What you do for a living, does it effect gaming?

Hey OT.. Wondering what everyone's career's or jobs are and does it have an effect on your gaming hobby? I've found that as I've gotten more into my twenties and career focused I've had a much harder time enjoying a good game or two. Mostly it comes down to the amount of time I can commit to them.

I work a 9-5 well 7-330 job as an Accountant for a fairly large Canadian company while taking some courses part time to finish my computer engineering degree. I'll be quitting my job soon to focus 100% on the degree in computer engineering, most likely around September. Although, I plan on being busy through the last year of school, I'm really hoping it means I can find time to get back into gaming like I used to.

What do you guys or girls do? Is gaming getting harder to do as you get older?

When I was a kid, I gamed every free second I had. Mostly online (competitively). From 15-22 that was my world. I always thought it was the strangest thing when someone would drop off the planet. They would just give up on gaming, usually around that time. It did not compute at all.

Now, at 28, I understand. I still game on occasion, but I buy a few new ones a year instead of 20. I no longer have any desire to play someone online.

What changed? Am I too busy? No, I don't think that's it. I'm an entrepreneur and have started 3 software companies (sold 2). I have all the time in the world. However something about gaining success outside of video games kind of messed up my ability to play them. The stress, the highs, the lows, the dopamine release...all the things you used to get from gaming you get from your real world. After managing a business, dealing with the girlfriend, and working out you feel fulfilled. As such, when you sit down for the night a lot of times even starting up the PlayStation seems like a chore. You have nothing left in the tank mentally. And since my whole life gaming was an investment, it's nearly impossible to do it casually anymore and get the highs I used to know.

Older than that, and yeah no time for free time when the projects heat up. For me, it was almost all of 2015 was burn candle at both ends project mode... global meetings across time zones... like have an important meeting at 7am and then another one at 6pm and a whole bunch of work in-between.

Thankfully that project went well so I can get back to my 50/hr work week norm... which is still too much.

I work, have a family, go to classes, work out, do yard work at home. Do they affect my gaming? Of course they do. But, if you like something enough, then you give the time for it.

Somehow, I still manage to game in small increments. Heck. I still find the time to help other people with their PC problems and even assemble (for free) a new rig for them.

One thing I don't do is lie down because as soon as I'm flat on the couch or bed, I'm out cold.

Yes. I find I have only a few minutes a day to game. Ofcourse there are always exceptions.

i have free time outside of work but lately it's been spent on other projects that are more fulfilling than playing a game for a few hours.

computer hardware engineer btw.

Im a forklift driver for a local Nissan factory, I work a 3 shift pattern. (days, backs, nights) On back shift and night shift It effecs my gaming because when im finished i just want to go to bed. We're talking 11:20pm and 7am here. Day shift when i finish at 3:30pm i'll be gaming for about 4 or 5 hours

i'm mostly a painter/ illustrator. but i'm also an occasional tattoo artist and make handmade jewelry. i'm broke btw. lol

and yeah it does affect my gaming habit, mostly due to the fact that i'm getting old and i get this horrible horrible feeling of guilt whenever i'm doing anything that is supposed to be fun.

I'm a service agent for the Coca-Cola company it affects my gaming a bit only game on my off days.

My job really doesn't put a damper on my gaming activities. It's the rest of my life that makes me busy. I'm pretty good about getting my "me" time, though.

Edit: Cop, for those that don't know.

I work Tues - Sat, 8-5 at a truck parts dealership. I get my days off and evenings to game since I'm not tied down to many commitments. I do run a small movie review blog so I use one of my days off to see new films and then write reviews. I only game when I feel like it. Otherwise I read or watch television as well.

My answer would have been different if EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers was still online

I started out gaming loads then kids came along and I worked more. Now they are grown and I am self employed so my gaming has picked up again considerably. Ebbs and flows

I make a living writing for a gaming website :D

11-15 I played a lot of video games then stopped. I eventually got back into gaming two years ago but I never put as much time into. My interests have also shifted and has overlapped my hobby of gaming.

