Weekend Hot Topic: The longest you’ve gone without playing games

Readers reveal the longest period of time they’ve gone without playing video games on a regular basis.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Korey, who asked whether you’ve ever been, or currently are, a lapsed gamer, and if so what pushed you away and what drew you back in.

In the end, there were two common stories: giving up for a short period of time because of a change in circumstances or simply not having enough time the older you get…

Every other generation
I’ve gone without games a number of times in my life. First at college in the PS1 era for a number of years, then when I got a decent job I bought an Xbox 360 and enjoyed that and the beginning of online play.

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Off and on
I am 50 this year, so have been gaming on and off for a long while. I played on the ZX Spectrum back in the 80s, until about 1988 when I stopped gaming. I guess the reason was I couldn’t afford an Amiga or Atari.

I then came back into gaming at about 2000, when a neighbour introduced me to Doom on the PS1. A PS1, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the Xbox 360 were bought over the years, until I just decided to sell them and stopped playing. This gap lasted a couple of years, until a friend introduced me to Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Been gaming regularly since.

Thanks for the good work GC.
Manic miner 100 (gamertag)

Blame Covid
Interesting topic for me, as despite considering gaming as one of my main hobbies the time I spend actually playing games has dwindled pretty spectacularly over the last few years. I’m still engaged in it on a daily basis, from reading GameCentral and discussing games with other readers online, but in general I think I’m lucky if I play for more than an hour a week.

There are a number of reasons for this, including the general demands of adult life, such as home renovations and looking after elderly relatives, but the pandemic was also a big factor in pushing me away from gaming, as I felt like I had to step up and support others who struggled with the isolation. Those habits have continued since and it’s just easier to watch a TV show or a film together, than to secrete myself away in my games room for hours on end.

Every now and then a game will really grab me (the most recent one being The Last Of Us Part 2 at the end of 2022) but I can go weeks without playing anything. The PS Vita and Switch are handy for quick bursts of shooters like TxK and Ikaruga, but it can be a struggle to commit myself to a long game given the time between sessions (I’ve got to roughly the same point in Horizon Zero Dawn twice now and really don’t have much motivation to see it out).

I’m still clinging on to the hope that things will change, and I’ll catch up eventually but I’m probably kidding myself on!
Magnumstache

Keeping up
It’s rare for me to entirely go without gaming for days on end – there’s always some little, timewaster on mobile to kill a few minutes. But I have gone a few days without going back to a ‘big’ game on consoles. This is mainly down to my terrible sleeping patterns, if nothing else, compounded by the fact that a longer session just tires me out much faster and much more completely than in my 20s or even a few years back to my 30s.

Yes. I know exactly how I sound!

Gaming, eh? It’s a young man’s game, son… (Do your best Paul Whitehouse as old worker character from The Fast Show impression, here).
DMR

Console break
I would personally not say I have ever been a lapsed gamer but I do take breaks in some way or another from time to time. The energy and zest from when I was a kid has definitely lessened regarding continually playing all the time! But games are definitely not responsible for me losing any interest, instead it’s other distractions and different hobbies that have come to the forefront, so gaming steps aside temporarily.

Ironically, I am continually in touch with gaming from Twitch, YouTube content, and GameCentral on Metro, and other websites if needed. Basically, I used to play nearly every day but that’s impossible right now and I don’t feel I really want to either, including watching too much TV.

I do have a limit in what I enjoy and breaks in-between programmes, films, and games are needed as I feel the interest wavers and I need to have this energy recharged again. Thinking about where I am going to go next in a game, or what I am going to do from a quest or mission point of view, is basically me getting excited and recharging my serotonin levels. Then I’m ready to pick up the gauntlet again. I am like my own hype machine.

I was having a bigger break from games a little while back, until I bought the new Switch OLED and Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. A decent game does help, or something different to what I usually play on the PlayStation or laptop. As GameCentral have said often, changing to a different type of game does help break the norm to a degree.

Saying all that, I did pick up and play mobile games on the iPhone whilst on a console break, so I was never really lapsed, just making time for other hobbies. I would never be away from games for any major length of time though, I just love games far too much for that.
Alucard

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The small print
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