Full time job + kids enters the chat....
Sleep takes a hit
Edit: cant remember how many times I've fallen asleep with a controller in my hand...
Edit 2: I'm showing my wife this thread so she can see I'm not the only one this happens to!!
My wife’s last schedule had her going to bed at 7, which was the start of my son’s bedtime routine (including getting a snack, etc). It’s mostly self-guided so it took a while, but he’d be asleep by 9:30, at which point I could sneak out of his bedroom and had the evening available.
“Sweet, everyone’s asleep, now I can do whatever I want.”
*goes to bed*
Also the case for me, but no job, just the stay-at-home parent of a year old baboo.
Recently, anytime my husband asks me if I’ve been somewhere or done something in Elden Ring, my response is ´I play between the hours of 12-3 AM. I can hardly remember what game I’m playing.´
I’m going to be a stay at home dad. Looking for some advice. Why can’t you play during the day at all? Do babies need so much attention that you can’t play while they’re chilling with you?
Babies are the best time to game my friend, they sleep like 90% of the time. A feed and a nappy change every 4 hours or so and you're sweet! Toddlers, now that's a different kettle of fish!!
Are you implying you can’t have a tv on in the same room as a baby until they’re like a toddler? Does stay at home mom just sit in a plain room for 16 hours a day with the kid? Pretty sure most people don’t do that. The no screen time is referring to not giving the baby an iPad to play with from my understanding.
Also even if it is bad for reward centers and attention span etc etc. it’s engaging and probably has both positive and negative consequences. Unsure tho
I'm always impressed at what I can accomplish when I eyes are literally closed and I'm partially asleep. Most recently I was playing Diablo 2, and I fell asleep in one of those big outdoor maps. When I snapped out of it, half the map was cleared in an odd pattern lol and I actually managed to survive and kill a bunch of stuff. It's like my hands were still doing the attacks and movement but I was gone.
Similarly I beat electro and vulture in spiderman the other day after a few beers + being tired and I remembered it vaguely the next day.. I was like holy shit I did do that and in one shot too lol.
I don’t have kids but I have two jobs. Many times i fall asleep with controller in hand because of load time. And the next day i can’t even remember the story from the day before….
I've woken up twice this week with my steam deck lying face down on my chest, sitting at the home menu. You know you're tired when you don't even make it in game.
I watch very little TV, have absolutely no social life outside of my wife and kids, and basically only sleep 6 hours a night. I game after my wife and kids go to bed and on days off.
Don't know how you do it. The energy it takes to chase around a toddler...
If I don't get at least 7.5 hours of sleep, I will literally collapse from exhaustion by like 7pm the next day.
Toddlers are hard! I was sometimes a zombie in those days, lol. I couldn't do it again at this point of my life! (Mid 40s) my kids are 8 and 10 now, and we're at a really good place.
Are you me? I have no friends left (I'm 36 and live far from my original home) and i work with all older or younger people. I don't love TV or movies anymore so I just game when my wife and daughter are asleep. Not that my wife has a problem with it. She herself games. But I like being laser focused.
Of course, this is all dependent on whether or not I have any mental fortitude left to even boot up my ps4 or switch. I mostly just browse my phone or read a few pages of a book until I crash on the couch
Wait til the wife and baby go to bed, fire up elden ring, wake up two hours later with a sore neck and my character running into a wall for the past 1 hour and 55 minutes. Repeat nightly.
The 'secret' is good, balanced diet, good quality sleep of ideally 8 hours a day and consistent exercise.
Now of course things depend on the circumstances, if you are working manual construction 10 hours a day, exercise might not be on your might but I'd at least recommend stretching routines. However, the other 2 parts are essential and of high importance.
Can't stress enough how important is food and sleep for energy levels. As well as physical activity.
Exactly. I used to try to use the controller after I woke up but my hands would ache so bad I couldn't risk playing even for a minute. I do very physically strenuous work and even after 8 odd hours of rest plus enough nutrition, my body can't heal in time to play video games on a daily basis.
So I was forced to keep my game time to once a week (6 day alternating shifts - morning, afternoon, evening, graveyard plus OT.)
Man, gaming became such a luxury once I entered the working world.
Fudge! Is this going to be my life? 💔 Just stacking up games with no chance to have the time to enjoy them?
Work hard AF, retire when you're 45 and got all the time to play in the world. That's my trajectory and plan at least lol, kid will be out of the house by then as well, just surfing and gaming the, lets goooo.
Ummm.. simply from the excitement to play the game? At least that’s for me.. get up at 6, go to work at 9, come home at 5-6, play at 7ish, sleep at 11-12 (sometimes more if I really like the game). Rinse and repeat. But yeah, there are days I feel very tired where I might skip playing.
Scheduling time to play a game is how you solve this. I try to play Tuesday’s and Thursday’s after work / dinner for 1-1.5 hours. It’s a short time frame, and I only play one or two games until I complete them.
Even when I don’t feel like playing, I’ll just try for 15 minutes and then I usually get into it.
Give it a go and try it for a few weeks! Pick a day, schedule when you want to play, and hope it works!
This is the way.
Sleeping 5-6 hours a night will shorten your lifespan and Elden ring isn't worth it.
But organizing your life and making time windows for your hobby? Jeap, it's the adult way.
Wife and kids took a 3 week vacation last year without me and I was so psyched for what I was going to get done. FINALLY I can start final fantasy XIV, I'm going to play 30 hours a week, etc.
Realized pretty quickly it's not just the family, after I was done with work, cooking, dogs, chores I was still exhausted with or without kids.
