Ask HN: Dividing Your Time: Programming and Gaming

2 points by mattbgates 9y ago ↗ HN

I can only assume that if you are like me: You are a gamer at heart. You always have been. You always will be. Even if you aren't actively playing games at this time. I'm part of the generation that went outside and played until it got dark.

But then I'm also part of the generation that had Atari. Then Nintendo. Gameboy was awesome too. And even a Sega Genesis system. And beyond. Computers came along, amazing as they were, offering some game called Doom that you had to load from DOS. Duke Nukem. Wolfenstein 3d. Quake was another. As the years progressed, so did the games. And I spent my teenage years in the gaming world. MMOPRGs. Specifcally, Subspace (now known as Continuum) and Asheron's Call (discontinued in 2017), if any of you were lucky enough to play.

As I got older, however, getting jobs, going off to college, I played games less and less, hoping that someday, maybe I would find the time to play them again. Between work and side projects and life, the prospect of gaming again just seems unlikely at this time. I think about it.. I even buy games from SteamPowered, usually when they are on sale, hoping to play them, but I never really get a chance, and if I do, it might be that I took a day or two just to try them out, before getting back into programming.

I keep returning back to my side projects and programming because it makes me feel productive. When I'm not coding, I feel like I'm wasting time not doing "what I need to do". The guilt builds up inside me which prevents me from gaming and I know I need to stick to coding. I feel that if I am going to be successful, whether it just be creating a few popular web apps, starting a business, or generating some recurring income, that I have to keep programming.

So for those of you who did not give up gaming and are programmers with side projects, how you split your time and how do you not feel guilty about it?

4 comments

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onion2k 9y ago ↗

In the past I've found writing games scratches the same itch as playing them. That solved this problem for me for a long time. Then I realised it isn't actually a problem, and if my projects take longer because I'm engrossed in a great game that's fine.

Although, as a caveat to that, I should point out that none of my side projects have ever amounted to anything. I hope that's just a correlation.

vedranm 9y ago ↗

I do not feel guilty for playing games because I play them on Steam for Linux or on Steam for Windows over Wine using free and open source Mesa driver for Radeon. I report any bugs encountered to fd.o Bugzilla [1], and sometimes do benchmarks. It feels like a combination of the usual gameplay, QA (bug finding and benchmarking), FOSS activism, and a celebration of having a working FOSS driver, all of which I really enjoy.

[1] https://bugs.freedesktop.org/

Cheeseness 9y ago ↗

I don't know if I'll have any useful perspectives since my day-to-day work has me developing/researching/writing about/testing games, but here's how I do things.

I do find myself steering clear of particular games (particularly big scale turn based stuff like Civ) to avoid losing vast swaths of time, but I also feel like I don't spend enough recreation time when I've got big projects and contracts on the go.

To combat the latter a little bit, I started making playing "daily challenges" a part of my daily routine a year or so ago. Even though it's still screen time and no substitute for going for a ride or something, it's been a good way of making sure that I step back and unwind a bit for at least an hour a day and give time to a bunch of games that I love.

If it's helpful at all, I usually play Assault Android Cactus, Crypt of the NecroDancer and Nuclear Throne, then fire up Wine to play Spelunky and Battle Chef Brigade (which will be getting a Linux version \o/). On days where I want a bit more, I'll sometimes try a run at Sublevel Zero, or play some Distance.

I keep a "To Finish" list, which has all the games I've started, but not finished. I aim to make that at least 6 games shorter every year. If I can't manage that, then I feel like it's hard to justify buying new stuff. It also gives me a short list to jump onto when I do have time and am not sure what I want to play. The last thing I finished was "XCOM 2", and Quadrilateral Cowboy is what I'm currently working through.

Back when I used to run SteamLUG, we had at least two community game events every week, and the opportunity to play socially with other Linux gamers was a big draw. At one point we had a fairly active Guns of Icarus Online clan of Linux users that played twice weekly. I stopped that when I ported Day of the Tentacle to Linux, but I'd like to get back into it again soon!

Most importantly though, I play games with my family. My girlfriend and I game together (sometimes we play single player games and take turn at being co-pilot, and other times we play multiplayer games together). My Dad drops by at least once a week and we'll often poke around with some game or another. I put him in a couple of VR games yesterday and I think he had a blast. Baking game stuff into your normal recreation/family life makes it hard to feel guilty about that stuff.

All that said, I definitely feel like I don't have time to play all the games I'd like to play, but I feel like maybe there are so many games out there these days that even if I dedicated 24 hours a day to gaming, it wouldn't be possible to get through everything :)

PicardsTea 9y ago ↗

Yep, even if you play games 24/7, you wouldn't be able to see them all. Time management is the key. Trying to focus on the important stuff in your life, but also filling your free time with games if you like it. There will always be exceptions, but you should stick to the thing you love. This is my guide to life also :)