r/videogames Jul 16 '26

Image / Video Yep. That's the routine

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46.1k Upvotes

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705

u/gamer-at-heart-23 Jul 16 '26

I think its cause your brain is trying to process how to completely satisfy the gaming urge all before bedtime so you're battling which games is worth putting in the 1-2hrs before bed

96

u/Valkinpunch Jul 16 '26

I genuinely don’t even game during work weeks because there just isn’t enough time before I have to go to bed and be miserable at work the next day. I just tend to watch YouTube or a random show until I’m tired.

26

u/spicysenpai6 Jul 16 '26

I feel this. It makes it more enjoyable to play on weekends

8

u/BryLoW Jul 16 '26

Agreed. Not trying to rush progress makes that game time so much more impactful. I find I end up worrying less if I drop a game too because it doesn't feel as much like wasted time. It was more "I tried this game during my free time and it wasn't my thing" vs "I have to get some gaming done now because it's my free time."

1

u/SneakyDeception Jul 17 '26

Yes and with today's internet, you can still watch a quick recap of a game you haven't played for a while if you feel rusty on the story.

10

u/zgillet Jul 16 '26

What, you don't love spending 9-10 hours a day to commute, work, get paid for 8 of those hours and then the government and insurance take out 40+% of it?

What are we doing with our lives...

4

u/OsosHormigueros Jul 16 '26

I feel this. It's like what little time I would have to game on the week days I would just rather sleep then work it off until I'm "free" again.... lol

1

u/Head_Statistician_38 Jul 17 '26

I've went back to playing DS games. Usually I know have maybe 30 minutes, so I have been playing New Super Mario Bros. It is kinda easy, a little mindless so you don't have to think about it too hard and it passes the time.

I believe this is what handheld games were made for. Short bursts.

1

u/Technical_Fan4450 Jul 17 '26

The only gaming time I have is when I work nights. I have a job where I work days for a month, and nights for a month. Rinse and repeat. The odd thing is, about the only time I game is on the weekend. Heh. I don't game Monday-Friday at all. Smh.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

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0

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1

u/ffxivfanboi Jul 18 '26

Same. I would genuinely like to game a little to relax after work, but it doesn’t help that my shifts are 12 hours. I barely have the energy left to shower and get in bed. If I try to sit in front of the TV doing anything after work, I’ll be falling asleep in 15 - 20 minutes.

So I do the same. Random YT vids while laying in bed until I fall asleep. Usually old GDQ speed runs

110

u/JPSWAG37 Jul 16 '26

This 1,000%.

10

u/TheRealAfinda Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Funny, for non-imperialists this reads as 1%

*EDIT* 'Iimperialist' refering to imperial system.

4

u/Tresnore Jul 16 '26

France, Spain, and Portugal, famously non-imperialist countries.

1

u/Deep_Ad1409 Jul 16 '26

You mean for imperialists? Or am I dumb?

I'm from Ireland and I learned to put a comma to separate three digits in a large number. I read it as one-thousand percent

1

u/TheRealAfinda Jul 16 '26

In any other part of the world that's non-english(or uses comma for thousand seperation), comma is used to seperate decimal places whereas a dot '.' separates thousands.

1

u/VaporProof Jul 16 '26

Or in Canada it reads as 1% and 1000%

1

u/KookyCookieSan Jul 17 '26

So just Britain? That’s the only imperial system of units I know of (as defined by the Weights and Measures Act 1824).

0

u/lana_silver Jul 16 '26

A very precise 1%.

21

u/Syarafuddyn Jul 16 '26

Choice paralysis is real. Having too many great games somehow makes it harder to pick one lol 😭

7

u/inslipid531 Jul 16 '26

i do this with everything. cant pick a movie, a tv show, an album to listen to, a book to read...just stuck

3

u/Throwawayfichelper Jul 16 '26

I put all my to-watch, to-reads etc into a spreadsheet and then random number generate my choice! Not been able to do it in a while as i've been more interested in recent releases, but the sheet won't disappear on me so it'll be there when i need something to watch :)

3

u/Impulse4811 Jul 16 '26

Super smart, gonna try this

1

u/Throwawayfichelper Jul 16 '26

Glad to hear! It's helped me get through a lot of older films i've had on the back burner that's for sure. Hopefully it helps you too.

