Free time for games

[andydavis]

For those of you who work long hours and at places which are more than an hour's drive from home, how much free time do you have for games and how do you balance all of your chores and personal commitments/responsibilities to make time for games?

For me, during the weekdays, I normally play my games at the very end of the day after I have finished everything I need to do and would have about an hour or half of playtime before I go to sleep. On the weekends, I normally play during the late afternoon to evening unless there is an event planned on that day or guests are coming over. What about you guys?

[undertakerprime]

Free time? What’s that?

I’m married with 2 kids, and have a full time job. I rarely have time to play games until my daily responsibilities are done and everyone else has gone to bed.

[oldgamerz]

I'm lucky to be able to play video games anytime. But most times I deal with a sickness that leaves me barely any time to feel like playing. I don't work. I do have some chores, but not vary many. My health is taking a downward spiral today, and if I could play more I would, but I don't. Until my health gets better, then right now maybe a couple hours a day if that even

[bikingjahuty]

I'm child free, but even so I have to usually squeeze in time for games, especially during the week. My GF and I share a car and so in the evening we often have to go out and do stuff since she can't during the day. It isn't uncommon for me to come home from work at 4pm and for the the two of us to run errands until around 8pm or so. I guess we just live fairly busy lives, but yeah, if I have more than two hours to devote to games each night I'm fairly lucky.


The weekend is a different story. I have way more free time typically and get my game on usually then, assuming I'm not going some place else.

[mark1982]

Ah, the time management thread . As I get older with more responsibilities it's taking me ages to finish games.

I remember during my youth when I was in school or college I could binge play and burn through so many games I basically didn't have a backlog. My GF at the time was a huge Nintendo fan and played handheld JRPGs all night on the GBA while I was playing on console.

Now it's a different story, heh. Full time job with plenty of responsibilities, married and a newborn on the way (not to the Nintendo fan by the way, she moved to another country with her parents, still friends though). I play about an hour a night on days that I'm not totally tired. My routine is come back from work, spend time with the wife and have dinner, get a little workout in by lifting some weights and stretching to break a sweat, shower, read some gaming news and tend to other hobbies for a bit, then get an hour of gaming in before hopping into bed. Weekends I play a little longer, but it's still the last thing I do before I go to sleep.

I know that routine is gonna change once my newborn is here, and I'm totally okay with that. Have to find a new routine as long as family comes first

[ignition365]

I have free time after my kid goes to bed.  Some of that time is spent with my SO, some of that time is spent playing games.  Weekends are similar.  I definitely don't have the time I used to and I put more time into handhelds than I used to.

[kashell]

I make time.

Seriously though, I usually get in an hour or two during the weekdays and much more than that on weekends.

[wartoy]

Mostly late night on friday or Saturday sometime after my gf falls asleep I'll play to about 6 or 7 in the morning.

[ferraroso]

Mostly late night on friday or Saturday sometime after my gf falls asleep I'll play to about 6 or 7 in the morning.

My answer would be very similar to this, just change "gf" for "wife" and the "6 or 7" to "2 or 3"... I just don't have energy to stay awake all night anymore, haha.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Being kids free and engaged to a streamer comes with some benefits .  It's basically her full time job so streaming with her and playing games is basically my bonding with her.  So devoting time to fun and games actually is basically my romance time and part of our bonding.  We do other things of course but gaming is never looked at as getting in the way.  It's our version of netflix or the monopoly board.


I could very easily devote maybe 60 hours a week to video games. Maybe 80ish?  But I stopped doing that because I was feeling horrible about myself if I did.  And it was interferring with other aspects of life.  So now I cut to maybe around 30-40 hours a week.  Especially on weekends.    But during my lowest points, especially in my teen years.  I could get up to unhealthy levels. close to 100 hours a week. 


As for my job, my job's hours are extremely lax and I almost dictate when or what I do. But of course I choose to work as much as I can due to more money.  But even when I get a huge work load, most days can be wrapped up by 4 pm (start at 7am) and I can have the rest of the night for whatever.  Which in all honesty usually goes to shopping for games or pops and then sometimes gaming parties with my friends when we play smash and such.  So I love the loose schedule .   


I have pondered getting a 2nd job just to double up money and be like Bill Gates but I think i'm comfortable now and would rather enjoy the freedom to have hobbies and stuff.  Especially with so many hobbies that I do have. 

[marvelvscapcom2]

I have free time after my kid goes to bed.  Some of that time is spent with my SO, some of that time is spent playing games.  Weekends are similar.  I definitely don't have the time I used to and I put more time into handhelds than I used to.

That is like my brother too .  Ever since he had a kid and has been working much more his time for games has gone way down. But his handheld usage and hours on 3DS have gone way way up.  He rarely plays on a home console but he has devoted well over 1,000 hours into Pokemon Y alone.  It's like you can do all the dadly things but still have the handheld for the bits of freetime you do get, like waiting at the doctors office or in lines and such.  Pretty neat how that happens .   

[oldgamerz]

I had a relationship once, but she was just using me I believe today. Sometimes a relationship requires a lot of sacrifices especially if your partner does not have much interest in what you are interested in. I really can't sit through a lot of movies especially romantic comedies, or sometimes children shows or movies. If your partner lets you play games you're lucky, if you have children grown then you can teach them how to play games too.

it's not fun being cramped into a small apartment with 2 people with different interests, I was never fighting but I was vary depressed having someone living with me at the time.

 I could not handle the difficulty of a family and a full time job but I will honor anyone who has made that sacrifice for the sake of their family.

Just prepare to have an extra television and an extra room if you have young children or anyone else that may use the television

[tripredacus]

During the week, I might have 2-3 hours to play a game. And that is not every day, as I will play pinball 1-2 times during the week, so no time for video games on those days. Weekends or holidays I can get in maybe 5 hours each day.

[emporerdragon]

My biggest problem is that I can't really enjoy bite-sized bits of gaming. When I game, I like it to be until "?"; having a set point in time where I must shut the game off or be tired and miserable the next day just dampens the experience. So, I can only really game on nights before my days off or on my day off.
What really sucks though is when my days off roll around, then I have to fill those days with all the stuff I cant do during my workdays like laundry or mowing the lawn.

[betelgeuse]

My biggest problem is that I can't really enjoy bite-sized bits of gaming. When I game, I like it to be until "?"; having a set point in time where I must shut the game off or be tired and miserable the next day just dampens the experience. So, I can only really game on nights before my days off or on my day off.
What really sucks though is when my days off roll around, then I have to fill those days with all the stuff I cant do during my workdays like laundry or mowing the lawn.

This is why I’ve moved away from RPGs. I will never play another MMORPG for the same reason. I tend to do all my yard work, other duties etc as soon as I get home. I like to have the weekends wide open.

During the week I have an hour or two each day to game.