How Long Are Your Game-Playing Sessions?

Inspired by something ZJ said in another thread:

ZeroJones wrote:

CQ2 can be played in very short bursts but you need to sit down for an hour or two with Bayo; there's not been that hour or two free for me for ages.

And I've realised that I'm similar. Will happily bust out the 3DS for a quick game of Smash, something that can be turned off mid-match should it need to be and it doesn't matter - but for Shovel Knight, where I feel that I need to maximise my concentration and give it a good uninterrupted quarter of an hour, it's much harder for me to start playing. Even more true for Wii U games: unless I really love the game, there just isn't time for me to spend half an hour on a game these days.

So, are you a five-minute-burst player, or do you like to set aside an hour and get into it?

Good thread, plus it's one I can comment on immediately without having to think of an idea, then forgetting to post at all...

I'm very firmly in the camp of if I can't play about 4 hours I'm not likely to bother with it. I have however recently enjoyed the pick up and play nature of handheld games, so I'm coming around a bit, just not entirely.

I'm a bit like Balladeer in the sense that it depends on the game, and if I try to change the way I play certain games it never goes very well. I think that first session with a particular game determines how I might play it in the future: with Pokemon White 2 I decided not to marathon it as I usually do, which led me to play about an hour a day. That actually worked out really well in the end!

Something like Shovel Knight I could either see myself playing a level or two a day (like I did with Super Castlevania IV) or the whole thing in one go...

Depends on the game as Dragon Age Inquisition first day I got it I played for about 8 hrs straight (I am on holiday) and with Bayo 2 I played that in just two sittings to finish the story but when I go back to working shifts like 12-9 , they don't sound bad but if you go bed late like 1am I'm getting up about 10 which only gives me a about a hour & half to get ready. So I'm more likely to play something like PES or SMASH and just play a match or something then go back to something like Dragon Age on my day off.

The sessions vary wildly with me, sometimes they go for only half an hour, other times I can spend anywhere upwards of several hours.  And on my better days I can spend the entire day playing only stopping for body needs such as hydration and energy refueling.  

Honestly the sessions themselves vary too wildly to pin down, however I do usually rack up a similar average most days of about four hours of gaming.  Depending on other factors I sometimes crank in six hours if it's a free day and I'm heavily in to the game, and on rare occasions I'll spend the entire day, or to give it a figure about eight hours. And on rare occasions when the moon aligns just right with a game I absolutely love I'll spend about ten to twelve hours gaming.

I like to get at least half an hour in and feel like I've achieved something. The days of playing for several hours in a row and playing very late at night - usually when I felt I was close to the end of a game (classically Phoenix Wright or Professor Layton) and ended up being wrong by more hours than I'd care to admit - have gone. Games with frequent save points - or, better, where you can save whenever you like - are where it's at for me now. The VC save state is a gift from the heavens.

I'm in a similar situation - if it's just me, then I can only find the time to maybe play an hour on a "big console" or the PC, and maybe 2 hours on the ol' 3DS. If friends and family are also involved, then I actually get to do old-school 4 hour marathons (Dark Souls, FIFA, Minecraft, Mario Kart, and of course le Smash). But these are still kind-of rare. BEing a grown-up sucks

I actually got to sit down with Bayonetta for a good half hour last night! It was nice, but it happens so rarely.

The average is probably about 4 hours or so but like others have said a lot of it depends on the type of game, I can surpass that 4 hours with something like dark souls or online games such as Monster hunter/GTA.

It can range from 30 minutes to 5 or 6 hours, I don't really have the time to game like I used to but when I do get a window of opportunity I take full advantage of it.

I'd echo everyone else: I used to play for hours, and if I have a game that grabs me I will, but adult life has pushed me towards shorter bursts. Thankfully, lots of game design has lent that way, so I haven't had a issue with playing like that since Infinite Space on the DS (no quest log, Russian names and a massive galaxy of similar looking bars; that was a game I would have finished when younger but had to give up entirely on!)

That said, I always make time for a new Zelda, and always play (even the handheld ones) in long sessions. It's just tradition by now!