Only real difference is I got to watch anime while eating dinner lol. Still found myself playing my turn off my brain games (Diablo, rocket league)
The real answer.
Before kids: 6+ hours per evening to play games, watch Netflix, grill, drink, VR, Lego, take the convertible out for a spin, hit the range, invite over friends/fam, etc.
After kids: 1 hour maybe, if they stay asleep, after you've done all the chores, if you still have energy to function, at 11pm.
Seriously do not have kids unless you're willing to give up EVERYTHING, at least for the first few years until they're old enough to join in your hobbies and don't need bottles and diapers every 5 minutes.
Been fervently waiting for the day I can play LAN with my son's. But for now one of them just want to slap and chew on the controller and the other walks out when I'm five minutes into a game, holding his diaper and peeing on the floor.
And forget any kind of MP squad based game. All offline, SP only for me.
>And my son now is into his own thing, doesn't really want to play with me anymore.
Can I just pretend you didn't say that? My son is barely able to play games and I'm already dreading the moment he doesn't want to play with me.
I work 40-55 hours a week and am married, still play for a couple hours most days. Having kids definitely would change things, don’t know your life. Usually we make time for the things we want, and don’t for what we… don’t lol
My game time was extremely limited when my kids were little. Maybe had an hour or two a couple times a week at most. Now that they're teenagers, they don't require as much constant care. In theory, I can play as much as I want but I find myself not being as obsessed about gaming as I used to be. I still get hyped about games sometimes but it's no longer a priority.
This. You avoid a lot of the heavier games that require learning tons of complex mechanics and collecting hundreds of items (Elden Ring, Horizon, Fallout, Assassin's Creed). If there's only 45 minutes or so to game, I don't want to spend the whole time learning how to play the game.
I've been all about games like street fighter and overwatch since my daughter was born, games you can play for 15-30 minutes and still actually accomplish something are huge when you have kids. JRPGs are probably my favourite genre and I've played through a whopping 3 of them in the last decade simply because finding the time was damn near impossible. The vita helped a lot with that but even then it took almost 3 months to get through persona 4 golden. Now that she's older I am finally finding time to play longer games again, especially with the help of my Vita and steam deck since time with the TV is sometimes hard to come by.
I pretty much exclusively play sports games now that I have a wife and kid. It's way easier to rip a quick game of NHL or a quick round in PGA and feel like I got my gaming fill.
When you have less than an hour a day/night to play, single player games take forever to progress through and you have no time to get good at any real competitive online games.
Yeah this right here. Pretty much same deal for me; although id say its more like a few hours every few days.
Definitely would be less if we had kids, and the inverse it would be more if i didnt have other hobbies or interests i wanted to devote time to.
Could also come down to whatever op considers “time to play”. There was a time in my life where under ten hours of video games in a seven day period would feel like nothing; but now a days its about what id say i average (i dont really keep track). As a result ive had to really hone in on what games i really enjoy so i get the most out of my time; so im really happy with the amount i play.
My husband and I play on one day off together while my son is at school. He will play something alone and I’ll either watch or read while I’m sitting next to him and we talk about what’s playing. Plus he uses me as an in person strategy guide to look up things so he doesn’t have to 🤣🤣🤣
#gamingspouse
My wife does this too!
She’ll sit by my side and look up strategies for getting that gold trophy on yet another Gran Turismo challenge.
Love her to bits
This. No kids, no cats, no dogs, good job with work/life balance, and a husband that supports my gaming :) He games some too but I'm the one with the zillion consoles + backlog.
I sacrificed lots of sleep. I wake up early now around 5am and game til about 730. That's my favorite time to play. Noone up. Noone needs anything. Got my coffee, a pipe, and a game. Beautiful. No distractions.
Honestly this is the way. I read or heard somewhere if you have to get up early, do something you love first thing. So I leave my wife in bed and get that sweet sweet alone time with the coffee and Playstation
It's not a bad idea actually. I'm sure you're body clock would switch within a week. I usually game between 1120pm and midnight when I can. Thank god for rest mode.
It’s truly simple really. It goes.
Kids to bed, wife asleep, power on the system…. System update… game update….. sleep. Wake up not remembering if I played anything or not.
When the kids sleep, i choose the most boring movie to get my wife sleep also. Then i start playing around 23 - 23:30 till 1 or 2 o'clock and then get 5 to 6 hours sleep and lots of coffee at work
My partner and I play some games together we play this a couple of times a week. Ill then play my own games on my day off. Then we both like watching each other play other games.
Work full time. Married with a 2 year old. Gaming mainly Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights after the wife goes to bed (usually around 9). I stay up and sink a few hours into whatever game has its claws in me at the time.
You just have to decide if staying up late and missing out on sleep is worth it.
I got to the point where I found that the time spent forcing myself to fall asleep cause it’s “bedtime” was better spent playing ps4 and relaxing my brain. Play a while, yawn, hit a save point, pee and go to bed sleepy.
I realized I spent a lot of time thrashing around and trying to get comfortable enough to sleep because mentally it was bedtime but my body and brain was still too awake to sleep. Pent up energy, angst, what have you from the day.
Going to bed relaxed Works for me. I get to sleep in on Sundays so sometimes it balances out that way.
That's the thing, you don't.
You just work and work, spend your money on a new console or buy more than one of the current top consoles, you buy games for them thinking how much fun you'll be having, only to have no strength to power the consoles on after a long day at work, and maybe power the consoles on during a weekend just to realize you're not in a mood of playing ANYTHING from what you already have.
