That Is A Scary, Scary Record To Break

In my youth I had a tendency to play one game for very, very long amounts of time before moving on. Sure, like most kids that was because my folks weren't loaded enough to drop crazy money on things, but I did it all the same. There were countless records I set for myself back then, but none were so memorable as the total play time I had in the 360 version of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. 138 Hours. You read that right: One Hundred Thirty-Eight Hours of play time.

It was something I always felt only partially proud of. Not because I was purely ashamed or anything, but chunks of time shown all grouped together like that have a tendency to make you question how you could have better spent your time. I mean, yeah, I got that sweet glass armor set and hunted for Sigil Stones to give it exactly the qualities I wanted, but it always nagged on me that I had spent so much time to get there.

Fast forward to today. I fire up the Witcher 3, as one does, and decide to take a look at my play time since it was one of the only stats in that game I haven't looked at yet.

12 Days 4 Hours 20 Minutes 13 Seconds.

Yeah, that's right, that's how that game keeps track of the time. No big number for you, oh no! Just a fat, Call Of Duty-style ticker of exactly how much of your life you've wasted. Wasted is harsh, sure, because the game is amazing, but still...over TWELVE days invested? I'm surprised you didn't hear me gasp from wherever you are in the world. Doubly so when I actually converted that to a total hour count - 292. That. Is. Insane. Insane I tell you!

So, uh, I'm gonna go outside or something. Kind of feels like I owe the sunlight a visit or two now, you know?

You've still got eight hours to go to beat the time I spent playing Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind GOTY Edition on the OG Xbox!

@vierastalo: Considering how many quests are still left in Witcher 3, I probably will!

400+ hours in Star Ocean, Till the End of Time. I didn't know anybody my first few months in college.

@redelectric: Over 400? Alright, I don't feel too bad now :P

i have 616hrs with Marvel Heroes 2015. Also I have a combined 660 hours for Borderlands 1 and 2. I'm the one that should get out more.

138? That's not bad.

@neozeon: Glad to be of service. Decided that was the last time i'd ever dive that deep in a game.

Man, it probably speaks poorly to my life choices, but seeing things like 200 hours is tame in my mind. I probably put well over 1000 hours into Morrowind in different forms, from the OG Xbox version to PC to various mods. My WoW play time on my main character ended around 250+ DAYS of active, at the keyboard time. Hell I've put 300+ hours into "smaller" games like The Binding of Isaac.

I enjoyed it all though, so no regrets!

P.S. Oh hell I just checked steam...apparently I have 1200 hours in Atlantica Online, and I haven't played that game in years.

138? Yeah, that's cute, that's a nice starter number.

And that's NOT including playtime done outside of Steam or the expansions/original game which I purchased back when it wasn't even completed yet.

How do you kill that which has no life?

@monkeyman04: I was gonna say you're crazy but I put some serious time into Borderlands 1 myself so I can't say anything!

@believer258: Well I'll confess that a lot of that time was just hunting for Sigil Stones to make "perfect armor". Still, I always thought it was a lot for a game like that. Till I began reading these comments of course lol.

@takayamasama: I kind of expect it in MMOs, only because of how they're designed. Oblivion scared me because I was kind of making up quests for myself at some point just to extend the game out more. Sign of a good game for sure when I just kind of wing it!

@zolroyce: I don't even know what game that is...and now I'm scared to look lest I get sucked into it's influence too!

138 into an Elder Scrolls game is really nothing. I had 300+ in Oblivion and way more than that in the PC version of Skyrim thanks to the modding community.

2629 hours in Dota 2. Thats more than a third of a year. Add to that the hours I spent playing OG DotA and its easily past 3000. Second place is probably EVE online. Played on and off since 2006, but its hard to know how much active time I have in it.

I don't remember right now what my current Withcer 3 hour count is, but I do know it's more than I feel like I've spent with the game. I am not sure what kind of devil drug that game is made of, but the hours keep on ticking and I sometimes find myself just running after question marks just to avoid furthering the story so it doesn't end too soon.

That being said, I don't think I'll end up beating my Dota 2 hour count, which has been a stagnant champion at around a month worth of hours.

