Making the most of my time. / How much do you play?

ThePaulrus94

So before I begin my "rant", I want this thread to be beneficial. Please keep the discussion constructive and if this ends up being closed then so be it.

My questions is how do people find the time to play so much? Between a full time job, excercise, and other activities; I'm lucky if I have one hour to play on a weeknight. If I'm not too busy on the weekends, then I can usually get in some decent play time. I'm guessing that most of us have school, a part time job, a full time job, families, etc. I guess I just envy those who seem to have more freetime than I.

So my question for the poll is "How many hours do you play on an average week?" Feel free to answer truthfully or not at all as the poll is anonymous. Furthermore, in what ways do you make the most of your time while in-game?

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xeNNNNN

ThePaulrus94 wrote: »

So before I begin my "rant", I want this thread to be beneficial. Please keep the discussion constructive and if this ends up being closed then so be it.

My questions is how do people find the time to play so much? Between a full time job, excercise, and other activitues; I'm lucky if I have one hour to play on a weeknight. If I'm not too busy on the weekends, then I can usually get in some decent play time. I'm guessing that most of us have school, a part time job, a full time job, families, etc. I guess I just envy those who seem to have more freetime than I.

So my question for the poll is "How many hours do you play on an average week?" Feel free to answer truthfully or not at all as the poll is anonymous. Furthermore, in what ways do you make the most of your time while in-game?

I said 10-20 hours but it really does depend on what im doing, if im questing it can go on for hours as i zone out but if im pvping it can be equally as long if not longer sometimes. Also depends on the day and what else im doing and yadadada. Been like that since the game released with the occasional all day spurts lol

Mic1007

Work takes the rest of my day, so I play two hours nightly.

LightninTramp

Lucky enough to work close to home so I go home for lunch and play a bit each day. Also at night before bed. Mainly use my time to do craft writs at lunch and run quests at night.

JWKe

Usually I get in 0-10 hours. My brain is also wired in such a way where I obsess over things and balance goes out the window. When I obsess over working out I see myself getting less than 30 minutes into this game purely just for doing the mount dailies and trait research. Vice Versa when I obsess with this game I get very little excercise in.

AcadianPaladin

Probably average about 3 hours a day over several short sessions. I only play one game at a time and generally stay there for several years. ESO is it at the moment. RPGs and Fan Fiction writing are my retired hobbies.

I cannot imagine ever playing more than an hour or two a week during my career though.

Remag_Div

I'm unemployed right now so easily 40+ hours.

I need to reevaluate my life.

KingKush

Love the game but am lucky to get 10 hours a week in, if that. I definitely fall in the "casual" category which is kinda unrewarding in just about every MMO which also happens to be my favorite genre. Not throwing shade but I really don't know how people are able to play 30+ hours every week. I'm a single male with a full time job and pretty average life(gym, friends, house chores) and still feel like I can barely get an hour or two in a night. Being an adult sucks.

ThePaulrus94

KingKush wrote: »

Love the game but am lucky to get 10 hours a week in, if that. I definitely fall in the "casual" category which is kinda unrewarding in just about every MMO which also happens to be my favorite genre. Not throwing shade but I really don't know how people are able to play 30+ hours every week. I'm a single male with a full time job and pretty average life(gym, friends, house chores) and still feel like I can barely get an hour or two in a night. Being an adult sucks.

Yea, same here. That's kind of why I made the thread. I was hoping I wasn't the only one to feel behind. Then again, maybe those who play the most are too busy playing and don't spend much time on the forums haha

menedhyn

I think I average about 8-10 hours a week, with some weeks offering more opportunities to play than others. I love gaming, but it is just one of a plethora of interests I have alongside other demands on my time. If I only get 30 mins or so, i'll just gather materials or go for a wander around whatever zone i'm in.

theher0not

I think I play on average up to 3-5 h a day during weekdays and a bit more on weekends so I think 20-30 h is a good aproximarion, obviously not counting when I have other more important things I have to prioritise over gaming.

Remag_Div

KingKush wrote: »

Not throwing shade but I really don't know how people are able to play 30+ hours every week.

Kids in school or losers who are unemployed like me.

