How much time do you actually spend "gaming" these days?

Hours spent playing non-casual games daily.

  • None

    Votes: 10 11.4%

  • 1-2

    Votes: 44 50.0%

  • 3-4

    Votes: 19 21.6%

  • 5-6

    Votes: 10 11.4%

  • 9-12

    Votes: 3 3.4%

  • 12+

    Votes: 2 2.3%
  • Total voters
    88
BabyHeadCrab

BabyHeadCrab

The Freeman
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This is an anonymous poll. Don't worry about being judged.

I say gaming in parenthesis, or in erasure, because everyone seems to have a different definition of what gaming is these days. Here, I specifically mean sitting down in front of a console or PC and playing games which require more than a few moments of attention.

This excludes things like Angry Birds, Farmville and quite a few indie titles.

I'm starting this thread to get a grasp on the attitudes of HL2.netters and what exactly they've come to expect, or derive from dedicating themselves to playing games which require patience, or to use a better word; focus.

It would be even better if you shared what sort of game(s) and how long your play sessions are. Information about platform would be helpful to my understanding too. It seems as time goes on, I see less and less of my Steam friends actually... playing games! The statistics actually prove this. This could be attributed to any number of factors: the responsibilities of growing up, disinterest in the current games market, or simply not being much of a social gamer anymore.

Obviously your time spent "hardcore" gaming fluctuates based on schedule and your changing lifestyle, but I'm just looking for some loose figures within a community which I have an above average understanding of.

Voting is great, but posting details on your gaming lifestyle is even better. I'll start with myself.

Though I used to play 12+, I've certainly quelled my play time since then. I'm now down to probably 5-6, often times less and most of the time is spent in WoW, FPS or Rift. I'm primarily a PC Gamer but also own a PS3 and 360 - which, to be completely honest, get little use other than the limited social gaming opportunities I have and Netflix.

I've largely lost interest in gaming the hobby - replacing that aspect of my life instead with using it as a routine to wind down for a few hours between various real life stressors. I do miss when I was able to be passionate and immersed for countless hours, and I certainly don't consider my real life aspirations obtained, but my "gaming", for better or for worse, is almost entirely MMO-based now!
 
On average a week, maybe an hour or two. Sometimes 0.


Stuff makes me busy. If I had no life at all, I'd be playing WoW or SC2 18 hours a day, which would be a much more pleasant alternative to "Real Life".
 
Peggle really is fantastic - perhaps this would be a good place to discuss the value of casual games. Popcap has done some awesome things in terms of delivering the sort of "gaming" that this poll is explicitly not talking about, but that doesn't make them any less fascinating. They are relevant in terms of having ties with the gaming industry at large and playing a big part in keeping momentum on the PC Gaming stage.

What do you think you derive from Peggle and casual games? Does it differ from what something you'd expect from Portal 2 or derived from a previous more hardcore game you've enjoyed?
 
I play for about 1 hour almost everyday, nowadays its mostly Halo reach. I keep trying to play tf2 and avp3, but there never is anyone on.

Dunno how some people can play for 12 hours at a time, I get bored with the game after an hour, unless it's a new one.

The most intense gaming I've done was when the orange box came out I think, played through Hl2, ep1 and ep2 in about a week, almost full days of gaming, I lived in that world :p
 
Usually 20-30 hours a week, most of my spare time goes into internet/gaming. Will probably get far less when I go to college.
 
I just work, play vidya and mess with other things. I even stopped hanging out with friends to make more time.

According to Steam, i've played about 33 hours in the last two weeks. So yeah, about 15 hours a week. Give or take a few.
 
Edit: Late edit because I mistook the poll as being weekly rather than daily.

Daily: 5-6 hours.

Weekly: 12+ hours.
 
edit: Hmm may have been silly to have polled for daily hours. We'll see how this pans out. Some are confusing this for weekly hours - but since I can't edit the poll, it stands as a tally of daily hrs spent gaming.
 
Yeah poll got kinda botched. I meant weekly (though I should have had higher number ranges), my mind was in drone-mode. Still fun to see where people register regardless.

Fun to see the types of games certain members play. I enjoy FIFA quite a bit too, Stardog... but it's been so long since I've had the chance to play with friends, one of the few sports game series I enjoy.

In response to KipKat, that's pretty cool that you set aside time (as one might for an exciting movie or novel release) for a game like Portal 2. It puts the media form into perspective. I think we too often look at games as this HUGE time-sink nerdy addition thing... err.. well, society does. The reality is, in the rare circumstance that a big budget, high quality and intelligent game hits it's target demographic people seem to respond in the same way they would for an anticipated book or sports event. Cool stuff.

