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When Do You Game and for How Long?

Jam Dingo said:
I retired after I sold my company a couple of years ago, so I have plenty of time for it, fortunately. Will typically play a couple of hours a day, but can be more if I lose track of time. I generally prefer the evenings cos it can feel a bit zombifying just sitting on the couch during the day. When you retire in your early 40s you have to make an effort to keep busy and active etc.
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Congrats on retirement! That's an amazing milestone to achieve. Hope you continue to make the best of it, man 🙂
 
Used to play a LOT until last year, then got into some other hobbies and now I don't play near as much lol.

Still like putting a few hours a week whenever I feel like playing some vidya. Favorite time might be on weekends right after waking up: cup of coffee and steak deck in bed, pure bliss. Never before going to bed tho, that's book time.
 
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I always have some sort of handheld gaming device on me - either the Thor, Steam Deck, or Switch. Best results are if it's something I can easily put into sleep mode and resume later. The next step is to play something that doesn't have a lot of action - an interactive story or RPG - something that doesn't require immediate input all the time. Then, when I have a few minutes here and there, I can pop it on and enjoy. For example, I usually get about 40-45 minutes in every day during my lunch breaks. I've finished SOOO many RPGs this way.

Weekends I usually play stuff that requires more of my attention. For example right now I'm playing Resident Evil 9, and even though it's on the Switch 2 I still prefer playing it on the big screen and being able to devote enough time to it so I can work out the puzzles without being interrupted.

I guess it works for me, since I've finished over 600 games in the last 15 years.
 
jshackles said:
I guess it works for me, since I've finished over 600 games in the last 15 years.
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DarkShadowXI said:
You are my hero lol

Did you find that you beat more games after tracking them?

I'm so curious about this. What made you wanna track it?
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Back in 2014 I found GAF's 52 game per year challenge thread, and have been part of it ever since. I think there was only one year I didn't complete it, and that was the year that Assassin's Creed Odyssey came out, and I put like 300 hours into it.

Wozzer

Thread '52 Games. 1 Year. 2026. [BacklogBeat]'

1-banner.png


A thread for people that are trying to play 52 games in a year. Tell us how you're doing and what you are going to play next - claim a post and update us on your progress!

2-faq.png


How do I take part?
Claim a 'main post' where you will list all your completions for the year. You can use fancy images or special formatting to make it extra cool. In addition to this post your updates, completions and thoughts as singular posts throughout the year.

Does my main post need to adhere to a format?...
  • Love
  • Fire
  • Like

I've definitely found that I play more games when working towards a goal like that, recording what I play, and writing little paragraph long reviews for each game.
 
Mostly after 5/6pm these days, I'm currently unemployed and getting mental health support I should've gotten a long time ago so I feel guilty and too tense to play during the day.

Anxiety decreases a lot in the evenings so I can finally get into them, but often I'm finding films and reading comes easier.

So not really much at all for the time being, massive drop off compared to a few years back.

I'm trying to focus on the basics, taking care of myself, exercising, cleaning the house and cooking proper meals.
 
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jshackles said:
Back in 2014 I found GAF's 52 game per year challenge thread, and have been part of it ever since. I think there was only one year I didn't complete it, and that was the year that Assassin's Creed Odyssey came out, and I put like 300 hours into it.

Wozzer

Thread '52 Games. 1 Year. 2026. [BacklogBeat]'

1-banner.png


A thread for people that are trying to play 52 games in a year. Tell us how you're doing and what you are going to play next - claim a post and update us on your progress!

2-faq.png


How do I take part?
Claim a 'main post' where you will list all your completions for the year. You can use fancy images or special formatting to make it extra cool. In addition to this post your updates, completions and thoughts as singular posts throughout the year.

Does my main post need to adhere to a format?...
  • Love
  • Fire
  • Like

I've definitely found that I play more games when working towards a goal like that, recording what I play, and writing little paragraph long reviews for each game.
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That's amazing dude. I'm gonna try tracking games and writing little notes and reviews. I think that'll work for me too.

I'll get back on track with the 12 games in 12 months. It was working for a bit!
 
TintoConCasera said:
got into some other hobbies and now I don't play near as much
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This is what happened to me as well. Got into hiking, metal detecting, and gardening... stuff to get me outside and off my ass... all very rewarding.

-

Anyway, to answer OP's question I only play video games at night. Usually between 9PM-11PM when I do feel like playing. I can't stand playing video games during the daylight hours that makes me feel like a lazy slob.
 
TintoConCasera said:
Used to play a LOT until last year, then got into some other hobbies and now I don't play near as much lol.

Still like putting a few hours a week whenever I feel like playing some vidya. Favorite time might be on weekends right after waking up: cup of coffee and steak deck in bed, pure bliss. Never before going to bed tho, that's book time.
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That sounds like an awesome weekend morning dude.

Glad you're getting into other hobbies, as well! I've been getting back into drumming lately.
 
Late night after everyone has gone to bed.

But, honestly, I've been spending more time reading and learning music. I refuse to play games that aren't fully doing it for me anymore. Time is too precious.
 
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Usually in the evening after dinner I squeeze in a 2-4 hours. During the day I can squeeze in some time on my steam deck, but often enough now I'm usually just reading manga.

Weekends I have way more time, but I usually go out with people at night, and Saturday early morning go mountain bike to get some fresh air.

My worst habit is not sticking through with certain games, and trying other stuff, so I might do a backlog tracking app if anyone has some recommendations that integrate well with Steam?
 
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Wife, kids, friends, and job leave not much time for gaming. I work from home 2-3 days a week, while my wife is at work and kids are in kindergarten and school, so I extend my lunch break to up to two hours (I work longer on those days) and play on my Steam Deck.

I used to play for 1-2 hours in the evening when the kids were in bed, but I honestly don't have energy for that in the evening anymore and rather just go to bed early when I get the chance to.

Otherwise, when I'm on a business trip for a week or two, I get the chance to finish some games while spending evenings in a hotel room. I used to spend that time at the hotel bar instead when I was younger, but now playing games provides me with more joy.
 
About 3 or 4 hours per week during week days. Depends of how much sleep I feel like sacrificing.

During the weekends about 10 to 15 times a year I can play about 4 hours more.
 
I play at night before sleeping with my Switch 2 on the bed. During the day I might play for a few minutes with the Switch oled. Long and cinematographic games I tend to play on Switch 2 while indies and short ones on the oled. Right now I'm playing Persona 3 Portable and Etrian Odyssey 3 (in this case during the day I set up a grinding path for my team to walk while I do something, and press L to autobattle whenever I realize the party found an enemy). I mostly tend not to play on weekends during the day, I prefer cleaning the house or visiting friends or have someone visit here.
 
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