I don't know if I'll have any useful perspectives since my day-to-day work has me developing/researching/writing about/testing games, but here's how I do things

I don't know if I'll have any useful perspectives since my day-to-day work has me developing/researching/writing about/testing games, but here's how I do things. I do find myself steering clear of particular games (particularly big scale turn based stuff like Civ) to avoid losing vast swaths of time, but I also feel like I don't spend enough recreation time when I've got big projects and contracts on the go. To combat the latter a little bit, I started making playing "daily challenges" a part of my daily routine a year or so ago. Even though it's still screen time and no substitute for going for a ride or something, it's been a good way of making sure that I step back and unwind a bit for at least an hour a day and give time to a bunch of games that I love. If it's helpful at all, I usually play Assault Android Cactus, Crypt of the NecroDancer and Nuclear Throne, then fire up Wine to play Spelunky and Battle Chef Brigade (which will be getting a Linux version \o/). On days where I want a bit more, I'll sometimes try a run at Sublevel Zero, or play some Distance. I keep a "To Finish" list, which has all the games I've started, but not finished. I aim to make that at least 6 games shorter every year. If I can't manage that, then I feel like it's hard to justify buying new stuff. It also gives me a short list to jump onto when I do have time and am not sure what I want to play. The last thing I finished was "XCOM 2", and Quadrilateral Cowboy is what I'm currently working through. Back when I used to run SteamLUG, we had at least two community game events every week, and the opportunity to play socially with other Linux gamers was a big draw. At one point we had a fairly active Guns of Icarus Online clan of Linux users that played twice weekly. I stopped that when I ported Day of the Tentacle to Linux, but I'd like to get back into it again soon! Most importantly though, I play games with my family. My girlfriend and I game together (sometimes we play single player games and take turn at being co-pilot, and other times we play multiplayer games together). My Dad drops by at least once a week and we'll often poke around with some game or another. I put him in a couple of VR games yesterday and I think he had a blast. Baking game stuff into your normal recreation/family life makes it hard to feel guilty about that stuff. All that said, I definitely feel like I don't have time to play all the games I'd like to play, but I feel like maybe there are so many games out there these days that even if I dedicated 24 hours a day to gaming, it wouldn't be possible to get through everything :)