Did anyone else take a break from gaming during college?

[entremet]

My college years are far from me but this is seems to be a pretty common thing amongst long time gamers, almost universally. Outside of N64 multiplayer and maybe some LAN Starcraft, I basically took a break from gaming. This was also during the PS2 first 4 years as well. I later got me own PS2 and played some of the best of that library, same with the Gamecube.

I enjoyed that break though. College is usually a mind and socially expanding season in a young person's life. And I didn't give up gaming completely. I did enjoy multi at the dorms. But I didn't complete a single player campaign for years.

I couldn't see myself taking a break now as adult. I have a rather demanding and high pressure big boy job and gaming, along with fitness and reading are my outlets to recover. I also love movies and great serialized TV, but they don't take as much as my screen time games.

 

[NNN]

I did not, but ofc I played waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less then I used to before school.

 

[Deleted member 10795]

I was in a house share situation with friends during the mid-2000's where I played basically nothing but Pro Evolution Soccer for 2-3 years. Probably the closest thing to a "break" from the wider gaming landscape I've ever had.

 

[Delphine]

I only had time to play short indie games that last a few hours only. So yes, I cut on gaming a lot during college. At times I didn't even have time to be social/see people or even spend time on properly cooking myself actual recipes, that's how time-consuming my college workload was. During the last year I spent over 3 months working 15 hours a day every day, so... yeah, gaming was the least of my worries then and I missed out on a lot of things.

Thank god that's over now.

 

[Redcrayon]

I couldn't afford to buy new games when I was at college or for several years after, I had an N64 and they were pretty pricey. Between about 1998 and about 2005 all I played was whatever multiplayer games my friends and I already had plus whatever I could find cheap, which was a mix of Mario Kart, Goldeneye and a range of PS1 fighting game, plus whatever PS1 games I could find for a few quid second hand. We shared a house and played a lot of Bloody Roar for some reason. I got back into games when I started a new job with a long commute and grabbed a DS.

 

[4 Get!]

It all depends on your major, your social life, and how seriously you take both.

 

[Grapezard]

I've been taking 7 courses plus a workout plan, I don't have much time for anything. Time off is when I'll game the most.

 

[entremet]

I couldn't afford to buy new games when I was at college or for several years after, I had an N64 and they were pretty pricey. Between about 1998 and 2003 all I played was whatever multiplayer games my friends and I already had, which was a mix of Mario Kart, Goldeneye and a range of PS1 fighting games. Mostly Bloody Roar for some reason. I got back into games when I started a new job with a long commute and grabbed a DS.

Click to shrink...

I forgot about that too lol.

I had a part time job, but it was mostly enough for day to day stuff--food, hygiene products, clothes (Old Navy baby!), and social outings. But not enough for buying games and consoles.

 

[Zhao_Yun]

Nah, I even started to get into hardcore raiding in FFXIV while I was writing my Master's thesis. Got really good grades in the end so can't say it had any detrimental effect on me. Most important part was to have the self-discipline to know when you could afford to play and when you should study.

 

[The Shape]

What's college? lol

Spoiler

I have no future 🙃

 

[Rosebud]

I'm graduating this year (I hope), and no lol

I have a friend with awesome grades who used to play Switch in class, but I never got to that level.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

I have never taken a break from video games but I have shelved other hobbies for years or even decades due to life getting in the way.

The video game hobby is just so cheap, accessible, takes up little space, and is easy to pause/walk away from that I always kept them around.

 

[Layla]

I stopped gaming altogether when I started going out as an "adult" (I was very tall so could get in anywhere by the time I was 15)
Only started up again much later on when I got seriously ill and had to find things to do where not much movement is involved

 

[Diogo Arez]

Kinda am, but only because there is no PS5 stock, I refuse to play most of my backlog on PS4 currently. As soon as there is stock I'll come back.

 

[Etrian Darkness]

I played more because I had so much time on my hands.

 

[Muitnorts]

I probably played more at Uni than any other time. Loads of opportunity for couch play with the housemates and staying up late playing whatever else I fancied.

 

[RowdyReverb]

Yeah, pretty much the only hiatus I took. I played Halo 3 and Fallout 3 freshman year, then nothing for 2 years, got back into it senior year

 

[HMD]

I literally never gamed as much as I did in college, spent 5000 hours on Destiny alone according to my PS5.

 

[Shamanoski]

Never. I was under pressure all the time yet I NEVER stopped

If I stopped I would've lost my mind from the pressure

 

[Deleted member 59]

Yes, i also took a step back from gaming when i turned 18 and stared going out drinking/clubbing more and then having more dating scenrios/relationships. Missed quite a bit of gaming in 2006-2011 due to it, so missed out a lot of the wii and ps3 gen. I still had the odd console but spent much less time and money on it.

