Games Vs something else

[Dogg Thang]

Well as you would have gathered from the other thread, I often feel my gaming time could be far better spent. If I clock up 40 hours on a game, that's a working week's worth of time I could have put into a project, development that could lead to jumps in my career and, most importantly, jumps that lead me being able to do the things I want to do within my career. Or I could have read books as I move towards becoming an expert in my field.

Or, if I fancy some recreation, I could play some music (I'm rubbish but it's fun and a creative outlet), or sketch. Or I could watch television instead. But, in that case it would likely be a half-hour sitcom rather than several hours on a game, still leaving me with time to do any of those other things.

Nothing sucks time quite like gaming.

Of course, I'm sure I'd still find reasons to procrastinate, but few as good as a meaty game.

[nakamura]

^Learning the language is quite a commitment tbh. It's all very well people learning bits and pieces in their spare time, but if a person wants to actually become good at using the language, in a reasonable space of time, it's a good few hours per days of grammar/vocab/kanji/speaking/other usage. That said, it's the most rewarding thing I've ever undertaken. I'll save this for the relevant topic however.

Absolutely. And I just dont have that spare time at the moment. I have always got one eye on te clock for work or the baby or the things that constantly need doing around the house. I was a lot more commited around a year or so ago when I started. I was learning every day but the baby thing takes up more time than gaming!

[parkinho]

If I clock up 40 hours on a game

This little bit got me thinking - when did I last spend 40Hr+ on a game? Okami on the Wii is that game, but it took 6 months of regular play to accumulate that much time on my save file. Most of my game time nowadays is limited due to work commitments, plus the fact that gaming is now a minor hobby for me. Much more of my time and money goes on playing/watching football, chasing women, drinking etc. I also quite fancy starting a new hobby - I'd quite like to start running again but that destroyed my shins last time around.

I would estimate on average 2hr max is my time on games in a normal week. This for me is the reason why the Wii/DS combo has more than enough games to keep me occupied. As I mentioned in another thread, I went into town this week to pick up either a 360 or PS3 but to be honest, I was buying out of habit rather than actually wanting one. Not only were there very few games that took my fancy, but they simply wouldn't be played enough to justify splashing out in the region of £200 minimum. Having said that, my bro is visiting this week and is currently playing Fallout 3 which looks absolutely amazing, and the little voice in the back of my head is telling me I need to buy it myself!

Gaming will always be a part of me, though I imagine the amount I play will always decrease in the future. Still, it means I am incredibly picky about what to play. No persevering with games I don't like just because it gets 10/10 in Edge, only games that resonate with me stick around. This year, only:
No More Heroes
Okami
Bangai-o Spirits
Smash Bros Brawl (multiplayer)

have been good enough, perhaps with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon soon to be added to that list.

[DeathAdder]

Living in Japan without satellite TV and suffering the utter ****e that passes for TV in this country is a good cure for those who feel they are drifting out of gaming.

I find myself unable to do anything constructive at home. I play portable games on the way to and back from work, then study in a Doutor (coffee shop) before going back home. The sheer childishness of TV programmes here makes me reach for a controller pretty much as soon as the TV goes on and I hear some stupid tarento screeching.

I swear, no torture even Ivan the Terrible could think of possible compares with watching a few hours of Japanese TV.

Looking at Importaku's post, I do think I enjoy the shopping for rare games as much as actually playing them too.

[Concrete donkey]

As well as gaming, I like to read; both comics and books, watch an unhealthy amount of television shows - mostly American trash but a few good ones and movies, both at home and the cinema. Anything that gets me away from writing, the thing I still claim I want to do with my life. Comics and books I often do once every few months and spend a weekend or two reading through my pile of unread comics and/or books. TV I use to fill in the time between other things; anything to stop me from thinking. Music substitutes when I'm out and about. The same can be said for movies except the cinema which along with pubs and the occasional visit to friends places constitutes my social life right now.

Gaming recently has been more like an addiction, on a game by game basis. When a game comes along good enough to drag me away from killing brain cells with the Sarah Connor Chronicles or Stargate I can’t let it go until I’ve drained it of all entertainment value or I’ve overdosed, as in the case of fallout 3 where 160+ of playing it (I haven’t been getting many hours at work recently) I can finally leave it alone for a while. This year has been an usually strong year for gaming having spent more time on it than any of my other hobbies. I’ve finally finished a GTA game (IV), got 1000 achievement points for a game for the first time (Civilization Revolution), and finished the majority of games I’ve picked up (at full price at least).

If gaming didn’t exist I would like to say I’d get more work done but in truth I’d probably spend the time watching repeats of Earth 2, Early Edition or some other dead genre show.

[teddymeow]

I'd spend more time learning Japanese and probably watching films.

Thing is part of me is learning to speak Japanese because I love the country and the culture but the other part is learning Japanese becuase their videogame industry makes loads of cool games that will never get released over here. The catch 22 there being that once I had learned Japanese to play these great games I would play them and not keep up with my revision so I'd probably forget the Japanese I had learnt

At the moment I am really not in a game playing place. This happens every year at this time (games retail + getting home late due to travelling x arrrrrrgh Xmas = don't want to play games) I'd much rather sit down with a nice cup of tea and watch something familiar that I've seen hundreds of times before like an episode of House or Bones so I can relax properly - games just don't seem to relax me anymore. In fact many now make me very angry!

During last Xmas when I did my stint at our Head Office I would come back down south on a friday night and pretty much play solidly for 2 days before travelling back up on the Sunday night. Now that I am back in store the desire to play has quickly subsided.

I am genuinely excited about Street Fighter IV and Resi 5 but I have a horrible feeling that I will buy them and not give them the attention they deserve becasue I can't be arsed to play 'em I hope that doesn't happen (Capcom could be getting my GOTY 1 & 2 of 2009 for those two) but the sneaky feeling won't subside.

[nakamura]

Early Edition .

Was that the one where the bloke got the paper about the news of the day ahead?

I loved that!!

[garrz32]

Gaming is just a filler activity for me.

Bar the rare as rocking horse **** occassions when I get a chance to play all weekend I just play when I've got some spare time, mostly late when many other activities are just not practical - or she's 'tired' ;-)

that's my gaming too,tbh i would rather be out in the town drinking with my mates watching a football game/results on a sat afternoon than spending it playing games at home.

[Solid_snake]

I barely game these days. My PS3 broke down about a month ago and i couldn't be arsed to get a new one. I play a lot on my Wii, but thats probably because i have a nice collection of VC games. Games these days have nice graphics and stuff like that, but they don't have the magic from back in the day. It may sound a bit nostalgic, but i'm not the only one with that feeling. Maybe i pick up a 360 because they are quite cheap and i enjoyed Ninja Gaiden 2 allot.

2008 was the year i bought many movies and enjoyed them a lot. There are a lot of movies i still want and The Masters Of Cinema collection seems quite interesting.