How much gaming is too much at once?

[Taleweaver]

This reminds me of nvidia's presentation of the shield console.

Presenter: "We made the controller last 40 hours because we knew that's roughly the time of the average gaming session for some of you."


As for my answer: hard to say. I really need a break after at most two hours straight. And more than mere toilet breaks (at least 15-20 minutes, I'd say). With that in mind...during an UT2004 LAN, we went for an entire weekend. Didn't check the clock, but it's probably 2 times 10 hours (okay, with at least two larger lunch breaks in the middle somewhere).
Other than that, I seldomly play more than one hour at a time, no matter how much free time I have.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Probably around 15-20 hours in Minecraft, I dunno. Wasn't really counting. Kept me playing all day and until late into the night (except for food, of course)
Eventually I got really bored of the game and now I never play it

 

[Vipera]

I don't like going down all at once. However, if I don't have anything better to do, I will gladly spend an ungodly amount of time for a few days until I find myself satisfied.

My personal record for longest gaming session was with Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales. I played it for 14/15 hours straight, from start to finish. No breaks. Why? I have no clue, for some reason I couldn't stop playing. It was back in 2009/2010.

I can get to that time as much as I want, but I can't get past it or I get sick. I envy those who can easily pass me, I'd rather finish a game in one day than two because I never know for sure if I have the time the next day.

 

[OncRN]

When I was in high school, my friends and I used to have SF2 (SNES) tourneys on the weekends. We'd start at 6 or 7 Friday night, and play well into mid morning. Winner would play on, I can recall once playing for 6 hours straight. And I can't count all the times I was up all night playing Super Metroid or LOZ: Link to the Past continuous (except snack runs/bathroom breaks, of course). Those probably lasted close to 10 hours on many occasions.

Anyway, that's all behind me now. I can play some games for a couple hours at most, but I don't do the marathons anymore. Being an old man, married, family, job- all the responsibilities of life come into play. But I don't know that I would do all that now, even if I had the time. Back then, playing long Metroidvania-style games, you were on your own to find out all the tricks and secrets (with occasional tips from friends). Not like today's world of walkthroughs and game guides and instant online help. Now, if you get stuck/lost, just google or text someone you know. Nothing wrong with it, I do it myself- it just seems to me now that playing for shorter periods really helps me appreciate how good a game is. Because if I really like it, I will be back for more, again and again. If not, I won't. Once upon a time I would waste many hours playing games that weren't that good, just to finish them. I don't have that desire anymore.