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Playing MMOs with a full-time job...
Man1ac
Member Posts: 1,428
I've always been an MMO lover and have played many in the past. I'm only in my early 20s so, so far in life I've always simply been in full-time education, where pretty much I've always had enough time to dedicate 15+ hours a week playing my favourite games. I'm finally graduating at the end of this year and hopefully will be able to find myself a trainee accounting job.
So what seems to be stuck in my head is that in my future if I've working 40+ hours a week and maybe hopefully having a wife and kids, will it be worthwhile playing MMOs? With most you need to spend quite a while maxing the level of your character before you can indulge the end game experience.
So what approach do you guys who are in that position take? Do you play the MMOs which are designed for casual players perhaps, or just play an MMO you enjoy but you know you'll never fully enjoy the game because you don't have enough time to play them. Or am I just talking gibberish because there is always enough time to play MMOs even with a really busy life?
We're all Geniuses. Most of us just don't know it.
Comments
Endgame has never been my focus. If I dont enjoy leveleing and feel the need to level as fast as I can to enjoy the game, I leave the game. With my mindset I dont have a problem balancing RL with my MMO. Endgame litereally means end of the game for me most times as it becomes to time consuming and also, I dont find the social aspect of raid guilds very appealing.
Really? This game sucks and Im not having fun? Im going to unsub right now. Thanks for the tip.
If a game won't let you just play when you have time and not when you don't, and still be effective that way, then it's a bad game. The solution is to find a better game to play.
The only thing limited hours can really affect is pvp. If you playing just to have fun then it shouldnt matter. its not a race to the end for everybody just sit back and enjoy the ride when you can
It really depends on what your goals are in the game, OP. As was mentioned earlier endgame PvE and pretty much all PvP will require a greater time commitment ingame.
Totally agree here, st4t1ck.
PvP and other things that require big group/multiple player coordination is where the time syncs are. Unfortunately this genre we love is designed to be revolved around coordinating with others. Haha!!
Obviously soloing will allow you to play whatever hours you wish, but since that social aspect is whats most awesome, just take things in moderation. Find a group of people who also have lots of RL to deal with. There are tons of adult/parent only guilds, especially on WoW if thats your game, where you are gruping with others just like you, with the same time syncs.
All in all, I think you will figure it out, OP. Schedule your hours every week in a planner if you have to! Did that for a while and it was awesome! Knowing I had hours slotted for me later in the day was sweet.
Remember RL should always come first. And MMo's are just that a game.
Now i play World of Tanks. Not a real MMO but it allows to play at your own pace and playing for less then an hour is no problem.
It is sad because i miss EVE and tried several comebacks but without being able to invest whole evenings it is pretty pointless.
@OP
Sure. It is possible to still play mmorpg. Well unless you HAVE to be first , best , keep up with young players ,etc then you might not see sense in playing anymore.
I don't understand that behaviour , but well that's just me.
I just play at my own pace, I have less time so it take me more days/weeks/months to get certain things than many other players that have more time, but then. So what? They spend more time, more dedication (cause they have less rl things to take care of) ,etc so they get those thing sooner.
That IS normal and I have no problem with that whatsoever.
I recently relized that there is bunch of working players who are somewhat unhappy cause youngsters/unemployed/etc 'progress' more and faster than them in mmorpg and they resort to even spend alot of money to keep up with them.
I find this ridiculous and just silly. Why would grown working adult spend his hard earned money to get as high numbers in video game as soon as some teenager?
I say just enjoy diffrent pace and that you don't burn through content in 2 weeks , but instead it takes you two months cause you have less time to play and hafe fun
Well I guess in certain games and for certain types of people , like raiders in WoW it might be impossible to still keep spending long hours to get your character raid ready , stacked with consumeabls and then raid 5 times / week, but I never was hard core raider so I would not do that even if I had enough free time.
I've held down a full time job for almost 22 years now, one that sometimes requires me to work 14-16+ hour days (yay Army). I also have a wife and 17 year old son that I like to spend time with. Even with those commitments, I have plenty of time for MMOs.
I play games that are fun for me whether they are casual or not. If I know I only have 10-15 minutes to play, I'll jump into World of Tanks, then when my guildies are on and wanting to run some group content I'll hop over to TOR. During the slow parts of the evening I'll dabble a little in Heroes of Gaia.
Hey man i'm 2 years in the accounting industry, the only time you'll get time to play mmos is in the summer. basically from August/september until may/june you will be working a lot and won't have time for mmos. I pretty much work 9-7/8 everyday come home eat watch tv for a bit or play a game or two of league of legends rinse and repeat. you will generally work Saturdays somewhat and a lot during tax season.
Bottom line you didn't pick the right career for a life of mmo's. But I guess maybe it depends on whether or not you want to be in private or public practice. If you can get a government job, they are always better - more benefits + easy hours.
sorry to be a debbie downer.
Poor things, coming out of college and into the real world f 40hr weeks and 4wks holiday a year.
Its simple, you balance your work, your life and your gaming as best you can.
A good bit of advice for when you are married is to game on a laptop and let the wife have control of the TV, doubles the available gaming time.
