For those with families: How much game time do you get?

Azureth

Supreme [H]ardness
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Those that have families, how much game time do you get?
 
Well, during the week, I can usually squeeze in an hour or so after the kid is asleep. Weekends, me, my wife and son play LAN red faction guerrilla and smack each other with hammers.
 
I usually average one hour at night maybe two days out of the work week, and an hour or two on the weekends.

Granted, it's not much, but unlike when I was single, it does keep me from playing nonstop and finishing a whole game in a couple days.

What's wrong with that nonstop part? ;)
 
Depends on how much sleep I want to sacrifice to the gaming gods. Maye a 3 hour night here and there during the week. Longer during the weekend because I stay up so late.

God I'm 42 and still a gamer. LOL.
 
I have a 3 month old and a 4 year old and have 560 hours over the past year into Street Fighter 5; averaging out to about 1.5 hours a night. Of course some nights I would skip and on weekends I might play a little more. Just beat Uncharted 4 and getting into Breath of the Wild so I'll be playing that in the next few weeks..or months.

Basically, the kids are in bed by 8pm, I usually then spend 8pm-9pm doing stuff around the house (laundry, lunches, ironing, etc.) 9pm is my hard-stop for that stuff. Then 9pm to 11pm is my time. Fortunately the baby is a great sleeper so I don't have to worry about going to bed too late.

Granted I don't watch much TV as most of my time goes to playing games.

Remember, the average American watches 4.3 hours a night, so a few hours of gaming instead ain't so bad :D
 
My kids go to bed at 8pm, so usually between 8:30pm until I go to bed which is normally between 1-2am.
 
I have five kids. After they head to bed at 8 I spend time with my wife until 10ish and then we go to bed. Sometimes on the weekends I can get an hour here or there.

That said, I DO spend a decent amount of time with other hobbies, so I guess the possibility is there.
 
Not a lot. Maybe I can get in a two hour session at night if I have nothing else going on, but that's a rare day. I "game" like once or twice a week for maybe a total of 30-45 minutes in the week. Yay parenthood. :D Honestly though - I don't mind giving up games to play with my son. :)
 
You need to quit your job and get a divorce put all your kids up for
adoption then you will finally have some time but you might have to wait for Steam Sales because you won't have a job.
 
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We have our first kid due this summer. Wife and I have a pretty fluid routine of her knitting on the sofa and me gaming between 7 and 9. I'm up a 4am every morning so I'm in bed no later than 915. Once kiddo gets here I expect to get a couple hours in a week, maybe. Doesn't bug me though. I've gamed so much in the past three decades that I feel as though I got my time in. Looking forward to the new adventure that is coming our way.
 
We have our first kid due this summer. Wife and I have a pretty fluid routine of her knitting on the sofa and me gaming between 7 and 9. I'm up a 4am every morning so I'm in bed no later than 915. Once kiddo gets here I expect to get a couple hours in a week, maybe. Doesn't bug me though. I've gamed so much in the past three decades that I feel as though I got my time in. Looking forward to the new adventure that is coming our way.

In the beginning, if your child takes to the feeding method you choose, your gaming time won't be all that shortened. Babies sleep a lot. That said, all are different and some are more mobile much earlier, so your mileage may vary.
 
I have a deal with my wife, where she gets one night a week to go out with her girlfriends or whatever, and I have one night a week for gaming. So usually Friday or Saturday night, I'll fire up the PC right after dinner, pop on my headphones, and game until midnight.
 
I have a 14 month old girl and on weekdays I get an hour of playtime 2 hours if Im lucky but its late at night around 11pm. I play until 1am is my absolute limit.I just play Overwatch. On weekends I play whenever I can.
 
Some nights an hour, some night none, weekends depends on how busy we are. But overall in a week I would say less than 5 hours.
 
I can play 2-3 hours a night after the kids go to bed. It helps to have an understanding wife also. Sometimes she will deal with the kids bedtime and tell me to go play. Score!
 
I can play 2-3 hours a night after the kids go to bed. It helps to have an understanding wife also. Sometimes she will deal with the kids bedtime and tell me to go play. Score!

