The 25th hour

A while back a friend asked me how many hours a week I actually spend on gaming or gaming related activities. After thinking to myself “well it’s only a couple of hours a day… maybe three… on weekdays” it then occurred to me that in an average week I spend around 25 hours online. This is a scary thought but the puzzling part is this – how do I find the time to spend so many hours with my beloved Xbox? I have a job, qualifications, my Ready Up commitments, an upcoming wedding and a pretty good social life for a gamer(!). So how and why do I make time every week just to game?

It occurs to me that I should be madly panicking at the thought of spending a seventh of my life sitting in front of the TV but my life is really no different to any normal member of the public, I simply swap the latest mind-numbing reality show for a games console. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not someone who believes all TV is evil but I actually feel quite smug at the thought that I sacrifice watching TV for gaming. Whilst the majority come home and turn on the TV I simply turn on my Xbox as well.

The intriguing thing is that despite increasing commitments my gaming time does not appear to be decreasing and I’m not aware of any other areas of my life being rushed. I sometimes wonder what else I could do with the time (take up a new hobby, throw fabulous dinner parties, learn a new language etc.) but I’m happy with my life the way it is. At the end of the day I guess it comes down to prioritising and as long as gaming is high up on my list I can’t see anything changing and I’m pretty comfortable with that.


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4 responses to “The 25th hour”

  1. Nick avatar
    Nick

    I consider computer games my hobby. I wear it on my CV with pride. And anyways with so many games to play there’s just no time for any other hobbies! (or television for that matter!)

  2. Martin avatar
    Martin

    There’s nothing to watch on the telly these days anyway. Games are my wind down routine, no games make an edgy Haggis! Like Nick though I am proud to be a gamer and don’t hide it, like Monsieur Jovi once said “live when I’m alive sleep when I’m dead!”

  3. Tony avatar
    Tony

    Martin, you may be proud to be a gamer, but you should be very ashamed of quoting Bon Jovi.

    I agree with the points raised, even a totally simple game like Tetris is better for your mind than just watching an endless one-way flow of information such as you get from TV.

    Of course, I love movies (and don’t consider them the same as TV) so my PS3 gets a lot of use as a DVD/Blu-Ray player too.

  4. Dave avatar
    Dave

    My issue tends to be not so much how many hours I spend gaming but how I split the time between games and never properly finish anything!

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