I just play when I can, and I enjoy it. I don't play end game because that requires too much (wasted) time, IMO. When you join a guild, you get used to the fact that you aren't going to keep up with everyone, and that's fine too. There are good percentage of players these days who play casually. I also have other hobbies and interest that cost time, but I will be a gamer for life. This is also another reason why I prefer a sandbox. Even though they are more work, there is less emphasis on leveling up fast, and more on enjoying the virtual world at your own pace and control.
I think you will find that if you want to game, you will find time and you will adjust.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
I work around 40-60 hours a week (some weeks busier than others), full time dad and do other hobbies and I still manage to be a so called power leveler and full time raider. You just got to learn how to manage your time wisely. Developing the ability to live off no more than 6hours of sleep helps a lot.
I have a full time job, wife, baby and going back to university to finish my degree... and also enjoy playing MMOs.
It all depends on where you get your fun from. If you get your fun from being really competitive in PvE and PvP, getting the best gear, raiding 4 or 5 nights a week and so on... then yep, probably you won't get much fun out of them. In my case, I get my fun just from playing the game, exploring, doing quests, maybe doing some dungeons or group quests if I can get a group, and if I don't, I just go by playing the game, chatting and the like
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I think it's the family that will require more of your time. I do know people with families who play mmo's but they don't necessarily play in the most competitive way.
Still, your family comes first.
I work a 40 a week job and have a girlfriend and a pretty robust social life so I play mmo's casually. If i have a lot of time and want to play my video games I do. Otherwise I put in a few hours here or there.
You have to make choices. Sometimes you will need and dare I say "want" to spend time with your family and there will be times where, if you work this out with your wife, you will have "you" time.
use it wisely.
As a point of note I will never have a family by design and that is a decision that I am very thankful for. If you want a family then remember that a family is very rewarding and a great asset to one's life. But a family takes investment of time and caring.
Doesn't mean you can't play mmo's but it does mean you need to manage your time effectively and perhaps not expect to be running with those who play 15 hours per day.
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Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I work between 40/70 hours a week, I am able to can sqeeze a few hours a week to play but also have weeks at a time with no mmorpg play at all, Totally depends on how I plan my workhours.
I enjoy the full game experiance I want from a MMORPG, obviously there are things I do not pertake in due to limited time. I can enjoy some of the Themepark MMO's like Age of Conan but prefer more of a hybrid to sandbox game experiance.
The good thing for me with MMORPG's is that there is absolute no need to rush, I am not worried that if I made ingame friends that they might outlevel me and if they see me as a ingame friend then they don't worry I can't make it as quick as they might be able to level. To me a true gamer understands that not everyone is able to spend equel as much time as someone else who might be able to spend 24/7 ingame.
Yes it takes a long time for me to reach cap lvl, but eventually I will hit the cap lvl, achieve the things I want to achieve that is if the game is entertaining enough for me.
But even if I personaly feel this way, doesn't mean another person will feel the same way to, some have different type of playstyle's, perhaps don't want their friends to outlvl them.
The only way you can really find out is when you actually have that full-time job and creat your own experiance with MMORPG's
its a myth that you cannot have a family ,a job ,kids and not game .
i was a student in eq1 till pop expansion and stupidly quit feeling i cannot be a mmo gamer and hold a job.this was before i married and had a kid even.
when i joined wow i was in a casual guild which i thought was about all i could hope for.at that time my job was 45 hrs a week and every 4th week on calls which took that week to a 60 hr week.
when our guild leader quit because he wanted to raid more i took over and looked at it as a project.i re organised the guild making it a dkp guild,with optional raiding and agreed afk times within raids with 4 different raid leaders in case one or other is offline.
this is tbc era so not one of the dumbed down woltk.we played without any pressure and recruited only folks who worked and were adults ,we had many married couples playing with us.
did we do well.yes we had 2 raid kill first on our server in tbc!our raids took longer and were mostly effective on weekends.we never ever forced anyone to raid.and even if you were online and said " i only got 2 hrs to play" we never pressured anyone.
i guess some games might be more demanding but really do you need the latest raid gear to enjoy the game.answer is no!i playy EQ2 now and honestly i never felt inadequate.
Yes it'll be worth playing MMO's, if that's your poison.
You've set your priorities, so start from there and max out your available gaming time:
Average weekday: 24 hours to divide:
7.5 hours for sleep (DON'T try to methodicly sleep less-> there will be plenty of stuff coming your way that'll make you do with less)
8 hours/day for work
1 hour breakfast + dinner/lunch
That's the very basic, leaving you with 7.5 hours . Since you prefere a happy marriage, set aside at least 1 hour/day for your part of daily chores and make sure you got plenty of time for that other pass-time that'll give you a family
. Also, be sure to be flexible enough to devote one whole evening on any given weekday for some quality time with your dearest.
Now, if you don't plan on picking up another hobby, you'll have up to 4-5 hours on 4 out of 5 weekdays to devote to your addiction -> 16-20hours :-) Enough time to hang with the sub-top crowd. Have fun!
