I grew up an avid gamer. But now, among my 50-hour work week, helping my kids with their math homework, grocery shopping, and house chores, I’m no longer able to find enough free time to really dive into a game. I mostly play casual games that I can drop in and out of but forget about the 40hr+ games requiring commitment. Despite not having the free time to game like I used to, I do enjoy watching my kids play while I’m doing other things around the house and then listen to them telling me about their accomplishments afterwards. I would like to hear from community members with similar circumstance about how you manage your time.
I haven’t played any game meaningfully at all for 2 years since having a kid. There have definitely been times I tried to force it: early in the morning, late at night, on my mobile on the bus. But in all cases it led to more strain on my mental resources or sleep deprivation. I still occasionally listen to a review about a game or video essays while I do chores, but my relationship with games seems to be at a much greater distance for the foreseeable future. There have even been unexpected gaps of time where I get 2 hours to myself, but I realize that playing the game instead of taking a nap or making a nice meal would just drain me.
I come to accept the above because I think having kids does offer me a sense of role, challenge, and storyline that were the most attractive quality about games to me. I still miss playing them but I would for sure pay the tradeoff to keep being a parent anyday.