Have you ever taken time off from work to play a game?

azjoe_02 · 09-21-2006, 06:39 PM

Just as the title says: Have you ever taken time off from work to play a game?

I don't mean playing a game while at work (those of you who are lucky enough), i mean actually called in sick or scheduled PTO/vacation time just to play a video game.

saldana · 09-21-2006, 06:45 PM

i dont think i ever called in sick specifically, but i know when i worked as waiter, more than once volunteered to be cut, or traded away my longer shift so i could go home earlier to play something...i think diablo 2 was the worst culprit, as my wife was working 2nd shift at the time, so i had all afternoon and evening to myself.

azjoe_02 · 09-21-2006, 06:48 PM

The reason I am asking...

I was thinking about the next Solecismic game and because I am working 6 or 7 days a week (currently on day 17) I thought that I would have to take a day or two off just to play it when it came out.

Butter · 09-21-2006, 06:49 PM

I think with NCAA '04 I called in sick a day or two.

jeff061 · 09-21-2006, 06:49 PM

Everquest "eased" my transition out of high school.

I can't think of anything after that work related. I have purposley avoided the likes of WOW.

saldana · 09-21-2006, 06:49 PM

i also have taken numerous days off where i have done nothing but sit around the house with Lathum, drink, and play games, but it was never for a specific game...it was always because that was better than going to work

EDIT TO ADD: my wife always loved when we did that for 3 days at a stretch

dawgfan · 09-21-2006, 06:52 PM

I engineered the demise of my division at Microsoft just so I'd have time off on unemployment just to play Halo 2 and Half-Life 2.

OK, not really, but the timing worked out in that respect...

azjoe_02 · 09-21-2006, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dawgfan

I engineered the demise of my division at Microsoft just so I'd have time off on unemployment just to play Halo 2 and Half-Life 2.

OK, not really, but the timing worked out in that respect...

LOL.... I did play alot during my brief periods of unemployment...

Groundhog · 09-21-2006, 07:00 PM

I took 2 days off when FBCB was released, and I took days off here and there to play Baldur's Gate in the months after it was released.

Raiders Army · 09-21-2006, 07:56 PM

Hells ya. I even took a long lunch to play today.

Bea-Arthurs Hip · 09-21-2006, 08:00 PM

Never Winter Nights release day...First and possible last time I ever call in sick to get a game on day of release.

The best part was seeing guys in suits and ties, like me. Plus your sterotypical D&D guys in line to get the game at 7:00 am before the store opened. Once they opened the store we all walked real fast to find the game and we all politely took a copy then hurried to the check out counter. Good times.

sabotai · 09-21-2006, 08:06 PM

A couple of times, but haven't done it in quite awhile.

Bearcat729 · 09-21-2006, 08:25 PM

No, but I did skip a days worth of college classes to play Metal Gear Solid

Cap Ologist · 09-21-2006, 08:31 PM

I think I skipped a day or two of work during my Omerta days, which might be worse than skipping work for a video game. Text-sim mafia, nothing like it. Especially since 2.2.

Bek · 09-21-2006, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bea-Arthurs Hip

Never Winter Nights release day...First and possible last time I ever call in sick to get a game on day of release.

The best part was seeing guys in suits and ties, like me. Plus your sterotypical D&D guys in line to get the game at 7:00 am before the store opened. Once they opened the store we all walked real fast to find the game and we all politely took a copy then hurried to the check out counter. Good times.

wonder what you will do when NWN 2 comes out???

:o

QuikSand · 09-21-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearcat729

No, but I did skip a days worth of college classes to play Metal Gear Solid

A day of college classes?

Good lord, I'm pretty sure I skipped a handful of days worth of college classes to play nerf basketball. *shurg*

saldana · 09-21-2006, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuikSand

A day of college classes?

Good lord, I'm pretty sure I skipped a handful of days worth of college classes to play nerf basketball. *shurg*

i agree...i can count at least a week of misses for super mario on SNES

cthomer5000 · 09-21-2006, 09:07 PM

ive taken vacation days for the IHOF bowl (FOF multiplayer), and once or twice for soccer games that i really wanted to see that would be on mid-day, never explicity to play a video game though.

cthomer5000 · 09-21-2006, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuikSand

A day of college classes?

Good lord, I'm pretty sure I skipped a handful of days worth of college classes to play nerf basketball. *shurg*

God yeah... i think i skipped a whole semester to play FOF actually.

azjoe_02 · 09-21-2006, 10:01 PM

Kinda weird....only 70% or so voting "yes". I would have thought that it would be somewhere around 85%.

RPI-Fan · 09-21-2006, 10:01 PM

Never missed a college class for a video game (in fact, for non-semi-business purposes I think I missed maybe 10 classes in freshman year, and 2 or 3 tops since), and certainly never missed work for one.

I've never missed a single work for anything, as a matter of fact. Then again I've only worked 9-5 jobs for about 12-15 months of my life, but even when working part-time, etc., if I was on the schedule I was at work.