P.S. I've given you the weekend off -> go out and grab a beer with rl mates
Option 2 : Find a MMO-loving girl to marry.
Actually it all depends on your set goals. I did what I described up here but found it still to much gaming-pressure and now play more casually, but that doesn't mean I necesarilly play less on an average week.
Currently playing: Skyrim, SWTOR
Looking forward to: Guildwars 2 ! modestly excited for: The Secret World
Have played intensely: Rift, Eve, AoC, WoW, Conquer 2.0, Astonia 3
Have played less intensely: just about everything else
I work 12 hour shifts every day (derrickhand), and have time leftover to play video games.
It's all a matter of how you distribute your spare time. If I only have six hours free, then I'll use two of those to play and the other four to take care of anything else I need to.
Sometimes the WiFI at camp likes to screw with me, but nothing I can do about that.
I've been guild leader often in my "gaming history". It's not rare to see some people that are 30-40+ with a full time jobs, kids, playing MMO. Most were raiding and just knew how to manage their time. The trick some gamer have is to get their wife play the game with them.
I personally don't smoke, do drugs, drink alcohol each week-end. I prefer playing game with friend. I've traveled around the world still. But when I come back from work I sometime prefer taking it relax playing a MMO than doing something else.
It's all about learning to manage your time. And also, if you have a full-time job and a girlfriend, etc. I wouldn't suggest making a serious guild. That might not work. But playing game ? You're totally fine.
Family - Work - Play.
Just keep your choices in the correct priority and you can certainly play an MMO but like many posters above me have stated, you won't be top dog. The reason is simple, the younger players in school, living at home, and who don't have a full time job just won't have your same priorities. They can devote double or even triple the number of hours you can possibly devote, so don't try to match them. It comes with being an real adult (not just age). Just accept it, your family life will improve because of the increased time your spend with them and you will do better at work if you aren't tired all the time.
I know a few friends who couldn't come to grip with adulthood. One lost a really cushy job because he was always tired and took days off from work when game expansions launched (Looking at you WoW). He has another job now but it doesn't pay as much so he has to work longer to earn the same amount he would have. Another is still single and living in an apartment because he never spent time trying to actually meet people in RL and MMOs dont teach you valid social skills. They are both almost fourty year olds and watching them both implode over the years was all the incentive I needed to stay my course.
So I putter away at an hour or two every night on MMOs and while I certainly won't ever be top tier in any kind of ranking system;I won't be working at wallmart making minimum wage either. I mention this last fact because I met someone in RL who was actually working at WallMart in the Electronics area, he turned out to be a top rank infilitrator in DAOC. Made me feel alot better about the choices I made.
As I typed this, my little girl came over to help me dress her doll and my wife is upstairs getting ready to have lunch with my folks. Later we are going head off to Disneyland (Season Passes FTW) for the evening to see the fireworks. Let the the little kiddies live in their MMOs, RL is way better.
It's really doable, but it of course depends on what else you've got going on. I work about 50 hours a week right now, and still get plenty of gaming in. However, I do not have kids to worry about. Once you've got a family I'd imagine things change quite a bit. I've got a friend who games a lot even with a two year old in the house...but he has to go afk for long stretches of time
He generally does not play MMO's as much as me due to that, but some of the more casual ones he can hang.
I don't play games generally that cater to my limited play time. I play what is fun, which is normally Eve online. The weekends are where I get most of my gaming in still though. It's hard to find a good 3-4 hour block on the weekdays.
Beautifully said. Moderation and keeping track of your priorities are the key. I myself am a 38 year father of three. I have played these games since 98. While my play time is definitely cut back. You can still play these games, have a lot of fun and make good progress if you plan things right.
Your seemingly instant gratification attitude and entitlement slant appears as a broad assumption that beginning to intermediate game-play isnt filled, isn't fully chock with game-play encourangement, fun, interaction, content, etc. that is engaging and entertaning for casual players.
Granted that most mmorpg's are shallow cooperative rpg's with @ a 3-month shelf-life, since end-game content mostly consists of playing the same battleground map or dungeon map over and over and over again. However, real mmorpg's are about more than that, the journey, progressively more challenging and community-centric organic player interactive progression and character development through open-world dynamic player-base encouraged and influenced mechanics and content; content that is bolstered by community interaction as opposed to npc interaction.
I might suggest that you might be better off playing MOBA's if that is your real attitude about the need to rush to end-game. Moba's do fill a niche for myself.
I average 50hrs/wk and go to school part time and i still have (some) time for games.
But i dont have a family to take care of and answer to. and averaging 5hrs/night for sleep helps. (i do not envy those who can sleep 10,12+ hrs a day. so much time wasted)
But i dont look at a game, and compare its play style with my work hours. If its interesting to me i will try it. And if i enjoy it enough, i will change my habits accordingly. (read: i will make time) I will say i do lean towards the "old school" style of MMOs. Its what i grew up on and its what i know. But the same can be said of anything someone grew up on.
Im as active as i can be in EVE. Would i like to be on it more? absolutely, but i have found a corp whose playstyle and priorities fit my own.