boredsilly

I know, I know, this can apply to TV, or the internet, but I'm curious if anyone else feels this way.

Now, this isn't meant to be a condemnation on gaming, cause I really enjoy playing video games (else why would I be here), but recently I've been thinking about buying another console and this thought came up. The Wii and the PS3 both have games I want to play (Drake's and the Mario Galaxy Titles), and I was trying to decide which system I would buy, when I started thinking -- do I want to waste more time playing video games?

More than likely I will get some other console sooner or later, but that isn't the point of this thread. The point is do you ever feel like you've wasted time playing video games? Like, after you've finally found that 500th orb in Crack Down -- job done -- only to think? Well that was all for nothing. Or when you chase achievements, or get surprised when you see how many hours you've logged in WoW or something along those lines?

I'm just curious.

Kedrix

My mom calls me once a week, and anytime I mention gaming, she asks me a similar question to the one you are proposing. Now keep in mind, I'm nearly 35 years old, have been with my current company for over seven years, have a beautiful wife and own my own house. My answer is usually the same every time, as long as I continue to enjoy playing games, I'll never feel like it is a waste of time.

Of course, it does help that my wife also plays games and doesn't mind me talking about it. In addition, I write my own gaming column every Wednesday (blatant plug). The point is I don't think it's a waste of time because I have fun. Every once in a while, sure I get the bad game but typically I don't play those for very long. As far as achievement whoring or WoW hours, I've logged quite a few, but it's what I like doing with my leisure time. *shrug*

Anubis2005X

I think if you have a relatively balanced life, what's the harm?

DVDChris

Only when I'm not having fun anymore. Like waiting in lobbies waiting for someone to play Fusion Frenzy 2 with me. That was a waste of time.

Maxflier

Not at all.
Even the rediculous amount of time I dumped into MMORPG's when I used to play them HARD core I don't consider wasted considering all the friends I made all over the world and the fun we had.

dsa_shea

Most anything you do in life is wasting time if you think about it. Hell, I think that sleep is wasting time and I wish that I didn't have to sleep much as I could find things to do to fill in the extra hours.

Groucho

The 60 hours I spent trying to get to 100% on Superman 64 may have been ill-advised.

astrochimp

a-Do you have fun playing video games?

b-Do you like having fun?

c-Have some fun.

Gideon68

Only when I play a really bad game.

JasonF

Sometimes, when I look at my pile of unwatched DVDs and unread books. Not that either of those activites are any more productive. Generally, though, I have little enough leisure time that I don't feel to guilty about enjoying it.

Obi-Wanma

I tell my wife this all the time and she thinks I'm crazy. She loves to sleep. I don't.

boredsilly

Well I disagree slightly, as a lot of things are done to further the pursuit of some goal (exercising, learning a useful skill as a hobby, etc), which all goes back to having a balanced life. Not that leisure activity isn't valuable in and of itself.

mndtrp

I figure I'm keeping a heck of a lot of people employed by playing their games, so I'm just helping the economy and their lifestyles.

Ginwen

Not exactly--it's leisure time and whatever I do with it probably wouldn't be productive. The exception was Everquest since I played that at the expense of things I should be doing mostly because it took a long to get a good spot, but no other game (even WoW) was like that.

FatTony

"Wasting" isn't a very good word to describe it for me. I sometimes think there are better things I could be doing with my time (the same could be said for a number of time-consuming hobbies). But as long as I'm deriving some pleasure from gaming, I don't feel guilty about it. I'm usually too tired after a day's work to do anything active anyway, so sitting on the couch with a controller in-hand usually sounds quite nice. Outside of that, it very rarely impacts my social life and I'm a reasonably healthy dude, so no harm, no foul.

Michael Corvin

Same here. I also hate eating. Seems like a waste of time. I like food, but hate eating. Go figure.

fumanstan

Yeah, I don't really see any difference in playing video games with all the other time wasters out there; watching TV, movies, reading books, playing an instrument... whatever you enjoy and can get entertainment out of.

xmiyux

Same here.

My wife loves taking naps whereas I would love to be able to get by on just a couple hours of sleep each night.

rocketsauce

Not unless I'm playing them on purpose to waste time

Autotelik

Sometimes I wonder about that. I'm 32, and have a pretty good job. Back in high school, I used to play computer games nonstop. But I got sick of them during college and after. Nowadays, I might play a couple of hours here and there, but if a game sucks me in too much, I wonder if I'm wasting my time because there are loads of other things I can do, like go out, travel, stuff like that. Then again, I like video games sometimes because it is relaxing, and takes my mind off other things.

XavierMike

Not usually. I am a pretty busy guy, so when I do have some down time, I feel like I can use it however I want (games, movies, TV, etc.)

Trevor

Attempt at a serious point here:

I think one difference, for me and I imagine many, is that it is much easier to get sucked into a game for extremely long periods of time. With anything else on TV, there is generally a finite length and the program ends after 30-120 minutes. Yes, you could flip to another channel or put another disc in, but there is that break for you to consider doing something else. Games are a little more seamless, although there are ends of missions or matches, many games are open-ended or take 50+ hours to "finish". Therefore, one can get sucked into a game for many hours.

A week or so ago I put in Borderlands to kill an hour or so, and didn't notice the time until almost 12 hours later.

And yes, while very happy with a fun-filled day, I did feel like I wasted time.

chuckd21

Simple answer: No.

Anubis2005X

That just never happens to me anymore though. No matter how great a game is, I'll get sick of playing after about an hour or so and wanna do something else. Guess I'm just ADD like that or something...

FantasticVSDoom

Same here as well... My wife gets excited about the weekend just to take naps. I hate that I have to sleep.