My schedule:
Up at 6:20 am. Leave for work at 7:20 am. Get daughter from daycare at 5 pm. Dinner, play with daughter and wife, dishes, etc. until 7:45 pm. Put daughter to bed by 8:30 pm.
From 8:30 pm until 10:30 pm, I hang out with my wife, read books, watch movies, check the Internet–and play games. I probably average an hour of gaming a day.
Assuming your schedule allows it - and it sounds like the OP’s doesn’t - then it’s a matter of what you choose to spend your non-work, non-family time on. Everyone needs time to call their own, and time to be social. For me, gaming is a way I choose to spend both of those kinds of times.
I’m fortunate to be married to someone who also enjoys games, so we can play together and she doesn’t feel neglected. I have found that MMOs in general are not good unless you have a significant amount of time to commit; City of Heroes, as noted up-thread, is an exception because it allows for a pickup style of play, with quick missions and lots of travel options.
Has there been a thread here to poll honest estimations of how much time people on this board devote to gaming? I’m really curious, because it seems few of the serious games lend themselves to casual play of less than–let’s say–half an hour at a time. I know people who do at least two hours a day, and sometimes I get a little envious that a (non-retired) person has that much time for it. Those times I do gaming, it usually just seems like too much time toward mindless repetitive things for too little pay off.
This is us, plus one 12 yo son. We often all play together.
Huh. I often look at the vast evening ahead and wonder how I’m going to fill it, since I don’t play games much anymore.
I get off work at 5ish, work 15 mins from home. We usually go for dinner on the way home (we don’t cook). After I get home, 6 or 7 I just do…whatever until it’s bedtime. Surf the net, or play games, or chat with friends on IM. Husband does the same, and we chat or show each other things or such. Cleaning and laundry get done every week or two - dishes are done when there are enough of them to fill the 'washer (about once a week).
What do other people fill their nights with?
My laptop lives in the living room, because that’s where my CAT cable is. So the TV’s on, but I game while I’m watching TV.
Depends on how sociable I’m being any night, but generally I’ve got 2-4 hours of “downtime” of an evening, depending on what I’m cooking for dinner and how tired I am. I have no kids. I’ll take the dog for a walk, but he mostly gets cared for by my ex husband. Grocery shopping and cleaning get done on weekends.
I leave the house at 0545, get home at about 1715 and generally don’t go to bed until after 2100, so there’s my four hours if I have nothing else to do that night.
Then on weekends, I stay up until the wee hours, and nap between chores. That’s where my gaming time predominantly comes in, Friday and Saturday nights. However this coming weekend is a long weekend, so WOO HOO Sunday gaming 
[ETA]: I also multi-task. So sometimes I’ll be playing a game like Half Life 2, or Portal, and have a few different windows open beneath, to chat with friends. I only go out once or twice a week, if that (that’s only a recent development) so the rest of the time, my time is my own.
My game time is mostly in the winter when I can’t stand to leave the house for the cold world outside. I hate television and don’t own a cell phone. Gaming takes the place of the extra hours couch potatoes would devote to watching television shows or texting or yacking on the phone. During the nice weather my gaming takes last priority to doing fun stuff in the 3 months you have in Wisconsin to enjoy the outdoors.
So Wisconsin has 3 months of summer and 9 months of “gaming season”?
I work the swing shift, so I usually have time during the day somewhat and weekends. I don’t have as much of a social life as I used to, but I get to hang out with folks like SenorBeef… wait, what was the upside again?
Not really any family stuff to speak of unless we have visitors so evenings and weekends generally free for me to be on my computer or Playstation. Also lunchtime during the workday if I happen to be working from home.
You got it.