Do you play video games?

I'm watching less Video Game videos/streams then ever before this calendar year, including GB content. I've been using any spare time I have to play as many games as I can.

GB users who follow the site but no longer play games are somewhat common, there is a thread started about it at least once a year.

This is me as well.

I spend more time listening to and watching Giant Bomb content than playing games, but I do play games.

This is the greatest time to play video games. How could I not?

@takayamasama: totally this. I play lots and lots and lots of video games.

Count me in on this, I pretty much only listen to GB content while playing something in the foreground

Honestly I don't as much as I used to. I used to be the sort of person who would play about any sort of game that came out..... but honestly I feel there are ways games are being designed these days that have left me with little interest, and forced me to specialize in only a few game types [when in the past I would be very interested in certain genres through all up their history].

Yup, probably too many.

Same. Haven't listened to the Bombcast in a couple of months, Beastcast even longer, and I watch fewer QLs than ever.

Nothing at all against the content itself, mind. It just started to feel like overload after over six years of voraciously wolfing down content. Just had to take a break for a while and work on my backlog, which has gotten way out of hand.

I spend a decent amount of time watching people playing games, but rarely watch them play it to completion (exceptions were the Endurance Runs and watching Mass Effect playthrough at the time 2 was coming to PS3, but 1 was exclusive to 360)

In terms of playing games, I know I rarely play them as much as before, but I still do long enough to consider it one of my main leisure activities...

Well duh.

Yes, but I also love watching people play video games, reading about it and hearing what other people think about them and what they have been playing.

Same for me.

I used to play so many different games (for a while most new releases) but now I play quite a bit less but usually end up playing the ones I do for a substantial amount of time. Played Witcher 3 and MGSV for over 130 hours each last year. I also put around 300 hours into NBA 2K every year now so that is a lot of time. I often play 2K with Giant Bomb stuff on.

I play 40-70 different games a year and hundreds of hours of DOTA, so yeah I play.

I listen (rarely watch but I'll tab over if I wanna see what they are seeing) GB content when I'm working when it makes sense.

I do still watch GB content but rarely a full episode of something at once (the last thing I did that for was Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and that's rare).

On the other hand, I played Wind Waker for 25 hours over two weeks and I've played Twilight Princess for 9 hours this week, which is more gaming than I usually do.

I used to do that but, I have been trying to break that habit.

I listen to GB in the background when I'm doing stuff - either work or playing games. I'd say the past couple of years there have been so many great games that I've found it difficult to play even a fraction of them.

I don't play as much as I would like or as much as I used to but I definitely do still play video games. Watching and especially listening to content is something I can do while doing something else (commuting, some of the work I do, whatever) and when I am super exhausted at the end of a day (and I routinely get home from work after midnight.) Because of this I probably watch more than I play these days.

Would I like to play more? Yes. For example over July 4th weekend I had all kinds of plans to play stuff but ended up only finding time to play through Limbo (in preparation for playing Inside this weekend).

But on the other hand I did play through all of Limbo which, while it is a short game, definitely still counts as "playing a video game" in my book.

Watching LPs and such tends to be an activity I indulge in while I have a lot of free time. I had a really heavy kick of watching people play when it started growing on youtube, especially during the various GB downtimes, but that phase is long gone.

Now I use my limited available videogame time for gaming, some GB and some youtube like Totalbiscuit and Marbozir and the Three Moves Ahead podcast. I experienced an insane podcast rush following 1UPs prime as well but that was years ago.

In short, the less time I have the more "extraneous" gaming stuff goes out the window. I like it that way. It's a good balance!

I mainly just watch YT content and twitch streams. The only video game I currently play is Hearthstone and it's every other day. Since I've been at college I am just less interesting in gaming especially during the semester.

Yes, except for Persona.

What loser plays video games

These past few weeks I've been focusing mostly on Animal Crossing (started a new town and am having a blast), so I would probably say i'm taking a brief time off from 'serious' games.

Waiting for No Man's Sky.

I go in cycles, sometimes I could say most of my recreational activity one week was watching GB videos. While another week has me barely even consuming a quick look and playing lots of games, or sometimes I do neither and do other stuff. It all cycles for me that can last anywhere from a week to a couple of months. I'd say I spend the least amount of time watching people play video-games when it comes to the Youtube/Twitch side of things. I can find myself losing some hours to it sometimes but it probably makes up the least amount of time for me. I prefer to play most games myself as a general rule.

My gaming habits have certainly changed though, I use to be the type of guy that would probably buy fifteen plus games on release and burn through them as fast as possible. Now it's mostly just waiting on price drops and buying a few full sixty dollar games on release. I play less games overall but do spend more time on them, I spent about two hundred hours doing everything in MGSV in January/February this year and it was some of the most fun I've had in a long time.

These days I'm finding that I do play video games more often than I used to. When I was in graduate school, I had to spend so much time reading and writing that when I got done with these activities, I'd just want to watch someone else play games, either at home, an LP on Youtube, or here on Giant Bomb with the Quick Looks. I didn't want to spend a lot of brain power playing a game. Now that I've graduated, I find that I do play video games once again. For example, I hit the 50 hour mark in Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE and I think I'll probably hit the 100 hour mark before I get done playing. I have had times where I've wanted to watch back to back Quick Looks as well, but that doesn't happen very often for me.

