Weekend vs. Weekday

Prakriti

Hi, I'm a Mindflayer, but don't let that worry you

• May 8, 2017

• #1

When is the best time to have a weekly D&D game? Assume that most of the players are working full- or part- time.

Personally, I've hosted long-running campaigns both on weekends and on weekdays. It seemed to make a difference in attendance, but it's such a small sample size, I don't know if it really means anything.

What are your experiences?

 

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B

bgbarcus

Explorer

• May 8, 2017

• #2

I DM one game and play in two others. The game I run is on Thursday night, the others are Sunday afternoon games, alternating weeks.

The weekday game used to be on Monday but it runs late often enough that starting the work week tired as a problem so we moved to Thursday. Attendance has been close to 100% for three years on Thursday night. Even if we do run late, everyone can get through one work day on short sleep.

Our Sunday games run into the full range of scheduling problems. People, with and without kids, plan trips, home improvement projects, family time, and everything else on weekends. The result has been that even with two groups of mostly different players and two different DM's our Sunday games are cancelled at least 50% of the time.

 

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!

• May 8, 2017

• #3

I'd rather game on Sat or Sun afternoon but that is a no go with most of my players, especially during the summer. So I settle for Wed night.

 

innerdude

Legend

• May 8, 2017

• #4

Our group settled on Thursday nights around 4 or 5 years ago, and it's pretty much stuck. All of us but one are adults with families, young kids, etc. Weekends were just too hard to find times that would work with everyone --- people out of town, visiting other family, kids sports + activities, etc.

As noted, Thursday night is close enough to the weekend, and most of us don't have major work activities on Fridays, so we can be more lenient in staying up a bit later than usual.

 

DM Howard

Explorer

• May 8, 2017

• #5

I prefer to play on weekends, but we play once a month and the scheduling has to be super flexible because we have a nurse with a 9-month old boy and wife to balance, a security guard at a hotel (so odd shifts), and a social worker (unpredictable hours sometimes + weekend backup once every few months with the work cell phone). I'm the only one with a predictable 9-5 kind of job and they all live down in the city, 40 minutes away. le sigh.

 

F

fjw70

Adventurer

• May 8, 2017

• #6

Weekday evenings (including Friday) usually work better for me as I spend more time with the wife and kids on the weekends (during the week the kids are busy with their own activities and homework). I find people without kids tend to prefer to play on weekends.

 

V

Volund

Explorer

• May 9, 2017

• #7

If you work a 9-5 and have a family, your weekdays follow a more defined routine, so if a weeknight works one week, it pretty much works every week. Now if I could just find some other folks who will play past 10 on a work night. Weekends are good for one offs when you can commit more time on a particular day, but can't commit to that time block every weekend.

 

MNblockhead

A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site

• May 9, 2017

• #8

I don't like short sessions. I would rather play a long session less frequently.

I run an 8-hour game once a month on a Saturday.

4 hours seems to short and even 4 hours, would be hard. If I started after putting the kids to bed, the game wouldn't be done until 1 or 2am. Also, I often have to work in the evening with overseas teams, so it just doesn't work for me.

 

aramis erak

Legend

• May 9, 2017

• #9

I've found I get MUCH more consistent gaming on fridays than on weekends.

Wed and Thurs seem pretty reliable, too.

Mondays have always been flaky as hell, and Tuesday is only for hardcore.

 

M

meverz

Explorer

• May 9, 2017

• #10

I play online (Fantasy Grounds) every Sunday night for 3 - 4 hours, starting around 8pm. During the week, I just have too much stuff on in the evenings, and I work Sunday mornings, so Saturday night (as far as I can tell by far the most popular on Fantasy Grounds) is out, leaving just Sunday evening (which works well leading into Monday as my day off).