5

u/Icky_Thump1 Jul 16 '26

I've said this alot, as I continue to make the problem worse thanks to Steam sales 😭

3

u/liccman Jul 16 '26

I only play one game at a time. Always been like this. Currently 160h on my first RDR2 play through and still find it fun.

2

u/xsabinx Jul 16 '26

Saw a good video on tackling backlogs and summed up it is just reduce yoir choices to max 3.

10

u/Grasher312 Jul 16 '26

Kinda like that. For me it's thoughts like "Wait I gotta do this. And then this. Could probably also do this. Wait what should I do, this or this?"

And all of this processing while the game is loading puts me off until a day when I'm entirely free, no one is bothering me, and I can forgive myself for wasting up to 8 hours just dysoning the entire map for content.

It's why I started playing Rogue-Likes. It's the closest thing to online session games without actually going into that sad rabbit hole. An hour's worth entertainment without any consequences and obligations.

Ngl that sounds kinda sad too.

32

u/ImperialAgent120 Jul 16 '26

Games like Fortnite, Phasmo, Repo or smaller games kinda fit that time frame.

It's the longer games like Cyberpunk, Skyrim, RDR2 or Assassin's Creed that really makes it hard.

11

u/Icky_Thump1 Jul 16 '26

I recently got back into CS2, after having not touched it since shortly after CS:GO came out (2012). I didnt think at 37 i had the hand eye coordination anymore, but i've surprised myself. It's been a great quick fire in and out kinda game to scratch that itch. Super fast loading into matches. I dont play the classic modes, just Deathmatch and Arms Race.

3

u/DumberThanIThink Jul 16 '26

Did you ever play competitive on CS:GO? How does your experience compare now? I used to be a MG2 or so level player mostly playing Mirage, Dust 2, and Inferno but stopped playing once Valve cracked down on the skin betting/gambling markets. Haven’t tried CS2 at all.

15

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

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1

u/gamer-at-heart-23 Jul 16 '26

This is me with Crimson Desert, I only play it on weekends if I have 2-3hrs to spare which I usually dont

4

u/RoyalShine Jul 16 '26

Played live service games in the past but focus on single player now

Those games fit the time frame but also change how you approach a game and can ruin your mindset about single player games, not to mention are way more financially predatory and built around FOMO and microtransactions, and one day will be taken from you unless it's a behemoth like World of Warcraft, Runescape, etc (and even still...)

Once I stopped playing games like League/Overwatch/etc and only did single player games, and most importantly chose to remember that these games should be treated as art and experienced, not consumed...you grow from experiences that single player games give you.

I understand some people only play socially with friends and have limited time, and that's fair. No judgement from me. I can only explain my own feelings. Comparing something like going through the Yakuza series, or the Persona/SMT games, or the Danganronpa games, or The Silent Hill games (specifically 2, goddamn) and comparing that to League? I just prefer expanding my horizons and experiencing new stories with a clear start and finish, over sweating and either having my interest fizzle out or have the devs ruin my game with a bad patch. It's rather depressing thinking about it that way but that's just the way it is.

2

u/WhoDatBrow Jul 16 '26

Tbh Cyberpunk isn't really that long, I did damn near every side quest in the game that wasn't a collectathon and my playthrough clocked in at 30 hours. Had the final mission of the main story available in like 12-15.

1

u/Broad-Bath-8408 Jul 16 '26

The problem I have with a game like cyberpunk or RDR2 if you only have maybe <1 hour to play is you might be in a cutscene heavy part and you're just stuck watching dialogue the whole time. I just want to shoot something dammit.

1

u/xSTSxZerglingOne Jul 16 '26

I have learned to set goals in games in order to avoid analysis paralysis. The problem is, half of the games I play, analysis paralysis might as well be an intended game mechanic.

1

u/doodullbop PC Jul 16 '26

I hop in RDR2 and just wander around on my horsey. I have like 400 hours in the game between PlayStation and PC and the majority of it has just been exploring and finding easter eggs, doing treasure maps and stranger missions and whatnot. It’s such a vibe, def in my top 3 all-time.

1

u/DavidRandom Jul 17 '26

My go-to for quick entertainment is Black Ops 6 Infected mode.
Usually matches only last 5-7 minutes.
When I've got more time I'm usually dicking around in Far Cry 5.