RPI-Fan · 09-21-2006, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azjoe_02

Kinda weird....only 70% or so voting "yes". I would have thought that it would be somewhere around 85%.

Wow, I was thinking more like 25%...

Maple Leafs · 09-21-2006, 10:11 PM

I missed college classes because I was tired from playing NHL 95 and Tecmo Bowl for 12+ straight hours over night with the guys, does that count?

Godzilla Blitz · 09-21-2006, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

I missed college classes because I was tired from playing NHL 95 and Tecmo Bowl for 12+ straight hours over night with the guys, does that count?

Yeah, that's been my situation. I missed a college class because I stayed up until dawn playing Civ 2 and was too tired to go to class.

Taken an occasional day off from work because I pulled consecutive late nights on a game.

amdaily · 09-22-2006, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

Yeah, that's been my situation. I missed a college class because I stayed up until dawn playing Civ 2 and was too tired to go to class.

Taken an occasional day off from work because I pulled consecutive late nights on a game.

I remember staying up until 9AM playing Civ3 during finals week. On that particular day I had an exam at 10AM. Did fairly well if I recall, but collpased afterwards.

ice4277 · 09-22-2006, 07:29 AM

I actually missed a final once due to this. Still ended up w/ a decent grade in the class IIRC.

Icy · 09-22-2006, 07:36 AM

Well i work for myself and from home so i don't count as can take my time when i want it.

I did it a lot when i was at university. Every year i took some days after a new CM (old FM) was released. My record was when starcraft was released, i had a network setup with my room mate and we played for a whole week, not doing anything else than playing, eating, going to the WC or sleeping on really weird patterns, like playing for 12 straight hours, stopping to eat something fast, play for 12 hours more, sleep 6 hours, play again etc etc. It was pretty mad, we ended not knowing if it was day or night or how many times did we eat etc. Ahh memories.

Raiders Army · 09-22-2006, 07:38 AM

I took 3 days of leave to wait in line for a 360 and play it.

Marc Vaughan · 09-22-2006, 07:54 AM

Yes of course

(heck I changed jobs 10 years back so I could work on my favourite game ... enough said

)

azjoe_02 · 09-22-2006, 08:43 AM

I remember I was bored at work one night and was reading about FOF on this forum and left work 6 hours early, just to go home and try different line-ups etc. Man, 12 hour graveyard shifts...don't miss that at all.

Pumpy Tudors · 09-22-2006, 08:47 AM

I called in sick for the release of one of the NCAA Football games (2003 or 2004). The thing is that I hadn't planned to do so. I think I willed myself into feeling sick so I could stay home. When NCAA 2006 came out last year, the release day was exactly one week before my last day at work, as I was about to leave New Orleans. My wife knows how much I anticipate the NCAA games, and she suggested that maybe I should just leave my job a week early. As much as I wanted to, I decided against it. The extra week of pay was too important. I gave it plenty of consideration, though.

Icy · 09-22-2006, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I called in sick for the release of one of the NCAA Football games (2003 or 2004). The thing is that I hadn't planned to do so. I think I willed myself into feeling sick so I could stay home. When NCAA 2006 came out last year, the release day was exactly one week before my last day at work, as I was about to leave New Orleans. My wife knows how much I anticipate the NCAA games, and she suggested that maybe I should just leave my job a week early. As much as I wanted to, I decided against it. The extra week of pay was too important. I gave it plenty of consideration, though.

Can I marry your wife?

Eaglesfan27 · 09-22-2006, 09:08 AM

Never called in sick, despite joking about it. However, I've planned vacation days around the release of some games. In part, this is because it is hard to coordinate my wife's and my vacations (due to each of our jobs - although she is not working currently) and neither of us are a big fan of traveling alone for vacations.

Honolulu_Blue · 09-22-2006, 09:15 AM

I've never called in sick before to play a game, but I have come in late, very, very late because either I stayed up late playing or woke up in the morning and started playing before work and didn't want to stop. I'd come in sometime around or after lunch.

It was pretty easy. I just called my secretary told her I was "tied" up and just checked the blackberry and voicemail for any developments. No harm, no foul.

kingnebwsu · 09-22-2006, 09:20 AM

I had planned to take off a week for halo 2, but my asshole of a boss made me work 6 days that week (argh). I have for other games before and I plan on taking about a week off in November when Rainbow Six Vegas and Gears of War are released.

Lorena · 09-22-2006, 12:05 PM

Oh yeah. Antmeister and I took the day off to play Everquest. We stayed up super late and both called in "sick". That was crazy man, I'd never done anything like that... those stupid orcs kept killing us and we were determined to make it out of there alive.

I worked close to home so I'd come home for lunch and play for a little bit. Gosh, that thing really was like crack.

Icy · 09-22-2006, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

Oh yeah. Antmeister and I took the day off to play Everquest. We stayed up super late and both called in "sick". That was crazy man, I'd never done anything like that... those stupid orcs kept killing us and we were determined to make it out of there alive.