 

[Mbolibombo]

Nope. Still played.. I just added more stuff to my daily schedule :p

Full time studies
75% working schedule
Hanging out with wife and friends
Playing games
Fulltime hockey nerd
Social activities via school
Having 2 kids
Moving to a house

Still not sure how I'm actually still alive from this period. I'm still tired though

 

[dm101]

My college years are far from me but this is seems to be a pretty common thing amongst long time gamers, almost universally. Outside of N64 multiplayer and maybe some LAN Starcraft, I basically took a break from gaming. This was also during the PS2 first 4 years as well. I later got me own PS2 and played some of the best of that library, same with the Gamecube.

I enjoyed that break though. College is usually a mind and socially expanding season in a young person's life. And I didn't give up gaming completely. I did enjoy multi at the dorms. But I didn't complete a single player campaign for years.

I couldn't see myself taking a break now as adult. I have a rather demanding and high pressure big boy job and gaming, along with fitness and reading are my outlets to recover. I also love movies and great serialized TV, but they don't take as much as my screen time games.

Click to shrink...

I think we're around the same age as the N64 was all the rage for goldeneye at the time, but I was a ps1/ps2 guy. I definitely gamed a lot less then than I do now. Studies, bars, martial arts and the ladies took a lot of my time back then, but I do remember some fond gaming memories as well. FF7, RE1, and MDK stand out in my mind.

 

[entremet]

I think we're around the same age as the N64 was all the rage for goldeneye at the time, but I was a ps1/ps2 guy. I definitely gamed a lot less then than I do now. Studies, bars, martial arts and the ladies took a lot of my time back then, but I do remember some fond gaming memories as well. FF7, RE1, and MDK stand out in my mind.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Class of 2003. Damn I'm old lol.
HS Class of 1999.

 

[Igor]

I have. Last two years of college were really rough for me in many ways and I felt that the video games did not contribute in any meaningful way to my life. Besides I slept like, 2-3 hours a day, I just had better things to do. Around the same time I was just plain tired of video games - PlayStation titles prioritised "cinematics" over actually engaging gameplay and I could not afford other consoles apart from Vita I got year into moving into a new city to start work stolen. So I stopped for a good while playing random games every now and then.

And now I blame Nintendo and Splatoon 2 combo Switch to pull me back. That console and Nintendo games really reignited my love for the media but I really feel like it's time to curb my time with it a bit.

 

[mopinks]

I played handheld games during lectures

school is for suckers

 

[dm101]

Yeah, Class of 2003. Damn I'm old lol.
HS Class of 1999.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I finished my Master's in 2002. Old blurp.

 

[jotun?]

What's the opposite of a break?

 

[entremet]

Nope. Still played.. I just added more stuff to my daily schedule :p

Full time studies
75% working schedule
Hanging out with wife and friends
Playing games
Fulltime hockey nerd
Social activities via school
Having 2 kids
Moving to a house

Still not sure how I'm actually still alive from this period. I'm still tired though

Click to shrink...

No sleep I take it lol.

 

[Loud Wrong]

Yep, never touched games or watched much tv in college.

 

[Deleted member 9584]

I think I got more into gaming in college (undergraduate). I took some breaks here any there when I was in grad school though because that was infinitely more stressful. I still think I suffer from chronic paranoia / stress because of how bad grad school was (4.0 though hah!)....

I didn't live on campus and I was dating someone for most of college so sitting around watching tv / gaming together was how we relaxed so I missed out on the whole typical "college experience."

 

[Trickytoon]

Yep, took a break 1994 - 1997 and missed out on PS1, Sega Saturn and all the PC games of the time - if I hadn't I would have *absolutely* failed my degree given the quality of titles coming out at the time and my incredible lack of willpower, so no regrets. One caveat is that the N64 came out during my final semester at Uni, so in order to make sure I could play Mario 64 on release I crammed 2 semesters of work plus my dissertation into 1 semester. Totally worth the sacrifice.

 

[Mbolibombo]

No sleep I take it lol.

Click to shrink...

Yeah probably averaged 3-5 hours for several years

 

[ngower]

Yep. Sold everything before going to school, bought myself a 3DS in my last semester and it's been downhill ever since.

 

[shoptroll]

Didn't really quit, but my preferences shifted from consoles to PC during that time. Mostly because my parents didn't want me to bring a gaming system with me the first year and the TV in my room was maybe 14". So the first two years I was primarily playing Unreal Tournament, Diablo II, The Sims and random retro titles off Underdogs instead of Mario Sunshine, Melee, Double Dash, FFX, Tekken Tag, etc.

