The Games We Play

Wh1te Out

Wh1te Out

New Member
Recently I've been having a hard time coming to grips with the new way of gaming in my life. As I've gotten older, my kids and family are taking up more and more of time. As a result, I game less and less it seems. When I had less responsibility I would play many games. I'd pick something up, play through and beat it, then move on to something else. Now it's been two years since I've finished a game and the most hours I've spent on any one title was an MMO (which I no longer have the regular time to play).

I find it hard to decide what to do. Do I stop keeping up with gaming news altogether, stop tracking games and letting the excitement build inside me? There are a lot of game I want to play like Elder Scrolls IV and Neverwinter Nights 2, but the reality is I will probably never finish another RPG (except maybe Kingdom Hearts II). I just don't have the time, and my attention span sways to new exciting things before I can finish a current exciting one.

I've decided that my PC gaming is going to have to become more structured. I enjoy RTS games, but I want to be good at something. I want to pwn people and practice a game or two instead of trying to divide my limited gaming time between five or six titles. I guess my entire reason for posting this is that I want to know if others feel the same way. I know Tek does. Those of you with families and/or budget restrictions can probably relate. So how do we combat this and still enjoy PC gaming the way we did when we had no responsibilities? What's your take on this type of situation?

(Sidenote: I'm going to be selling Rome: Total War and would like to get rid of Doom 3, as well. I will sell R:TW to anyone for $25.00 and that includes shipping. For Doom 3 just make me an offer. If you're interested in either please PM me. I'll hold off on putting them on EBay for a few days. This is an example of my problem actually. I love R:TW, but get better bang for my buck regarding game time if I focus on less strategical/campaign related RTS games... like the upcoming BFME II.)
 
What you described is almost exactly my experience as well. What I have been doing for a while now is having Tuesday evenings as my gaming time. After dinner, it's just me and my games. No wife, no kids. This gives me one night a week somewhat like it was before I had a wife and kids and it helps keep me from getting on the computer every now and then for a quick game or two. I also play late Friday nights after everyone's asleep. I've gotten used to just playing on these two nights and haven't really had any problems.

The only thing that frustrates a little is that I only have time to play one specific game at a time. I have to devote my game time to pretty much one game instead of dividing it between several. This really limits how many games I actually get to play anymore. Most of the ones that I might have played before are passed up. It seems that I play one game for like 6 months before I play another. That's about my burnout cycle when I start looking for a game in a different genre.

I feel your pain bro. Maybe you can work out a specific night of the week that's just you and the games. It really makes a difference.
 
Perhaps you should ask how important videogaming is to you. Do you still enjoy it as much as you used to? Do you still actually miss it?

I know once I enter college full-time this fall while maintaining a part-time job I probably won't have a whole lot of time to devote to videogames. In some way, I welcome this. I love videogames, they're a huge passion of mine, but I believe not having enough time for them, especially solo gaming, will be a blessing.

Plus, Corban won't be cheap, so it isn't like I'll have money to afford even the best selling titles reduced to 20 dollars.
 
Mr. Slice: As others have said, if you want to continue gaming, then you've got to find a balance between the things you really want/need to do (spend time with wife and kids, etc) and gaming. For myself, that balance is I get game time after everyone else is asleep.

Likewise, I do not keep up with game news. As if I'm not expecting a game, there's no way I'll be worried if I don't get to play it. Another thing is that games need to be in your budget if you wish to continue getting new ones. Most of those on the forums would probably question that wisdom, but if you plan to buy 1 new game every four months, then you just set aside that 10-15 dollars a month, until you get enough money for a new game. When I first started gaming, I would get a new game everytime I turned around. Now a days, I get one maybe every 6 months (last game I bought was GuildWars about six months ago, an since Empire at War is so disappointing my next one will be GW: Factions in April).

But basically, it's a decision making process where you have to come up with something valid for yourself and your family. You have two possible solution models here with me an Astrodood: 1 night a week dedicated to marathon gaming session or smaller sessions throughout the week. Yet you must decide what solution is best, and don't forget to include your wife in this deliberations.



