Part of it, for me, is that I still want to play games as I did when I was younger. I.e. multi-hour play sessions. To sit there and just get lost in it for the whole evening.
But increasingly that’s becoming unworkable. I got shit to do.
The solution, then, would be to adjust my expectations to like an hour of playtime here and there. But when I do that, I’ve created a schedule, and time limit, both of which really kill my personal enjoyment of game time. Playing a game while watching the clock is just not relaxing to me.
So I keep holding out for more of those evenings, those solid chunks of time when I pick up the controller and play till I’m ready for bed. But they’ve become so few and far between that gaming has become a weekend thing. That’s a problem in itself because the weekend is generally reserved for doing things with my partner or other outings.
Quarantine was probably the most gaming I’ve done in a long time. I basically got to play with the same reckless abandon as I did when I was much younger, for a couple solid months. But the chances of me being able to have that same relationship with this past time ever again appears fleeting.
Having rigid schedules with little to no wiggle room sure contribute to that, doesn’t it. It’s really frustrating to me. For quite a long period of time (around a year-ish), I didn’t do anything else except work from home which was, for the most part, pretty chill. Naturally, even though I’m living with my partner, I had a lot of time on my hands to go to ping pong practice, play games, and other things. Now, I’ve recently started an apprenticeship and now I have time to do fuck-all once I get home from school. Groceries, cooking, some cleaning, and then it’s basically time to sleep lol. Barely, if any gaming, no time on my hands to go to practice etc.
We’ve been struggling a lot recently, but I’m still holding out hope that it’ll get a little better once we’re accustomed to the schedule even if it’ll probably only get more later on. One can hope, I guess.
It really does help to appreciate the little time we have (I have) to do recreational activities, though. It does feel really special then.
Steam Deck is great for this. Especially since you can suspend mid-game like a Nintendo Switch. No down time to select a game, wait for it to load, etc., if you don’t want that.
Great for quick sessions if you only have small bursts of time.
The other problem is that even when I have time off, like vacations or holidays, I have a backlog of adult things to do. And Heck if my partner is going to accept that I use my PTO to game.
It’s definitely one of those things that I really miss.
It helps me if I make an alarm for 15 minutes before I need to stop playing. It reduces the anxiety of looking at the time. It’s not the same, but better than just an alarm at quitting time.
![I can't wait to play tonight [Clueless Hero]](https://startrek.website/pictrs/image/04defd4f-f718-4359-9ece-ccead8dd0423.jpeg){kind=link}
Part of it, for me, is that I still want to play games as I did when I was younger. I.e. multi-hour play sessions. To sit there and just get lost in it for the whole evening.
But increasingly that’s becoming unworkable. I got shit to do.
The solution, then, would be to adjust my expectations to like an hour of playtime here and there. But when I do that, I’ve created a schedule, and time limit, both of which really kill my personal enjoyment of game time. Playing a game while watching the clock is just not relaxing to me.
So I keep holding out for more of those evenings, those solid chunks of time when I pick up the controller and play till I’m ready for bed. But they’ve become so few and far between that gaming has become a weekend thing. That’s a problem in itself because the weekend is generally reserved for doing things with my partner or other outings.
Quarantine was probably the most gaming I’ve done in a long time. I basically got to play with the same reckless abandon as I did when I was much younger, for a couple solid months. But the chances of me being able to have that same relationship with this past time ever again appears fleeting.
Yeah. The gaming nights are almost completely gone. I miss those
Having rigid schedules with little to no wiggle room sure contribute to that, doesn’t it. It’s really frustrating to me. For quite a long period of time (around a year-ish), I didn’t do anything else except work from home which was, for the most part, pretty chill. Naturally, even though I’m living with my partner, I had a lot of time on my hands to go to ping pong practice, play games, and other things. Now, I’ve recently started an apprenticeship and now I have time to do fuck-all once I get home from school. Groceries, cooking, some cleaning, and then it’s basically time to sleep lol. Barely, if any gaming, no time on my hands to go to practice etc.
We’ve been struggling a lot recently, but I’m still holding out hope that it’ll get a little better once we’re accustomed to the schedule even if it’ll probably only get more later on. One can hope, I guess.
It really does help to appreciate the little time we have (I have) to do recreational activities, though. It does feel really special then.
Steam Deck is great for this. Especially since you can suspend mid-game like a Nintendo Switch. No down time to select a game, wait for it to load, etc., if you don’t want that.
Great for quick sessions if you only have small bursts of time.
The other problem is that even when I have time off, like vacations or holidays, I have a backlog of adult things to do. And Heck if my partner is going to accept that I use my PTO to game.
It’s definitely one of those things that I really miss.
It helps me if I make an alarm for 15 minutes before I need to stop playing. It reduces the anxiety of looking at the time. It’s not the same, but better than just an alarm at quitting time.