In November last year I turned 30, and I hate to admit it, but ever since then games have taken a bit of a backseat, however I’ve watched a lot more TV and movies. Is this the way I’m going to continue? I’m not saying I hit 30 and all of a sudden, overnight I magically matured, but video games as a whole have taken a SERIOUS backseat in my life; it’s possible that my PS4 isn’t getting enough love. In the last month I’ve put about 20 hours into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and that’s it, and I had 2 weeks off for Christmas!! This is by far the lowest month of gaming I’ve had since I wasn’t in the country! So what the hecking heck has happened, and am I a real boy now? 

Well, the easy answer is no, not really. I still WANT to complete Odyssey, Resident Evil 2, Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 in the very near future… And I am still mega excited for the releases of such games as Cyberpunk, Last Of Us 2 and Elden Ring – These will probably all be release day buys, however right now gaming is not my priority, I’m not conscious of getting x amount of hours per week, and it’s not phasing me that I haven’t completed all of these games, and I think it’s healthy. I am more willing to see people, there have been times in the past where I’ve cancelled on friends to play games, or even cancelled on them to game with them online… I’m now not getting pissy if I don’t get to play video games at the end of the night, I’m not running home from the gym to get on my PlayStation, and I’m not fucking up my sleep by forcing myself to stay up late to play. I’ve had this realisation that it is a hobby; it doesn’t matter if I’m playing less games than everyone else, it’s completely down to me, and how much I want to play it and it should only be when I have free time – I shouldn’t push other real life things aside just so I can sit down by myself, especially when I have such a large network of friends and family who want to spend time with me.

I am not saying games are unhealthy at all; I am still an advocate of it being the best hobby, the best way to escape real life and relax, and, for me anyway, there isn’t anything else that compares to squirreling away a few hours in a completely unknown world… However all of a sudden I’ve hit 30, and 2020 and I’d much rather watch some good TV or a movie, such as Line of Duty, which I binge watched over Xmas. I’ve been so glad to be catching up on movies such as Hellboy and Shazam (Aquaman less so), and ultimately in some form I missed these due to video games. For me it became close to an obsession at points; I HAD to complete this game or get 10 hours a week in – I’m glad to not feel that way, because overall I’ll enjoy these games more. It’s definitely become more of a hobby, I have no doubt about this, and I really feel I’m sitting down to it when I’m completely and utterly ready to, not because I feel I HAVE to; there’s a huge difference.

I think it’s easy to get to a point where you feel like that’s all you want to do, because it’s easy and comfortable, and you can enjoy yourself whilst sitting in your PJ’s… However it may be beneficial to make those social calls, or get to the gym. I feel much clearer in my mind since making these little changes, and I think I will continue to treat games as a slightly less important thing from here on out!

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