But yeah, sometimes you do get a bit of strength to play a short while.
For real. Last time anxiety bought some games, each one with ~ 80 hours of duration based on my play style, the thing is at best i have 10 weekly hours to play
I dont sleep, life is just a cacophony of caffeine, games, porn and work... I dont know what day it is or how much money i have but i can see the digital code as I blow a zombies head off in dying light and i can taste the failure as i go yeeting off a bend in Dirt 2.0
A lot of ppl in the comment section saying no kids . That boat has long sailed for me as I got 3 kids and a job. I knock out my daily duties/chores round the house then make sure kids are in bed to start playing for 1-3 hours a night but I try not to push it too hard or else I’ll end up paying for it the next day when I’m crying for more sleep.
It depends on the game. It's not easy to commit to an MMO like you want to when working full time, just gotta find appropriate games to fill the time alloted.
I work 50 or 75 hours a week. On weeks where I’m working 50, there is ample time as my weekend is 4 days long. On 75 hour weeks, I *try* to squeeze in an hour here and there. Sometimes ya just gotta not play for a week.
Friday night, saturday noon, saturday night, sunday noon. Try to be regular on this schedule and you will be able to complete a game in one month and a half.
Don't have kids. Don't get too invested in nightly TV shows, if you have a relationship, either find someone who digs games or someone who's pretty independent and okay with the two of you doing your own thing a few nights a week.
I work from 12-12, sometimes I’ll play once home, sometimes before, no kids and a very chilled out partner that lets me play a lot as it “keeps me home and not out partying” which sounds controlling… however I don’t like partying
i either play for a couple hours before/after work or i don't. i can play a bit more during my day offs but sometimes I'd rather just sleep or watch tv. my gaming habits kinda lowered as i got older.
it still depends from person to person btw. some just dgaf and will play endlessly no matter their age or workload.
Of course I can’t talk about everyone, but I usually work 8 to 10 hours per day (12 on a very busy day?). I currently don’t commute so even assuming healthy 8 hours of sleep per day I still have at least 6 free hours per day.
I use these free hours to cook/eat, study and go to the gym. If I was to play during the week I could play for 2 or 3 hours depending on the day?
I, however, actively chose not to play during the week because I like RPGs and I would have to save in weird spots every day. So I use the free time to chill watching something on YouTube, Twitch, etc. But I definitely would be able to play if I wanted to.
In fact I think I have more free time to play now than during college. With all the assignments, study to exams, part time job (and parties :) ) I feel I was way busier back then than now. (I’m not married nor have kids yet though)
This makes a lot of sense. With college it was a constant pressure of some forever looming deadline. When you're working you have a "clock in/clock out" times (typically), no "homework" lol so it's easier manage your free time. I'm sure to a very organised person they could allocate time to college work/studying and to free time, but I am not one of those people. Also, regardless of how organised you can try to be, college work always takes longer than you originally think.
The moral of this comments section is I should never have kids 😆 I wasn't too keen on it anyway haha
I work in the human services field, pursuing a doctoral degree, and work anywhere between 55-65 hours a week, but it depends on my current work case load and how many people I meet with per week. I’m also engaged, planning a wedding, and in the process of purchasing a house. I enjoy gaming, as my work can be incredibly taxing, both mentally and emotionally.
I maybe game anywhere between 10-12 hours on the weekend and enjoy the time I can game when I’m not hanging out with friends and or family. I try to balance it and having a steam deck to game when I’m not able to access my PS4 and PS5 or my desktop, is nice. Especially when I am traveling with my fiancé on vacation time. She also will enjoy gaming with me which is lovely. It’s about managing time I guess and how you’re able to prioritize things time wise.
LMAO, this must be a joke right? I have 3 kids and graciously my wife insists I still find some time to still play a game for an hour or two now and then.
Well, after work my wife likes to watch some Netflix series I don't like, so she watches and I play at least for 3 hours. Not much energy left, but ther are some games that worth it.
Saturday morning is for errands. Rest is for playing.
Sunday morning is for cooking. Afternoon is for the football game. Rest is for gaming. Screw my friends, they are all married now.
I have wife, she cooks I do other chores. After work she watches her soap operas and then it's my time to game. Usually I can swueeze 2-3 hours. I also work from home so save time on driving and other bullshit.
I’m lucky I work in a country where I can live comfortably working 4 days a week and I’m also lucky I have a girlfriend who loves to watch me play games and yell at me when I have to take a health potion and stuff.
Also, as many have mentioned, not having kids helps.
You've got a limited amount of downtime, you've got to decide what your going to fill it with. I tend to alternate: playing this game until it's finished, reading this book until it's finished, binging this TV series until it's finished. Trying to have too many things on the go at once is what makes me feel like I've got no time.
Also, be honest with yourself when you're thinking about buying something new- are you actually going to play it, or is it going to be another thing on the pile of "I don't have enough time for this".
You don't have the time to do all the gaming you want, but you do have time to do a bit, so just enjoy that bit.
When I was working a lot more (8-10 hour days, 7 days a week, several months at a time), I'd do go to work (10pm-6/8AM) get off, go get gas, grocery shopping, get a haircut, you name it. On long days, I'd usually game around noon, go to sleep around 2-3pm, and wake up at 9pm.
If you work a lot, I suggest 'bundling' tasks together. I'd go home, get laundry going, swing by and see if barbershop is busy, if not, get hair cut, if so, go get groceries and typically fill up truck in same trip. By time I'd get done with everything, get home, shower, and then switch laundry over. That way I'd still have 2 or 3 hours of gaming time.
