Topic: Your gaming schedule

Interested to know, what is your schedule when it comes to gaming?

Do you have one? Or do you just pick up and play whenever?

The reason I ask is at the moment I'm currently only playing once or twice a week on days off - I wish it was more but I just don't know how to make it fit.

After staring at a computer screen for work 5-6 days a week, after work I'd rather not do it again with a game. Then when I hit days off, it seems such a shame to waste indoors at home on the couch.

Seems to have become a balancing act for me.

Probably also worth noting, when you're an adult you have money for games but f-all time to play, and when you're a child you have all the time to play, but f-all money for games.

Interested in your thoughts!

I'm now 39 years old (think I was in my late 20's when I joined this site amidst the 3DS/Wii U early days).

I work 5 days a week and don't get home til 4pm. By the time I settle down with free time, it's typically close to 6pm. And for 3-4 hours I game, or come to this forum, or watch YT or a movie, etc.

I feel like oftentimes the mental energy required to engage in gaming is more than I'm willing to commit. As I get older, I feel like playing games less and less. Not sure why. My interest in games is as high as ever, but the total time dedicated to actually playing them is shrinking by the year.

But when I do play, it's usually 6pm - 9pm Mon - Fri, or sporadically over the weekends or days off.

Then again, I have other things going on which preoccupy my mental and physical energy and motivation, like weening off prescribed meds which is a long term, 6-12 month effort that's constantly draining.

I long for the days of normalcy to return, where I can wake up on a Saturday morning, grab a cup of Starbucks Cafe Verona with creamer, hammer down some scrambled eggs and buttered toast, and grab a controller for an all day session. I miss those days.

I miss my days as a kid where my only concerns were "what time do I get to play outside/watch TV/game on my SNES?" and " Be a good son and student".

Nowadays, my gaming time is mostly from 6pm to 8pm-9pm. Then something casual on the Switch before going to sleep at 11pm-midnight.
On weekends I have a little more time, but how much depends on my errands of the day and if I have pendings from my job.

I work 40 hours a week with varying days and times and at times I don't game for weeks or even months at a time, yet my interest in gaming is as high as ever. I don't have time for long epic style games like God of War or Tears of the Kingdom due to my sporadic gaming schedule. Most games I play are games that you can pick up for a few minutes play and have a satisfied experience.

Alot of the time when I get off of work it's come home prepare dinner and then I just don't have the energy mostly mental to play a game or the time. On my days off, they can be even busier and more hectic.

I have to say this is a great thread, I was thinking of the same thing the other day how does one with a full time job, family, housework etc ever find time to game.

I feel fortunate as I don't have too many commitments beyond work, so I feel like I should have lots of time (in theory) to work on games, and when I am engrossed in one, I generally play as much as I can, which would start sometime between 7-8pm during the week and whenever I feel like falling sleep which could be anywhere from Midnight to 4am (though I normally don't go beyond 1pm during the week). Weekends I dedicate as much time as I can, with breaks for food/sleep/whatever.

However, when I am between games, I find that after work, there are too many other things I would love to do that gaming gets put on the backseat; for example, a film has just been released I want to see, or I want to rewatch a TV show from my childhood (recently, it's Thunderbirds of all things), or spend time with family whether my parents or my nephews etc. And I generally find that when I am between games, I am between them for a very long time (normally a few weeks at a time). I do still play games during those times though, but they tend to be time-sink games, such as Picross, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, or retro games which I can play through in a few hours, and I don't normally start playing until late in the evening (10pm onwards).

I don't normally have to worry about missing a good day outdoors, as I generally find outdoors miserable, especially in summer, due to a mixture of heat and allergies. The only real days where I try to spend outdoors are normally in Autumn as everything seems to hit the right balance of weather, and allergies become a non-issue.

Im 43 and I really dont have a set "schedule" for when playing videogames.

I play videogames pretty much every day anyway yada yada

I tend to play 2-3 hours a day around 8 PM. Basically every day except when wrestling gets in the way.

It does annoy me how long games can get now, because I still never feel like I have enough time to get to even the games I have (unopened Mario + Rabbids from 2019, baby!)

Honestly I feel like this topic is going to be outright depressing for a lot of us. I'm not trying to bring the party down but the question is a real eye opener to how much life has changed as we age out.

