I could make this a discussion about the nature of time in games, and I probably will at some point; it’s a pretty interesting topic and one I’ve overlooked for far too long. No, what I want to talk about is the amount of time I have to put in to gaming right now. It’s at least a little ironic that writing about games for TSA is one of the things that keeps me from playing games, as does doing the podcast, writing over at Halftone Hero and a hundred over little things.
Until January I’d been working freelance for almost a year, and the amount of time I had for gaming was probably at it’s greatest since I was in junior school. However, now I’m back in a full time job and my evenings have quickly filled up with writing, podcasting and (on the odd occasion) having a nice dinner.
If I game it’s in a short burst, playing Angry Birds or some random Flash game for ten minutes before some commitment pulls me away. I’d love to sit down and finish off Dead Space 2 (the box sits on the coffee table, mocking me) but I know I’d need to actually have another five hours to put into it if I wanted to reach the end. Most of the time it doesn’t feel like I’ve got five minutes.
The thing is there’s nothing wrong with playing a Flash game. It often feels a little dirty to admit that’s all I really have time for right now, but what’s wrong with that? I think smaller, pick up and play titles are almost certainly one of the reasons that gaming is getting bigger and bigger. When people can sit down for five minutes with a Flash title or a smartphone app and just play through something on the bus, on their lunch break or when their boss isn’t looking (not that I do that) then gaming is going to continue to grow pretty significantly. Even having my DS, where I can just snap the lid open and pick up instantly where I left off, is pretty handy. I mean I completed the entirety of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass in breaks from developing a mobile app.
So what about you, do you have time to play games properly? Is the rest of life getting in the way, try as you might to actually play a game? Are games that can be played in those little bursts going to continue to grow and grow as gaming goes forwards?
Roynaldo
Pick up and play for a quick burst isnt what i like to do. If im gonna do something i do it properly. For example i wouldnt watch half a film and go back to it in a few days.
Obviously gaming is different as they last much much longer but what im getting at is that if im gonna play its an absolute bare minimum hour long session, generally 2.
My time is sort of limited but its the reason why i dont game sometimes for 4 or 5 days at a time is tiredness. After a day at work i sometimes come back just wanting to watch TV (football) or DVD/bluray.
Once the weekend rolls around, assuming i have no plans with friends, i can hammer a game all day long jumping out for football games i want to watch.
If only the days were longer.
Greek-BBQ
I wish I could buy time. I wish.
matthangzhou
I have a sweet ass job teaching English which gives me a lot of free time plus my days off are different to the missus which means I get in too much gaming time. Oh and I have no friends = win!
bully1990
I don’t get to play as much as I would like. A wife and two young kids tend to get in the way! Stupid family life :-).
When I do play it tends to be for an hour or so in the evening when everyone else is in bed but I do have some games that we play as a family.
dammspi
i hate portables. i only love consoles. Because i don;t usually have more than 1 hour to play i can’t really start a “big” game with a nice plot and everything. So i mainly spend my time with racing games, indie from PSN and games like Dead space or Enslaved where it doesn’t last more than 10 hours
Greek-BBQ
Fully agree with what you said. Recently everythings going mental at school, coursework, homework, closer to exams ect and I barely have any free time, not enough to go on the PS3. Instead il pop on my phone and play a few games on that. I usually play Angry Birds(love it!), “unblock me free” I think its called where you have to move blocks so this other block can reach the other side, chess, checkers, paper toss………..
the list goes on. But sadly the android market hasn’t got many good games, not as much as the apple app store. Also I can’t actually buy anything from the android market (I want doodle jump :( )
But yep, these days I play more on my phone than my PS3, shame the battery on my phone gets eaten up quickly.