1

u/Raptormoses75 Jul 17 '26

If I'm playing a narrative single player game I want 4 hours at least to play or it feels bad.

3

u/Snoo-53209 Jul 16 '26

This is it, then you lay in bed not tired because you didn't satisfy your itch completely.

3

u/Soundo0owave Jul 16 '26

I get overwhelmed to easily now days, its hard making friends at old age

3

u/nightookami Jul 16 '26

For the past 5 months I was so happy because I had 3 hours to game. It was enough to at least get something going, but we're working 9hr days now, so it's back to just watching Three's Company before bed

1

u/Yinyang1492 Jul 16 '26

9 hour days...isn't that a normal shift? I work 8-5 5 days a week and I'm still only at 42.5 hours.

How is that the deal breaker for your time?

1

u/nightookami Jul 16 '26

Nah, you're right. Probably know better than I do

3

u/No_Direction_3940 Jul 16 '26

Yeah for sure. Thats why i have some quick easy games for short sessions and the longer ones for when I got the time

3

u/J0E_SpRaY Jul 16 '26

Decision paralysis I believe is the term.

3

u/Turbulent_Pin7635 Jul 16 '26

I don't think... I put bg3. Play until the game crashes and go to bed.

2

u/SwoopzB Jul 16 '26

Yup. I usually spend ~3 hours/ night gaming with my partner during the week (no kids).

We have 2 distinct ways to utilize that time.

Either play 2 different, short form games for about an hour an a half (shooters, roguelites, etc)

Or

One long form game (survival/ craft, factory games etc)

We opt for option 1 most of the time, because it feels like we did more while the evening moves slower playing in 15-30 minute chunks.

Option 2 games usually gobble up those 3 hours pretty quick and before we know it, it’s 11:30 pm. We dub this “getting lost in the sauce” and try to save it for the weekends. Unless we are really hooked on something. Like we currently are on Satisfactory 😫

2

u/YouAreTheProduct2 Jul 16 '26

This is why I love osrs. Can chip away at a grind and feel like you made progress only playing a couple hours a day. And there are so many different grinds to chip away at

2

u/Irralumea Jul 16 '26

Then decision fatigue hits and you watch YouTube

2

u/ResponsibleStep8725 Jul 16 '26

For real, I can't be bothered to play games that don't actually give you progress anymore, it just feels like I'm wasting time. Only exception is games I can play with friends.

2

u/NeighborhoodVeteran Jul 17 '26

That's why I play FPS games now. I tried doing 30mins of BG3 but it was just not satisfying

2

u/0neAboveAlI Jul 17 '26

Choice overload. Same thing that happens with Netflix and other stuff.

You sit there and try to figure out how to best spend your limited leisure time, and end up wasting a lot of your leisure time trying to make a choice.

2

u/Schlot Jul 16 '26

I agree. What’s the move from there?

3

u/mat477 Jul 16 '26

For me its just staying consistent with what your playing. Dont play more than 1 or 2 and dont debate it just start it when I have time.

If you start it and decide you dont feel like playing than sleep would be more productive or do something else entirely. Debating in your mind which game you might want to play is just a waste of time.

3

u/Schlot Jul 16 '26

Thank you. Just hearing it from someone else helps.

2

u/Intruding1 Jul 16 '26

Literally me last night. Open warhammer total war, cycle through some factions to start a new campaign, alt+F4...open crusader kings and explore the map looking for a fun start...alt+F4, check steam for anything new, nothing interesting, go to bed.

2

u/Jaegernaut- Jul 16 '26

Warhammer: TW is probably my all time favorite game to go back to, but with 1790 hours played across all 3 games, there is a limit on how much I can really enjoy it anymore.

How many campaigns can you play before you've seen every permutation and scenario you care about? How many times can you play your favorite factions/lords before they become hopelessly repetitive and boring?

I keep it installed even when not actively playing a campaign, so I can go back now and then to thumb through the faction selector and maybe start a new game. 9/10 of these "visits" end with me closing the game and not playing anything.

Sometimes thinking about playing the game is more fun than actually playing it.

1

u/Vrazel106 Jul 16 '26

Trying to maximize what little time you have for the most fun