I will admit this is hard to do occasionally. However, I think single player non-service games are generally easier to fit into busy lives – you don’t need a video game that demands all of your time, you need one that you can open and close within a month of on-and-off playing.

With that said, my progress on Metaphor Refantazio has been really slow because I don’t play it for long sessions soooo yeah, there’s that.

Hobbies don’t have to be constant. Take a break or don’t, just do whatever and don’t feel bad about it.

For you specifically I’d maybe try just choosing a day where you don’t turn on the computer. Try and stop yourself from that first step and see what happens.

I do it until it doesnt give me joy. Then I stop. Literally just stop. For months at a time. No rush. Then ill read, do other things for a bit. And when that stops being good, I switch back or to something else. My free time is for me.

…Other hobbies? What are those?

Other hobbies? I don’t understand.

IDK, game developers (basically all western publishers and some eastern publishers including Nintendo and Capcom) have been making it pretty easy for me to save money these days.

Unfortunately, all my gaming money is now consumed by bad global economy. So I guess it balances out.

As long as FromSoftware dont start releasing a bunch of expensive games, or Yoko Taro doesn’t drop a super expensive game, it seems like things might continue the way they are.

Try to plan beforehand what you are doing with your freetime, otherwise we tend to default to what we do the most, in my case is watching YouTube videos.

Since having my daughter, I’ve just become way more selective about how I consume games/podcasts/TV/films, etc. I absolutely adore doing it, but I haven’t got time to be grinding through levels or wasting time on a TV series I feel meh about.

Everything must be worth my time. I do spend maybe more time researching, but it allows me to maximize “value” to some degree.

I dont…

I joke that my hobby is collecting hobbies. Gaming, 3d printing, building electronic devices, fixing old stuff. Reading, paint I ng things I print, table top gaming, world building, writing… to name a few. Being a father means I have less time. Sooo I read about other people’s hobbies (new hobby)

I don’t have kids, but I do work quite a bit during the week. I choose games depending on how easy they are to pick up/put down.

For instance, Queen’s Domain is a game I can’t play with any other distractions or plans because it’s a game that I want to immerse myself in and take my time with. But on the other hand, the Lego games are probably the easiest games to jump into and play a level or two, even if you’re not really feeling it.

Bipolar disorder. I rotate between many hobbies, mostly unfinished.

I am a hobby collector (collector of hobbies). Generally I think “I’d like to know how to do this” and give it a go. I’ve calmed down over the years but I’ve just finished reading about making soap 🙄 and trying not to get invested in that.

But this has given me some experience with your issue: don’t force it. Nothing is fun if you feel like you need to do it. Do whatever it is you are feeling up to doing. If you have to do it, then it becomes a chore, not a hobby. Sometimes I just have an urge to do hobby X, other times I do not.

You might not do one thing for months and that’s OK too. Just be chill and go with the flow.

no kids

I have an elaborate to-do list system that looks a whole lot like (but isn’t exactly) the system described in Getting Things Done. Get done the other stuff you need or want to get done, and then you can game with the rest of your time. On my to-do list for today was reading 2-3 chapters of the book I’m in the middle of (I settled on 2-3 as there’s 62 chapters in this book, and I wanted to have it finished before the end of the month), as well as playing a couple of hours of The Blood of Dawnwalker.