# Finding time for gaming after starting job **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 30, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213 "2017-06-30T17:52:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/1 "2017-06-30T17:52:03Z")
I will be starting my first developer/programmer job in next weeks. During the university, I found less and less time for gaming than before I had started studying in the university. I started gaming again right after graduation. I started LOVING it again. Now, I am worried that I will have less time for it. Did something similar happened to you as well? If you are working, how do you find time for gaming? How can one find time for gaming (someone who really loves it) while s/he’s working? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/2 "2017-06-30T17:57:13Z")
After work, and on the weekends? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/3 "2017-06-30T18:14:26Z")
That’s the trouble with working. Less time for fun things. Whether it’s gaming, camping, watching TV, long walks on the beach, or sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/4 "2017-06-30T18:25:51Z")
I can see arguments both ways, but I think this will make more sense in the Game Room to get more ideas specifically from the gaming community. Thread relocated from IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/5 "2017-06-30T18:32:00Z")
Yes, I find that work definitely cuts into my leisure time. But eating is a hard habit to break. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/6 "2017-06-30T18:37:23Z")
After work and on weekends, that’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/7 "2017-06-30T19:23:44Z")
I don’t get it. How many hours a day do you need to game? You should be able to carve out 4 _hours_ every night and most of the day on weekends and still have time for most of the essentials? Come back and complain when you have kids. Then I’ll sympathize about not having time to game. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/8 "2017-06-30T19:41:18Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > I don’t get it. How many hours a day do you need to game? You should be able to carve out 4 _hours_ every night and most of the day on weekends and still have time for most of the essentials? Come back and complain when you have kids. Then I’ll sympathize about not having time to game. 😉 You don’t even need kids. Just a non-gamer significant other. I was able to carve out one night a week where I can game and she can watch her shitty Bravo shows. That was like negotiating with terrorists… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/9 "2017-06-30T19:42:26Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > After work, and on the weekends? And during lunch. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/10 "2017-06-30T20:24:07Z")
I find I have trouble sleeping if I game after work. Too stimulating. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/11 "2017-07-01T01:54:38Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > You don’t even need kids. Just a non-gamer significant other. > > I was able to carve out one night a week where I can game and she can watch her shitty Bravo shows. That was like negotiating with terrorists… Amen, brother. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/12 "2017-07-01T02:34:27Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > That was like negotiating with terrorists… She was in a far better bargaining position unless you have sex with terrorists… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/13 "2017-07-06T15:27:03Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > You don’t even need kids. Just a non-gamer significant other. > > I was able to carve out one night a week where I can game and she can watch her shitty Bravo shows. That was like negotiating with terrorists… She sounds like a keeper. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/14 "2017-07-06T15:59:21Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > She was in a far better bargaining position unless you have sex with terrorists… Hey! What scenarios we create in the privacy of our own… > [@msmith537](#): > > She sounds like a keeper. I mean, it was a mutually beneficial solution because holy crap do I hate those shows ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/15 "2017-07-06T19:47:39Z")
MaverocK, what games do you play? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/16 "2017-07-06T22:59:51Z")
I have a full-time job, a wife, and a daughter of the age that if you turn your back for five minutes she’ll stab out her eye and burn the house down simultaneously. I rarely get to game at all. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/17 "2017-07-07T00:45:17Z")
My son is old enough to want to play with me (yay) and my husband is convinced that all screen time will destroy his brain and ruin his life forever. We get an time allowance. Not that it’s all that great playing with a kid. You want to clear an area and he’s charging ahead and pulling you off a cliff because “shiny”. Someday I will play a game again by. my. self. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/18 "2017-07-07T00:53:00Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I have a full-time job, a wife, and a daughter of the age that if you turn your back for five minutes she’ll stab out her eye and burn the house down simultaneously. I rarely get to game at all. ☹ We should start a support group (three kids aged 6 and under for me). ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/19 "2017-07-07T04:55:30Z")
Well, this should be kind of obvious… Don’t play MMO’s. Unless that’s all you want to do with your free time. They’re not as common nowdays, but they’re still there. And they’re designed to make you spend months grinding everything. You also might want to reconsider playing games that are “endless”. Pick games that have a story, a beginning, middle, and an end. Playing games where you go through randomly generated levels or dungeons and starting from scratch are very time consuming and the game doesn’t end until you get sick of it. Play less time consuming games where you can beat and finish the game and move on to another, but they’re still fun and you feel like you’ve gotten somewhere and saved the world. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213/20 "2017-07-07T15:39:16Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > Well, this should be kind of obvious… > Don’t play MMO’s. Unless that’s all you want to do with your free time. They’re not as common nowdays, but they’re still there. And they’re designed to make you spend months grinding everything. > > You also might want to reconsider playing games that are “endless”. Pick games that have a story, a beginning, middle, and an end. Playing games where you go through randomly generated levels or dungeons and starting from scratch are very time consuming and the game doesn’t end until you get sick of it. Play less time consuming games where you can beat and finish the game and move on to another, but they’re still fun and you feel like you’ve gotten somewhere and saved the world. I can see the logic in this, but I’ll disagree slightly. If you don’t have much time to dedicate to gaming, playing a story-driven game might not be the best idea because you won’t play frequently enough to be engrossed in the story. By the time you get back to playing, you might have forgotten everything you’ve done up to that point or why this random-ass character is so important. At least with MMOs, you can do mindless grinding and whatnot without it needing much brainpower or memory. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-time-for-gaming-after-starting-job/790213.md?page=2)