Somehow, on the path to becoming a professional game developer, I stopped playing games. That's not to say that I don't love games, but I just don't have the time. In some ways, it's counterproductive – I need to understand how complex systems work in order to develop some of my own. In other ways, I completely understand it – it's both the nature of my industry and the harsh demands of grad school.

When I say I stopped playing games, I'm full of shit. I stopped playing hardcore, AAA titles. I used to hate the casual market, but I've become enamored by quick sessions such as those I can get from Peggle, Boomworm Adventures, and even Spelunky. I have a literal tower of Xbox 360, Nintendo Gamecube, and Playstation 2 games begging to be played, but I return to shorter games instead.

My life has become so very busy that I can't justify sitting down for a block of time that I know will be more than an hour or so. I used to play JRPGs all the time – a topic I'll probably revisit in the future – but those tend to take forever to play. I'm constantly amazed that I find it so difficult to sink more than 10 or 20 hours into a game – but I'll play anything with a short session and say “Just...one more round.” Sadly, I almost always play more than one round.

There's a reason the so-called “casual market” has been growing so much that doesn't have to do with women in games or new target markets. A number of gamers are finding that they have the same problem I do, and many of them have turned to games with shorter play sessions as well. Some have found solace in the indie games community, where due to development restrictions games often release in the lengths of “short”, “shorter”, and (on certain rare occasions) “immense magnum opus”. Indie games can often get away with these shorter lengths due to the price point (often low or free, but as always there are exceptions) and the fact that indie developers often rely on having a larger body of work than some of the major companies out there.

I'm not at all excited for most of the AAA titles coming out anytime soon with the exception of Brutal Legend. In fact, there are very few games on the market right now at all that I'm interested in. Oh, sure, there's a number I can get new or used that I'd be interested in, but so little of it appeals to me that I'm not quite sure what to do. Most of my “must-buys” from a retail shop are DS titles, which I find appeal to me because I can simply close the screen and walk away. The DS is made for shorter play sessions and immediate pausing, which I love. Conveniently for me, this has also created a context of allowing the player to save games pretty much anywhere at any time.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on some of these games, but even the DS can't hold my attention for a long period of time. Ultimately, I want shorter games, not shorter play sessions. This is one reason I find roguelikes so fascinating: I can play a full game in a few minutes if I'm bad at it, and (depending on the roguelike – I'm thinking more of Shiren the Wanderer on the DS rather than Nethack) a couple hours if I'm good. And I'll be honest – the procedural content helps a bit there. Still, I'd rather play some strange little innovative indie game on my computer than any major release I've seen in a long time. But everybody has their own tastes.

Of course, I have to play these games to understand them, so it all comes full-circle in the end. Whether or not I “want” to, I'll play a number of these major titles. I'll even try my best to get excited about one at some point. Arkham Asylum is the next on my list (and sitting on my bed) under recommendation from a friend whose choice of game material to study is impeccable. I'm sure there'll be a bunch of really cool things coming out at some point in the future. And I'm sure I'll like – or even love! – some of them. But I haven't finished a lengthy game in a while, so we'll see what happens. I'm going to go back to my Nethack now, and you can let me know the cool things coming out...