How many game sessions have you run?

[Treebore]

How many hours do you think that adds up to? Conservative estimates are fine, not trying to be scientific here.

I would conservatively estimate that I have ran over 1,000 sessions, with an average of 6 hours of actual gaming for each session, so over 6,000 hours of actual game time running games.

Playing? I would say I have about 600 sessions as a player. These I would say average 5 hours per session, so an additional 3,000 hours playing, for a conservative estimate of 9,000 hours of gaming over 27 years. I am pretty sure I am being very conservative, because I was typically involved in 2 to 4 games per week (I am involved in 5 games per week now, for example.) and I did these estimates assuming less than two per week.

* I made this same post on ENWorld, but I am under the impression most people here rarely, if ever, go to ENWorld.

[Arduin]

Since '77 ... NO idea. Too many to have a clue.

[Treebore]

Since '77 ... NO idea. Too many to have a clue.

Yeah, mine is a guess too. Its not like we kept records.

[Go0gleplex]

I've ran around 1350+/- games on an average of 10 hrs a session. So roughly 13500 hrs of DM time. Playing sessions are at about 900 similarly an avg of 10 hrs, so 9000 hours of actual player time.

So THAT'S where my teenage yrs and the 20's went to! lol

I know for about 8 yrs we played every weekend 6pm Fri- midnite Sun stopping for 8 hrs of work and 4-6 hrs of sleep in between gaming, I ran about 1/3 of those games. Then when I moved farther north we played every weekend Sat and Sun from noon til midnite in which I ran all of the games. Plus a score or so more when I moved down here to Oregon for a couple years. Records are easy when you've done nothing else with your time. *wry smile*

(ed.; I didn't count in the "slow years" where we only played every other weekend or what...since I started in '76...the actual totals above are likely a bit higher. Bad memory. )

[ThrorII]

Since I started in 5th grade, in 1980? No idea. Especially since between 6th grade and 8th grade, I played several hours a day, every day at school (before school, at recess, at lunch, during one elective class ['games'], and after school) plus weekends. Maybe 1500 hours? Virtually all of those were as a player, not DM.

During High School I played on weekends for 4 years (maybe another 1000 hours, mostly all as a DM)

Since I restarted gaming (2007) after a 20 year hiatus, I've maybe played 132 sessions at 5 hours each (6 years x 11 months each year x 2 sessions a month), so another 660 hours of play time, with about 1/3 as a GM and 2/3 as a player.

A rough estimate would be 3200 hours of playing in some form or another. D&D 1e, Gamma World, Traveller, Top Secret, MERP, Marvel Superheroes, TNMT & other Strangeness, LotR rpg, D&D 3.5, C&C, B/X D&D, Mongoose Conan, ICONS, and Savage World Star Wars.

[Omote]

I have no idea. I have been playing or running RPGs pretty regularly since 1990 or so. So, let's say conservatively 40+ sessions per year, for the past 22 years. I guess that would be 880+ sessions, at, uh, 4-5 hours apiece. Well that is about 4000 hours of gaming. All of that is an estimate. I'd actually wager it's a bit more. But who really knows.

~O

[serleran]

While in high school, at least in the summer, we would run marathon sessions of 2-3 days of nonstop gaming, that sometimes twice a week. And, we always gamed on Saturday and Sunday, for 8 or more hours. Not counting time spent outside that, such as not while in high school... so, if I had to guess, it would be a tremendous amount. Certainly enough to make me old. Probably about 40-60000 hours over the years.

[mordrene]

Yeah the more i think about this the older i feel. so lets see i started when i was 11, now im 41. lets estimate 8 hours a week thats 8x52x30=12480 hrs


Another observation ive seen is the people here are dm's, ck's, gm's or whatever you want to be called. i rarely see a player only person around here.

[Rigon]

I'm gonna use Mordrene formula. I think it will give me the best estimate, considering everything evens out for the breaks in my gaming and the marathon sessions. So, I started gaming when I was 16 and I'm 38 now. 8x52x22=9152. This is as both a player and a gm.

