How much time do you spend thinking/reading about gaming vs. actual play time?

[Mercurius]

Classic case of skewed population sample. We will, of course, be heavily biased towards spending more time thinking and such than playing, given that every instant we spend on the boards counts.

Understood, but it is only a problem if this poll is meant to gather meaningful information rather than as a form of entertainment and curiosity fulfillment; it is, of course, the latter two and not at all the first.

I was noticing a quality in myself as a "serious gamer" and wondering if--or rather, to what degree--others of my ilk experience the same phenomena.

 

[Jools]

Great idea for a poll. You really need some options greater than 10x though!

 

[Boregar]

I actually get to play just one session every two weeks, which lasts for around 3-4 hours. Given my time on here and other forums, preparing my games and just generally reading RPG stuff, it has to be the 10x option.

 

[Gilladian]

For the game in which I am a player, I spend around 1 hour per week talking with the DM (my brother) about the game, brushing up the character, etc... which means I play about 3x as much as I "think".

For the game I run, I spend an 1/2 to one hour or so a day here, spend an hour or so every day or two with my wiki or reading/rewriting modules, and maybe another hour a day thinking about/talking about/whatever my game.

So I probably spend 5 hours a week, maybe more on my game. We play about 3 x a month for 3 hours. So for every nine hours of play, I put in about 20 -25 hours of effort. But I love it. It is my main creative outlet.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Joining the military pretty much destroyed my gaming hobby ( I just separated). It was impossible to hold a group together, as there was always people deploying, going on trips, or moving. It got even worse when I moved to Japan, as now there aren't even many civilians that I can get to play. Therefore, my answer is "error: cannot divide by zero."

 

[El Mahdi]

Classic case of skewed population sample. We will, of course, be heavily biased towards spending more time thinking and such than playing, given that every instant we spend on the boards counts.

Speaking of which, I think I need to move to Mars so I can spend more than 24 hours a day on ENWorld...

 

[Dausuul]

I said 5x or more, but on reflection it's probably 10x or more--we don't game every week.

 

[Umbran]

Understood, but it is only a problem if this poll is meant to gather meaningful information rather than as a form of entertainment and curiosity fulfillment; it is, of course, the latter two and not at all the first.

Yes. I wasn't saying that to note any problem with what you're doing. Just that it is so classic an example, it can be used as a poster child of the phenomenon for those who haven't learned about issues in sampling before.

 

[Umbran]

Speaking of which, I think I need to move to Mars so I can spend more than 24 hours a day on ENWorld...

Because, really, what's more important in your choice of planet, a breathable atmosphere and liquid water on the surface, or an extra 39 minutes a day of lightspeed-delayed internet time?

 

[Camelot]

I don't know any people in real life who have played RPGs before I taught them. That and college = rarely getting to play. Maybe once every other month during the school year, only once this whole summer. =( But the time I spend thinking about gaming? Every waking hour (well, maybe that's exaggerating, but a lot more than 10 times the amount I actually play).

Mind you, I plan on changing this next year by starting a TTRPG club at school.