While all this stuff may seem obvious to you, to the profs and periodicals I write for, it's informative. Video games are in this awesome process of leaving the stigmatized "ZOMG ALL EVIL VIOLENT HYPNOTIZING CHILD RUINING RUBBISH" towards the broader public opening up to games with more and more depth. So while we may be seeing a decline in product quality of supposed AAA titles for the PC, and that ****ing blows, there's a lot of good happening too.

The PC is evolving into a sort of epicenter for digital delivery to mobile devices, a place for people who are not "gamer identified" to "game" and as hardware standards move upwards and intel improves integrated graphics - we may start to see games like Portal 2 hit hollywood-style success.

Just imagine lovely awkward old Gabe on Ellen and David Letterman. I love it.
 
BabyHeadCrab said:
polls says daily, meant weekly haha
Click to expand...
Well that's just ****ing GREAT.

Usually, I play Arma with friends every weekend anywhere from 4 to 8 hours, depending if we play on more than one day.

My time spent playing real games has definitely dwindled.
 
I'm not sure where ArmA sits... it's simulation. It's definitely a thing in it's own. If you're saying it doesn't fit into the typical definition of "gaming" - even as defined by gamers themselves, I would agree.

It's odd ground though - I suppose with those sorts of criterion you have to sort out things like Rail Sim, Flight Simulator, and maybe even Grand Turismo. It's all about who is defining game. Scholars right now who are beginning to write in peer-reviewed journals have very conflicting opinions on this kind of shit, it's kind of hilarious to watch from the academic sidelines.

ArmA games certainly don't fall under the category of "gaming" in my eyes.
 
It really depends on the day, but on avarage I would say I play about 3-4 hours a day.
 
BabyHeadCrab said:
I'm not sure where ArmA sits... it's simulation. It's definitely a thing in it's own. If you're saying it doesn't fit into the typical definition of "gaming" - even as defined by gamers themselves, I would agree.
Click to expand...
I wasn't saying that at all. My second line has nothing to do with the first.

It's definitely gaming. It has all the elements of a military shooter except it's very open ended. Sure it's not as saturated with action as any other FPS out there, but that doesn't make it not a game. By that logic, Minecraft is not a game because you spend most of your time mindlessly hacking at blocks. If you want to tell me Arma 2 is not a game because of all the running around and dying it has, and making you work for your fun, then minecraft isn't one by any stretch of the imagination.

Nobody we play with on hl2.net besides myself, Viper, and maybe Krynn are even into the milsim aspect of it. So it definitely has enough 'game' to keep people coming back.

In closing, play the ****ing game with us or shut up about it.
 
Well tell us how you really feel, Veggie, haha. I'm not going to fully refute your straw man which ridiculously accuses me of believing Minecraft is "simulation" (as if it's attempting to emulate real-world mining), because if ArmA is a game to you, it is a game to you - and that's cool! You do realize I'm exploring matters of opinion and not stamping labels. Double-check my posts for subjectivity and disclaimers, I've been making sure that this remains an open discussion, I just want to see what you guys think duder.

Simulation, to me, is when a program's aim is more to emulate the actual position of the role which you step into. ArmA, at a distance, appears as simulation to me because of the staunch contrast it has to the twitchy, commercialized arcade-style shooters I've become accustomed to in my "gaming" habits.
 
I'm sorry for jumping on you, but Arma 2 is an underplayed and under-discovered gem, and it doesn't help when people who haven't truly experienced what the game is capable of by with a group of good people start talking about what they think the game is. I don't want potential new players seeing you talk about it like it's just a boring sim.
 
The thing is, I don't find the idea of a military sim boring in the least. Simulators are awesome to me - they just often indicate a steep learning curve (which ArmA may or may not have, I've only played the demo of the original and really have NO idea). So it sounds like it can be played as a game, I would like to give it a shot... unfortunately I have no PC right now. urgh
 
The reason Arma is underplayed is because not everyone enjoys ultrarealistic military sims. It's a niche game, deal wih it!
 
Remus said:
The reason Arma is underplayed is because not everyone enjoys ultrarealistic military sims. It's a niche game, deal wih it!
Click to expand...
See that's the thing, you're making judgements on it without having even played it. It's not just some ultrarealistic military sim. Do you think Hectic Glenn is into ultarealistic military sims? Badhat? Raziaar? Sliver? Milly? They all enjoy playing Arma with us.

