Do you play more video games now that your a parent?

No pretty much
jonneymendoza said:
That age old theory

Yet the majority of people i play with all have kids and appear to play more than me!!
do fathers/mothers have more time to play video games now that they have a kid?

What has been your experience?
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More into flight sims and combat sims. Which take a lot of time which I don't have.
Kinda stopped for years. Both due to time but also I switched to laptops, as I didn't have the space for a full rig.
because one kid was addicted to games which meant minimizing my own use.
 
Kinda why I started playing world of Tanks 15 mins games and modest hardware. It's not a great game anymore though.

You've also got the whole age appropriate thing too. Then all the security for different users and ages on consoles pcs and internet.

I don't have the patience either. You always get interrupted so don't really want to play anything where that's an issue.
 
robfosters said:
This is hilarious. Never read such tripe.
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Clearly not. If you're gaming more than you could before you had kids well you either didn't game a lot before or you are not parenting. Before kids come along we all had the ability to game from 8am on a Saturday until midnight if we liked. If you can still do that or more as the OP suggested well you're a crap parent.
 
IronSpider said:
Clearly not. If you're gaming more than you could before you had kids well you either didn't game a lot before or you are not parenting. Before kids come along we all had the ability to game from 8am on a Saturday until midnight if we liked. If you can still do that or more as the OP suggested well you're a crap parent.
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umm no this is rubbish.

When you dont have kids, your probably out chasing a life-long partner where you can eventually have kids and that takes effort!

You also dont need to be home most of the time when you are without kids/partner .

Now that you have kids, you tend to you know, stay at home more often then not, especially with young kids/babies.

Your not out there travelling the world, going out to a nightclub etc etc. YOUR at home putting your kids to bed. picking them up from school, taking them to school etc etc.

Your butt is at home most definetly by 3:30pm mate . PLENTY Of time to put the kids to bed and game
 
jonneymendoza said:
umm no this is rubbish.

When you dont have kids, your probably out chasing a life-long partner where you can eventually have kids and that takes effort!

You also dont need to be home most of the time when you are without kids/partner .

Now that you have kids, you tend to you know, stay at home more often then not, especially with young kids/babies.

Your not out there travelling the world, going out to a nightclub etc etc. YOUR at home putting your kids to bed. picking them up from school, taking them to school etc etc.

Your butt is at home most definetly by 3:30pm mate . PLENTY Of time to put the kids to bed and game
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You clearly don't have kids. Prior to having children I could do all the going out and still game more in a day than I can in a week now. Kids don't carry on going to bed at 7PM forever. In fact it's a relatively small window they do that. As for being at home more, I'm home less! School runs, swimming, football, karate, cycling, walking, running, after school clubs. Also the homework gets so much ****ing harder and time consuming :cry: You don't stop travelling the world because you have children, you do it with them and share life experiences with them.

Sure I could carry on gaming like you suggest your friends do, with my children in the house and carry on like I did in my 20's, but then what would be the point in having them if I want to carry on like I'm 20? You sadly can never get that time back, they grow up too fast and is that how you wan't your kids to remember you when they look back at how they grew up?
 
My oldest is 11.

I have certainly played more games over the last 10 years than the 10 before. I think this is largely because I spend a lot more evenings "in" when previously I would have gone out drinking /clubbing etc a lot. Since having kids I average a night out once or twice a month!

It is also an activity that I do with my kids. They have been playing games lite Mario kart since they were 3. Currently playing through: "It takes 2", with my son.
 
IronSpider said:
Hell no, if you are you're not parenting. You just have kids who exist in the same house as you. before you know it they will have grown up and want to do their own thing, you can go back to serious gaming then.
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I don't know what kind of 'parenting' you imagine should be done whilst kids are asleep?
I go to sleep 4-5 hrs later then my kids, which leaves plenty of time to do other things.
 
Direct answer to OP: No.

I look back on our days before the kids and can recall during the height of WoW circa 2006 where I had a rubbish job (but it meant I only really worked about 6 hour days at the time) I was ploughing in hours of time playing that game lol...

Probably a bad extreme example of hours before to hours after! :D
 
EdwardTeach said:
My oldest is 11.

I have certainly played more games over the last 10 years than the 10 before. I think this is largely because I spend a lot more evenings "in" when previously I would have gone out drinking /clubbing etc a lot. Since having kids I average a night out once or twice a month!

It is also an activity that I do with my kids. They have been playing games lite Mario kart since they were 3. Currently playing through: "It takes 2", with my son.
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This is what @IronSpider clearly did not understand from my post
 
jonneymendoza said:
No where did I say that?
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I quoted the exact text. If that wasn't your intended meaning then you might want to proof read what you write.

jonneymendoza said:
I said you stay at home more when you got kids
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You have got to be kidding. I've never spent so much time out of the house since having kids, between the school runs, parks, zoos, after school activities, kids parties/activities with other parents, weekends away, bike rides, roller blading, playing in the garden having water fights or on the trampoline, trips to the local lakes, forests or mountains, etc. It's exhausting!

After the kids are in bed and the chores are done, and after some quality time with the wife I'm lucky if I can get 30 minutes of gaming in if I don't want to shorten my life by sleeping too little.

