Ask Lemmy

If you can't find ANY time for gaming, then you just don't actually want to game.

If you truly have zero time for any sort of hobby or interest after work, kids, etc. then you need help of some kind.

Barely, and only if I sacrifice sleep for it

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.

I play a few hours a week with my boomer squad. (8 to 10) Our ages range from 35 to 55.

We play Fortnite and have lots of fun. I play socially these days. It's a much about the game as it is about bullshitting. We're all middle class, no rich boys.

I work full time in a management position, prepare dinner for the family, tidy up the house with my wife and play some games while she reads or watches series. How wouldn't there be time?

I work from home so I can play a round or two of my fave shooters to break the monotony in the middle of my work day. Then around two hours after work.

I'm 37 with two young kids. I don't play as much as I did before marriage and kids, but I still find time. Mainly in the evenings when everyone else has gone to bed (though that's also time I might put toward other hobbies).

I also have a weekly time set up with some buddies, which is especially great since social time also took a big hit with having kids.

Like anything competing for my time, it has to be something I’m really interested in watching/playing/doing. Too many other things going on to devote time to crappy games, books, or tv shows.

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.

As an adult with a family: Yes, but nothing like when I was younger. The biggest shift for me primarily was to games that are not competitive or multiplayer.

I can't do the 25-60 minute intense gaming sessions with or against other players. I have to be able to stop everything I am doing at a moment's notice. I feel bad having to drop on people.

Also I can't do the FPS games now because I'm old and my eyes just can't anymore.

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.

Yes, I play practically every day. I'm a teacher, so plenty busy with work. But I come home to a kid-free environment, so I can really relax.

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

Yes

i make time. i also work in film which is a feast or famine, contract based industry. you make quite a bit of money, and i value free time more than material things. so i can stretch my dollar quite far.

i invested in a gaming PC, and a home gym. i work out at home, cook at home, play vidja at home. i really only go out to shop for groceries or visit friends and family.

video games have always been a social outlet for me, and a comfort as well. so i make time for it.

Sure. I do have some benefits that help, like a WFH schedule, but even on the work in office days I can do games that don't require a ton of time, like a few Monster Hunter hunts (3-12 mins a hunt) or a few Warframe missions, but thats usually because I don't cook those days, don't exercise,and I have no kids and don't really do other entertainment except reading, podcasts and some of those I do while gaming. When I read I often don't game same day.

I used to game more, but had less sleep, so I do less in work from office days. WFH days I get much more time (2-2.5 hours not spent driving/getting ready), plus I can sometimes play less intense games while working, on short breaks, during lunch, etc. I do usually exercise and cook those days, but even then there's time. I don't go out often except for the exercise though.

My friends play games together every night and I join them pretty often. I could game more if I wanted, but I’ve been losing interest. All of us are broke as hell, but no kids, no marriages.

I think pc spec creep will eventually leave us in a situation where we need to upgrade but can’t afford to and I’m not sure what we’ll do then.

Everyone's life is different. Some people spend more time working but have more opportunities for breaks, and others have shorter hours but more a clearly delineated work-life separation where they must be working through the whole period. There are people with a large amount of responsibilities outside of work, and others that have little to none.

Anyway, it's not true for all but many people do have the time they just choose to spend it on other types of entertainment. Sometimes consciously, other times because TV and social media are the path of least resistance, even if it's less satisfying.

My suggestion is to consider a Steam Deck and use the suspend function readily. You might not have hours to play, but maybe you can pick up 15 minutes here and there, which is more satisfying then you might think.

I get an hour or so if I’m lucky.

I often play video games and then retroactively realize that I didn't really have time for it. I try to focus video game time around my kids so it's both video game time and kid time, but that severely limits what our options are.

Obviously, yes is the answer. Partners and kids don't prevent you from doing anything. Hell, your partner might play with you and the kids might watch.

Only problem is that kids learn "mine" before they learn "I can't pause Dark Souls, let me get to a safe spot and I'll refill the goldfish, I don't want to lose these... Damnit."

One to two matches a day. Thats as much time that I get.

I'm over 50 and every night somewhere between 8:30 and 9:30 I jump online and play 1 or 2 hours of strategy games with my friends. I don't watch TV. I don't watch sports. This is my evening entertainment.

I have three kids who are all teenagers now and I've basically done this throughout my adult life. This has been a way for me to keep my friend group together. I have about six friends who do this with me and they are from a variety of different places, some as far back as junior high and high school. I think it's an extremely healthy way for a bunch of nerds to have a social group.

Yes

Work full time, no overtime. Family and kids. Regularly play a couple hours each evening after taking care of everything else. Actually get an extra hour on days I work from home because of no commute and I can do laundry and other stuff on breaks.

If you have kids, you really don't have time. And when you do have time, you don't have the energy.