Forty days and forty nights - The Bear and Badger

acemuzzy

I just kinda realised I haven't gamed since a week ago on Tuesday. So, AA-style, I'm 11 days clean :-)

. Though this isn't a deliberate effort, just life running away from me, and I'm hoping to get back on the bandwagon tonight!

How often do you have gaming hiatuses (hiati?)? For how long? Due to IRL stuff (e.g. hols), or deliberate detox?

Ever worry you game too much??

Tempy

I generally only play once or twice a week these days. Find myself painting more than playing, though now I worry I paint too much.

Dark Soldier

Barely gamed when unemployed, sometimes went a few weeks without bothering. Now I have less spare time, I game every night.

World is fucked.

JonB

Rarely miss a day. Not sure I've ever had an extended break.

Moot_Geeza

I started playing far more when I had a kid. No idea why, perhaps it become easier to focus during downtime rather than just sit there and do the dreaded 'fuck all' (refresh forum. Change TV channel. Refresh forum. Go for a smoke. Change TV channel). I used to clockwatch to force myself to play for an hour, now I occasionally have to stop after three. I've probably upped it from 0-2hrs per week in 2013 to 10hrs a week this year. I even made a conscious decision not to read on the train this year, so I could get the backlog down on my handhelds. I'm not planning on a hiatus any time soon because I'm enjoying games more than I have at any point since the Saturn era.

EvilRedEye

I kind of tuned out a bit during 2005/2006, mainly because it was the first year of my undergrad degree and I didn't have a TV at halls, plus on the portable side things were starting to switch from the GBA to the DS.

I haven't gamed much this year despite the release of a lot of games that appeal to me. Been doing a full-time master's so my routine's been a bit disrupted plus I've spend more of my leisure time doing stuff like reading, etc. I guess. Also, the PS4 hasn't really hit home for me like previous consoles for some reason. I don't really see myself abandoning gaming but it's kind of in a trough for me at the moment.

Moot_Geeza

I'm even juggling multiple games without losing interest. In the past I wouldn't start something until I'd finished something else, otherwise I'd never go back to the other thing. I'm currently playing Sunset Overdrive, Spy Chameleon, Mario Rabbids, Breath of the Wild and Switch Galaxy Ultra, and it's all coming along nicely.

monkey

I went a few years barely playing anything in my mid 20s, just the odd game of Pro Evo. Months can pass sometimes, I went about 4 or 5 months last year I think. But then I'll just suddenly get back into it and go back to a regular 4-5 times a week.

monkey

I have a thing where I only want to play one game at a time, but then if a game is average (most of them), it's not bad enough to abandon but not good enough to keep me playing and so I don't play anything. Then a few weeks or months later something else comes along, I promise myself I'll finish the other one some other time and start the process again.

It's not a great system, I'll admit.

afgavinstan

Never really had a major hiatus. There's days I have now where I play nothing but that's to do with being at the gf's. I take the Switch but even that'll draw daggers if I pull it out (hey now) when we're *watching* something. It's cute when she's on her phone but GOD FORBID I breathe in the direction of the Switch? Hmph.

I too am victim of the fuck all-isms. I'll go to play but I think my head gets too fried from work to focus, so I pop on YouTube and catch up on FATK or JRE. Definitely do more on days off.

In terms of enjoyment, this has been a great year. Currently loving my PS4 love-in with EG and Yak Zero, with odd wee sessions on the Switch in bed, which I just adore.

Tempy

I also love FATK and JRE (?)

Moot_Geeza

I also adore weeing on my Switch in bed.

afgavinstan

FFS

hylian_elf

Apart from when on holiday/overseas, I think I've had around 10 day breaks a couple of times. Due to either life stuff or being burnt out from daily gaming.

Tempy

I'm always surprised how much people manage to play, it's quite the eye opener

hylian_elf

Lately I've been playing 2-3 nights a week on average. Made extra effort last few days for D2. Each session isn't very long though.

EvilRedEye

Most intense gaming I've ever done was, like, 26 hours of Final Fantasy XIII in three days when it launched, which in retrospect is kinda embarrassing I suppose but ho hum.

Tempy

To be fair i'm likely to plough more hours in one day a week than a few hours multiple days a week

EvilRedEye

Remember when we used to spend hours and hours building stuff in Minecraft before it ended up as a kids' game made by an alt-right nutcase?

Dark Soldier

I go fucking ballistic on FM when it drops, like every waking hour for a month. November can't come quick enough.

djchump

EvilRedEye wrote:

Remember when we used to spend hours and hours building stuff in Minecraft before it ended up as a kids' game made by an alt-right nutcase?

Oh, has notch gone full nazi? That's disappointing.

regmcfly

I get one to two nights a week when things are going well.
From 2004-2007 I didn't game much except for resi 4 and mgs3.

RamSteelwood

My gaming has been in decline for a good 5-10 years now. I just have a general apathy towards most games that means very little appeal to me. Whilst I can appreciate that objectively games may have never been better, for me it often just feels like the same shit over and over. Even when I am enjoying a game, I rarely get grabbed these days where i can't wait to play it again, so i'll often leave it for a few days and then never go back.
Also, for the last year or so i've been working on my own game. the time i have to work on that is also the time i'd have for gaming, so i've been consciously trying to spend more time on making than playing. I'm hoping that once i've finished that, it might spark a bit more enjoyment from just playing games and i'll have more time to do so too.

So going back to the original post, I'll regularly go weeks without playing a game (if you don't count the one i'm working on). I deffo don't play too much, I worry more about whether I even play enough to justify the money spent on gaming.

poprock

RamSteelwood wrote:

I deffo don't play too much, I worry more about whether I even play enough to justify the money spent on gaming.

That’s the kicker, for me.

Now that I have the disposable income to buy games and/or consoles, I find myself unable to justify doing so. I want the new games as much as I always did, but I lack the time to play them and I feel guilt over spending so much on something I’ll use so little.

As a result I’ve cut my gaming spend to the latest Forza Horizon and a few bits of DLC … which works out fine but means I feel that I’m losing cultural awareness around gaming in general.

Tempy

You're like the anti-muzz

mistercrayon

I play games a fucking lot. A damn shame it's likely rotting my brain but the Novocain is easier than reading.

davyK

It has been a gentle decline over the years. I will go a couple of weeks without playing and then go through a period of playing every day.

I'd rather have it that I was playing more regularly. Sometimes the thought of going back to a game knowing I will have to go through the pain of regaining some muscle memory puts me off.

I believe that if I lived with or close to an eager gamer which facilitated local MP I'd probably play more.

Matt_82

I don't have any of this gen's consoles and my PC is really for photo editing so doesn't have anything too fancy in it. I download the odd strategy game from GoG and usually play that for a week until I get fed up. Haven't played anything for a long time, now.

When I got Kerbal Space Program, I got properly addicted and ended up spending night and day in front of the computer building fucking rockets.

One of the reasons I don't play so much is that I know I get addicted. Couldn't afford to have that distraction in my life through college and now I'm finished there, I think it's for the better that I keep games at arms length.

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