Gaming parents-how do you work your gaming into your lives as parents?

[semillama]

I have a 20-month-old son. I don't play (or try to minimize playing) any video games while he's up and about. I will admit to finishing off a small quest or getting to a save point right after he wakes from a nap while I've been playing. Basically, my main time for games is restricted to after 8 PM and when my wife is still working on her copy editing or her dissertation. I'd say that now, I typically will have time to game for about 2 -3 hours max on saturdays and sundays while my son is napping (if I'm not doing chores) and maybe an additional 4 hours during the week at night.

This has started to affect the choices of games I play. I subscribe to Gamefly, and recently started deleting from my game queue some of the more huge, open-world/long campaign games simply because I feel that the length of calendar time I would have to devote to the game, as it starts affecting how cost effective the service is to me vs. buying the games. One example is Red Dead Redemption. I would like to play the game, but the amount of time I've read that is required for the game seems prohibitive in a situation like mine. I just finished Dragon Age: Origins, and ended up purchasing it since I knew I'd play it again, perhaps in between rental games. I now kinda look forward to games with shorter campaigns, since I feel I can complete them in a similar time frame as I had been used to playing rental games in.

I should note I've been married for about 3 1/2 years, and prior to that the wife and I were in a LDR -she was completing coursework at Emory in Atlanta while I continued to work in Columbus, Ohio, so I went from having a lot of time for gaming, to a little less time after the marriage, and very little time with a toddler, in comparison to my "bachelor" days.

How do other parents fit in their gaming hobby into their lives?

[SidDithers]

1. I'm pretty much the same...

after the kids are in bed, for an hour or two, couple of nights a week. I tend to play multiplayer games that have a quick turnover, or solo games that I can get into and out of as needed. I play the L4Ds and TF2 online, 'cause you can jump in an out of games really easily, anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours.

I've never started playing something that needed a subscription, just because I don't think I'd put in enough hours to make it worthwhile.

Sid

[semillama]

2. I've avoided multiplayer myself

because I'm often the one who has to comfort the child if he is having problems sleeping, and I don't like having to leave a multiplayer in the middle of a session out of regard for the other players. Also, our console is using a wireless connection, and I don't think it's as good as it should be for MP games.

Tomorrow night, I believe, I can put in some quality time.

[Greyskye]

3. I don't game anymore.

I probably stopped about 5 or 6 years ago, when my son was 5 or 6. He's 12 now, and games enough for both of us. I don't want to role model it, and I've found plenty of other things to do to occupy my time.

I've just been cleaning out the old computer room in the past few days. Tons of games I'd forgotten about: Interstate '76, Terra Nova, Daggerfall, Total Annihilation, Thief... Good thing that the gaming computer died and I never got around to fixing it, I might be tempted. :)

[Broken_Hero]

4. I'm a stay at home dad,

and I work most of my game time in during the day while the little one is at school...

I usually get the little one off to school, get my coffee/exercise in, then I break for about 20 minutes, do some housework(usually minor, 30 minutes tops), then if I got the energy I try to put in a couple of hours into a game before I have to get ready to go pick up the little one.

Usually I don't have the energy to get much game time in, or other errands get in the way, but I do try to get in at least 4hrs in a week. I don't play the games while the little one is home, the amount of questions I receive about "whats this, whats that, what are they doing" gets old.

Currently, I'm trying to finish off Brutal Legend...the next game I plan on beating is Star Wars the Force Unleashed, then MK vs. DC, then Batman Arkham Asylum...

[YOY]

5. My daughter sits and we play assassin's creed II together.

No we don't kill anyone...we go looking for treasure and climb towers and whatnot.

She claim Ezio gets "treasure pleasure" from finding treasure chests.

[lazarus]

6. The 4 Most Important Things To Know As a Gaming Parent

from Cracked

[realisticphish]

7. Cracked

is there ANYTHING it can't do?