There are times when I watch more than I play but something always comes around to bring be back in.

Not regularly enough to want to vote yes. When I do play I usually revisit older games I know I like, rather than playing something new. Though just recently I've gotten pretty into Theatrhythm.

Ask this to me again in another month or two, I'm on break bud : P Poll sure looks like a clincher tho

I play all sorts of games, video or otherwise.

I have actually started to watch a lot less GB content or any content on the internet really and spend more time on playing games and/or watching movies.

I guess a better way to put it would probably be to say that I have become a lot more selective about the stuff I watch. I honestly rarely watch the QLs. At most I have them on in the background while I do other stuff. The main reason I subscribe to premium is Demo Derby. It used to also be because of UPF but it's very hit or miss for me, yet I still watch every episode of it.

But if a quick look doesn't entertain me within the first five minutes I'm probably just going to play a game instead.

Oh heck yeah, I'm never going to go for the triple a games, but I love replaying a SNES game any day of the week.

I would answer "sometimes". I'm still highly interested in them and on stuff surrounding them, but I've been playing videogames less and less. Work takes most of the time and once I'm done with it I just want to relax and do nothing that envolves using my brain too much.

I've had short periods where I was only reading and listening to content on games, not playing them. This was mainly due to other work. I've been playing them most of my life though and I still do now.

I don't play video games because I am an adult and not a CHILD!

Anyway, there have definitely been times where I have played a lot less than I would like, but usually for good reasons.

This actually does not make much sense to me, i feel like it's the same thing as watching someone else eat, if i watch someone else enjoying a game i would definitely want to get my hands on it myself.

@takayamasama: right here with you. I love giant bomb and will continue to support them by I find myself filling all free time with games rather than watching games.

Sure I'll watch quick looks of games I'm interested but not so much the stuff I'm not anymore. I used to absorb ALL giant bomb content but now I find myself picking and choosing. This in no way reflects the quality of videos! Every single one I see is fantastic and I still listen to the podcast religiously. I guess it's just where I am right now

Of course, but overtime -especially this year- I've tried my best to cut down on them. I'm much more specific on which games I choose to play, let alone actually finish (if something doesn't grab me within the first couple of hours, then I'm more willing now to put it down). I just graduated college, so I gotta concentrate on boring adult stuff now.

I watch more GB and other gaming content than I play actual games. I do how ever still play games. Most of them are pc or mobile (tablet/ds etc).

Not as much as I used to. I don't watch any Giantbomb and I seldom watch YouTube. A lot of my time is spent on movies and TV shows. I'm subbed to DVD.com (Netflix rental service) and Netflix and I buy movies sometimes. After twenty years, I'm become pretty dissatisfied with games in general. Film is a better use of my time.

Yeah man, video games are pretty good. Less time than I'd like maybe but that's growing up for ya.

Mab, Ive had a coulple of berts andt that took way too long to wrure.

Man I wish there was like a "yes and no" option. I sometimes go for long periods without playing anything at all...I guess that's due to getting older/having a full time job/wife/dog/etc, as said by many already in this thread. I still like to make time for it when I can, especially when something really interesting comes out. However I think the biggest change in my gaming career has been in how little I keep up anymore with online communities and all the current trends/tropes of the gaming world. Feels like something that I used to know and understand very personally has grown away from me just in the past few years. I try to keep up sometimes -- I read articles on RPS and frequent a couple youtube channels, but overall I just have no idea where to go to get involved with this stuff anymore...especially given the amount of time I even have to spend on it.

It seems like a lot of the climate has shifted towards steam groups and greenlit indie titles, streams on Twitch of the latest horror/gimmick game, and ESPORTS ESPORTS ESPORTS. I might be wrong and/or behind the times on that as well. Most of the biggest online games don't really interest me all that much-- mostly cause they seem to all be incorporating moba elements in some way. MMOs are dying too, and the ones still alive seem to becoming less and less social. So I think it's more than just time that has contributed to my waning interest in gaming.

With that said, I have played a loved several games over the past year or so-- Doom 2016 comes to mind there. That was a great surprise! I loved MGS5. I managed to sink 80 hours into that. I've been slowly making my way through the Witcher 3, which I'm enjoying in short bursts.

So uh, yes and no :P

Not as much as I used to because of how stale things are, though funnily enough I mostly play fighting games which are one of the most stale genres.

Hoping VR and a few games this year get me back into things, going to dive into Witcher 3 and No Man's Sky when I get my new PC.

I think No Man's Sky looks pretty cool, though I'm still not sure that a procedurally generated world can captivate me as much as a handcrafted one would. But it could prove me wrong! Maybe it'll be my next 80 hour timesink :P

I played Dark Souls 3 to completion. Before that... I think I put ten hours into MGSV over the course of five months.

So, no? Not really.

This question is causing me a severe existential crisis

Yes

I actually play more now than I did a few years ago when I found GB content to be lacking.

I play some sort of video game nearly every night after work.

And for people that use their free time to either watch video game content or just tv shows, movies, etc. I feel the exact opposite. Whenever I sit down and try to watch something I feel as if that's a waste of my time and that I could be using that time to play a game instead, almost as if since I'm not physically engaged to this content then it is useless to me. Different walks of life I suppose.

I drift in and out but im always connected to "the scene" in some way.

Though im pretty casual now outside of a few games. but I think thats just what happens when you get to a certain age