I don't entirely regret it but there's a knowledge gap with a number of my favorite franchises that always gets a weird look from people when I talk about how I completely missed the PS2 and Gamecube era.

 

[Zippedpinhead]

Not really?

there was a year in college where I broke my PS2 so I didn't have a console, but I still had my GBA and DS so it wasn't really a "break".

And even then it didn't even last the whole year, more like one semester (Dragon Quest VIII prompted me to buy another PS2)

i Like to think I balanced life pretty well in college, had lots of fun with lots of people, got decent grades, ended up with a paid internship, which led into a permanent job during the Great Recession. I was lucky as hell but never felt like sacrificing games was necessary

 

[NHarmonic.]

I did not, but ofc I played waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less then I used to before school.

Click to shrink...

Same. I feel like i only used a couple hours on weekends to play, i only got back more intensely when i was writing my bachelor thesis.

I miss all those evenings playing high level ranked splatoon2 matches...

 

[rochellepaws]

I played handhelds but never brought my consoles with me to where I was staying for college, but I still had big catch up sessions when I was home for breaks in winter and summer.

 

[Gabbo]

The amount I game dropped, but I didn't stop. It was more a shift in the type of game, something I could fit in between papers and studying. Or as was often the case, multiplayer that my friends and I could jump in and grab a few rounds (MOBAs were literally just starting with the original DOTA mod, Demigod from Chris Taylor and GPG, Heroes of Newerth coming out around this time), and I was really involved with Goldeneye Source for a few years there.

 

[VPplaya]

Nope. I need time to let my mind rest and recharge, so I try to do something mindless once I complete my work for the day. Wasn't so much necessary in undergrad, but its been super important to my mental health in law school.

 

[Deleted member 52442]

Yea I did for the first few years

Highly recommend. Had plenty of friends in the later years so I could stay in and game or go out

I specifically cut out gaming so I would make more friends though

 

[SabinFigaro]

In general it was a break, yes. I was in undergrad from 2003-2007, so in between console generations.

I definitely played through a number of games, and have notable memories of FFTA and the Castlevania games on the GBA. I also remember SMT III Nocturne.

It was mostly 2004-2006 where I slowed down a lot, mostly due to other social obligations. Towards the end of college and the beginning of grad school I really got back into gaming, and once I bought a PS3 I went gangbusters into backwards compatibility with some of the lengthier PS2 RPGs.

 

[Ultima_5]

Didn't touch them during college or the first few years post grad. Had more exciting things to do. Gradually came back to them after life started to get less good

 

[jon bones]

Yeah, college was basically nonstop parties for a few years so gaming took a backseat for sure

 

[wafflebrain]

Initially yes, especially when the memory in my gpu at the time fried leaving me with nothing to use XD

Before that happened I wasn't gaming much at all anyhow, way too distracted and caught up in the typical party scene, though after the first year of uni that's when I ended up getting a 360 and ended up playing that quite a bit. Late night coop sessions of og Gears of War while getting wasted with people in the dorms 👍

That second and third year of uni had some really great and memorable releases, and I rented a ton of stuff from a nearby Hastings since I couldn't really afford full price at the time. Fallout 3, Lost Planet, Bioshock, Mass Effect 1, The Orange Box (l4d splitscreen ate up so much of my time), and Splinter Cell: Conviction were the ones that made the biggest impressions.

 

[Kaguya]

For about three years during Uni I played almost nothing but fighting games. It was great for both budget and overall gaming time.

 

[Spirited]

I did for my first 3 years of uni, but came back this spring because of covid fucking up the rest of my activities.

 

[Matterhorn]

Yup. Missed out on about 3 years of the Wii/360/PS3 era working on my Honors Thesis and trying to get my degree in 3 years. I didn't want to do it but with my course load and research/writing on top of working 30-40 hours per week there's no way I could have allowed myself to get distracted by games. It sucked but I made it through and it was the right decision. The games will still be there when you're done.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

More or less. I actually *played* a fair number of games, but it was typically games I was reviewing for beer money and rent, which meant a lot of licensed crap. (During my college years, I set myself up as the "licensed person" at outlets like GameSpy, the person who would be happy to review the thing nobody else wanted. They would pay for the base review and a $50 bonus if the game was the same on other platforms, so reviewing the PS2 version meant you for like $150 or whatever, and then $50 for GameCube, $50 for Xbox, etc...)

 

[affeinvasion]

My dorm was a constant multiplayer session featuring modern warfare, halo, smash brothers, and Rock band.

I had way more free time in college than I did in high school. I went to class, got my reading and homework done and then probably had about five to six hours to do whatever. I didn't have a job in college so that was a big part of it.

 

[Deleted member 3183]

Yes. It wasn't so much a conscious decision - just didn't have the time for it between class, assignments, exams, social stuff.