For sure
Full time job + social life
Gotta squeeze it in where I can

When I took a year off my studies to work in demolition I pretty much only had the time to play video games during the weekends. When I study I can fire up a game every day if I want to. But the thing is, working changed my perspective on gaming and generally I don't play as much as I used to even though I currently do have the time for it.

I'm a physical therapist and have my own business, so I make my own schedule and with the inconsistency of clients (sometimes there's lots of people needing rehabilitation, sometimes not) I often have plenty of time for gaming.

Yet you don't have any time for a indian freind of yours :(

@indzman: Aww, don't say that...step into my office (it's the door marked "inbox") and let's have a chat =)

mmm

As a full-time university student it might depend on the workload. In general, I can find enough hours every week to play video games.

I'm a chronic cancer patient. I have chemotherapy three weeks out of the month that wipes me out Mon-Thurs, of which I'm at home because I'm sick and doped up from anti-side effect meds. My responsibilities are not girls, family, bills, paying a mortgage, or a career. They're to keep this disease at bay, and that consumes the majority of my energy.

I have a lot of time to game when I'm feeling up to it. It is my refuge and sad as it may be, a large portion of my life. I'm a bit envious to know what it'd be like to be so busy as to have no time, but constantly fighting for health takes precedence over all else.

Yeah the older I get the less I worry about gaming, and in fact I don't know that I will even get a console this generation. I have a full time job, a girlfriend, school which I recently returned to for a BA, and friends. More and more I just want to study for IT certifications so that I can earn more money and provide a better life for my gf because she really deserves it, and I don't want her to go through a life of mediocrity, yet at the same time it's not just about money. If I don't put in the time to be a good boyfriend than life will be a different sort of mediocrity, and yeah gaming is largely what has been sacrificed to achieve this goal.

Yes I still game on my 360 once in a while, I play GTA 5 mostly, and I have plans to grab the next Metal Gear in September, but that's about it honestly.

The only game I play nowadays is League of Legends, and that's only once in a while.

I work full-time at a major national/international hospital as a hospital technician.

But I Dj and do videography as a side job. I have other activities that keep me busy during the week, so gaming is more of a weekend hobby for me.

@korvus:

I seriously thought about doing physical therapy years ago, but I decided it would be something I would rather do after I retire(bout 15 years) part-time

As a truck driver, the 14-hour work day kind of gets in the way of most things, not just hobbies. But at least when I'm on the road, I'll be able to take something with me that plays games and I should have a little free time to catch up on my massive backlog.

Started graduate school this past Fall, it's definitely taken a lot out of my gaming time. It's okay though, it's just made me rethink how I game. These days I just tend to play games I'm really interested in playing, and I'm much more willing to drop games that I'm not enjoying a good bit. So on net it's actually been fairly good for my enjoyment of gaming.

I work full time during the week, have a field job on the weekend and design web pages and do friends homework for extra flow. on the side, also my bf is allergic to my dog so i always have o go to his house to hang out . let's just say i do not get to game nearly as much as i want to. Lucky if i get a 8 hour day in on sundays ;(

I'm a Regional Sales Director for an International Company.

I cover the Southeast. From Kentucky and Virginia all the way to Florida.

Unfortunate my company has pretty strict social media policies.

But yeah, I hardly have time for anything since taking this position and getting married. Salary is worth it though

28 still playing games and i am creating an RPG,

Its a shame for those whom dont have the time to play.

I travel for work so I bought a gaming laptop that can play almost every game in my collection. However, console games are relegated to time when I'm actually home. Other than that, no.

However, having a wife and two kids absolutely does.

-Byshop

Working in IT makes gaming even better ;)

I'm 37 and an Engineering Geologist. My normal working week is 50hrs long but I still manage to get about an hour of gaming in per night when I work away from home on my laptop. When I'm at home I barely get any time at all.