MMO's are such a huge timesink. If I could only get 5 hours a week in this game I'd almost wouldn't even bother because I would feel like I'm getting nothing accomplished.

jedtb16_ESO

i'm retired and my time is my own for once. i can play when i want for as long as i want.

time in game is spent either pursuing one or other (of many) projects or just pick a map i haven't been to for a while and just run around it collecting and visiting all the sites of interest.... delves and dolmens and such.

then there's fishing...

Rosveen

Remag_Div wrote: »

KingKush wrote: »

Not throwing shade but I really don't know how people are able to play 30+ hours every week.

Kids in school or losers who are unemployed like me.

And pensioners.

Like someone said earlier, I'm lucky if I get 10 hours in - and most of it is spent on writs or guild management. I skipped more guild dungeon nights than I attended. Between work, uni and 2-hour daily commute, I just don't have time for games anymore.

Danksta

I work 45+ hours/week and still somehow manage to play 30-40 hours/week most weeks. Insomnia definitely allows me the opportunity to play more than someone who sleeps 8 hours/night.

ThePaulrus94

Danksta wrote: »

Insomnia definitely allows me the opportunity to play more than someone who sleeps 8 hours/night.

I can definitely say I sacrifice an hour of sleep to do my writs as well haha

BlackSparrow

My brain doesn't shut down until after midnight, so after work and exercise, I can usually get ~4 hours on weeknights I play. That's excluding other things like social engagements and weekly social game nights...and one of the perks of not having an SO or family is I have more time for this sort of thing.

The key is to not worry about "catching up." This is not a race. Just keep playing in the way that is most enjoyable to you.

Stania

I work pretty much all day, so I play like 2 or 3 hours every night on weekdays, but I "compensate" it on weekends (friends are now too busy breeding children like rabbits, anyway). The longest time I've been in a gaming session is 9 hours (with breaks to eat and attend my pets).

In weekdays I farm stuff, do some pledges or dungeons and explore, on weekends I also do a couple of normal or vet trials.
I've been wanting to do some ESO fanart instead of just playing, but as soon as I login to get screenshots and references I get stuck in there.

The_White

Sometimes between 0-10 hours a week and sometimes between 10-20 hours a week (explained below).

It really depends on study and work. I work at a partime job an average of 25 hours a week and with my study 20 hours, plus travel time a total of 15 hours..This together makes a total of 60 hours a week spent. So still plenty of time left.

Sometimes I don't game for 1-3 days and then suddenly a few hours straight. Most of the time in the evenings/nights or mornings.

Besides this I have long periods where I don't game at all , because of traveling (approximately 12 weeks a year).

Danikat

Less than 10 hours, but it varies a lot. Some weeks I won't log in at all (or only briefly to check on crafting research and things) other weeks I'll play for an hour or two each night.

I've never been the type of person to play just one game at a time, I usually go between several depending on what I feel like doing at the time. But I also have other hobbies, a job that sometimes involves erratic hours or nights away and I have to travel to see my family (or spend whole days with them when they come here).

But as much as I can feel like I'm doing things all wrong when I spend enough time on gaming forums talking to people who think nothing of spending 8 hours a day on one game and committing to just one for months at a time I wouldn't have it any other way. Especially because if I get bored or irritated with a game I can play it less, or stop completely for a while, without feeling like it's a massive sacrifice. Sometimes I don't even think about it, I just realise I haven't played a particular game in a while, and then sooner or later I feel like going back to it.

(Except some which I forgot even existed until I saw them on GOG, but most of them weren't very good.)

CapnPhoton

When I quit MMOs several years ago I decided if I ever played again I would severely limit it. Usually 6 hours, sometimes 8. No more 4 hours per day like before.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

I opted for 20-30 hours.

But it can vary hugely.

My work means that some weeks I'll be working all 7 days, sometimes 12+ hours a day: those weeks I am lucky to get 4 or 5 hours in.

Other weeks I may end up only working 3 days, and so have plenty of time, and can easily hit 10 hours a day for the days I have off from work.

All The Best

Molydeus

I only work weekends, so I have the rest of the week to do what I want. Most of the time I play ESO. My wife plays too, so when she's home we are also playing ESO. This is an ESO family.

qsnoopyjr

If video games waste time for you.

