Do you ever take a break from FM?

A few months back I decided I needed a break from this game, it took over my life for sooo long! when I was looking for jobs, I was wondering how it would effect my FM game time! so I realized how badly I needed to stop playing just for a bit!

I have played on and off since then, the odd couple of hours here and there, the last few days I have had so many ideas to start a new FM save (probably because of the end of the season IRL, all the teams getting promoted and relegated left me thinking can I keep Fulham up? etc...) but I really don't know whether to play again or not!

This game, its so hard to stop playing when you are playing regularly...yet its so hard to avoid playing when you're not playing it!

I go through weeks of playing constantly to weeks of not touching it at all. It just depends how much free time i have on my hands.

Today, I made notes at my desk in preparation for my upcoming Swansea save, so yes, a break is a good thing sometimes.

I've taken months off at a time over the past 20 years, but once I get into the first few months of a save, there's no stopping me.

I never actively take a break, when they happen they just happen naturally but it's never a firm decision. Sometimes youre just fed up with it/busy with other stuff/busy with another game.

But this is my "go-to game" in the truest sense of the word, meaning I very often have it running in the background even if I'm doing other things. I tend to go play it when I'm not doing anything else - which is often.

I go through weeks of playing constantly to weeks of not touching it at all. It just depends how much free time i have on my hands.

I'm very much in the same boat. Currently, having finished my degree, I have nothing much to do and have been playing a bit non-stop for the past 4 or 5 days. Got through 14 seasons in that time across 2 saves!

With FML I was averaging 9-10 hours a day, 7 days a week, playing the game and the game alone.

With FM, I tend to play it a lot in the background whilst doing other things, playing a few games then doing something else for a bit, then playing again. So while it's open for a good few hours, they're not exactly hardcore dedicated time- I may be watching videos, playing some FIFA as well, browsing online, stuff like that.

I play when I can, which is really not that often. My wife keeps me on a short leash when it comes to computer gaming and let's me know way before I feel like I've been playing "too much" (if there is such a thing...). Also, with the wife being currently pregnant, my older kid in daycare, dog that needs walking and a demanding job, there are only so many hours in a day that I can spend on gaming. Therefore my "gaming time" is automatically regulated by other activities.

But as we football managers so very well know: Life is tough, unfair, and a constant struggle for performance and results. (that's why I also have FM14 installed on my work laptop and use my cloud save for gaming when on business trips )

I wish I could...but I can't...:o

I'm currently in an FM slump. I'll start a game, play a couple of matches then stop as I'm just not feeling it at the moment.

Repeating that once or twice a week at the moment.

Defo not feeling FM at the moment.

Haven't done for a few weeks now. Looking forward to starters orders 6 coming out soon.

I don't force breaks. If I want to play, then I'll play. If I don't, then I won't. Real life events can trigger it too.

I play it on and off, and started playing FM again during the Confederations Cup 2013 because I was in World Cup year. The international football had got me in the mood. Similarly, with the end of the season, all this talk of tactics, and the world cup, I've been in the mood again.

If I get bored, I won't play it until I want to play it again, just like how I breathe in when I need air and breathe out when I need to.

Defo not feeling FM14 at the mo.

But still take regular breaks due to illness

I used to have two stints in FM: one when the game came out and another in the summer. But in recent years I've been playing it the entire year, with occasional weeks off.

I can never really take breaks whilst I have an active game going on. Only when I decide to finish a game, delete the save, then I can usually resist starting a new one for a fair while.

The only exception is if I temporarily get more addicted to another game so that whilst playing that I rarely return to FM, as happened with XCOM in late 2012.

I voted I know my limits, but the reality is that I have two small(ish) children and as such my free time is very limited. I'm lucky to get a couple of hours a week to play FM and that means I never need a break, because I'm never gorged. (Basically what Xinxin said further up the thread).

Got hooked on CM00/01 then the game crashed on me. Took ten years to come back to it, hooked once more. FM11 had me hooked good and proper and just had to quit and delete, go cold turkey one day. Bought FM14 and tried to play one match a day and couldn't resist all the old excuses coming back. I had to just quit cold turkey once again. Coming on these boards is like a methadone fix.

I sort of play constantly when I have time and feel like it. I'm in a little bit of a slump at moment in that it gets loaded up every day and I play at least 1 game most days, (after a week or so off just because I was busy), when when I have time I always crank it up. I feel more inclined to play when the football is on and with little football and the weather so good last week it just wasn't high on my agenda.

I wouldn't say I took a break though. I was just too busy to play.

I also have it on constantly in the background. When I come home from work / gym etc, I will try to have a look about online for a bit before going back into it,, as once I start that's it for the night. Its such an easy game to just fall into now with laptops etc there no need to go away to another room to play,, you can just play away whilst watching tv etc (something you cant really do with most other games).

I still get pangs of guilt tho,, not from ignoring the wife or kids during a transfer window or anything lol,,, but for the fact I bought this £1500 alienware gaming laptop so I could play top spec games etc on it,,and they are the ones sitting collecting dust,,, I have 3 right now that I got on a bargain sale at Game that I thought might get me off FM for a bit,,, I played a couple of levels of one, then foolishly started a new save game with my own real life team Rangers and I have been on it ever since,, already hear myself saying just until I get them promoted back up the divs and win the SPFL again.

I tend to take a break from the release of the new version until the last patch is released. I love FM, but playing the game before the last patch just seems a waste of time to me. So instead of getting angry at the game and reading posts telling me how bad the game is, I try to take some time off for 3-4 months and get back into it then. It has really worked for with FM14, Just started my first serious save, and I love the game! Best version without a doubt.

Yes, I have an odd 1 or 2 day break here and there. Haven't touched FM for a good past few weeks as the feel for the game has been somewhat gone.

Looking back, I have invested about 2,000+ hours in FM11, FM12 and FM14. That's close to 100 days of my life and frankly, it's a scary amount of time spent playing. There's never any other games which is as time-consuming as FM. Even Final Fantasy X, a close second, accumulated about 250 hours only. That's less than 15% of the time spent on FM!

Moving forward, I think in order for the game to continue its hot streak, it needs to think about how best to optimise its ME and streamline its game design, such that there's a much smoother flow to it instead of feeling like a chore when playing. I would say in terms of streamlining, FM14 is moving in the right direction...not sure about its ME though.

I think I'm pretty good at managing my FM playing time. Because I'm in full time employment I can't play 24/7, though on days off I'll have it running more or less all day.. On workdays I may have an hour or two here and there, but nothing mad.

My issue lies with sticking to the same save file. I feel the need of a new challenge far too often.

I play regularly with some monthly breaks. I do have a PS4 to play after all.