Being video game designers, we spend a lot of time programming our games. Many (if not all) of us are also avid video game players, including me.
Lately, I've found that I actually spend more time programming my games than actually playing video games. Out of curiosity, do you find this happening to yourself?

Well, I barely play games at all anymore. The last game I really invested much time into was the Wii version of Okami, and that was back in the spring.

I've made the mistake of re-installing NeverWinter Nights and now I can barely find time to code

If I had access to an XBox 360 for Fable: Lost Chapters (or whatever it's called), I would probably never see another IDE or text editor for weeks... Other than that, I spend 95% on programming and 5% on actually playing games. An exception might be temporal...

For a very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time. Doesn't help that video games are an expensive hobby I can't keep up with anymore.

Only game I played seriously (and still do from time to time) is World of Warcraft, because I can play it in bits and pieces and feel like I got something done. Finished Twilight Princess when my computer was crapping out. Other than that, I'm pretty much game free.

I'm very much addicted to Team Fortress 2 right now, but I still find time to code. Homework is a different story.

when i work on my game i play DOTA, crono trigger and FF7 for inspiration

If I had any games that worked on my computer (ancient hardware, Debian Linux software), then it might be a problem.

Definitely. To be honest, nowadays I rarely play games that doesn't involve programming. And the actual playing only occur when I test the addon/mod or whatever.

I actually play more now than I code now. However, I review the games and try to play popular games as that's a bit more relevant to my career path. In other words, for me, playing games is fun but I'm not always playing for fun.

http://www.addictinggames.com/lightbot.html

Do both at the same time

Usually when I play games now, I can't help but obsess over design flaws (not necessarily saying I could do better).

I don't play many games these days. I kinda capped off with the PS2 era (with a much higher focus on the SNES era), and only visit the Wii for games like Brawl.

Stupid, tooth-grindingly so, but addictive nontheless.

I find myself programming as well...About the only game I play anymore at all is Fallout and Fallout 2. I was thinking of making an RPG along the lines of a Fallout kind of game. I like the whole "post apocalyptic" feel and such. I used to play Baldur's Gate (1 to 3), Icewind Dale (1 and 2), and Planescape: Torment. Every now and again I boot up some Typhoon Rising. About 98% of my time is just tinkering and programming....I don't know, I just like that more I guess.::)

I play games on and off. I recently got a Dreamcast (they're cheap), and I'm enjoying Jet Grind Radio and Soul Reaver at the moment.

Unfortunately, that game isn't nearly long enough.

My time is about 50% used up on homework(this weekend it's going to be 99% homework, 1% sleep) and the rest is club related stuff and hanging out with some of my friends. Though the past week I've been trying to get the last 2 trophies I need for Super Stardust

There are all sorts of programming games. Core Wars is one, but there are others. I seem to recall one in which communication with the game took place via stdin/stdout, so you could use any language.

EDIT:
Another one is called AI Bots II. It's Googlable.

i dont program, but i do pirate many many many games only to play them for a few minutes

I play quite a bit of Halo. And when I have a decent computer with a decent internet connection I play Guild Wars. Occasionally I'll throw in a strategy game like Civ III or Rome: Total War. But other than that I don't spend a whole lot of time gaming. Not that I use that extra time to program.

Heh, me too. Which server do you play on?

This happened to me over a decade ago. I think Quake was the turning point, since it's a pretty awful game.

I'm not sure, I try to spend as much time as I can in front of the computer.
Sometimes I spend days programming and other times playing games.

Games these days are both expensive and booring, but I always try new and old games out when I get the time.

Oh, I recommend trying kings bounty: the legend, a new game that does NOT suck.

That was such a waste of time.

For me it goes in cycles and phases.
You know it goes up and down kinda like our current global economy

It's not necessary games that distracts me, but yeah, I'm having trouble focusing on getting my projects done. It doesn't help that I have to spend most of my waking time at work, either. And this annoys me, because I have so many ideas I'd like to see done.

I have to wipe the Windows games when I reinstall, or I'll keep playing "just one more" game of Spider Solitaire or Minesweeper.

I have those here in KDE but they haven't bothered me, but MASkinG's ex05 (Tetris) is pushing my OCD buttons right now.

Willpower! Ha, I'm going out right now to see an IRL friend. I won't have "just one game" before I go, even though typing this is making me want to

I play at dinner time when I'm not inspired. Lately I've spent a lot of time playing through the MGS collection and again MGS4 just to tie things together in that crazy plot. And now that I have the bikes pack, I might spend time again playing Burnout Paradise. I like to play it, turn its horrible music down and hear podcast or news. And I was also addicted to Neverwinter Nights and I may come back to play the last expansion. I love that game.

Once I renew my inspiration, I stop playing and start coding.