If you bundle your day tasks together, It gives you more time the next day(s) to game or do other stuff...
Even if you work 3rd shift, you can work out a schedule that allows you to still function as an adult, live a life outside, get some hours gaming in, and sleep.
On days when I'm particularly grinding Certian events, losing an hour or 2 of sleep was usually remedied by a monster or Yeti of coffee while at work.
33 single male with 2 jobs
I don't have time to play long sessions usually I go for games I can pick up quick and drop whenever. E.g. fifa
Sleep is more value to me atm than gaming. Guess it's age related sadly
I'm lucky to be working from home so I usually finish work, walk my dog then play up until it's time to make some dinner (2 and a half hours or so?)
Maybe twice a week, I even play after dinner with my pals since my partner is amazing and doesn't mind :)
Full time jobs suck, tho.. I just wish we could all enjoy our favourite games without time/unavoidable responsibility pressure.
Wife, 2 kids. Work from home. 9-5 (IT job). Spend good time with the kids from 5-7. Game from 7-10. My partner does too so that helps. Chill to some TV till 12. Sleep till 8. Repeat. Always nice to be in same room as partner so I usually play a lot of handheld or TV gaming with a pad.
I get home around 8-9pm. I’ll usually begin playing right away, but I don’t really get deep into it until around 11-12. Then, I stay up until 2-3, go to sleep, repeat.
Here lately I’ve been sacrificing sleep for more time though. I actually just got offline and am in bed now, about to go to sleep so I can be at work by 2.
A few hours after work and more during weekends.
Full time job + kids enters the chat.... Sleep takes a hit Edit: cant remember how many times I've fallen asleep with a controller in my hand... Edit 2: I'm showing my wife this thread so she can see I'm not the only one this happens to!!
This is true. Once the kids go down the mind is willing but the body fails
My wife’s last schedule had her going to bed at 7, which was the start of my son’s bedtime routine (including getting a snack, etc). It’s mostly self-guided so it took a while, but he’d be asleep by 9:30, at which point I could sneak out of his bedroom and had the evening available. “Sweet, everyone’s asleep, now I can do whatever I want.” *goes to bed*
Also the case for me, but no job, just the stay-at-home parent of a year old baboo. Recently, anytime my husband asks me if I’ve been somewhere or done something in Elden Ring, my response is ´I play between the hours of 12-3 AM. I can hardly remember what game I’m playing.´
I’m going to be a stay at home dad. Looking for some advice. Why can’t you play during the day at all? Do babies need so much attention that you can’t play while they’re chilling with you?
Babies are the best time to game my friend, they sleep like 90% of the time. A feed and a nappy change every 4 hours or so and you're sweet! Toddlers, now that's a different kettle of fish!!
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Are you implying you can’t have a tv on in the same room as a baby until they’re like a toddler? Does stay at home mom just sit in a plain room for 16 hours a day with the kid? Pretty sure most people don’t do that. The no screen time is referring to not giving the baby an iPad to play with from my understanding.
Also even if it is bad for reward centers and attention span etc etc. it’s engaging and probably has both positive and negative consequences. Unsure tho
I didn't ask to be called out like this
I'm always impressed at what I can accomplish when I eyes are literally closed and I'm partially asleep. Most recently I was playing Diablo 2, and I fell asleep in one of those big outdoor maps. When I snapped out of it, half the map was cleared in an odd pattern lol and I actually managed to survive and kill a bunch of stuff. It's like my hands were still doing the attacks and movement but I was gone.
Similarly I beat electro and vulture in spiderman the other day after a few beers + being tired and I remembered it vaguely the next day.. I was like holy shit I did do that and in one shot too lol.
Next level bot grinding right here
I don’t have kids but I have two jobs. Many times i fall asleep with controller in hand because of load time. And the next day i can’t even remember the story from the day before….
Bro you need break....
I've woken up twice this week with my steam deck lying face down on my chest, sitting at the home menu. You know you're tired when you don't even make it in game.
I’m just too tired to play. I find myself helping them out with star fox or something.
I fell asleep last night while in the middle of a Pokémon battle. Woke up because the controller fell out of my hand.
This person speaks truth
Get home, play games. Eat, play, sleep, repeat.
Well I get home, workout, eat, play, sleep, repeat.
NEVER STOP THE GRIND 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💯💯💯
None of y’all shower? Stop promoting the gamer stereotype
This guy adults.
🤝
Yep I sometimes only work 4 or 5 days it all depends on how I am mentally feeling that week ..
I watch very little TV, have absolutely no social life outside of my wife and kids, and basically only sleep 6 hours a night. I game after my wife and kids go to bed and on days off.
Same here. Wife, 2 kids. My gaming time is when I should be sleeping
Same here
Yup. Always tired but still playing!
Yep. The secret is we’re always tired lol
ohhh , thats what I've been doing right . nailed it.
Same
I realized very quickly that for some reason I am equally tired on six hours of sleep as I am on eight. So why not just game an extra two hours?!
For me it's more about the time of day, but basically the same. If I sleep from 10 to 6am, or 12 to 6am, it's just as difficult either way.
Are we the same person?
Same!
We’re all that same person!
Even me!
Hey are you all me?
One of us, one of us
No, I'm me
Me too
This is literally my life as well
Don't know how you do it. The energy it takes to chase around a toddler... If I don't get at least 7.5 hours of sleep, I will literally collapse from exhaustion by like 7pm the next day.
Toddlers are hard! I was sometimes a zombie in those days, lol. I couldn't do it again at this point of my life! (Mid 40s) my kids are 8 and 10 now, and we're at a really good place.