@Mike: The game being super long thanks to mods is what worried me when I played Skyrim, but since I had it the PS3 and it never worked right to begin with, I got off light on that. I did pick it up during a Steam sale though but never really got too deep into it after that. Think the hunt for that Platinum broke my will a little bit more than I'd care to admit.

@cronus42: That...is terrifying to be honest. Way too many digits in that number! Of course, if you're liking the game, then screw it. Play on.

@pezen: There is some kind of drug woven into that code for sure. I actually spent far too much time chasing question marks myself but it feels worth it in that game. In just about any other game, you would go there only to find out that it's just another fetch quest. With the Witcher though, as I'm sure you know, it could be something simple that turns into a multi hour storyline all it's own. Think that's why I keep running around in that world: It just feels far more real than it has any right to.

It only keeps track of your time on save games rather than a steam style overall count but this has taken up months of my life.

I wish I had a way to view it but my best estimate for hours spent in Call of Duty 2 is north of 1,500. I certainly remember that XFire had 1,000+ hours recorded and I stopped using that at some point during it.

By way of some kind of explanation I was part of a clan and played professionally.

@shindig: Those kind of games always did worry me. They seem designed to take your time away. In a fun way of course, but yeah, time stealing by design!

@thompson820: Sure, sure. Excuses all around! I kid of course. Makes sense to me. Think the only clan I was ever in was for Mechassault 2.

I don't have record of it but I probably put over 1000 hours individually into both Rome and Medieval II: Total War.

Largest amount I have on record is 470 hours into Empire: Total War. I guess I really love me some Total War.

@kaiserreich: The only Total War I ever put time into was Shogun 2, but I never really got much out of it. Always seemed like I was doing it wrong or something like that. Lot to learn in those games: I salute you for getting that much war on!

Also: Great avatar you have there

It didn't track time back in the day, but I fear to even think about the time I spent playing Diablo II in the early 2000's. Even before the expansion came out, my playtime must have exceeded the days quite easily. I must have spent more than 1000 hours on it.

@joeyravn: The druid basically made that game impossible for me to uninstall. Summoned a lot of volcanoes back then for sure. I wonder if that game actually kept track of how much you played or not. I know Diablo 3 does because of the server connection and all that, but I wonder about D2...

I have 312 hours in Skyrim and probably close to 1000 hours in Oblivion. I've got hundreds of hours invested across the Witcher games. I've got over 125 hours invested in just Borderlands 2. But the single game that I most likely have the largest number of hours invested in? Lufia II on SNES. I cannot count the number of times I have played through that game (it's at least 50) and each playthrough (since I do everything) takes roughly 30 hours (I don't do speedruns in general.)

Pretty sure that Witcher timer is busted. After 5 hours, it told me I played for over a day. So unless I went into a trance and lost track of 24 hours, I dunno about all that.

@sgtsphynx: Couldn't get into Borderlands 2, but that is because I could only really play it solo at the time. Having looked it up to be sure, I remember Lufia II just for the word "Sinistrals". Always had a purely sinister ring to it. Never played it though: I was one of them Genesis Kids (TM)!

@csl316: It's possible but mine seems to be more or less accurate. It does have that time bending effect though so maybe you did enter that sweet witcher trance and not even know!

I played Dark Souls for about 300 hours. It ain't even an open world game.

@twolines: Guess you were just prepared to die then! Yeah...that was a lame joke, I know. I didn't play much Dark Souls. Nothing against the game honestly; I may have just burned myself out by playing far too much Demon's Souls beforehand.

I've only got a minor 846 hours in TF2 and I haven't played that in years.

Well over 8,000 hours logged in EverQuest. Oooops, I didn't have a childhood.

Pffft. I got 664 hours in Warband, and I just reinstalled it again yesterday.

I don't even know how much time I spent in OG Mount & Blade, nevermind all the mods I played for it. I say "mods" even though it's definitely probably mostly just Star Wars Conquest, but still.

I have 400 hours on Team Fortress 2. When I saw it was on exactly 400 and realised I wasn't really enjoying it all too much anymore I decided to just stop.

