How long can you go without serious gaming sessions?

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Breath_of_the_Dying

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I know it comes off as an addiction, and it probably can be argued as one, but I used to play video games daily. It is a major hobby of mine, but not the only hobby. Most of the time during the week it could be an hour or so a day and a few more over the weekend. I have no problems not playing games for a few days if I'm hanging out with friends or on a vacation or something. As I go longer without video games, I get a "quick fix" with playing a quick mobile or flash TD game when I can spare a chance.

But recent events in my life have cause me to seriously cut back on my long gaming sessions. Its been a few weeks since I could just sit down and have a nice relaxing time playing some game, whatever it may be. You could look at my accounts (bnet, steam, etc) and see I havent been on for awhile.

Its not a matter of money, its just that I have other things taking up my free time, and the segments I get just dont give me enough time to have a good gaming session anymore. I shouldnt really complain because I'm still having a lot of fun, but I've been having a growing itch to make time to get some serious gaming sessions back in.

So I was just wondering how people treat their gaming habits: if they could just stop for a few weeks, or just walk away completely.
 
Depends on the game. I've actually been playing a lot lately because I decided that it would be wasteful if I didn't complete the games I bought on Steam so I'm trying to knock out a backlog.

I don't have kids and my wife isn't needy so I can get away with a lot. If it's a good game then I will spend quite a bit of time trying to complete it otherwise I might play an hour or so a day during the week, maybe even skip a day, and then spend more time playing on the weekend. Get another hobby and it's easy to set gaming aside; when I'm not playing games I'm trying to play guitar.

I'd say that if I actually had more important stuff to do then I could easily stop gaming probably because I don't play MMO's. I avoid MMO's because I don't want to be tied down.
 
I tend to only game when I have nothing else going on. Though I tend to make myself have nothing to do since I've started playing Supreme Commander... each game takes so long though and building a vast army takes even longer.

So used to being able to build a vast, destructive army in a few minutes from my years of StarCraft play, this is nothing like that.
 
djoye said:
I'd say that if I actually had more important stuff to do then I could easily stop gaming probably because I don't play MMO's. I avoid MMO's because I don't want to be tied down.
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Exactly why I stopped MMO's. I really enjoyed raiding and my guild was pretty fun for being a guild with casual-hardcore identity issues. Once I stopped, I felt like I had a lot more free time. Not that my gaming at the time significantly decreased, but my schedule was a lot more flexible.

Skillz said:
I tend to only game when I have nothing else going on. Though I tend to make myself have nothing to do since I've started playing Supreme Commander... each game takes so long though and building a vast army takes even longer.

So used to being able to build a vast, destructive army in a few minutes from my years of StarCraft play, this is nothing like that.
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I think when HotS comes out I'll be making time again if my schedule doesnt free up by then.
 
i've played about 60 minutes of video games in the past 3 weeks.

i just haven't found any interesting games recently. there's a few i want try (xcom and farcry 3), but i'm waiting for them to be on sale on steam again since i have $35 sitting in my steam wallet.
 
I'm in my 30s, married with 2 kids. I game about 10 hours a week but often times I go weeks on end without gaming. During those windows, I"m usually spending even more time with my family, outdoors and creating memories. Come to think of it, I could probably do without gaming completely and live a better life. However, it is a hobby and I do enjoy it so it remains in my life.

In short, I could go as long as I want since there are better and more important things in my life to do than game.
 
I work 2 jobs and have a 3 year old. I'm lucky I'd I get an hour of uninterrupted seat time and maybe get 3 hours total in a week so I've had to break my addiction. Ah I miss the good old days. Before that I would game a little every day with routine multi hour sessions. My best was a 9 hour stretch when I first played Mass Effect.
 
For as long as it takes for a new good game for me to get engrossed in.

There are times that I go back to the good ol' games and beat them again. But There are times when I go months without playing a game. I might've even gone a year (though I sort of doubt that memory) because there just weren't any good games I was interested in.
 
I didn't play for 5 months until now.
I play about 2-3 rounds of BF3 or finish a section on Mass Effect, then go back to doing other things.

I'm not the same hardcore gamer I used to be, but I still like to game very much.
The weird thing is that I have a ton of games, but I play less. When I played more, I had very few games.
 
I can go without gaming indefinitely. But sometimes I'll play something for hours at a time.
 
5 weeks now since my pc died. Watching some gaming streams helps a bit, honestly, but I'd much rather hop in a few games. I did go about 7 months back in 2008 when I worked on the road, too

Starting up a relationship has certainly provided more...options for me over the last month.
 
I guess I'm pretty much the opposite of this - I only really play games any more to kill free time. I haven't been drawn into anything for a long while now, I almost have to force myself to start something up when there's nothing else to do.
 
right now i live alone and am in a long distance relationship. i like to play video games daily; it helps me unwind after work and i have a lot of fun doing it.

when my girlfriend's in town i play maybe once a week or so, maybe less. sometimes i like to play a little more, but it depends on if a new game has just come out, or how often i see my online friends in person.
 
I haven't had a serious game session since prior to BC being released for WoW.

These days I might play an hour a week or two.
 
However long I want. It's a hobby for me, not an addiction. There have been times when I was wasting too much time playing games and so I just told myself I wasn't going to play for a certain number of months and I've never had a problem with keeping to it.

These days it's the other way around, I have so little free time that if I want to play a particular game I usually have to go out of my way to make time for it.
 
My only real "gaming" fix anymore is playing Minecraft on a server I host with a few friends from my area. I play the older pokemon games sometimes when I'm on the train, but really I'd rather read/study then.

Gaming is far less important to me now that I'm in my mid 20's, pay my own bills, have to keep a roof over my head/food in my stomach.

