Ask Lemmy

You also begin to realise how much of a waste of time gaming actually is.

Yes. But I worry about your premises. Except for a few thing, gaming is not a 10 hour long experience every time; you can just easily slip-it in any free time. Not having the time to play video games sort of implies you never have free time, which would be concerning.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question and it is not about having time to play video games as much as will to play video games. Interests can shift over time; for some people, it's playing different types of games, for other, it's having different hobbies over time.

I think the same way people have to be a bit social, they need a bit of "me" time here and there. All things in balance and all that. But the material "time" needed to play video games? Yeah, it's there.

Adult here. I have now over 10 years of experience as an adult, although closer to 20 years of experience playing video games.

There are two realizations that are needed to understand the relation of someone in this life style who is also a fan of video games.

First, no I do not have as much time as I used to have to play video games. In school and university times I would easily play over one hour per day on a week day and much more on a weekend. But nowadays, I spend 8 hours per day on a weekdays working on my job, plus a few hours doing house work. So can't play as much as I could.

But second, I also want to do other things. Nowadays I actually read much more then I used to. I also try to do other hobbies, and try to do social activities much more. I tend to spend more time with other people too. So out of my free time that I would use for video games in the past, I actually allocate that time for other activities.

I still absolutely love video games. They are a part of my life. But I probably play two to four hours per week only. These hours are few but highly meaningful anyway.

I think part of the journey for me to become an adult, to have a job, responsibilities, and such, has also been about broadening what I do, so it doesn't upset me that I can't spend so much time on video games, but rather it makes me happy that I have a fuller life.

in my experience, adults yes. adults with kids, not for a while.

you get to play some games again when your child starts sleeping longer hours at night. if your spouse is ok with it you might be able to go to sleep later and play a session. just make sure your spouse is ok with it. even better if your spouse also plays.

and hopefully when they're old enough you'll play together anyway.

if you have another child only a year or two apart however that'll set you back a couple years probably. 2x children is like 4x time sink for some reason.

Depends what kind of adult. I'm in my 30s and I still game for hours on multiple days in the week. But I don't have a family with kids to maintain.

Yes, just dont have kids

Sure.

Energy to play? Well that's a tough one...

Only on the weekends, between chores.

I drive a truck for work, and it's my home during the week. Theoretically, I've got some gaming time while waiting on loading docks, but in terms of providing time for gaming, I can't count on it. Some of my customers are annoyingly efficient. I prefer to nap anyway.

I could always play once I'm parked at the end of my trip, but after 11 hours of driving, I'm often too mentally fried to even watch TV.

Plus, my truck's power inverter can't handle running my gaming PC anyway. So it waits for me at home.

I have all the time I ever did (little), but I use it differently. I’d rather take a walk in the mountains with my wife than play a game. In my mid-30’s I quit smoking, smoking, and playing games. Nothing against those things; I just wanted to use my time differently.

I read a ton more too, and find it far more enjoyable.

I don't prioritise gaming anymore. The family comes first. Work comes next. Gym. Hunting. Fishing. They all come before gaming. I still do game a bit. Mostly once I've put the kids to bed and I get a few hours me time. But honestly, I'm normally too tired and instead put a brain-dead show on that I don't need to think too hard about.

No, but i neglect important things to play anyway.

People watch about 3 hours of television a day. Yes, you have time to play video games.

No, most definitely not, and it.... Sucks.

I just wanna sit down and play Minecraft or something again.

Yes. mid-40s, no kids, and I work from home.

Wife and I play RPGs on the weekends (currently enjoying Last Epoch and waiting for the next Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader DLC), and during the week I usually play single player games (right now in the middle of Lies of P and Fire Emblem: Awakening).

Looking forward to when my office moves into a new building; I will then have an hour-ish commute by train where I can whip out my Steam Deck and catch up on my backlog.

Until then, it’s basically just getting whipped out for a couple 15-ish minute sessions most days.

Yes. Less but yes.

Yes, as I chose not to have kids and my wife also enjoys video games.

Edit: However, I do tend to hyperfixate on other interests for periods of time.

Time? Actually yes.
Am I spending it on gaming? Rarely.
What else do I do? Biking (if time and weather is right) or this:

I'm 39. I have a 15 year old daughter. 2 year old son and a partner who's still hot as hell.

Sometimes I can get away with a few cow levels in diablo 2...

Steam deck helps

Yes but I need to carve out time for it. I explicitly warn others about that, that I will be unavailable because I'm playing. I usually think of it as a choice between playing vs something else I enjoy doing, namely sports outside, watching a show, reading a book, coding, etc.

To expand a bit on the "I explicitly warn others" it also means I dedicate time for others but I also expect to have time for myself, including to play. I actually even recommend other adults to do so. Video games can be absolutely amazing. They can be an art form or something casual, they can be about any topic. I genuinely believe that adults who do not play, and I mean in a healthy fashion, are missing something. It's just so damn fun!

IMHO if you consider it a valid hobby like any other and don't try to "cheat" by squeezing it in in addition to everything else, removing time for chores or worst, sleep, then sure you might have time for it BUT, yes, like every other hobby it is a privilege.

Edit: anyway, back to Clair Obscur. FWIW finished BG3 last year (3x), Elden Ring this year (offline), so I do spend a bit of time on long, very long games, but it does take me a while.

Even when I do I can't truly enjoy it cause I know there's something I gotta do.

I play some during winter, but only single player games with good storylines, and decent and relatively easy gameplay. I live so far north that I get maybe 1 hour of actual sunlight in the middle of winter and due to global warming I get maybe one or two weekends for skiing so I'm glad for video games to keep me entertained along with books.

What I don't have any time for is TV.

If you got time to browse the internet, you got time to game

Yeah. What else would I do after work?

it's about making time.

just got a retroid pocket 5 and installed steam player on it.

I love it. I've played at least an hour every day since I've got it.

Sometimes, but I have to make time. So I think in gaming sessions of 30 minutes to a few hours at most, depending on how much time I have. Then maybe I can't play for a week.

This means it's quite hard to pick what I want to play. Grand strategy or Civ is out for me, takes too long. Long campaign games I never even start. Often I end up with the same few staples like CS2, or a digital board game against AI. Lately I've been enjoying Balatro a lot

No.

I don't have a "battlestation" that I game at anymore. No more 5 hour raids in Naxx. I have a steam deck and thats all I need for now.

no :( I play Balatro on my phone when I poop, and I boot up Minecraft about once a year...

It helps to not have kids. Also helps to have a job with downtime, like when i. recompiling the software or publishing which takes forever sometimes.

I do, but I don't have a whole lot else going on

I get an hour or so if I’m lucky.

Yes. Make time.

I make time but now a days I just don't have the same zest for it as I did when I was younger. I think I also just don't see it the same as I did before. I'm sure there'd be games I'd love to spend 100+ hours on in one sitting but I just don't have the time. It no longer feels fun or accomplishing to spend so much time on games and I just feel like I'm wasting my time which could be spent being more productive. That's just me though....

Yes. I have lots of time but I do not have a kid yet. We are planning to adopt a kid in a year so check in after a year.

Been using my free time to cook, write, code and game.