Man I wonder if our wives are sleeping with the same other guy.. either way BACK TO THE GAME! ;) LOL I couldn't resist.
 
About an hour after dinner a couple nights a week.

Friday night is game night for me, so in the office after dinner with a drink and I'll play until midnight or until the wine bottle is empty, which ever comes 1st :)

Saturday and Sunday is either working on the house and/or actually going out and enjoying life with the family.
 
During the week, a couple hours scattered throughout the afternoon through 8 PM, from there I have to fit in a shower, reading and getting to sleep.

Friday and Saturday, I game if I'm not hanging out with the family or cooking/grilling/smoking.
 
As much as i want, ain't no woman stopping me from anything.

Note, none of this was copied from another forum.
 
Zero. In fact, I'm not going to update my Windows gaming machine. It's going to fade away.
 
I have 2 kids now and my gaming time has taken a severe hit. I sometimes get an hour or two after both kids go down. On the weekends, if I am lucky, I can get a hour in while they nap (if they nap) and then a couple hours when they go to bed.
 
3 & 5 year old. About an 1.5 hours after they go to bed, and about 1 hour before they wake up on the weekends.

I honestly try to hide my compute time from my kids. During waking hours for the kids, I'm never on my computer, tablet, or smartphone unless I'm looking up recipes or paying bills, and limit myself to about 10 minutes at that.
 
I'll make another comment...

It's very interesting, but now that I have younger kids I actually find that most of my free time goes to playing games. As much as I like some of my other hobbies such as woodworking and working on cars, it's hard to do those things at 8 or 9 o'lock at night after they go to bed. I can't exactly pull out the saws and have at it at that hour. It's just too loud and there's just not enough time in the evenings. Playing games is easy, I just turn on my machine and when I'm done I turn it off. There's no setup involved.

The same goes for weekends when the kids are napping and if my wife is out doing groceries or something. I have to be around the house and listening, but I have to be quiet so they can sleep. Again, a pretty strong limitation as to what I can do. Playing games fits here.
 
I think it's fun to Marry a video game more than jumping from one game to another. Like I mastered Borderlands One got to all the bosses looking for secrets hidden quests.
That is the fun part of gaming. The problem with gaming is when you are bombarded by lots of different games at once. You switch from say a game that just came out but you want to finish it but don't have the time. So Marriage and video games work with the right types of games it's easier to play 12 games in your Steam collection that you favorited rather the divide your time up and trying to tackle your entire 300 game list. Even the 12 games you have together might be too much for you to tackle but might break up the system of being bored by the same mechanics from one game.

The top games on Steam are basically the same games that people try to improve on a daily basis the order never changes because people married those Counterstrike and Dota games plus they run well on low end PCs.
 
1 hour a day , I take a gaming laptop to work and I play at my lunch break..

when I come home I usually don't game except maybe a little on Saturday, with a wife and kids they are just more fun than any video game.


I will game more if I find a game we all play as a family.. this was the case for a about a year when I had all of the kids playing minecraft together.. and again when I loaded us up with the new star wars battlefront.. With family, couch coop games are a huge win as well to get some gaming in :)
 
3 & 5 year old. About an 1.5 hours after they go to bed, and about 1 hour before they wake up on the weekends.

I honestly try to hide my compute time from my kids. During waking hours for the kids, I'm never on my computer, tablet, or smartphone unless I'm looking up recipes or paying bills, and limit myself to about 10 minutes at that.

I'm not sure why you're hiding it? Seems the average response has something to do with not wanting their kids to see the parent gaming, to not have the kid game, or some amalgamation thereof. Why is that? Is this a modern parent thing I don't understand?

I think it's fun to Marry a video game more than jumping from one game to another. Like I mastered Borderlands One got to all the bosses looking for secrets hidden quests.
That is the fun part of gaming. The problem with gaming is when you are bombarded by lots of different games at once. You switch from say a game that just came out but you want to finish it but don't have the time. So Marriage and video games work with the right types of games it's easier to play 12 games in your Steam collection that you favorited rather the divide your time up and trying to tackle your entire 300 game list. Even the 12 games you have together might be too much for you to tackle but might break up the system of being bored by the same mechanics from one game.