R-

[Lurker]

Ok lets see … I know it will be on the low end compared to the rest of you all, but I’m sure it’ll still surprise me
Started in 1984, played 2 hours a day 4ish days a week during school days, and 4-6 hours at least every other weekend. 8x36x6=1728 18x5x6=540 total of 2268
During the summer lets say 6-8 hours a week (sometimes more, other weeks we were camping etc so no gaming). 7x12x6=504
Once I got in the military a short hiatus, but then for 3 years easy 10-12 x2 a week. 22x48x3=3168
Another hiatus for deployment & school, and then 2 years easy 10-12 a week. 11x48x2=1056
Total 6996
Lets say on average it’s a 50/50 split on my running vs playing so 3498 each.
Then … stationed in Italy, 9/11, working with the Rangers etc sooooo over 6 years no gaming.
Finally, for a year or so, I was able to play with LS, Tree etc via Skype 4ish hours a week (this time no running just playing). Then finishing my degree retiring from the AF, starting my MA etc so for over 2 years again no gaming …

With that I’d say
3498 DMing and 3690 playing and a total of 7188.

Boy I’m a newbie compared to some of you … exp tree and serl !!!!

...
Another observation ive seen is the people here are dm's, ck's, gm's or whatever you want to be called. i rarely see a player only person around here.

Good point

[Lord Dynel]

Yikes.

I started "late" in '87.

However, from 87-88, 91-92, and 96-03, I played every week and missing about 10% of the time, I'm guessing about 420 sessions. From 89-90, 93-95, and since '03, I've played about every other week (again, missing about 10% of the time) makes for another 280 sessions. So, averaging a 6-hour session, I'd guess 4,200 hours. That's pretty conservative, I think. Like Thror stated, I played at school, before and after school, then (literally) every day for a couple of summers growing up. That might round it up to 5k hours.

Not too shabby for a late bloomer!

[Treebore]

My "formula" was I assumed only 40 out of 52 weeks per year, due to holidays, illness, and life getting in the way. I also did a lot of "marathon gaming", but for the last 6 years most of my gaming has been in 3 to 4 hour time slots, so I went with averages of 6 hours, over all. I also tried to make it actual gaming, not BSing while we are supposed to be gaming. So I am pretty sure the time slots of 6 hours is pretty reasonable. As for actual sessions, most of my gaming years I have had at least two games per week going. Right now I have 5, when I make them. There are a couple of years in there where I only had 1 game per week, mostly when my kids were real young. Because of that I went with 1.8 sessions per week as my likely "average".

Like I said, I went "conservative" on my estimates. So my formula is 1.8 sessions per week x 40 weeks per year x 6 hours average per session x 27 years that I have been gaming. Apparently I did something wrong last time, because this time I come up with over 11,000 hours of gaming. 11,664 hours.

[mordrene]

i went conservative with ave of 8 a week. i know there are some marathon gaming and cons so i just averaged 8 a week. thats just playing. we gms spend at least that reading, preparing, creating so if you add that in, i may be obsessed. but its a good thing.

[DeadReborn]

Compared to the numbers that have been posted, my experience on both sides of the screen is embarrassing.

[Lord Dynel]

Compared to the numbers that have been posted, my experience on both sides of the screen is embarrassing.

Ah, man, don't sweat it. There's a lot heavy hitters in this thread, sure, but you found the game and the hobby and are a part of it now...that's what matters!

[tylermo]

I'm pretty sure my gaming started in late 82, or by 83 at least. We were a bunch of Star Wars, Star Trek, Indy Jones, James Bond, Doctor Who, LOTR, and comic book dorks. lol Played some of the TSR and Fasa offerings, among others. Anyway, I have no clue how many hours I've played or gm'd. Between 82-early/mid-90's, I didn't gm much. I ran some Star Frontiers and a James Bond or two. Very little gaming in the early/mid-90's. 1996 marked my full-time return to rpg's. I've actually played far more since then compared to the old days. GM'ing more or less began in those years, as well. For over 7 years, it's mainly been Savage Worlds and C&C.

[AGNKim]

Started in 1983, so... a billion. Maybe a billion and a half.