Arma has the potential to be played in an ultra realistic manner. It also has the potential of being incredibly boring if you don't go about it the right way. It depends on how you choose to play, or who you play with. The pacing and style of the game is really dictated by what missions you play and who your squad leader is. The fun isn't just spoon fed to you. You work for it, and that's what makes it so rewarding. I try to balance the realism and fun for a rewarding experience for everyone. None of the features that make Arma more realistic than mainstream FPS games should be a deal breaker. What's wrong with realistic ballistics? What's wrong with no crosshairs? Iron sights are popular as **** in mainstream games nowadays anyway. What's wrong with a huge map with no invisible or arbitrary barriers? What's wrong with being able to execute objectives in any way you want?

I could even make the argument that Arma is more of a game than any other mainstream FPS. If you can't find a way to get enjoyment out of such powerful potential, if you can't see the game in arma, how can you call yourself a gamer? Do you really need to have the fun forced down your throat to enjoy a game? Do you really need to play games that allow only a single obvious way of playing it? Of course I'm making a brash statement, but hopefully you see my point.
 
At the moment less than 1-2 a day due to other engagements. Hopefully I can catch up over the summer. I can only occasionally get some it. When I do it's either TF2 or Oddworld (where I make about ten minutes worth of progress for every hour). I hope whoever said 12+ read the poll question wrong.
 
If you want to debate ArmA in this type of nitty gritty would you guys mind taking it out of this thread?

@Riomhaire: he was thinking it was a weekly poll. The data is inaccurate because of that discrepancy. Either way, let's try to avoid judgement calls and just look at this analytically. When you play your TF2 or Oddworld is it highly scheduled, or do you simply enjoy occasionally playing a bit to relieve stress and possibly escape for a few moments?

I guess what I'm trying to get out with these replies is what sort of gamer do you consider yourself and how does that have to do with the games you play and how much you play them. I bit of a hefty question, and the poll is certainly not doing my topic justice, but the replies have been largely awesome and helpful (this will feed an article), thanks guys.
 
@ Veg: I'm sorry if I did start it, I'd just rather keep things more productive - I'm sorry if that sounds selfish, but I'd like things to remain pertinent to the OP even if I participated in the initial derailment.


@ other repliers/riomhare:
I'm starting to see a trend of hl2.netters that's rather interesting - as the core community gets older it seems less time is being spent doing what we consider "hardcore" gaming. I don't have substantial evidence of this yet, and of course defining the "core" of this community is a very difficult thing to do, but it would certainly align with the trends in my real-life peer group.
 
On a normal week, I don't play at all. I maybe get in a half hour of gaming daily on a normal day.
 
BabyHeadCrab said:
@Riomhaire: he was thinking it was a weekly poll. The data is inaccurate because of that discrepancy. Either way, let's try to avoid judgement calls and just look at this analytically.
Click to expand...
Analytically, if you spend 12+ hours every day playing video games you have no life. In any case if he made that mistake he should have RTFQ.

BabyHeadCrab said:
@ other repliers/riomhare:
I'm starting to see a trend of hl2.netters that's rather interesting - as the core community gets older it seems less time is being spent doing what we consider "hardcore" gaming. I don't have substantial evidence of this yet, and of course defining the "core" of this community is a very difficult thing to do, but it would certainly align with the trends in my real-life peer group.
Click to expand...
I would have assumed this without any data. The older you get the more duties and responsibilities you have and less free time you have to read/watch TV/play games.


Edit: Also, anyone who disses Plants vs Zombies without having played it can go to Steam and get the demo. It's a very fun game.
 
I said 5-6, but I actually have no idea. TF2 at night in particular, but really I play anything I'm feeling up for.
Too much life in this thread :(
 
Before I post an on-topic reply, let me just say that Bohemia Interactive actually makes a real battlefield simulator called Virtual Battlespace and its used by military personnel for training. Thus, ARMA is not an actual military sim because if it was, it would be VBS2, and not ARMA. ARMA is a game, not a sim.

Anyways like Vegeta said, if we play ARMA2 sometime during the weekend it usually encompasses 4-8 hours. Outside of that though, I'm generally very irregular, and only really spend time playing games I truly am interested in. Therefore if no new game came out (that is good) I might not play any game that week unless we do ARMA. If a good game does come out, I might play it for like 20 hours in a week. Shogun 2 came out a little less than 2 weeks ago, and I've put 24 hours and counting into it, but besides ARMA thats the only game I've played in the past like month and a half or so, besides the Dragon Age and Crysis 2 demos.



EDIT: I should probably point out that even when I'm not playing video games, I'm usually doing something with games. Most of my time is spent working on my own video game, and a large chunk of my free time is used building and designing army lists for a tabletop wargame I play weekly, and when I hang out with one group of friends, we usually play some kind of board game, and we just started a Game of Thrones RPG. So I think I'm still very much a hardcore gamer, just not exclusively to video games.
 
@Riomhare: at the same time, this doesn't necessarily correlate to time spent on these boards nor does it account for new communities and the small, yet still substantial group of young people who continue to register.

