How do you find the time to game? Kotaku commenter Bloodpudding shares his gaming regimen with us in today's Speak-Up on Kotaku. Why not share yours?
I motivate myself to wake up early by letting myself play video games for one hour each morning.
That is to say, I wake up an extra hour earlier than I need to, in order to budget time in for gaming.
The benefit is twofold:
1. There is the before-mentioned motivation to drag my ass out of bed.
2. After playing for 1 hour, during which time I usually drink two cups of coffee, I am alert and awake and ready to start my day — it seems to take an hour for me to warm up, regardless of the amount of sleep I get, so why not wake a little early and give myself the time I need?
At night, I will often play a family friendly game (LBP, Mario Kart, etc.) with my tiny Japanese wife for 20-30 minutes.
Often I'll even sneak in 20 minutes at lunch time, when I can.
I know from my past what it is like to play compulsively — I've had the experience of playing deep into the night and missing out on sleep (actually, one of the reasons I prefer to game in the morning.)
But I haven't done that in years. Games never keep me up at night past my bedtime. I get my work done. I never regret spending time with my games thinking I should have worked more.
But when you add it up I'm playing games between 1 hour and 20 minutes up to almost 2 hours on weekdays.
I probably play 3-4 on Saturday, my recreation day, and 2-3 hours on Sunday (my CHORES and recreation day.)
Again, I don't ever feel regretful or miss sleep, I get my work done. I've asked my wife if she ever feels I play too many games, or if she feels neglected and she says no, she's completely fine with my hobby.
I very actively find joy in games. It's not just something I mindlessly do because I can't think of anything else to do, like the way some people watch TV ("Why are you watching that crappy ROSANNE rerun?" *shrug* "There's nothing else on.")
No, I am actively involved and enjoying my time spent.
And I feel emotionally fine. But I was just thinking about the numbers when you add them up — even if I'm still getting my work done, and not playing compulsively, not feeling any remorse or regret about spent time, is there a quantitative upper limit to the amount one should devote to one's hobby each week?
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