I'm curious, for those who game a lot do both partners work and do you only have one child?

Edit: Ah I see you don't have kids yourself. That explains a lot of your responses.
 
Kreeeee said:
I quoted the exact text. If that wasn't your intended meaning then you might want to proof read what you write.



You have got to be kidding. I've never spent so much time out of the house since having kids, between the school runs, parks, zoos, after school activities, kids parties/activities with other parents, weekends away, bike rides, roller blading, playing in the garden having water fights or on the trampoline, trips to the local lakes, forests or mountains, etc. It's exhausting!

After the kids are in bed and the chores are done, and after some quality time with the wife I'm lucky if I can get 30 minutes of gaming in if I don't want to shorten my life by sleeping too little.

I'm curious, for those who game a lot do both partners work and do you only have one child?
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The thing is, this thread was brought up because i have come across a lot of people who have kids and still game a decent amount.

And i think its you who needs to some proof reading. Never did i say you should stop caring for your partner.

Re-read what i said. I said when your single, you are out there chasing for a life-long partner to maybe get married and have kids!

I never said once you marry him/her you stop caring!

I am not making stuff up and this thread as even indicated that some HAVE gotten more time to game.

All the activities you listed are what i call "day activities"

The people that play and have kids tend to do so at evenings.

Your schedule seems very unhealthy/hectic if you barely have 30mins to yourself for anything?
 
jonneymendoza said:
That age old theory



Yet the majority of people i play with all have kids and appear to play more than me!!

do fathers/mothers have more time to play video games now that they have a kid?

What has been your experience?
Click to expand...


The period in my life where I played the most games was at University, I had so much free time outside of classes plus the semester breaks were huge.

But once you start working it's over man, your free time starts dripping away - at first it's not too bad but as the years go by and you move up the ladder into senior positions or management you have far too much **** to do and it really eats into gaming time.


So for reference when I was at Uni and single, spent 12 hours a day playing games. Fast forward to now, I get 1 to 2 hours a day max
 
As a parent of three, I still find the time to game but no, it's not as much as it was before. There is still plenty of time - as others have pointed out its normally once the kids are in bed but then my job is one where I sometimes bring work home with me so that also has an impact on how much free time I have in the evenings.
 
jonneymendoza said:
The thing is, this thread was brought up because i have come across a lot of people who have kids and still game a decent amount.

All the activities you listed are what i call "day activities"

Your schedule seems very unhealthy/hectic if you barely have 30mins to yourself for anything?
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Those who game a lot are neglecting either their partner, kids, health, house, or job (or don’t work).

Yes I have a busy life, but that’s because I chose to have kids and their development, education, and health come first.

Sure I do a lot with my kids during the day, but once they’re in bed (which gets later as they get older by the way) that’s when I prepare meals, sort out the house, tend to the garden, manage finances, do sport, meet friends/other parents (we alternate which partner gets an evening out, the other stays at home), spend time with my partner, do additional work when needed, etc.

I still get to play games for 30-60 minutes a day on average, which is quite a lot! All of those evening activities are things that I enjoy, particularly the social aspects of sport, friends, family, and my partner. Why is it a problem that I don’t sacrifice social aspects of life to be alone for hours on end? Even my gaming time is mostly coop with friends.
 
Kreeeee said:
Those who game a lot are neglecting either their partner, kids, health, house, or job (or don’t work).

Yes I have a busy life, but that’s because I chose to have kids and their development, education, and health come first.

Sure I do a lot with my kids during the day, but once they’re in bed (which gets later as they get older by the way) that’s when I prepare meals, sort out the house, tend to the garden, manage finances, do sport, meet friends/other parents (we alternate which partner gets an evening out, the other stays at home), spend time with my partner, do additional work when needed, etc.

I still get to play games for 30-60 minutes a day on average, which is quite a lot! All of those evening activities are things that I enjoy, particularly the social aspects of sport, friends, family, and my partner. Why is it a problem that I don’t sacrifice social aspects of life to be alone for hours on end? Even my gaming time is mostly coop with friends.
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That’s simply not true.

It’s all down to time management. I know a few who are still active in doing exercises, good at there job(manager level), spend lots of time with there kids and partner and still game a couple of hours a day at average.

Better time management is key. You can still do all the above you suggested and still have a couple of hours of time for yourself to game or do whatever.

Even though this topic mentions gaming , its more about time to yourself.
 
jonneymendoza said:
That’s simply not true.

It’s all down to time management. I know a few who are still active in doing exercises, good at there job(manager level), spend lots of time with there kids and partner and still game a couple of hours a day at average.

Better time management is key. You can still do all the above you suggested and still have a couple of hours of time for yourself to game or do whatever.

Even though this topic mentions gaming , its more about time to yourself.
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You do know that time management involves choosing what you’re willing to sacrifice? I just choose to sacrifice my gaming time instead of the areas your friends clearly choose to make to have that much gaming time (kids, family, partner, health, social life, etc.)

Why would I want more time to myself instead of being with my kids, friends, or family? I already get an an hour a day in the gym or gaming, that’s plenty of social isolation time.
 
Some of those things can be easily done while kids are around though, making tea/lunch for example. Even exercising to some degree, my wife goes out jogging with my daughter on her bike.
 
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