...or perhaps I'm just wishing I was sampling a larger demographic :p
 
ríomhaire said:
The older you get the more duties and responsibilities you have and less free time you have to read/watch TV/play games.
Click to expand...

I wish that was my reason. I'm actually just playing less games and spending more time browsing the net or watching something on the computer or talking to people. It's hard to say if there just aren't as many games out there that appeal to me anymore, or if my 'gamer drive' has actually gone down. I mean, I get totally psyched about arma, so I'm hoping it's the former.
 
Translation: Vegeta is a porn addict.

Really depends on what I've got going on. Usually 0-2 on Mondays to Thursdays, as that's where school is focussed. Otherwise, depends on who else is online at the time. Most of my gaming time is spent on LoL with my rl friends, but they're not always online at the same time, so it varies tremendously.
 
Lately, I've been playing video games a lot more, but that's directly related to my class load this semester. Before that, it was very little, maybe 2-3 hours a week. It had been like that for a few years too. I'm sort of glad that I've gotten back into playing video games because it's definitely something that I'm missed. That said, I'm kinda anxious to get on with school.
 
9-12 hours a week or so gaming.

I've been playing Eve Online and League of Legends recently.

Anyone else agree that Eve is perhaps the "least casual" game out there?
 
I picked 3-4 but I don't know if that's average. Sometimes I don't play at all sometimes I play about that much. On Saturday I probably play like 8+ I'd guess. It really depends on whether or not I'm in to a specific game or not. Like when Portal 2 comes out I'll probably play it as much as I can until I beat it.

Something to note, my friend recently told me he is probably going to stop playing games because he's "started using them as an escape." I can sort of see where he's coming from, but I always though of them as a hobby like any other hobby people have. Some people watch a lot of movies, some people build model trains, some people bake cakes, I play video games. I was thinking about it further and realized... a lot of gamers are young... and it's getting to the point that gamers could easily be in their 30s and 40s, but they just aren't. At some point people are just not playing games anymore. I don't know if it's the association with being immature and young or that as people cross that 30+ mark they just stop being interested. I mean granted gaming wasn't as prevalent 20+ years ago as it is today, but I don't know if that will carry over as my generation and onward will be older gamers. I can see myself still playing games - maybe slightly less often - into my 30s. Certainly not as many types of games either.

I think that over time, the biggest change is that I've stopped wanting games that involve as much time investment and that have better stories... though often times those aren't the same game. I figure I'll keep up this trend... unless I find a more entertaining hobby.
 
I can squeeze about 3-4 hrs in a week and thats about it. I usually play a FPS and WoW depending on what I like at the time. If I didn't have a girlfriend it'd be more like 9-12 hrs I think
 
Varies. Probably 10ish hours at the moment, maybe more.

StardogChampion said:
I wouldn't. My brother plays CoD and sports games, but still plays Eve.

Dwarf Fortress must be the least casual game.
Click to expand...

Hey that's great. Could you post the grading scale you use for reference? Ta.

Edit: Also for reference, not to jump to it's defense or anything but because I find it kind of interesting - I enjoy both CoD (pre-BLOPS) and Arma 2. I like them both for very different reasons, and it has little to do with being a military nut or something, as anyone I play with will attest. "Hey, a uhh... APC looking... thing coming over that hill. Shoot it with the bazooka!"
 
I got really stuck in to MW2 when it came out, I think the drama and cinematic events in the campaign make for amazing game play, the multiplayer also interested me too, nothing I really had to invest too much time into but had a fair but to do in the way of item unlocks etc.
 
ríomhaire said:
At the moment less than 1-2 a day due to other engagements. Hopefully I can catch up over the summer. I can only occasionally get some it. When I do it's either TF2 or Oddworld (where I make about ten minutes worth of progress for every hour). I hope whoever said 12+ read the poll question wrong.
Click to expand...

I think it might have been me. In my haste I didn't fully read the question and assumed it meant week given the amount of hours involved and for that I am forever shamed.

Anyway, to answer the question better this time: Generally I average at maybe 6 hours a day currently but when I was playing Fallout New Vegas I was definitely averaging close to 12 hours a day, but once again it varies.

I have periods where I am far more well mentally and hence far more active socially with friends and then I have low periods when I become more isolated and hence spend a lot of more time gaming.

Finally, when I have an occupation in the form of study or internships my gaming time becomes a lot more restricted, usually limited to 3-4 hours a day.

StardogChampion said:
I wouldn't. My brother plays CoD and sports games, but still plays Eve.

Dwarf Fortress must be the least casual game.
Click to expand...

I disagree, I would say the 4X space title Aurora is less casual than Dwarf Fortress.
 
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