Dont play them.
Back in the days... We played video games for the sake of video games. Video Games wasting our time was never even thought of.

Now you have society telling you how video games waste your time, and you are constantly aware of am i wasting my time or am i not wasting my time.
Should i play video games or should i not play video games.

Simple. You make the decision, if you think its a waste of time, just dont play.
So they can start making video games for people who play video games for sake of video games and not cater to those who constantly on the fence whether they should play or not.

dem0n1k

I would love to play more but I need to work to pay the bills & I don't like staying seated for more than a few hours. If it's a rainy day on a weekend, so I can't enjoy my other hobbies, then I have no issues with a nice phat ESO session !

Rosveen

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

If video games waste time for you.

Dont play them.
Back in the days... We played video games for the sake of video games. Video Games wasting our time was never even thought of.

Now you have society telling you how video games waste your time, and you are constantly aware of am i wasting my time or am i not wasting my time.
Should i play video games or should i not play video games.

Simple. You make the decision, if you think its a waste of time, just dont play.
So they can start making video games for people who play video games for sake of video games and not cater to those who constantly on the fence whether they should play or not.

I'm pretty sure that even back in the day most of us had a mom telling us to stop wasting so much time on games.

qsnoopyjr

Rosveen wrote: »

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

If video games waste time for you.

Dont play them.
Back in the days... We played video games for the sake of video games. Video Games wasting our time was never even thought of.

Now you have society telling you how video games waste your time, and you are constantly aware of am i wasting my time or am i not wasting my time.
Should i play video games or should i not play video games.

Simple. You make the decision, if you think its a waste of time, just dont play.
So they can start making video games for people who play video games for sake of video games and not cater to those who constantly on the fence whether they should play or not.

I'm pretty sure that even back in the day most of us had a mom telling us to stop wasting so much time on games.

Yep.

Your mom = society

Now you without your mom.
You have this disorder, I have to quit playing video games.. Cuz I just have too.

Cause is mom

Gamers have a lot of disorders,
One of them being is hoarding.
Another being constantly feeling like they are against time.
"am i making most out of my time?? i feel like i have to do something all the time, otherwise ill be wasting time"

Non gamers...
Who cares.
Going to party all morning, cuz its fun... I'm not constantly looking at the clock and asking myself about my time management... Non gamers dont have disorder with constantly feeling they are against time.

Why you think gamers dont frequent pubs and clubs???
They cant stand around and do nothing...
They are constantly against time.
"ahhh, im not doing anything, starting to panic, this isnt fun, cuz I'm not doing anything... ahhh"
"why are we here, what we going to do non gamer friend??"
"just have fun, thats what"
"ahhh... time management, do something do something do something"

otis67

I'm retired, I live in Michigan, It's February and I hate winter. So i'm on probably 10 hours a day.

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qsnoopyjr

Yep

Thing is, at start of new day.

The gamer is like "I wasted so much time yesterday, time time time wasted, time is on my mind all the time"

The non gamer is like "Yesterday was so much fun, I'm going to try and have even more fun today"

Difference?
Gamer is still stressed, non gamer just enjoying life like we did before games came into existance.

This is how MMORPGs evolved from
Early days, gaming in early stages.
Everquest
Sit around with friends and talk to them while waiting for your HP and Mana to go back to 100%. No rush, I'll wait 10 mins for you to come back. Oh you gotta go afk now too. its okay, no rush. See you guys tommorow, lots of fun today. Just made it 1/5 way to level 9 of 50 levels.

To
Gaming 15 years later
ESO
Time time time.... Grind grind grind... Why is this game such a grind??? Time time time. This is taking too long... Time time time time...
No time to chat with you... Time is on my mind. No time to party with you. Solo is fastest way to make best use of my time time time.

Point is,
longer you are a gamer... the more time time time you worry about.
When gaming was in early stages when people wasnt mentally disorded with mental disorder of best use of time awareness.
Gaming was pretty fun. But when you think of time all the time... Games... They aren't fun anymore. Especially when people make games based on time, rather than making it sociable, enjoyable, and fun.