General / Off-Topic Gaming time as you get older

Muzz UK

Muzz UK
I've always been an avid gamer since the age of about 6 or 7 when I used to sneak into my brothers room to use his Spectrum and Amiga and then later I had a Sega Mega Drive for my 10th birthday before the jump to PC... I don't really do consoles other than XBOX for NHL ice hockey and the occasional platformer. I did also run a lan centre for 4 years!

As I've gotten older I've tried to maintain my game time I find it a cheap hobby and great way thanks to Discord and Skype to stay in contact with my friends. I would happily spend a day off sat gaming provided I had been to the gym and eaten! My partner is fairly understand but has the odd moan about my time gaming. Sunday is game day whatever happens. I'd say I game most evenings when my partner works late shifts so I can get in a good 4 or 5 hours until she's home after work. I have flexible working so I can get in early and get out of work to use the gym and do other things after work but still be home early. Some of my friends don't have the luxury of understanding partners who let them game much when they are together.

What about you older people here how do you manage? we're childless at the moment but both earn decent money in good careers. I just love gaming it's cheap and its so relaxing and as I said voice comms with friends some who live local and others up north is just so convenient. I find as I have a couple of medical issues gaming is a great way to blow off stress sand steam
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
I've been gaming more than thirty years, now and it's an integral part of my life and my daily schedule. Like you said, it's a great hobby, you only need to compensate for the negative effects it can have on your body.
Although I have to say, I have now played about 200 hours of Fallout 4 VR in about two months and I can tell you, two or three hours of ducking, kneeling, getting up and leaning around are better than a gym. :D

As for your partner, well, I've been lucky to find myself a gamer, so we don't have these problems. But there is always a compromise.
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Having kids cuts into your free time a lot, and that means less gaming for some.

Now my kids are getting older i thought i'd be getting more free time, but their needs have simply changed and i often feel these days like a glorified taxi driver, taking them about their various activities. Maybe in a few years they will be big enough to take public transport without my wife worrying.
 

Jezzah

Jezzah
I'm kind of the other end of the spectrum with my wife. She detests my gaming hobby and does as much as she can to prevent me doing it. It's pretty annoying. I keep telling her I could spend the time down the pub getting ming-monged. I'm happy if I can get an hour or 2 a night to play something. The days of happily spending 5 plus hours in Fallout or whatever RPG/FPS/MMO are long gone for me.

This resistance has increased since we had a child 3 years ago.

Tip...marry a gamer preferably a fit one that doesn't want kids.
 

ethelred

ethelred
Married to a non gamer and 3 kids mean my time is kind of limited to 1 night a week which is a fair compromise I guess since there's also board games, occaisional pub trips and maybe in the far future the return of going to the cinema/theatre!
 

MottiKhan

MottiKhan
I guess I'm the lucky one here. My wife was a gamer a while back, but she lost interest. However, she knows that I get some enjoyment from gaming, so she encourages me to fire up the PC and play while she's watching baseball. (She's a sports nut).

If I don't play my game (ED is the current flavor), she wonders if I'm ok. It seems to comfort her when I'm on the computer since that means all is well.

So my best advice would be to marry a clone of my wife. ;)

<edit> Yes, she has a sister. No, you don't want any of that. Siblings can be polar opposites. </edit>
 
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Deleted member 110222

D
Gaming since three years old in '97, still single, and basically able to indulge in the hobby whenever I like.

Unlike all of my friends who are gaming less because of girlfriends, work, or in a couple of cases kids, I'm only planning on taking my gaming upwards, what with streaming and recorded content.

Note that my comment on what other people are doing is not an attack or ridicule, but rather an observation.
 

Jenner

I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
Jenner
I definitely game less than I used to, but it's not on account of a disapproving partner thankfully. My wife is very understanding of my gaming hobby, even if she's not into it herself.

We have a 7 year old daughter, and that has cut into my gaming time more than anything else! :) I still have an hour or two most nights to sink into something after the kiddo goes to bed and all. Also I have every other Friday off, so I at least have those days to just be a bachelor and game all I want. :)
 

Andovar

Andovar
My gaming time has definitely tapered off with age.
Not just because of family commitments, but it just doesn't seem to hold my interest like it used to.

I remember years ago being an officer in a Guild Wars guild. Helping running the guild web site, organizing events, and spending 6+ hours on teamspeak every saturday night for our weekly GvG events. Not to mention several ad-hoc PvE events during the week.
Eventually moved on to GW2 with my guild, and the guild dynamic had started to change/shift. One day I realized that I was the clueless old guy who was the one slowing the team down on a dungeon run.
Not sure if it was just me getting older, teammates getting younger, or simply a different game, or different time. But I suddenly wasn't a "gamer" anymore.

I've tried a few times with a few different groups (both in other games and in elite) to get involved more, but it just hasn't clicked with me. Voicechat now feels like too much random ramblings, and seems like you're guaranteed at least one annoying dingbat in the group who just won't shut up. Ends up being more of a distraction than asset to gameplay.

geez, I guess I've become that grumpy old guy.
...get off my lawn! :p
 

Jenner

I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
Jenner
Andovar said:
My gaming time has definitely tapered off with age.
Not just because of family commitments, but it just doesn't seem to hold my interest like it used to.