It's a fantastic game though. And 400 hours is nothing compared to some of the play times you see for it. Looking at the Steam reviews, there are plenty of players with over 1,000 hours and some with over 3,000. Seeing play time info in reviews is really interesting.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's a fair chunk of time but given how much stuff there is to do in those games I certainly don't think it's unreasonable. I wish I had time tracking for older games too, stuff like Borderlands 1 has likely 1000+ hours across all platforms.

I definitely have a good 500+ in FF XIV: ARR, plus I'm sure a bunch of my PS3 and PS2 games would probably have come close too. Plus I'm sure Football Manager (or Championship Manager back in the days before the brand split) would be a fair contender also.

Dota in particular is a regular offender. Just look at some of those bigger 4-digit numbers on my friends list (names all omitted out of courtesy, not because of Dota shaming just not sticking their username up all over the web).

@earlessshrimp: Bah, that's chump change! Actually, I'm kidding. That's a lot of Fortressin'

@paulmako: It is a nice touch to see the times on there. If nothing else, it helps to spot who's just throwing shade when they badmouth something with 0.3 hours in it or something.

@y2ken: It's all DOTA shaming, don't lie now lol. Also, if you were the Hunter who kept shooting me with Thorn during the Iron Banner events, I hate you. Just saying.

I'm kidding, obviously. I just hate Thorn...which is getting nerfed anyway if I'm hearing right.

I have somewhere around 1200 hours in TF2 and I haven't played that game in over 3 years.

@y2ken: Just checked, I have 485 hours logged for FFXIV:ARR, and that's only a fraction of what it is for others in my Free Company.

I also have 460 hours for Gary's Mod. I had no idea.

@tits_matador: Ah, but that's because you played it for three straight years instead! Maybe. I don't know. Still though - 1200? Damn

Yep, that's me. 2230 hours. One thing with TF2 that might mess with the numbers in general was the idling culture that built up back in the day with timed drops. I never did any of that though, I just love the game too much. Maybe one day I might even learn to play more than 3 of the classes.

@neozeon: I never played a huge ton of Iron Banner, so it's unlikely... I have certainly shot people with Thorn in my time though. Looking forward to it getting changed, don't ever want things to get too stale and now I've started playing again I actually care about the multiplayer balance staying fresh cause I still enjoy it a ton.

@neozeon: I always thought of Shogun 2 as the most difficult Total War until Attila came out this year, so that might be why you had a hard time getting into it.

And thanks, I will always be a MSTie at heart!

@y2ken: I think I'm just bitter that, not that I actually received the quest to get the gun, it's being changed. But Destiny is all about that kind of give and take so it's good to see them address it all the same.

@kaiserreich: So I jumped into one of the hardest ones then. Alright, I feel a little better about getting stomped now!

About 400 hours in TF2.
Still garbage.

@neozeon: It's definitely a result of playing it every day for a multi year span.

I went to check and its actually closer to 1400 hours. The worst part being that 1000 hours of that is purely playing as the Soldier class.

@adequatelyprepared: It's alright. From what I'm hearing here, thousands upon thousands of hours makes perfect!

@tits_matador: Doesn't seem like wasted time to me though (not that you said it was). At least you've got a good handle on that class, full stop. I mean, I assume. I was always scared to play TF2 due to all the time people lose in there

Yeah...I have over a year of play time in EverQuest. And I haven't played it actively since 2005.

A cursory glance at my Steam list reveals at least 10 games that I have over 138 hours in (including Dota 2 and TF2 both totaling over a thousand each), which obviously does not include other non-Steam games whose hours total in the thousands each (Diablo II, WoW, Dota 1, HoN, Diablo III) and even those more modestly nestled in the hundreds (Destiny, Fable 1, Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3, the amalgamation of arena shooters from the 90s, etc.)

Guys stop youre making me feel inadequate

Yeah, I put 350 hours in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, most of it over the course of like two months, and that's just the games that actually track your time. Have no idea how much time I've spent playing Heroes of Might and Magic III over the past 15 years, here and there, but I assume it's a large number.

I've got 166 in Skyrim and 126 in Wasteland 2 as of today. When the Wasteland 2 Directors Cut comes out, I'll probably have another 100+ hours when I replay that.

@ripelivejam: At this point, I feel the same way.

Apparently, I've been small time all these years and didn't even know! If nothing else, I don't feel too badly about avoiding the sun anymore.