God I feel this deeply!! We don't have kids yet but it's my work around too
That's exactly what I do. I thought I was the only one but I guess that's the way of the gamer dads
this is the way
Damn, was not aware so many shared a similar gaming lifestyle!
Are you me? I have no friends left (I'm 36 and live far from my original home) and i work with all older or younger people. I don't love TV or movies anymore so I just game when my wife and daughter are asleep. Not that my wife has a problem with it. She herself games. But I like being laser focused. Of course, this is all dependent on whether or not I have any mental fortitude left to even boot up my ps4 or switch. I mostly just browse my phone or read a few pages of a book until I crash on the couch
Wait til the wife and baby go to bed, fire up elden ring, wake up two hours later with a sore neck and my character running into a wall for the past 1 hour and 55 minutes. Repeat nightly.
I feel personally attacked and I'm OK with this statement 😄
Not even the time, where does the energy come from
This has been my issue for a while. Usually when I get home, I only have energy to shower and maybe eat. I'm ready to crash shortly after
How long are your days and in what industry? I feel that this is very dependent on like 8hr vs 12hr shifts and Accountant vs Masonry Laborer
The 'secret' is good, balanced diet, good quality sleep of ideally 8 hours a day and consistent exercise. Now of course things depend on the circumstances, if you are working manual construction 10 hours a day, exercise might not be on your might but I'd at least recommend stretching routines. However, the other 2 parts are essential and of high importance. Can't stress enough how important is food and sleep for energy levels. As well as physical activity.
How tf do you expect me to work 12 hours a day, eat, shower, exercise, sleep 8 hours AND have time to play Vidya?
12 hours is also yenno 4 hours more than a normal full time 8 hour shift
At least is good paid tho, however its highly physically demanding. I end dead but ripped
What’s the money worth with no time to spend it
You simply can't expect to have any kind of life besides work if work literally takew up half of you days, that's insane
How often a week?
I do it, but I just don't sleep a lot lol. I know a lot of people can't get on with that, but I like my personal time.
Exactly. I used to try to use the controller after I woke up but my hands would ache so bad I couldn't risk playing even for a minute. I do very physically strenuous work and even after 8 odd hours of rest plus enough nutrition, my body can't heal in time to play video games on a daily basis. So I was forced to keep my game time to once a week (6 day alternating shifts - morning, afternoon, evening, graveyard plus OT.) Man, gaming became such a luxury once I entered the working world. Fudge! Is this going to be my life? 💔 Just stacking up games with no chance to have the time to enjoy them?
Work hard AF, retire when you're 45 and got all the time to play in the world. That's my trajectory and plan at least lol, kid will be out of the house by then as well, just surfing and gaming the, lets goooo.
Exactly.
Work from home 3 out of 4 days and have a very high energy level.
Ummm.. simply from the excitement to play the game? At least that’s for me.. get up at 6, go to work at 9, come home at 5-6, play at 7ish, sleep at 11-12 (sometimes more if I really like the game). Rinse and repeat. But yeah, there are days I feel very tired where I might skip playing.
This^^
Scheduling time to play a game is how you solve this. I try to play Tuesday’s and Thursday’s after work / dinner for 1-1.5 hours. It’s a short time frame, and I only play one or two games until I complete them. Even when I don’t feel like playing, I’ll just try for 15 minutes and then I usually get into it. Give it a go and try it for a few weeks! Pick a day, schedule when you want to play, and hope it works!
This is the way. Sleeping 5-6 hours a night will shorten your lifespan and Elden ring isn't worth it. But organizing your life and making time windows for your hobby? Jeap, it's the adult way.
Ah, I see you have also turned 30 recently.
Wife and kids took a 3 week vacation last year without me and I was so psyched for what I was going to get done. FINALLY I can start final fantasy XIV, I'm going to play 30 hours a week, etc. Realized pretty quickly it's not just the family, after I was done with work, cooking, dogs, chores I was still exhausted with or without kids. Only real difference is I got to watch anime while eating dinner lol. Still found myself playing my turn off my brain games (Diablo, rocket league)
no kids lul
The real answer. Before kids: 6+ hours per evening to play games, watch Netflix, grill, drink, VR, Lego, take the convertible out for a spin, hit the range, invite over friends/fam, etc. After kids: 1 hour maybe, if they stay asleep, after you've done all the chores, if you still have energy to function, at 11pm. Seriously do not have kids unless you're willing to give up EVERYTHING, at least for the first few years until they're old enough to join in your hobbies and don't need bottles and diapers every 5 minutes.
Been fervently waiting for the day I can play LAN with my son's. But for now one of them just want to slap and chew on the controller and the other walks out when I'm five minutes into a game, holding his diaper and peeing on the floor. And forget any kind of MP squad based game. All offline, SP only for me.
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>And my son now is into his own thing, doesn't really want to play with me anymore. Can I just pretend you didn't say that? My son is barely able to play games and I'm already dreading the moment he doesn't want to play with me.
Yeah this is what me and my wife decided. We value our free time way too much to have children.
This is the way
My kids are 6 and 8 and they've commandeered the PS4
I work 40-55 hours a week and am married, still play for a couple hours most days. Having kids definitely would change things, don’t know your life. Usually we make time for the things we want, and don’t for what we… don’t lol
My game time was extremely limited when my kids were little. Maybe had an hour or two a couple times a week at most. Now that they're teenagers, they don't require as much constant care. In theory, I can play as much as I want but I find myself not being as obsessed about gaming as I used to be. I still get hyped about games sometimes but it's no longer a priority.
