Video games are awesome. At least, that’s what I tried to convey in my recent article of the same name. It’s true, they are, and I love them very much. I write for and edit the content of a video games website while I study and make games at University, and I have done both of these things for almost four years. Video games are part of my common vocabulary, and I know far too much about them.
But it’s not awesome when you don’t have enough time to play them. I’m in my fourth and final year of University with just weeks to go, and I’m doing TSA stuff every day, but I don’t play many video games. I think the last big game I played to completion was Killzone Shadow Fall back when the PS4 launched. That was because I was reviewing it.
And it’s probably my own fault. I love TSA, and will often prioritise doing something on here over anything else. Then I realise I’m falling behind on my Uni work, so go to do that instead, after an hour or two of procrastination. The rest of the time I’m either watching TV to get away from things and relax at night, socialising with my friends or sleeping more than I should.
It’s not that I don’t play games – I’ll play Smash Bros. or FIFA for a good while with my friends some weekends, it’s just that I’m no longer progressing through single player games at the pace I used to, my backlog is growing bigger, and I honestly just miss sinking time into a big adventure.
Take Assassin’s Creed IV, for example. It’s a wonderful game, I absolutely love it and I don’t want to ever stop playing. Those are my thoughts when I play it, for about an hour every two weeks, which I’ve been doing since Christmas. The time that I play usually overtakes sleeping time.
You’d think, with my life firmly centred around video games, I’d play more of them, but that’s not true. The reason I love reviewing games is not only because writing is one of the most incredible ways to relax and feel productive, but because I know I’ll actually complete them in the allotted time rather than leaving them for weeks or months.
Today, I finished a good chunk of University work and I’m really happy with the outcome. I think I can take some time soon to play games, but I’m worried – and I know – that I won’t be able to do it. I could complete Assassin’s Creed IV tomorrow, but I’ll distract myself with something else and never turn it on.
So, what’s the solution? Peter, who you’ll know as the Editorial Director of this site, says he plays games as he’s doing work, taking 15 minutes to do work and then playing a section of the game. I’ve tried this, and I ended up leaving the game paused for three hours while I did work. I’m really not a workaholic, I just can’t switch my attention between tasks. When I start writing or coding, I don’t stop, even to shoot someone in the face or sail the high seas.
Titanfall’s out later this week in the UK, and I’ve never been as excited for a multiplayer shooter as I am for this. Multiplayer isn’t a word I really understand now – I can’t organise times when I don’t know if I’ll be available and I can’t just “jump on” when asked. But I really want to play Titanfall.
So maybe, this weekend, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll play Titanfall. I’ve got an assignment due on Friday, but the weekends are my time. It’s that time which I usually use to catch up with friends, but this weekend will be different. I’ll still catch up with friends, but only online as we skip about the map and ride huge mechs. I’ll play some video games.
Should I be scheduling time to play games, just as I schedule content for TSA? Should I be dropping things which I perceive as more important and relax for a bit? How about I stop watching TV shows, and gain a couple of hours per day for gaming? I don’t know. I’m sat writing this right now, it’s only taken about thirty minutes so far, but what could I have played instead?
I think I just prefer writing, actually, though perhaps that’s because I don’t play games enough.
xxAlisha1995xx
I am going to Uni to study game art, I really appreciate your dedication to TSA as well as work, I don’t even have much time to play whilst having college assignments to work on :( Great article!
Steelhead
I can sympathise with your predicament. While I am not a uni student I have a job a wife and a young baby, so my time for gaming is now limited and I am finding it difficult to progress through long games, such as Persona 3 Portable which I am currently playing, which were previously my bread and butter as a gamer. As a consequence I am finding myself less and less interested in the PS4 and any big release. I have Destiny preordered for PS3 and that will likely be the only game I buy again this year. Tales of Symphonia Chronicles has recently arrived but I don’t know when I will dare to start it due to my ever decreasing time for gaming.
dizwod
Its hard scheduling time for games when working shifts to, I would of thought with my 4 on 4 off i would have 4 whole days to gaming… the other half has other ideas. Cooking, cleaning, tidying, shopping,. These are now my duties and by the time i finish i sit down too tired to attempt a quick run around.
