I’ve recently been struggling a lot more than usual with my time. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not referring to time management specifically but more like how best to spend my time doing the things I love and balancing that out with my 9 – 5 job. Okay fine that is kind of time management but I’d like to focus on time management in video games. So as you might know from previous posts I am a contributor for a publication here in South Africa known as SaGamer. The reason why I mention this is because when it comes to review games there is literally no option there on choosing what I play some evenings. With embargo dates and deadlines to be kept, you literally have to tie yourself down and steam right on ahead while reviewing a title. Of course if the games good then that usually works in your favor, and if its bad…well you should have the idea more or less.
So moving on to the topic at hand, Time! Working in a 9 – 5 job and being a husband and dad to two little girls doesn’t really give me much time during my week to actually sit down and have some good game time sessions. And when I’m not reviewing games and actually have time to myself I tend to blank out not knowing what to tackle first. With there being such limited time and a high number of resources (video games in my collection) by the time I decide on what I’ll be playing its bed time. Hence time tends to be my enemy in this instance. However on Friday evenings and sometimes Saturday evenings I tend to find an ally in time where I’m more relaxed and the family is a lot more chilled than during the week so my decision making on choosing a game is a lot faster and precise.
Which got me to thinking, how do you choose to use your time when it comes to video games. Do you play much during the week? How many hours do you put in during the week or on weekend sessions and most importantly in this growing digital age of ours where buying a new game is almost instant with the likes of steam and the PlayStation Store to name a few. Does this affect your decision making in any way on what to play in our never ending curse and gift known as video game backlogs.
-Zain
Controller of life 
Totally get what you mean! Since I started writing about games, I’ve actually been playing less, if that makes any sense. It feels more rewarding though when you put in such effort into doing something for the games you play. I try to play and pick games that I’d be interested in, whether it ends up good or bad. That way, if I absolutely must play something, it’s something that I can talk about with some level of interest.
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It makes complete sense, since I started writing and reviewing games I’ve had less time to play a larger variety of games, although admittedly I do finish a lot more now than I used to. I have to share that sentiment with you though about it feeling more rewarding. I feel like I put more of myself into the games story, music, feel, looks etc.
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Being an adult and having to manage time is such a pain. Sometimes I actually miss school and all of the free time that I had (though maybe I should have studied more…).
As you know, I’ve sort of bowed out of games writing for a bit. It’s a great experience, but I agree about the deadlines and embargos. Because of this, I got to enjoy Persona 5 in the exact way I wanted to and not in a rush to get out a review that was outdated upon publication.
This also means that I’ve been able to manage my time a little more with my own backlog. Every evening I’ll try to play an hour or two of one of my games. Before I go to bed, I’ll grind a little in Dragon Quest II, which I’m playing on Android. It makes things a little more manageable, but I can understand that kids take up a lot of your time!
When it comes to choosing what to play, I now take it one game at a time. So for a long (and I mean LONG) time I only played Persona 5. Once that was done, I moved onto Dragon Quest Heroes 1. And once that’s done, I’ll move onto the next thing. I used to juggle games when I was younger, but I find it too difficult these days.
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lol I completely share that sentiment about school. Although I have to admit it is nice finally having enough money to buy more than one title at a time especially if you own multiple consoles.
I know we often chat about Persona so I think once I start that game I’d like to focus on that solely and nothing else.
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