Did you ever Fall out of Gaming for a while and why did you get back into it?

[shfan]

When I was in my late teens/early 20s, alcohol and fraternizing with women of the opposite sex seemed mad important, but that quickly faded away, particularly the alcohol! Now I don't drink anything, have Mrs SHFan for company and like a bit of the old video-gaming when I have time.

[pzeke]

[...] Now I don't drink anything, [...]

Not even water?

Damn, that's hardcore.

[shfan]

Ha! Nice 

[azotam]

I would say around 2011 or so. By that time I was only exposed to games from my local store which used to sell games at an exhuberant price. I wouldn't get back fully until late 2016, when I purchased The Witcher 3 and whilst my opinion about the game changed, it did aid to rekindle my passion.

[undertakerprime]

Since I got my Atari 2600 back when I was 5 or so, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t playing. I was so unpopular in high school no girl would look at me twice, so I had to do something to keep me occupied

It’s only slowed down over the last few years, after my kids were born. I don’t play until my kids go to bed, and naturally the kids get priority when it comes to money so I haven’t bought a current-gen console yet ($300-400 plus $60 per game is a lot of frickin’ money). I’ve been playing mostly older stuff and concentrating on setting up a place to play my old consoles that won’t display on my HDTV (240p output).

[wolff242]

1992-2010, wasn't into gaming at all. Someone gave me a free dreamcast with games around 2001, and I did play it a little....really just played shadowman and timestalkers. I was into college, hanging out and being social for 18 years. Enough of that! LOL.

Edit: Clarifying- not 18 years of college, that was just the 1st few of the 18

[ignition365]

I took a break a few years back due to some local and nearby collectors just plain being jerks.

I took a break when I bought my house.

I tried to take a break when I had a kid.

Trying to take a break now/soon.

[oldgamerz]

Never completely fell out of gaming yet but have thought about it

[shatterstar69]

I don’t think I have ever really stopped playing games but there have been times where I played them sparingly; I flunked a year of college playing FFXI Online; and I served a mission for the LDS church
in which we were not allowed a lot of free time.  Anyways, today I do my best to stay away from MMO’s and also CCG’s (they are too big of a time and money sink)

[mark1982]

Since I got my Atari 2600 back when I was 5 or so, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t playing. I was so unpopular in high school no girl would look at me twice, so I had to do something to keep me occupied

It’s only slowed down over the last few years, after my kids were born. I don’t play until my kids go to bed, and naturally the kids get priority when it comes to money so I haven’t bought a current-gen console yet ($300-400 plus $60 per game is a lot of frickin’ money). I’ve been playing mostly older stuff and concentrating on setting up a place to play my old consoles that won’t display on my HDTV (240p output).

I hear ya, my first kid is on the way. I know it will drastically change my playing habits as it did after I got married as well. But I am definitely prepared for it, family comes first so once everything settles down again and I free up some time, I will still manage to find some time to play some games ( hopefully ) 

[undertakerprime]

Since I got my Atari 2600 back when I was 5 or so, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t playing. I was so unpopular in high school no girl would look at me twice, so I had to do something to keep me occupied

It’s only slowed down over the last few years, after my kids were born. I don’t play until my kids go to bed, and naturally the kids get priority when it comes to money so I haven’t bought a current-gen console yet ($300-400 plus $60 per game is a lot of frickin’ money). I’ve been playing mostly older stuff and concentrating on setting up a place to play my old consoles that won’t display on my HDTV (240p output).

I hear ya, my first kid in on the way. I know it will drastically change my playing habits as it did after I got married as well. But I am definitely prepared for it, family comes first so once everything settles down again and I free up some time, I will still manage to find some time to play some games ( hopefully ) 

Yeah, having kids definitely changes a lot of things. It took me a while to get used to the fact that I couldn’t play whenever I felt like, though I knew it was coming so over a few months before my twins were born, I spent a lot of time finally finishing Final Fantasy VIII and IX, which I had left unfinished for years.

I don’t think I have ever really stopped playing games but there have been times where I played them sparingly; I flunked a year of college playing FFXI Online; and I served a mission for the LDS church
in which we were not allowed a lot of free time.

I got put on academic probation because of Doom II, Myst, and The 7th Guest :p

[marvelvscapcom2]

I have cooled off from gaming as a whole but I think my idea of cooling off or taking a break is still much more obsessive than most average consumers.  Currently I might play 1-2 hours a day,  if a new game comes out I will binge it for 6 hours per day easy.  But contrasted to when I was a teenager, easily 10 hours per day on FPS and online games.  Simply just being a shut in.  I'd say it's better this way


I have gotten to a point before where games were more of a medicine than a fun thing. Pits of depression and anxiety that it felt more like a escape. And I started not liking most games but still had to play them anyway to cope as I couldn't figure anything else out.  This was early in high school.  I started being so bored of them and felt like every game was bad.  Than I thought I was outgrowing them.   But I'd say what got me back into them after that was reevaluating my life, finding myself and getting into a more sound mental state.    I was pretty anxious and in a rut then.   I'd play games for hours on end and forget the outside world.   I certainly always had social life and bathed and such.  But I think I have definitely crossed the line of excessive.  So it's best to take breaks when it gets that bad.   If I don't fall out of gaming every now and then, I end up hating it.  The break keeps it exciting.

[gf78]

I've had several times where my heart just wasn't in it anymore. The first was in late 1992. I was just out of high school and got my first "real" girlfriend. By that, I mean my first nookie. Lol. And it was all I thought about. So my SNES, my Genesis and my comic collection took a big backseat. A year later, I moved on and met my first wife. Her mom was a big gamer and we played a lot of SNES games. That lasted about six months, but the only game I personally bought in that time period was Contra III.

I took another break until the end of 95 when I got my first PlayStation. I also got a Saturn from my friend in early 98. I kept gaming hardcore until about 2007 when my 360 red-ringed playing Bioshock. I quit gaming for the most part again for a few years until around when Halo Reach came out.

I've had small stints of not playing since then until January 2017 when we found out my wife was pregnant. I sold almost all of my collection. My PS4 and Xbox One sat unloved. My Wii and Wii U were tucked away in their boxes. It wasnt until my wife got me the NES and SNES Classics that my love was rekindled. Then I got the Switch and the collector in me went back into overdrive.