Night shifts to welcome a condole coming in with me sometimes for a quick 12 hour session in between the calls and emails but lack of focus prevents really getting stuck in.
I miss the days of the SNES and N64 finish school game all night long then before school and during lunchtime for a 4 player goldeneye run… where has the time gone :(
Bilbo_bobbins
Had a little one, gaming was on the bottom of my list of things to do. The only time I get to play now is after the little one and the wife are in bed, so not long at all. This is why game developers also need to think about this as the generation that has grown up with games, are now getting older and thinking of playing other type of games.
DJ Judas
You have my utmost respect for doing all the things that need to be done first and foremost.
This post is the antithesis to how I feel at the moment: I’ve got my PhD due to be completed in a few months, a full time job and loving wife to spend time with, but any free time I have is being plowed into gaming.
There will come a time, however, in the months ahead where it’s do-or-die time and gaming will have to be shelved altogether, but once it’s over, boy will there be some serious gaming to be done!
matthangzhou
Nice read Blair. Wait until you have a wife and kid – then you’ll no the meaning of no free time ;-)
Any time you do have you’ll be too tired to do anything haha.
seravok
Not having the time to play games suck. Right now I only have the weekends to play games. I could start my PS3 and play LOS 2 right now before bed. Unfortunately I have no energy to do so. And the coming weekend will probably be all out Dark Souls 2.
I just wanna finish LOS 2. :(
hol
It’s tricky to get the right balance regardless of whether you’re in education, in full time employment or part time. Even though I do have the time, sometimes other things take priority, washing, cooking, cleaning, general house maintenance or even looking after my dogs! Normally manage an hour or so each night though. But real life stuff has always got priority, even over gaming.
Lyts1985
I can empathise – back before I had a job, a little un, a demanding mrs, a house to run etc etc, I could play games as much as I wanted. I prestiged 5 times in COD4 in the space of a fortnight! I plowed over 100hrs into FFX all those years ago and had the PS2 had trophies the platinum would’ve been mine… I used to love writing about games too, regularly submitting “reviews” to magazines in the hope someone somewhere would see the potential and maybe even publish something of mine; sadly only ever received one reply complimenting me on my writing but saying they “regrettably” don’t accept “fan reviews”.
Now I get maybe an hour an evening depending on what time the mrs goes to bed, and most of a Saturday when she and the nipper go to see her mum. It takes me about a month to finish a decent single player campaign that I could normally do in a few days and I have to prioritise games based on how likely I really am to finish it. COD Ghosts multiplayer has barely been touched (about lvl 35 if I remember rightly – no prestige), and I loved multiplayer games back when I had the time to dedicate to them. I’ll be lucky if I ever get to finish FFX HD, let alone platinum it (but I HAVE to buy it anyway). And writing… As much as I enjoy it, and am pretty good at it when I get into it and get going, I barely have the time to write a decent post in the comments section here, or participate actively in forums.
Growing up sucks. Everything we LIKE to do takes a back seat to what we HAVE to do now. That said, I won’t be giving up gaming entirely for a LONG time yet – it’s my only real “hobby” these days, and without it I have no opportunity to relax and escape from the real world for a few hours. I just hope my boy inherits that love of virtual escapism too, so I can at least regress a tad, take pleasure and share in his discovery of the wonder of gaming…
Fingers crossed eh :-)
Blair Inglis
We accept “fan reviews”. They’re called Guest Articles here ;)
jonny_bolton
To be fair, you’re in your last year of Uni – the most important year. You need to accept that that takes priority and once it’s done you can go back to gaming for a bit. Ultimately it’s just a hobby and everyone everywhere had to give up this time for the more important, life altering things.
I’ve had to drill that into my girlfriend who’s the same. It’s one year. If you can’t commit to something 100% for a year you’re in serious trouble.