I remember years ago being an officer in a Guild Wars guild. Helping running the guild web site, organizing events, and spending 6+ hours on teamspeak every saturday night for our weekly GvG events. Not to mention several ad-hoc PvE events during the week.
Eventually moved on to GW2 with my guild, and the guild dynamic had started to change/shift. One day I realized that I was the clueless old guy who was the one slowing the team down on a dungeon run.
Not sure if it was just me getting older, teammates getting younger, or simply a different game, or different time. But I suddenly wasn't a "gamer" anymore.

I've tried a few times with a few different groups (both in other games and in elite) to get involved more, but it just hasn't clicked with me. Voicechat now feels like too much random ramblings, and seems like you're guaranteed at least one annoying dingbat in the group who just won't shut up. Ends up being more of a distraction than asset to gameplay.

geez, I guess I've become that grumpy old guy.
...get off my lawn! :p
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience with voice chat in Star Trek Bridge Crew.
When I was getting yelled at by the teenager I decided it was time to quit. :)
 

lysan

lysan
old dude, I game when I can, sometimes a lot sometimes not so much, it depends on what game I play and my mood.
 

ethelred

ethelred
For UK based men with partners who love trashy TV (a sizable demographic) Love Island starts tonight so that is something that should give you some time off.
 

ZeroAi

ZeroAi
steve_muzz said:
I've always been an avid gamer since the age of about 6 or 7 when I used to sneak into my brothers room to use his Spectrum and Amiga and then later I had a Sega Mega Drive for my 10th birthday before the jump to PC... I don't really do consoles other than XBOX for NHL ice hockey and the occasional platformer. I did also run a lan centre for 4 years!

As I've gotten older I've tried to maintain my game time I find it a cheap hobby and great way thanks to Discord and Skype to stay in contact with my friends. I would happily spend a day off sat gaming provided I had been to the gym and eaten! My partner is fairly understand but has the odd moan about my time gaming. Sunday is game day whatever happens. I'd say I game most evenings when my partner works late shifts so I can get in a good 4 or 5 hours until she's home after work. I have flexible working so I can get in early and get out of work to use the gym and do other things after work but still be home early. Some of my friends don't have the luxury of understanding partners who let them game much when they are together.

What about you older people here how do you manage? we're childless at the moment but both earn decent money in good careers. I just love gaming it's cheap and its so relaxing and as I said voice comms with friends some who live local and others up north is just so convenient. I find as I have a couple of medical issues gaming is a great way to blow off stress sand steam
Click to expand...

As an older game with a full time job (50+ hours/week) and family, I've had to work hard to carve out gaming time for myself.

Currently, in the average week I game on Wednesday and Sunday nights, and the rest of the evenings I spend with my bride.

Sometimes when she has to work Weekends or Evenings, I'll spend some time creating how-to or game play videos for my YouTube channels, and sometimes I even game while I'm on the treadmill or when the Mrs is taking a nap :)
 

Andovar

Andovar
Jenner said:
I had a similar experience with voice chat in Star Trek Bridge Crew.
When I was getting yelled at by the teenager I decided it was time to quit. :)
Click to expand...
Maybe time to form "the old guys" guild?
Voice chat will likely be mostly dead air with the occasional "hey, I'm going to try 'X' mission here in 'Y' location... anyone want to join me?" ;)
 

Codger

Codger
I was lucky enough to be in at the beginning of computer games. I was single then, and I spent a huge amount of time enjoying games of all kinds. My love of computer games was there from the beginning.

When I got married, and the kids started arriving, gaming time became a lower priority. I usually managed to get in an hour or two after everyone else was asleep, but my wife disliked my gaming, so it was limited.

20 years later, divorce happened and the kids were all grown. My second wife was a gamer, so you'd think that would be a good thing. And it was, mostly. We did game a lot. But other things killed that marriage.

Third time's the charm, they say, and for me it has been. My current wife is perfectly content to let me game as much as I wish. We game together too, when the mood strikes (she only likes to play certain games). We have an amazingly strife-free relationship, and get along exceedingly well. Yay for me.

I'm retired now, and I've gone back to my youthful ways of gaming hours per day. That's my hobby. That and music (I play a livestream show each week, online).

I always told myself that someday I'd be able to game as much as I wanted, and now I can. And it's just as good as I thought it would be :)
 

energygap

energygap
Guess I'm kinda lucky in some ways (maybe not in others). I'm single, not married, no kids, so all my income and spare time is my own. I play whenever I want to, which is quite a bit, when I'm not working obviously.
 

Vasco Sapien

Vasco Sapien
MottiKhan said:
I guess I'm the lucky one here. My wife was a gamer a while back, but she lost interest. However, she knows that I get some enjoyment from gaming, so she encourages me to fire up the PC and play while she's watching baseball. (She's a sports nut).

If I don't play my game (ED is the current flavor), she wonders if I'm ok. It seems to comfort her when I'm on the computer since that means all is well.

So my best advice would be to marry a clone of my wife. ;)

<edit> Yes, she has a sister. No, you don't want any of that. Siblings can be polar opposites. </edit>
Click to expand...

Sounds like you hit the jackpot. Near every girl ive ever dated, upon learning that i play video games does....'the look'.
'The look' is often a barometer to me that things might get rocky down the road a little.

I dream of a day when i might meet my perfect lady geek counterpart.
 
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