IceBladePOD: That's a good dream, but don't forget that college is a lot less structured than high school. A lot of my problems in college (including my huge student load debt) is due to the fact that the unstructured-ness (is that actually a word??) allowed me to game, or sleep, or take my girlfriend-now wife to breakfast/lunch/dinner, rather than go to class. I failed a whole semester and was placed on academic probation due to that. And I was working a full time job in addition to a full academic load. Like you said, Corban's not cheap, so don't let the freedom of college drive away all concepts of academic responsiblitiy. :)
 
Plenty of the people in LOB are in your boat, Slice. If you want to be good at something you just have to have the discipline to play the same game and not get distracted with others. Find a game you absolutely love and then stick with it over the long run.
 
Slice, everyone else has hit the nail on the head. I am a very lucky man. Why?

I only sleep about 5 hours a night most nights. My wife needs 8 or she's non-functional the next day. My game time is from the time my wife goes to bed (10:30 or 11:00 EST) until I hit the hay (1:30 EST or so). It works out well. I know that Halonic's sleep deprivation also allows him to play way more than the average married guy, so maybe just sleep less?:D
 
[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff said:
Slice, everyone else has hit the nail on the head. I am a very lucky man. Why?

I only sleep about 5 hours a night most nights. My wife needs 8 or she's non-functional the next day. My game time is from the time my wife goes to bed (10:30 or 11:00 EST) until I hit the hay (1:30 EST or so). It works out well. I know that Halonic's sleep deprivation also allows him to play way more than the average married guy, so maybe just sleep less?:D
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Haha. This is something I've considered, but I already get up at 5:00 am for work every morning. This means that I need to be asleep by about midnight and my wife stays up with me most nights until at least 11:00 pm or so. I appreciate the comments so far. I think dedicating certain nights to gaming may be my ultimate decision, but like you all mentioned I'll discuss it with the family.
 
Kidan said:
That's a good dream, but don't forget that college is a lot less structured than high school. A lot of my problems in college (including my huge student load debt) is due to the fact that the unstructured-ness (is that actually a word??) allowed me to game, or sleep, or take my girlfriend-now wife to breakfast/lunch/dinner, rather than go to class. I failed a whole semester and was placed on academic probation due to that. And I was working a full time job in addition to a full academic load. Like you said, Corban's not cheap, so don't let the freedom of college drive away all concepts of academic responsiblitiy. :)
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Right, well I'm attending community college part-time right now, so I'm already familiar with the "unstructured-ness" you're referring to. I'm hoping the fact that some of the financial "breaks" I receive are dependent on my GPA will discourage me from fully embracing the slacker lifestyle. That and I sought out "unstructured-ness" in High School, and I didn't get very far.

Plus, I'll be studying topics I'm actually fascinated by, so full-blown nerd mode will activate, and I'll end up enthusiastically attending classes.

I certainly appreciate the advice though. No doubt I'll ask myself when faced the decision of hunting for a breakfast burrito with friends at the wee hours of the morning or working on an assignment whether or not the burrito is capable of analyzing Samuel Beckett's Endgame (...or if anything is...for that matter).
 
Well here is an idea, get your wife to play with you?!

Instead of having to worry with setting time aside once a week to play alone, why not invite her to play? And if you have kids, well then I guess some kind of balance would have to be found...maybe help her get the kids in bed, get the dishes cleaned from dinner, that way you can play together and nobody feels left out and you don't have to worry with trying to find time when she is asleep or setting one night a week aside....

That is what my husband did, and it made me feel much better....more involved...he used to play counter-strike while I would just be watching tv or something, and at one point it was irritating because that is what he would do every night. So he started helping me with cooking dinner and getting the dishes done from dinner so that we could both be playing together!

Of course we both enjoy playing all kinds of games - he has every nintendo system that has ever come out - starting with the original Nintendo Entertainment System. And many games to go with them all. We also play many PS2 games and of course computer games as well....we like to game, and him introducing me to PC gaming, allowed our interest to soar....together!

Now we don't have children to take care of...we have one very spoiled dog, but nonetheless when little ones become a part of our life, I see it working in a similar way - we go to work, come home, cook dinner, get homework done, baths done, and get them in bed at a reasonable hour, thus we would still be able to play together!

I do believe I have rambled on enough!
 
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While I appreciate the idea, Shyfroggy, that isn't our problem. My wife is a gamer and the nearly 400 hours we've both spent on Guild Wars was largely done together. Our son doesn't allow us to have much joint gaming time these days. That's just the way it is. But for anyone else reading this, I wholeheartedly agree with your idea.
 
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