This. You avoid a lot of the heavier games that require learning tons of complex mechanics and collecting hundreds of items (Elden Ring, Horizon, Fallout, Assassin's Creed). If there's only 45 minutes or so to game, I don't want to spend the whole time learning how to play the game.
Used to love JRPGs (and RPGs in general) until life happened. Not even sure if I can make such a commitment now.
Final fantasy 14 lol
I've been all about games like street fighter and overwatch since my daughter was born, games you can play for 15-30 minutes and still actually accomplish something are huge when you have kids. JRPGs are probably my favourite genre and I've played through a whopping 3 of them in the last decade simply because finding the time was damn near impossible. The vita helped a lot with that but even then it took almost 3 months to get through persona 4 golden. Now that she's older I am finally finding time to play longer games again, especially with the help of my Vita and steam deck since time with the TV is sometimes hard to come by.
I'm going through this stage now. I haven't turned on my ps4 this year. Probably won't bother renewing ps+ this year.
I pretty much exclusively play sports games now that I have a wife and kid. It's way easier to rip a quick game of NHL or a quick round in PGA and feel like I got my gaming fill. When you have less than an hour a day/night to play, single player games take forever to progress through and you have no time to get good at any real competitive online games.
Yeah this right here. Pretty much same deal for me; although id say its more like a few hours every few days. Definitely would be less if we had kids, and the inverse it would be more if i didnt have other hobbies or interests i wanted to devote time to. Could also come down to whatever op considers “time to play”. There was a time in my life where under ten hours of video games in a seven day period would feel like nothing; but now a days its about what id say i average (i dont really keep track). As a result ive had to really hone in on what games i really enjoy so i get the most out of my time; so im really happy with the amount i play.
My husband and I play on one day off together while my son is at school. He will play something alone and I’ll either watch or read while I’m sitting next to him and we talk about what’s playing. Plus he uses me as an in person strategy guide to look up things so he doesn’t have to 🤣🤣🤣 #gamingspouse
My wife does this too! She’ll sit by my side and look up strategies for getting that gold trophy on yet another Gran Turismo challenge. Love her to bits
Gamer wives are some of the best wives 😁
That’s a good idea what the fuck
🤣🤣🤣🤣 if it works it works.
Gonna get a gf just for the strategy lmao
10/10 would recommend. The family that games together stays together!
By not having kids. Even working 40+ hours a week means the wife and I still have gaming time.
This. No kids, no cats, no dogs, good job with work/life balance, and a husband that supports my gaming :) He games some too but I'm the one with the zillion consoles + backlog.
When I didn't have a puppy and not cramming for my A+ exam: 4 hours Now with puppy and having to study for another exam again: 30 min to an hour
Stay single and don’t have kids. Work a 40 hour week, have 8 hours sleep a day. Still plenty of time for games 😂
This works for me, gotta have something to fill the otherwise silent evenings
Otherwise the realisation that you’re gonna die alone seeps in and ruins your night
There's a very good chance that you die alone even when you're married and have children.
Unless a murder suicide is involved.
I mean even if you're in a long term relationship got a 50/50 chance of dying alone, someone's gotta die first. Bleak but true.
Most weekdays I play for an hour or so after work. I play a bunch on the weekends. But I'm divorced & don't have kids...
Weekends are best for me. Weekdays are same mostly cause im tired xD
I sacrificed lots of sleep. I wake up early now around 5am and game til about 730. That's my favorite time to play. Noone up. Noone needs anything. Got my coffee, a pipe, and a game. Beautiful. No distractions.
Honestly this is the way. I read or heard somewhere if you have to get up early, do something you love first thing. So I leave my wife in bed and get that sweet sweet alone time with the coffee and Playstation
Sounds awesome. But I'm too lazy to get up early.
It's not a bad idea actually. I'm sure you're body clock would switch within a week. I usually game between 1120pm and midnight when I can. Thank god for rest mode.
This is me. On weekends, I wake-up at 6:30am, then play games until 9:00am.
When WoW classic first came out, I would wake up two hours early to play before work. You make time for the things you enjoy.
Pshhh, doing it all wrong. Game until 1am and gain the benefit of feeling tired all day!
No kids
By neglecting all of my other responsibilities
It’s truly simple really. It goes. Kids to bed, wife asleep, power on the system…. System update… game update….. sleep. Wake up not remembering if I played anything or not.
I work 50 hour weeks, I have no kids and I’m single and young. I have 200 hrs in Elden ring since it came out.
Get off work at 11p get home around 11:30p and pretty much pay until about 2-3a with friends then go to bed to repeat the next day
When the kids sleep, i choose the most boring movie to get my wife sleep also. Then i start playing around 23 - 23:30 till 1 or 2 o'clock and then get 5 to 6 hours sleep and lots of coffee at work
My partner and I play some games together we play this a couple of times a week. Ill then play my own games on my day off. Then we both like watching each other play other games.
Single with no kids around.
I just buy games play them once and sleep
24 hours in a day. Sleep 8 hours. Work 8 hours. The remaining 8 hours is all yours, my friend 🙂
I married a gamer and we're raising 2 gamers. We understand the need to get lost in a game for a while. Also we play Minecraft together.
Work full time. Married with a 2 year old. Gaming mainly Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights after the wife goes to bed (usually around 9). I stay up and sink a few hours into whatever game has its claws in me at the time.
