How many hours per week do you spend with games?

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I'm especially interested in how well people are able to manage how much time they spend gaming.
Personally, I have a hard time controlling it; especially if I feel depressed, I tend to play in order to avoid life. So I'm trying to quit playing video games completely, but at the same time feel like I'm withholding one of the few things from myself that are fun.

Is there anyone who suffers from (more or less) chronic depression who's able to control how much they play?

I usually spend plenty of time playing video games, but I cut my time playing 5 or less hours per day.

Not good to get too carried away with computer games

I probably play too much. I don't even care, though. I have a full-time job, and I see my friends every so often. It's nice to distract myself from additional interaction with people. I'm capable of giving up games in pursuit of a relationship. I'd just rather not. I feel like everyone has aspirations I can't match.

I spend a large amount of time per week gaming, but unlike many people I also HAVE lots of time (since I dont work and dont need to). Not overweight or anything either, and I make sure to still get out of the house (with the car) at least once per day. And I do have depression, yes, though it can be better or worse depending on the day.

The gaming though? I dont see a problem with it. Games challenge me, they make me think, they increase my already-fast reaction speed, and all that good stuff... particularly considering the sorts of games I play (let's just say... not the mainstream stuff). And really, compare it to what... *ahem*.... "normal" people in our society do for fun/entertainment, such as drinking (with or without friends) and making an idiot of themselves, or perhaps sitting in front of the TV staring blankly at it (no interaction with that at all, of course) watching brain-dead reality shows or movies.... yeah. I'll stick with my games and such, thanks.

Instead of worrying about replacing it.... why not simply seek out another hobby? Not to replace it with, but to have as an additional thing you can do.... so you're not JUST gaming all the time. Or find a way to force yourself to simply limit your time a bit.

But really, trying to stop doing one of the only things you enjoy (and a mostly harmless thing, at that), probably isnt going to help much.

The answer, as many as I can. Video games for life!

I don't play them as often as I used to, but I still enjoy them.

40 hours a week? Man, that's a full-time job! How much I play depends on how busy my life is...can vary from like 1-2 hours a week to 6+ hours a day if a really exciting game just came out and I don't have to work lol. Normally I'd say it's closer to 5-10 hours a week though.

Well, considering I'm in a situation where I can't do much else with my life. (or have a life for that matter) All I can ever really do is stay home and play video games all day.
I have a few responsilitys, such as paying a fine for a crime I did not commit. And going to therapy once a week for 45 minutes at a time. And I started going to a clubhouse program.
I may have to stop going there since It stressed my out alot the first day, and the second day I left right away becuase I was much too uncomfortable. (worried about getting stressed agian)
So, I pretty much don't have many choices, it's either stay home and play games, or attempt to deal with things my mind can't handle.
And yes, I'm living off SSI and Foodstamps, I'm not happy about it, I want a real life and a job, and a girlfriend. But I know those things can never happen.
Mostly becuase of where I live and the circumstances I am forced to live with...
I'm already giveing up my transformer collection, in favor of buying new or used games,
Since I have no need for those figures anymore, and video games are, for the most part, the only things keeping me sane.
Even if I got a job, I couldn't surive the stress caused by working for more than maybe an hour a day.
So, basicly, for these reasons and more, my daily routine is like this...
sleep in. Wake up late. take my pills late. play ps3 games, play pc games, go for a walk around town if it's a nice day, go home, play ps3 or pc games, take my pills at 8 oclock, get a bath, go to bed, have a bad nights sleep with bizarre dreams and nightmares. Repeat.
It may not sound like it, but It's really a miserable, worthless, depressing, existence. I'm lonely, I'm sad, I have no life, I want true love but can never find it, all I have to keep me going are video games...
So I've learned that the only thing I'll ever have to keep me sane, are my games. This is NOT the life I want, but it's the curse I must live with...

Steam logs me at roughly 10 hours/week on a typical week.

This, of course fluctuates depending on real life -- e.g. if I have visitors one weekend, or need to fly home another weekend, etc.... Work takes top priority, then real life, then come frivolities like gaming and the Internet.

I think even when I had a gap semester between college and working full-time, I never exceeded 20 hours/week (and actually think 5-10 hours/week was the norm) because managing real life was essentially a full time job.

I've envied people who can immerse themselves in a video game for >40 hours/week. For something like the Bethesda games, that kind of time dedication is critical if you want to even scratch the surface of comprehending what the game has to offer. However, even at 10 hours/week I'm finding that I am cutting myself off from the real world. Gaming's still a "nerdy" pursuit to many, and if you want to relate to people, I'm finding that I'll probably get more yield per hour if I study sports or study/watch TV and "traditional" entertainment (e.g. going to the cinema). The tricky thing there is that sports and TV don't interest me.

So in terms of controlling how much I play... I do it because I have to. Gaming's fun, but there are loads of higher priorities.

Not as often as I used to =(

Job + girlfriend eats up a lot of time, and I'm not very good at managing my "time off". Often times, I'll be so worn out from work that I'll just sit for a while and relax, and basically accomplish nothing at all =/ Which, regardless of how busy I was at my job, makes me feel unproductive and lazy.

I'm mostly on the computer from the time I get up until the time I got to bed. Even with all that playing I still didn't manage to max out my Runescape account yet in almost 5 years.

At the moment, hardly any. School is a timesink. If I'm out of school and working, I'll generally spend all of my free time gaming. I can easily hit 40 hours.