That reminds me, I was literally dumbfounded when MGS4 told me to "shake the controller" during that one boss fight! XD

Let's see... the last game I played seriously was Mega Man 9. I had to beat it quick since I was at home where the PS3 is for just a short visit. If any of you have it, check out my highscores. Last time I checked, I was one of only 18 or so to beat the final level on time attack. I can't wait until I get home for Thanksgiving so I can try to beat it without getting hit!

One time I managed to do a single screen of Mega Man without dying. I was immensely proud. Maybe it's the sort of thing they should prescribe to people with a tendency to panic?

A question related to the main thread: to what extent do others find that their development pace severely slows down once they get to the level where they have a game engine that is complete enough to just mess around in?

Yes, but mostly because at that point, the challenge of creation is gone.

What X-G said. No challenge means no fun.

So says you. I for one enjoy playing games with cheats on, or on easy difficulty, so I can just enjoy playing it rather than being frustrated by defeat. More on the point, why is messing around with the editor better than messing around with the code? If the latter does not allow you to express yourself creatively, then it's your own fault for making such a bad editor.

I play OpenTTD on single-player with no bots (or severely crippled bots) for fun on occasion. I also found a beat-em-up on SNES that I can actually complete a stage in, so I play that as well. I don't make computer games, since I don't have time. Instead, I am making components for games, like this line drawing algorithm I am working on right now. Looking back, I clearly enjoyed playing games with an editor component more than games without one, so I guess it's mostly programming for me.

I try out little allegro games here and there and once in a while play some Quake but I'm not much of a gamer anymore. Haven't been since high school. I do spend a lot of time programming games though.

At the moment I have only Warhammer Online installed (recently bought).
But I always find myself thinking about digging up my TES games or Neverwinter Nights. This in turn makes me remember all the fun I had with the TES construction set and Aurora tolset.

Yes! I'm not the only one who never finishes things!

My time devotion on coding and playing games goes in waves, sort of.
Some periods (weeks, months) I code like crazy, or I don't even open MSVC at all and play WOW on PC or BattleField on xbox.

I don't really have a home server, although I used to run a server in my home.

Send an invite to Kibiz0r and I'll add you.

I guess I don't finish my

Fixed. Maybe we should work together

Great, another Monday thread....

Looks suspiciously like XKCD pirated this idea off you:

{"name":"steal_this_comic.png","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/0\/904c27034a0b57d706c532d4648bd8b3.png","w":498,"h":469,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/0\/904c27034a0b57d706c532d4648bd8b3"}

A comment maybe a couple of years ahead of its time in some jurisdictions: DRM on music? I think I remember that. Yeah — it used to be really big, didn't it?

Wait, you can buy music?

It's something old timers like me do. I have 18 days, 13 hours, 49 minutes and 29 seconds of music on my computer. Not a single piece of it has been acquired illegally, and I'd imagine that fewer than 10 of the songs were free downloads (though a bunch of others have almost certainly been gifts, consequent to someone else having bought them).

If you want to really do the Web 2.0-style evangelist speak, then now may be a good time to try to link the attitudes of the average modern internet user to the sudden absence of money in the economy.

Pirating music destroyed the economy?

(Oh hey, if you get out your binoculars, you can almost see the topic from here!)

I think this wins the prize for "most derailed thread in least amount of time".
And piracy is not the root cause of IP problems, it's a symptom of a problem caused by the record companies being slow to exploit a big new technology advance (the Internet). Since the record companies weren't providing service, people turned to things like Napster. After Napster, record companies became paranoid and loaded all their online offerings with annoying DRM, making more people want to pirate music.
XKCD cartoon posted above is relevant.

You're about 32 hours behind. Check 5 posts back...

Yeah, I noticed that too late. Will edit to remove it. Though in all fairness, it came up in a separate thread. (Thread of conversation in this literal forum thread.)

I just got Xbox Live. I won't be doing much programming for a while.

Hey, a comment related to the original thread topic! Call Ripley's!

I'm a complete game addict. I'm lucky I don't have any kickass games on my "dev" PC (Total Annihilation ). I do tend to sequence MIDI's instead, when I start out to program When I have a good idea I code like crazy, even forgetting to play games, and then it just... seeps... away.

Did you check that or just guess? I didn't see anything.It only seems to plunge to 0. Quite often relevance inversions occur i.e. instantaneous change from 1 to -1. But people suffering from severe stupidity don't notice. (No, not you.) I don't have any examples though.

Ooh, I've been playing that game way too much lately. I like to play with "smart" bots though, and then buy them out one after another. Although I sometimes like to just play by myself as you do, it is more gratifying to crush your competition. In a way I'm more interested in the business side of OpenTTD and not necessarily so much about the train track layouts. There should be more business simulation type of games.