I'm 39. I work swing shifts so I tend to get off work real late. I'm very into fitness and nutrition (fitness 7 days a week and nutrition 5 days a week). My off days luckily are back to back Monday and Tuesday as of now. Balancing good rest while maintaining a solid gym routine takes time and energy but I put that first. On work days after I hit the iron (or weighted runs) I refuel with my meals, shower and shave up and I have roughly about average 1 hour before I have to start getting ready for work again. Because of that I don't like to dive into any game(s) that you could really get lost in because once you do I gotta shut it off. So usually I play quick games of the like of Tetris 99 or do some online Sunbreak to kill the time. If I have any life errands to do then all gaming goes out the window during the work week. Typically once the work week starts anything gaming fluctuates but hardly in the direction I'd like it to be.

Off days is better but again depends on what I have going on (especially anything on the "honey do list"). First off day after my work out its loaded with lots of laundry and grocery shopping for the week. My fiancé and I are now homeowners as of about 8 months ago so if there's anything house related errands (repairs, cleaning, patch work, etc.) then I try to tackle all those first day. After I tackle all that if there's any time left I play some games however usually the lady is home from work soon and I have to prepare dinner and the remainder of the evening is spending time with her (we work opposite schedules across the board).

I mentioned earlier I do nutrition 5 days out of the week. That's because on my off days I'm downing lots of beer and going all out on everything bad for you food wise Work hard play hard I like to say. With the exception of pizza and beer nothing beats gaming and beer

The second off day I try to dedicate as much of the day to straight up gaming. I really focus on whatever game I'm trying to beat. Also going through as much beer as possible. LOL I know it sounds bad but I'm having a blast while doing it. Once the lady comes home then the rest of the evening is with her.

If we ever get days off together then it's 100% together time and absolutely zero gaming. That definitely makes getting through games take so long. Good example is that it took me 3 months to beat Metroid Dread. Yes 3 months. Work was kicking my @ss and my off days just kept getting filled with life events/errands and then time with the lady. During that time if I got 2 hours to play a game it was a miracle. Made me so depressed at times.

After my days off then its rinse and repeat for the week of what I described above. On a side note that's why that Nintendo commercial for TOTK of the older dude being exhausted from work/life with little game time hit me so hard.

Mon - Fri = Gaming time at 6 pm - 11 pm

Sat / Sun / Holiday = (Not visiting Mall) Gaming time at 7 or 8 am - 11 am + 1 pm - 4 pm + 6 pm - 11 pm

Sun = (Visiting Mall) Gaming at Game Arcade 12 pm - 2 pm, gaming time at home 6pm - 11 pm.

31F here. My "gaming schedule" sort of depends on what I have going on. I work 40ish hours a week - I'm a software dev - and during some emergencies or crunch periods it can be a bit longer than that, though not by much. No S.O. or kids currently, though I'm debating about getting a pet. Plus I own my own property and have routine maintenance, laundry, cleaning (every other week usually, though some kitchen surfaces are wiped down daily), the occasional small home improvement project, etc. to cater to. I also prioritize exercising and occasional meal prep - most of what I eat is either fresh food or something I prepare at home. Long-term lifestyle change six years and counting!

If I don't have much else going on and am done with my daily adulting, I can usually get in about ~1-2 hours of gaming on weeknights. I also read as a hobby, so I try to fit some of that in before bed. Weekends...highly vary. Sometimes my schedule is full, especially during the summers, and gaming goes by the wayside a bit. I also like to try to get outside more when the weather is nicer. Other times I can slam in 6-8 hours of gaming on lounge days. Usually closer to 6. I also take breaks for a few minutes every hour to switch laundry, do a short chore, or even to just stretch a couple minutes. This ensures I move every now and then and give my eyes and body a break. I also try to prioritize sleep and don't often game past 11-12 on weeknights (7 AM alarm).

The problems I've run into as I've gotten older are twofold. I also have the time vs. money, adulthood vs. childhood reversal. Though I do think some of it is also because games are easier to get and are more plentiful than in my younger days. More choices basically. The other problem is while I definitely know what game genres I do like and usually have a good idea on what I do and don't want to waste my time on, some of those genres are now the longest types of games to get through. I'm talking open world formats in the RPG and action/adventure genres, which is killer for someone who loves exploring, decent plot and side quests, and compelling gameplay. I'm almost 120 hours into Tears of the Kingdom and am only just about to start on my third dungeon. I'm not a completionist by any means, but there's just so. Much. Content. I try to be picky about which games I do grab, but some of the most excellent ones coughXenobladeNewerZeldascough are impossible for me to ignore. I miss when most games gave you just enough freedom to go a little crazy but remained gated enough so that you wouldn't blink and sink hundreds of hours into them.