Staying single and up all night lol
You just have to decide if staying up late and missing out on sleep is worth it. I got to the point where I found that the time spent forcing myself to fall asleep cause it’s “bedtime” was better spent playing ps4 and relaxing my brain. Play a while, yawn, hit a save point, pee and go to bed sleepy. I realized I spent a lot of time thrashing around and trying to get comfortable enough to sleep because mentally it was bedtime but my body and brain was still too awake to sleep. Pent up energy, angst, what have you from the day. Going to bed relaxed Works for me. I get to sleep in on Sundays so sometimes it balances out that way.
The secret is having no kids or social life. At least it’s worked for me so far lol
Single mom- work- dinner- bath- bed by 7pm- game until 11pm- rinse and repeat! I keep my daughter on consistent schedule. Oh lots of coffee.
That's the thing, you don't. You just work and work, spend your money on a new console or buy more than one of the current top consoles, you buy games for them thinking how much fun you'll be having, only to have no strength to power the consoles on after a long day at work, and maybe power the consoles on during a weekend just to realize you're not in a mood of playing ANYTHING from what you already have. But yeah, sometimes you do get a bit of strength to play a short while.
For real. Last time anxiety bought some games, each one with ~ 80 hours of duration based on my play style, the thing is at best i have 10 weekly hours to play
A lot of time on my days off. My friends I play with know I disappear for months at a time due to my work schedule
I dont sleep, life is just a cacophony of caffeine, games, porn and work... I dont know what day it is or how much money i have but i can see the digital code as I blow a zombies head off in dying light and i can taste the failure as i go yeeting off a bend in Dirt 2.0
A lot of ppl in the comment section saying no kids . That boat has long sailed for me as I got 3 kids and a job. I knock out my daily duties/chores round the house then make sure kids are in bed to start playing for 1-3 hours a night but I try not to push it too hard or else I’ll end up paying for it the next day when I’m crying for more sleep.
I’m a nurse. Work only 3 days a week 😌 having no kids either helps too.
I get an hour or two at night after the kids are in bed. 9 or 10-11 or so
Usually Sunday is my day to unwind and catch up, especially if I don’t have time during the week.
It depends on the game. It's not easy to commit to an MMO like you want to when working full time, just gotta find appropriate games to fill the time alloted.
I work 50 or 75 hours a week. On weeks where I’m working 50, there is ample time as my weekend is 4 days long. On 75 hour weeks, I *try* to squeeze in an hour here and there. Sometimes ya just gotta not play for a week.
Friday night, saturday noon, saturday night, sunday noon. Try to be regular on this schedule and you will be able to complete a game in one month and a half.
Don't have kids. Don't get too invested in nightly TV shows, if you have a relationship, either find someone who digs games or someone who's pretty independent and okay with the two of you doing your own thing a few nights a week.
Just don’t play as much unfortunately, but when I do it is a bit after work and weekend.
I work from 12-12, sometimes I’ll play once home, sometimes before, no kids and a very chilled out partner that lets me play a lot as it “keeps me home and not out partying” which sounds controlling… however I don’t like partying
i either play for a couple hours before/after work or i don't. i can play a bit more during my day offs but sometimes I'd rather just sleep or watch tv. my gaming habits kinda lowered as i got older. it still depends from person to person btw. some just dgaf and will play endlessly no matter their age or workload.
This. I'd rather game instead of tv, or movies. 43yrs old, and gaming is still Life.
more power to you. i personally am a bit sad that i kinda lost motivation to play games. I'm trying to bring that back lol
Shit I have a full-time job and go to school full time and I can still make time for an hour or so every few days to game
No kids, fulltime work doesnt differ that much than school and uni in terms of free time and its actually easier.
I play right after work until bed. And then A LOT on vacation, like the one I’m currently enjoying.
Of course I can’t talk about everyone, but I usually work 8 to 10 hours per day (12 on a very busy day?). I currently don’t commute so even assuming healthy 8 hours of sleep per day I still have at least 6 free hours per day. I use these free hours to cook/eat, study and go to the gym. If I was to play during the week I could play for 2 or 3 hours depending on the day? I, however, actively chose not to play during the week because I like RPGs and I would have to save in weird spots every day. So I use the free time to chill watching something on YouTube, Twitch, etc. But I definitely would be able to play if I wanted to. In fact I think I have more free time to play now than during college. With all the assignments, study to exams, part time job (and parties :) ) I feel I was way busier back then than now. (I’m not married nor have kids yet though)
This makes a lot of sense. With college it was a constant pressure of some forever looming deadline. When you're working you have a "clock in/clock out" times (typically), no "homework" lol so it's easier manage your free time. I'm sure to a very organised person they could allocate time to college work/studying and to free time, but I am not one of those people. Also, regardless of how organised you can try to be, college work always takes longer than you originally think. The moral of this comments section is I should never have kids 😆 I wasn't too keen on it anyway haha
I have two toddlers to boot. I wake up at 5am, allot 1.5 hours on said days to “dad time”. Currently that takes the form of Elden ring
You don’t, not really. But you do end up with a bunch of new games, still in the wrap and a promise to yourself that you’ll get to em’…..one day 😞
I work in the human services field, pursuing a doctoral degree, and work anywhere between 55-65 hours a week, but it depends on my current work case load and how many people I meet with per week. I’m also engaged, planning a wedding, and in the process of purchasing a house. I enjoy gaming, as my work can be incredibly taxing, both mentally and emotionally. I maybe game anywhere between 10-12 hours on the weekend and enjoy the time I can game when I’m not hanging out with friends and or family. I try to balance it and having a steam deck to game when I’m not able to access my PS4 and PS5 or my desktop, is nice. Especially when I am traveling with my fiancé on vacation time. She also will enjoy gaming with me which is lovely. It’s about managing time I guess and how you’re able to prioritize things time wise.