But to answer the question, I play Minecraft about a few hours each week. Though I rarely play alone, so I consider it more socializing than anything else. Living in the middle of no where without a car can make it difficult to socialize any other way during the week.
 
I used to tell myself that "meh I don't really need to game, I can just do other things and be like "other older people"", boy is that the biggest joke of a thing you could tell yourself. If you grew up as a gamer, you'll always be a gamer. You get to thinking, as you grow older, that there's a ton of people that don't game, and they have tons of fun with other hobbies (cars, gardening, traveling, building something), how are they able to not understand how great video games are?

The problem is that if you didn't really grow up with it, you'll never get it. Sure you could pick up a game here or there in your 30's/40's, but it'll never compare to starting on an atari or a NES, and continuing that trend throughout your life. I'l basically come out and say it, but I don't think I could last more than a week without games. If I made it to day 7, I'd be annoyed, grumpy, probably incapable of paying attention for more than a few minutes. I suppose that's due to being used to gaming every single night, IF only for just 30 minutes to get that quick fix and "just get that one thing done". I'm not saying I have an issue (hah, who hasn't said that before who did have an issue), but if I really needed to quit for whatever reason, it'd feel like a part of me was lost. I'm not saying I couldn't quit...but there would have to be a DAMN good reason for it, like if I didn't, my eyes or fingers would fall off or something. Any medical reason really.

Sure I have other hobbies, like working on my car and constantly improving it for the track and learning as much as I can about it, or watching sports with family and friends, or going out, or constantly improving my programming skills (lifelong process really), but nothing quite compares to something you've done since you could walk. It's unique, and it's there with you until the end.
 
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I usually play an hour a day. I have a PC, PS3, X360 and a WiiU and usually pick one and play for an hour or so. I don't watch much TV so I don't see it as being a problem since a lot of people get home from work/school and waste hours watching mind numbing TV.
 
20 years ago, I'd spend pretty much every free moment playing video games. Non stop weekend gaming was a normal thing for me.

Now, I rarely game during the week and I might play for 6 hours during the weekend (usually broken up into 2 hour segments).

Occasionally a game will come along that I just have to play every day, but these are getting more and more rare as the years go by. Most games now just give me a "been there, done that" feeling.
 
BiH115 said:
I used to tell myself that "meh I don't really need to game, I can just do other things and be like "other older people"", boy is that the biggest joke of a thing you could tell yourself. If you grew up as a gamer, you'll always be a gamer. You get to thinking, as you grow older, that there's a ton of people that don't game, and they have tons of fun with other hobbies (cars, gardening, traveling, building something), how are they able to not understand how great video games are?

The problem is that if you didn't really grow up with it, you'll never get it. Sure you could pick up a game here or there in your 30's/40's, but it'll never compare to starting on an atari or a NES, and continuing that trend throughout your life. I'l basically come out and say it, but I don't think I could last more than a week without games. If I made it to day 7, I'd be annoyed, grumpy, probably incapable of paying attention for more than a few minutes. I suppose that's due to being used to gaming every single night, IF only for just 30 minutes to get that quick fix and "just get that one thing done". I'm not saying I have an issue (hah, who hasn't said that before who did have an issue), but if I really needed to quit for whatever reason, it'd feel like a part of me was lost. I'm not saying I couldn't quit...but there would have to be a DAMN good reason for it, like if I didn't, my eyes or fingers would fall off or something. Any medical reason really.

Sure I have other hobbies, like working on my car and constantly improving it for the track and learning as much as I can about it, or watching sports with family and friends, or going out, or constantly improving my programming skills (lifelong process really), but nothing quite compares to something you've done since you could walk. It's unique, and it's there with you until the end.
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I grew up gaming and I have no such problems. First console was a NES when I was 5 or so, and was playing PC games a couple of years before that (had older siblings, so was playing games I could never have figured out how to set up myself :D).
 
These days seemingly eternity. I haven't played a single video game in almost 2 months. Sad, I know. I still upgrade my PC even though I rarely play games anymore. Makes no sense but its still fun :D
 
I can't go very long without any gaming, it's just in my blood! If i went out of the country or on vacation somewhere i can do without gaming, but if im home, i have to game! lol.
 
I used to play at least an hour a day, and several on weekends. Now I can go weeks without gaming at all. It's more that there isn't anything that much holds my attention anymore; I've really liked games that mix good graphics with (fairly) deep story lines. Mass Effect and Dragon Age, really. I jump in a game of BF3 every now and then, perhaps an hour of D3 every month, but that's it. I'm not sure if it's me growing out of it or just games aren't as engrossing as they used to be.
 
I'm really only playing a couple games right now, NHL13 on xbox, trying to get my legend card and TF2 casually. I go through these spurts where I play 2 or 3 EASHL games a night for a couple nights in a row, then I switch to playing 2Fort for a couple nights if I have time.

I usually get the urge if it's been a week or more to pick up a controller or fire up TF2.
 
I usually go weeks or months without playing anything. Then I will get on a serious binge for a week or two and then go back to nothing for months.
 
Lately i have been playing less and less. i haven't played in a few days. but i still hop on my vent almost every day and kick back with old friends. we must sound like a bunch of old men. half the time we spend trying to find something to play and the other half we spend recalling the good old days, the golden age of Rome(gaming) and its sack and pillage by the barbarian hordes(consoles) and now the current dark ages.

but really i have just lost interest in most games. I really think since i have played so many games that most every thing seems repetitive. The only games i have actually enjoyed in a few months are "to the moon" and "the Stanley parable" which are very short but they have unique and interesting storylines, which is all that interests me these days.
 
Anymore I only play games when I have no other obligations or interests happening so it's getting rare. I probably game 2 hours per month.
 
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