I have no schedule. If I play games in wild bursts (like I recently did with TotK), I'll stop playing much of anything for an equivalent or longer amount of time to prevent burn out afterward. This isn't a conscious choice, but part of a behavioral pattern I've noticed in myself. I've spent more than a month now barely touching video games after logging 80+ hours into TotK in May. Still haven't felt the need to pick the controller back up.

Otherwise, if I just play a game for 1 - 2 hours per night, I'll get regular gaming time in every day that I can.

It’s messed up that’s what it is! I used to have one a little bit, but sometimes k get these aggressive obsessions with a game, or just anything, and I just can’t play anything but that, and it makes it hard to finish games I want to! Like xenoblade and Batman!

@Spanky84 Pretty much that's what I stick too as well. I just don't have time for epic lifetime experiences anymore.

I usually try not to let a single day go by without spending some time gaming. Some days i only get an hour or two and others it's three to five hours. As a kid i'd sit in my room gaming 6 or 7 hours a day but these days i just don't have the time or patience to play that much. Besides after more than a couple hours i get bored anyway and feel like doing something else. Then there's days the wife gets tired of looking at videogames and starts hinting that she's ready to watch some TV or turn it off completely for a while. When she's had enough you've had enough believe me.

I also try not to get heavily involved in more than three games at a time. I just get confused and forget whatever the hell i was doing otherwise.

I play lots of games at the same time and it depends on where my mindset is. I have games for when I am wanting to consume something in the form of art or a puzzle (these can be the same thing). Or if I want to unwind etc, this list is endless and you probably see where I'm going with it.

I also look at my gaming as though it was a sport. I am very much into fitness, its one of if not the biggest areas of my life and I train regularly, I have some games which are skill based which require regular practice and my approach to them is as though I am training in the gym, I'm specifically talking about racing sims with a racing sim rig set up.

I may not have the energy or mental capacity to play something adventuous but I do to have a couple of rounds of some shmup or something. I actually have a few warmup games which will set the mood and see if I am really up for gaming., something like a few rounds of crimsonland.

I work from home so I either game on my lunch or after my after work nap (eye fatigue) but never more than an hour as I have to study, practice and prepare for the next day. Sometimes I do a little more on the weekends.

Most days I can get a few hours in but as a recent graduate... I've got a good amount of time on my hands and it will evaporate in time, so getting accustomed to smaller games is going to be important. I definitely can't see myself playing a Persona game in a few months time!

I have a lot of options gaming wise however. From visual novels to realistic racing games, farming games, RPGs, action-adventure... I can play different types of games to suit the timeframe.

I play whenever I feel like it, and work/family obligations don't get in the way.

For 2022 and 2023, I tried instead to stick to a schedule, where I'd only play on weekends since I was free outside household chores (cooking, cleaning, etc).

But recently, I've found myself utterly ENGROSSED in XIV, to the point that all other games and even hobbies have taken a back seat. So every waking moment I'm not working or doing chores to keep myself a functioning member of society I'm in Eorzea.

This is not at all healthy, mind you. I will burn out before long. So don't let me be a role model. I'm a great example of what NOT to do.

When I was a kid I would play for an hour or two at time, maybe a few times a week?
Now I'm older and have a small backlog of games...but I'm not playing that often. For a few nights I'll fit in half an hour here or there, maybe an hour at the weekend. But realistically, I can go weeks without turning my Switch on. I want to be able to enjoy it but I'm just so tired, so then I don't play anything.

I check in with a few games on my phone, but that's more about login bonuses. Can't say I'm sitting down to play something.

I'm 31 years old and I work 40-48 hours a week. I give all of myself to my work. Often I just going to sleep after dinner. But sometimes I play 2-3 hours per day. And I play much more during weekend.

@Tyranexx I also prefer to spend a time for cooking at home than buying junk food. Cleaning also important for me. i do it every weekend and my robot vacuum cleaner help me a lot with it. What books you like? What pet you wanna get? I have a 13 years old cat.

@Tendo64
"when you're an adult you have money for games but f-all time to play, and when you're a child you have all the time to play, but f-all money for games."

Sad, but so true.