The top games on Steam are basically the same games that people try to improve on a daily basis the order never changes because people married those Counterstrike and Dota games plus they run well on low end PCs.

latest
 
I get some time, but only if I stay up late. Which I don't really do, since I'm dead tired from the day. So, no time, really.
 
I'm not sure why you're hiding it? Seems the average response has something to do with not wanting their kids to see the parent gaming, to not have the kid game, or some amalgamation thereof. Why is that? Is this a modern parent thing I don't understand?



latest

The main reason is that we found that it isolates us, and then we think that's normal. Imagine walking into a room, and you have three people, nose buried in their own devices, sitting there, and not talking, not interacting with one another..in the same room. I don't have to imagine it, because I've seen it.

Now, we do some things together on the PC, but it's extremely limited. Mostly, as I said, looking up information or recipes. We tried games suitable for 3-5 years old, but we found very quickly that they relied on it more and more for entertainment and just passing idle time when they could be doing other things physically.

So we use technology only as a tool. I'm sure when they get older, they well dive into it more, but in the mean time.. I rather play with my kids, grow a garden (spring is here!), read a book, teach them to cook than sit in a room full of family, alone.
 
A few hours a week if there is anything worth playing. Nothing has really captured my attention for the last ~6 months so I play Black Ops 2 for 30 minutes a few times a week.
I probably play 4 hours a week with my son on coop games (Xbone).
 
The main reason is that we found that it isolates us, and then we think that's normal. Imagine walking into a room, and you have three people, nose buried in their own devices, sitting there, and not talking, not interacting with one another..in the same room. I don't have to imagine it, because I've seen it.

Now, we do some things together on the PC, but it's extremely limited. Mostly, as I said, looking up information or recipes. We tried games suitable for 3-5 years old, but we found very quickly that they relied on it more and more for entertainment and just passing idle time when they could be doing other things physically.

So we use technology only as a tool. I'm sure when they get older, they well dive into it more, but in the mean time.. I rather play with my kids, grow a garden (spring is here!), read a book, teach them to cook than sit in a room full of family, alone.


Same here and I agree with it all.. :) we learned the same way that on the computer/console gaming usually means you aren't interacting with the family..

it was amazing how my family started to interact again once we really limited their game time and now I've finally gotten them into some of the great board games we play as a family :) - the original Co-Op games
 
I have a 3 month old and a 4 year old and have 560 hours over the past year into Street Fighter 5; averaging out to about 1.5 hours a night. Of course some nights I would skip and on weekends I might play a little more. Just beat Uncharted 4 and getting into Breath of the Wild so I'll be playing that in the next few weeks..or months.

Basically, the kids are in bed by 8pm, I usually then spend 8pm-9pm doing stuff around the house (laundry, lunches, ironing, etc.) 9pm is my hard-stop for that stuff. Then 9pm to 11pm is my time. Fortunately the baby is a great sleeper so I don't have to worry about going to bed too late.

Granted I don't watch much TV as most of my time goes to playing games.

Remember, the average American watches 4.3 hours a night, so a few hours of gaming instead ain't so bad :D

I envy you. I am in the exact same situation, kid wise. I have a 4 year old and a 3 month old. Most days I don't play at all since the second one came along. She is not a great sleeper and tends to be colicky so that means a lot of walking and crying. For the first time in a few years i have a game backlog. :(
 
Friday nights is what I take. 9-1ish... I too could make it happen more but I like my daughters to be in bed and not witness me spazz out. Personal preference of course.
 
Bad parent of 3 here, chiming in.

I work 8am-6pm with a travel time of 35 minutes. I get home, we argue about what to do about dinner, by the time we finish its 830pm - i watch some tv with the wife, kids play some god awful game i loathe. Roblox or five nights at freddies. 930 they goto bed, my wife goes to bed at 10 -- i sometimes stay up until 12 playing overwatch if my friends are on. Otherwise i look at cars on craigslist that i want to buy, but cant...

Being 35, if i dont goto bed by 1030pm, i feel punished the next morning. More and more, i find myself going to bed rather then gaming so if we averaged it -- i would say 5 hours a week.
 
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