I worked third shift in a factory machine shop, 11pm to 7am.. up all night, sleep all day.. messed up my sleep hours on weekends, trying to figure out to play games after work or before work, weekends hours besides trying to be up during the days. end up not get to play. just getting sleepy or just tired to play.. I hate third shift.

I work for a semiconductor chip maker. No it does not affect my gaming.

Well i'm a translator and senior in mechanical engineering and they do affect my gaming habits....

I'm a security guard officer stationed at 2 different locations where one is 1st shift and pretty much a large vacant land with nothing to do but stare out a booth window for 8 hours with rarely a visitor coming through (maybe once every 2 weeks). My other spot is at a Enterprise car rental garage (More like the garage where cars get repaired before getting sent to a Enterprise car lot), 2nd shift, where I sign drivers (Mostly workers with a rare visit from a tow truck bringing in a car that needs to be repaired.) in and out of the property. I might not be able to play games on my home systems or PC like I really want to due to the hours I work (And being exhausted from riding my bike back and forth to work more than 36 miles a day) but I definitely play the hell out of my N3DS (Which I thought I'd regret buying but has been worth the purchase) at work because of the long period of time of doing absolutely nothing. If it wasn't for my N3DS, I'd be fighting to stay awake at both sites like how I was before getting it....

What kinda truck do you drive and are you an owner/operator or do you drive for a major carrier?

Peterbilt 378 with a C15 CAT. Running flat deck (tandem/tridem and Super-B) for a local company with 82 power units to Western Canada and the Mid-East US.

I'm starting orientation tomorrow.

EDIT: I should add that they said they are moving the fleet towards 579 midroof's with automatics, but that is several years off yet. But then again, the entire industry is going to be moving that way anyways, for the fuel savings. Currently I'm not sure where I stand on the issue, but at least I'll get a ton of manual experience before being forced into an automatic.

ooo Pete's are nice. If I were to ever drive I'd definitely want a nicer truck like that, even though I deal with Freightliners currently. However I think I'll just stick to the truck parts side of the operation. I don't think I'd have the patience to be an actual driver. Easier to just sell parts to the drivers, although that can actually take quite a bit of patience as well.

Yeah, I was trained on a Freightliner Columbia (Mercedes-Benz) and Volvo 670 (both Volvo- and Cummins-equipped). Getting into the seat of that 378 for my pre-employment road test and running through the gears with the massively torque-y CAT engine was like a "Hallelujah" moment. And they had only ever trained us with empty tandem box trailers... so pulling 45K on a tri-axle flat deck really made the thing work for it.

I'd say give it a try, because while you might need patience to deal with four-wheelers on a daily basis, when you drive responsibly and with the mindset of "I'll drive 5mph/10kph under the rest of traffic, so they all just flow away from me" it becomes almost a therapeutic relaxation. Before I got into driving a real truck, even driving a cargo van in the downtown area of my city was stressful beyond all measure. Now, I welcome the challenge.

It's all in the mindset. Because once you start putting pressure on yourself to rush or do something quicker than you should be doing, that's when mistakes start happening and energy (both mental and physical) is just drained right out of you. And I'm glad I got on with a company that recognizes this, and does their best to make the driver's lives as stress-free as possible.

I'm a game tester, so I play broken unfinished games for a living. By the time I get home all I want to do is get a hammer and smash all my consoles.

I'm a sales manager for a stationery company. I wouldn't say it effects my gaming really, I even get a bit in at lunch some days. Obviously I'd play more games if I wasn't at work but that's a given I guess!

Most definitely games got me interestted in computers and got me the job i have now!

I work in a small software firm for 9 hours a day. I only play games on the weekend and mostly multiplayer.

I work in PC repair and no, I still find time to game.

Freelance web developer, work from home though I occasionally work in house on contractual work. So nope