Anyone ever take a huge break from gaming?

[Flake]

Well the good thing is that the money I usually spend on gaming is almost enough to satisfy the Warhammer habit. I've sold a couple of big ticket items recently and that has made up the difference.

It's not a cheap hobby by any means but it's so damn fun!

[D.D.D.]

Huge? Nah~ Maybe a month or so at the most (voluntary and involuntary in my teens).

[BoneSnapDeez]

...for 'playing games too much'? Really? THAT's IT, YOU'RE ENJOYING YOURSELF TOO MUCH. YOU'RE GROUNDED.

I could maybe understand if they felt it was affecting your grades at school or something, but if 'playing games too much' is all it was then that's just ridiculous

I got a NES with Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt for my 6th birthday and video games instantly became my life. All I wanted to do was play them and I did just that, as much as I could. I went to school, did my homework, got good grades, ate properly, bathed daily, went to sleep on my bedtime, etc., but all of my free time went to video games. I had no other interests until much later in life when I got into anime.

Both of my parents never liked or understood video games. They never showed any interest in playing them or learning about them, despite it being the only thing their son did. Instead they hated video games and would always tell me how bad they were, etc.
You could imagine how bad that would make me feel. It was a constant problem for us.

I was a very well behaved kid but they would use anything they could as an excuse to ground me, which of course meant no video games. All it did was make me more determined to play video games. Even though I wasn't allowed to play video games, I would try to figure out a way to play them some other way, such as going to a friend's house, an arcade, or playing portable Game Boy games outside.

If there was no way for me to play games, I would just sit on the floor in my room, facing my TV (that was turned OFF) and pretend that I was playing video games. It pretty much made their punishment worthless and I was happy about that. I was either gonna play video games and be happy or pretend to play video games and be unhappy around my parents so they knew it.

Oh yes, my parents were the same way, they HATED video games. They were always trying to guilt-trip me when I was young, telling me I was wasting my life, that video gaming was harmful, stupid, that the "cool kids" weren't into it, etc.

I didn't even play that often. I was only allowed to on weekends, so I'd play Friday night, a few hours Saturday, and a few hours Sunday. I had tons of other interests, did reasonably well in school, played three sports, was fairly social, etc.

But my parents were persistently annoying about the whole thing. They used to bust into my room and yell at me while I was gaming. They would hide my controllers and games so I'd have to spend hours looking for them before I could even start playing.

Things have calmed down now, as my parents have essentially "given up" as I'm 28 years old and live on my own. Attention has also shifted to my brother in recent years, as he's become a "video game addict" (WoW for 12-15 hours a day, which was affecting his marriage). My father still gave me tons of shit last year when my sister-in-law gave me ONE video game for Christmas.

[isiolia]

I didn't even play that often. I was only allowed to on weekends, so I'd play Friday night, a few hours Saturday, and a few hours Sunday.

While my parents weren't quite that bad in other aspects, I was only allowed to play video games on the weekends/holidays as well (unless school was on a break).

That was preceded by a system of 30 minutes per day that could be saved up for times we had friends over or whatnot.

It wasn't something that was mandated to "fix" anything either, more like preventative measures - still, it gave me an earlier appreciation for things like robust save systems

[Nemoide]

I would estimate that my longest break has been about a year, but I have taken numerous breaks from gaming.

My interest in various nerdy things comes and goes and sometimes I just don't feel motivated to play anything.

[Croooow!]

While I've taken huge breaks from console gaming (the three years in college I only played Europa Universalis II) the only break I've taken was this summer for a few months. I found an awesome network of wooded trails near my work and spent my time exploring/running on those.

[dirtyballs69]

i got so sick of playing video games and smoking pot and doing nothing. i wanted to go out and skateboard, drink beer, and hook up with chicks. i quit video games from probly about 2000 when i got into highschool till id say 05 or whenever halo 2 came out cause i got really into that and got an xbox for that purpose. im still really anti vid games. i mean i collect retro i love that shit but when it comes to going to a friends house and playing vid games, fuck that shit.

[Balasubbie]

A lot of your parents seem like overqualifed dicks.

[The Last Horseman]

My parents never liked me to game more than an hour for a time, but as I've gotten older they have figured out it is no worse than TV, and I don't watch or game nearly as much as my Mom watches TV. My parents cut me off from buying stuff for me at about 10 (not including clothes, birthday, christmas, etc.) I do sometimes get them on occasion though.

[pakopako]

When I look at everything that qualifies as a game? Never.

No console games? I had portable systems.

No portables? I had a built-in "Missile Command" on my MP3 player, solitaire on any computer, Pipe Dreams on my phone...

And then there are board games, card games, puzzles games like crosswords and sudoku, even car games. *GREEN ONE!*

...

I must be deathly afraid of boredom.