As adult gamers, finding the time to play video games can be a challenge. There’s work, family commitments, chores and other time pressures that inevitably eat into the time that we used to spend shooting pixels in their pixel-y faces with other pixels.
We each have different ways to eke out a little more time with the controller.
Here are the ways that Grown Gaming’s team of adult gamers find more time to play video games:
TOM SVALINN: For me, it’s a dynamic balance to find the right time to game. I tend to fit my gaming around other commitments and occurrences rather than strictly assign time to play games. The balance comes because there are always competing priorities and unexpected changes in one’s schedule. The risk is that gaming becomes a giant time-sponge that soaks up all available free time.
Gaming is a fantastic hobby but sometimes it does verge on the edge of all-consuming. Sure, I attend to commitments including professional development, social events and spending time with my non-gaming spouse, but there’s also a spectrum of tasks in the non-urgent and non-important quadrant of decision making where I could spend my time. I suspect I am bastardising the Eisenhower matrix of urgency-importance, as it’s not entirely clear how it applies to leisure time, but at least in relation to gaming, I’ve found it actually isn’t a homogeneous activity. When a limited-time event comes out or a new game is released (eg. when Cyberpunk finally releases), it does rightly increase that urgency.
So in summary, I find time by treating it as a fluid activity where the hours may change and adapt. I attempt to balance it out with other ways to spend my time and listen to feedback when I need to adjust.
FRANCESCA POGGI: I am currently unemployed, so for me right now gaming is a bit easier.
For me, gaming is a relaxing time, I tend to do a lot during the weekends. I suppose for me it also depends on the kind of game I am playing, as—for example—I can easily get swept away for almost the whole day if I am playing The Sims 4!
It’s a lot about trying to pick the right game for the time I have available.
JOHN SANTINA: I sometimes find myself gaming more than I have any right to, while other times I just can’t seem to get anywhere near my controller.
I have a young family, so my days are filled with working and family stuff, but when I’m on a good run, I can get an hour or two in each evening through the week.
When I’m low on time, I find setting a routine works best. Saying that I’ll be playing video games on a Tuesday and Friday evening means that my wife knows that I’m all hers on the other days and usually won’t begrudge me spending the 2 evenings I’ve set aside for gaming. As a bonus, I can often stay up later on the Friday, getting a decent session in.
My daughter has just started gaming, too, so I’ll occasionally get my fix in with some Little Big Planet or something similar. It’s not the same as playing an epic open-world RPG by myself, but more enjoyable on a lot of levels.
As my kids get older and want to spend less time with me, I’m sure I’ll have more time to play. Until then, I’ll enjoy the ride.
How do YOU find time to play more video games as adult gamers?
