say, in a good week I spend 10hrs playing games.

[Goblin]

Do you find that handheld gaming kind of solves this problem for you?

My situation mirrors yours almost exactly. I play largely on the couch next to my wife rather than be by myself upstairs. With a nomad and turbo express I can enjoy much of my collection without tying up the TV. I also have a lynx, game gear, and a GBA with a flash cart that is loaded with NES roms. The only time I play on the TV is with my x-box and that is usually only on the rare occasions that no one is home.

[johno590]

Finding time for gaming is VERY hard. Usually I don't feel like putting in a game and playing anything when I get home from work or anything.

Right now, I just have work and the girlfriend but next year Im going back to school, and I will have even less time. I am getting a GBA for christmas so hopefully that will making my video game playing increase a little bit.

[bluenote]

Wow, good to see that some people are in the same boat as me. I'm okay with handheld gaming though. I only have a Gameboy advance SP, but I'm hoping to get a DS and PSP in the near future.

[Kid Ice]

I think this is why I've been getting into handheld gaming lately. I can play for a bit on the couch while my wife watches a show on TV that I have no interest in, rather than being by myself in our spare room upstairs playing video games.

That's pretty much my story there. My wife and I used to live in a small duplex. The TV (for watching) and gaming rig were in the same room. She would watch TV and I'd play games, but we were still "together" in a sense.

We moved into a big house with a nice-sized basement. Now all the gaming stuff is down there. I can only get down there two or three times a week. It's really my dream game room but now that I have it I'm gaming less than ever.

[dcescott]

Usually when I get home from work. Just to wind down some. I'm playing Mario Kart DS now via wifi. And I can play online in my bedroom while my wife is watching a program I could care less about. Every once in a while she'll peer over at my game to see what I'm doing (racing a guy named "king fart").
I do have a 3 year old daughter who is very demanding of time, which is good because-I'm-your-father-and-I'm-supposed-to kind of way. So the best time to play is really at night. Trying to play wifi and helping out my daughter is very hard to do since you can't pause the game and wipe her butt or change a video tape or get her some milk at the same time. She has a every 5-10 minutes I need help clause when she was born.

The handheld DS freed me up some, and is about the first handheld I enjoy now. I did have a game gear and a Game Boy. I tried the Lynx, Game.com, and the GBA. I enjoy the titles, and the wifi thing is great once you are hooked up.

[Toandirte]

I think a person has to make time to a certain extent, to game. With 4 kids under 7 yrs. old, full time job-dad, Wifey time and other things time is short. So I found that "collecting" 6 days a week and playing (setting aside) one day (sat. night) works well most of the time.

Hopfully game time will pick up when my Room of Doom comes to reality.

[2Dskillz]

I agree that handheld gaming has really expanded my time for gaming too. Since I got my DS, the amount of gaming I do in a week has increased greatly without any loss of time in any other area. Handheld games seem quicker to start and stop then sitting down (especially to a newwer) console.

I would like to recommend Riviera if you would like to sqeeze in an RPG, this GBA title is the first RPG I could finish in years thanks to the tight system, and bite size times I could play would still allow me to advance.

[Nez]

Play at home about 2-3 hrs a day.

But I play at work 4 hours a day. Thats were I get a lot of my gaming time.