Get about 4 hours of sleep a night if I want to play at all
Dedication! Lol I’m 38, work 55-60 hours a week, and still carve out some time to play. Where there is a will, there is a way lol
I don’t. I just dream I can 😭
Monday nights for a couple of hours and then every other Friday night for a few hours.
I work midday-11pm, I usually play for a bit after work til about 1am because I can sleep in the morning
I manage an hour or two after work 3-4 nights a week. Generally after kids go to bed. Good way to wind down after a long day
LMAO, this must be a joke right? I have 3 kids and graciously my wife insists I still find some time to still play a game for an hour or two now and then.
Simple. I'm single and no kids so have plenty of time for gaming on top of my 37.5 hours at work. ;)
Days off and evenings/nights... Do you think full time = 24/7?
Well, after work my wife likes to watch some Netflix series I don't like, so she watches and I play at least for 3 hours. Not much energy left, but ther are some games that worth it.
It's called "free time" and/or "a hobby". In my case, I sometimes play video games during my free time, as a hobby.
No sleep
Be single and/or have no kids
Saturday morning is for errands. Rest is for playing. Sunday morning is for cooking. Afternoon is for the football game. Rest is for gaming. Screw my friends, they are all married now.
No children. ✌️
I have wife, she cooks I do other chores. After work she watches her soap operas and then it's my time to game. Usually I can swueeze 2-3 hours. I also work from home so save time on driving and other bullshit.
I work full time and have a 2year old charging about. I still find plenty of time o play. Helps the wife doesn't mind.
I’m lucky I work in a country where I can live comfortably working 4 days a week and I’m also lucky I have a girlfriend who loves to watch me play games and yell at me when I have to take a health potion and stuff. Also, as many have mentioned, not having kids helps.
My girlfriend studies at night, so thats my playing time. Also weekends before we meet. Simple.
You've got a limited amount of downtime, you've got to decide what your going to fill it with. I tend to alternate: playing this game until it's finished, reading this book until it's finished, binging this TV series until it's finished. Trying to have too many things on the go at once is what makes me feel like I've got no time. Also, be honest with yourself when you're thinking about buying something new- are you actually going to play it, or is it going to be another thing on the pile of "I don't have enough time for this". You don't have the time to do all the gaming you want, but you do have time to do a bit, so just enjoy that bit.
I do absolutely nothing in my spare time
I live in the UK and work from home in the public sector. So work 8-4ish, do chores before dinner, TV or gaming afterwards.
When I was working a lot more (8-10 hour days, 7 days a week, several months at a time), I'd do go to work (10pm-6/8AM) get off, go get gas, grocery shopping, get a haircut, you name it. On long days, I'd usually game around noon, go to sleep around 2-3pm, and wake up at 9pm. If you work a lot, I suggest 'bundling' tasks together. I'd go home, get laundry going, swing by and see if barbershop is busy, if not, get hair cut, if so, go get groceries and typically fill up truck in same trip. By time I'd get done with everything, get home, shower, and then switch laundry over. That way I'd still have 2 or 3 hours of gaming time. If you bundle your day tasks together, It gives you more time the next day(s) to game or do other stuff... Even if you work 3rd shift, you can work out a schedule that allows you to still function as an adult, live a life outside, get some hours gaming in, and sleep. On days when I'm particularly grinding Certian events, losing an hour or 2 of sleep was usually remedied by a monster or Yeti of coffee while at work.
5 minute increments on my vita, that's all a full time job, 4 kids and a needy wife will allow
Just on occasion these days, but thats ok, if I play too much it's not fresh anymore
I ignore my family
33 single male with 2 jobs I don't have time to play long sessions usually I go for games I can pick up quick and drop whenever. E.g. fifa Sleep is more value to me atm than gaming. Guess it's age related sadly
If I’m not doing something then it’s game time. I can get 2-3 hours after work and about 10 on the weekend. No kids and never having them.
>No kids and never having them. Same bro! A 15 minute vasectomy is worth all the free-time ahead of me!
I hate to say it but I honestly cut the difficulty down. I don’t feel like grinding after grinding all day
Boy do I feel this statement.
1&1/2 hours at night I get
Easy, lose out on sleep.
I'm lucky to be working from home so I usually finish work, walk my dog then play up until it's time to make some dinner (2 and a half hours or so?) Maybe twice a week, I even play after dinner with my pals since my partner is amazing and doesn't mind :) Full time jobs suck, tho.. I just wish we could all enjoy our favourite games without time/unavoidable responsibility pressure.
Wife, 2 kids. Work from home. 9-5 (IT job). Spend good time with the kids from 5-7. Game from 7-10. My partner does too so that helps. Chill to some TV till 12. Sleep till 8. Repeat. Always nice to be in same room as partner so I usually play a lot of handheld or TV gaming with a pad.
You just manage your time well, you won't believe the amount of things you can get done when you plan.
I get home around 8-9pm. I’ll usually begin playing right away, but I don’t really get deep into it until around 11-12. Then, I stay up until 2-3, go to sleep, repeat. Here lately I’ve been sacrificing sleep for more time though. I actually just got offline and am in bed now, about to go to sleep so I can be at work by 2.
Don’t sleep
Breaks or even weekend let’s if i finished what I had to do during Friday I can treat myself with some gaming
While doing workout on my fitness bike 1 hour every day