I worked close to home so I'd come home for lunch and play for a little bit. Gosh, that thing really was like crack.

Must be so nice to have a wife/husband who both like to play games. The last computer game that my wife played was Tetris like 10 years ago. At least after two years married she is not surprised at me wearing headphones and shouting orders to my squadmates playing WWII Online

Samdari · 09-22-2006, 12:11 PM

I took the day off on the release of Star Wars Galaxies. It sucked, because I did not actually get to play until 8pm+. And the game sucked besides.

Now that I am a government employee, however, I just play games at work.

Lorena · 09-22-2006, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icy

Must be so nice to have a wife/husband who both like to play games.

I never had an interest in computer games and he introduced me to FBPro. He said, just try it and you might like it. So I said what the heck and did. Thanks to that game, I learned to love football and understood trades (to a certain extent), defense/offensive plays, all kinds of stuff. I have fond memories of kicking Antmeister's butt in several games

Ahh... the memories.

Oh yeah, I was looking through some old notebooks and found a list of players from one of my drafts and showed it to Antmeister... we both chuckled

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icy

The last computer game that my wife played was Tetris like 10 years ago. At least after two years married she is not surprised at me wearing headphones and shouting orders to my squadmates playing WWII Online

lol

Vince · 09-22-2006, 03:44 PM

I've taken time off to play baseball, basketball or softball, but never specifically to play a video game. I've gotten a shift covered before, and ended up playing video games, but that's never been the chief motivation.

Vince · 09-22-2006, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuikSand

A day of college classes?

Good lord, I'm pretty sure I skipped a handful of days worth of college classes to play nerf basketball. *shurg*

Seriously. I missed quite a few days of college classes because the weather was too nice.

UC Santa Barbara had some really nice "scenery" to keep me occupied on those days.

Pumpy Tudors · 09-22-2006, 03:51 PM

Just to chime in on the "missing class" discussion, I missed class a few times because I was more interested in walking 10 minutes to Burger King for onion rings. Let me explain that again:

I missed class to eat Burger King's onion rings.

MizzouRah · 09-22-2006, 03:53 PM

Back in the FPS days, you bet.

sterlingice · 09-23-2006, 02:40 PM

I'm pretty sure I missed some classes in college to do it, not work, tho.

SI

View Poll Results: Have you ever taken time off from work to play a game?
Yes	70	72.92%
No	25	26.04%
I think the trout did...	1	1.04%
Voters: 96. You may not vote on this poll

09-21-2006, 06:49 PM	#4
Butter Coordinator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Dayton, OH	I think with NCAA '04 I called in sick a day or two. __________________ My listening habits

09-21-2006, 06:49 PM	#5
jeff061 Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: MA	Everquest "eased" my transition out of high school. I can't think of anything after that work related. I have purposley avoided the likes of WOW. __________________

09-21-2006, 06:49 PM	#6
saldana Pro Starter Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bethlehem, Pa	i also have taken numerous days off where i have done nothing but sit around the house with Lathum, drink, and play games, but it was never for a specific game...it was always because that was better than going to work EDIT TO ADD: my wife always loved when we did that for 3 days at a stretch Last edited by saldana : 09-21-2006 at 07:51 PM.

09-21-2006, 07:00 PM	#9
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	I took 2 days off when FBCB was released, and I took days off here and there to play Baldur's Gate in the months after it was released. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

09-21-2006, 06:45 PM	#2
saldana Pro Starter Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bethlehem, Pa	i dont think i ever called in sick specifically, but i know when i worked as waiter, more than once volunteered to be cut, or traded away my longer shift so i could go home earlier to play something...i think diablo 2 was the worst culprit, as my wife was working 2nd shift at the time, so i had all afternoon and evening to myself.

09-21-2006, 06:48 PM	#3
azjoe_02 High School JV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chandler, AZ	The reason I am asking... I was thinking about the next Solecismic game and because I am working 6 or 7 days a week (currently on day 17) I thought that I would have to take a day or two off just to play it when it came out.

09-21-2006, 06:52 PM	#7
dawgfan Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Seattle	I engineered the demise of my division at Microsoft just so I'd have time off on unemployment just to play Halo 2 and Half-Life 2. OK, not really, but the timing worked out in that respect...

09-21-2006, 07:56 PM	#10
Raiders Army Coordinator Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Black Hole	Hells ya. I even took a long lunch to play today.

09-21-2006, 08:00 PM	#11
Bea-Arthurs Hip H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The D	Never Winter Nights release day...First and possible last time I ever call in sick to get a game on day of release. The best part was seeing guys in suits and ties, like me. Plus your sterotypical D&D guys in line to get the game at 7:00 am before the store opened. Once they opened the store we all walked real fast to find the game and we all politely took a copy then hurried to the check out counter. Good times. Last edited by Bea-Arthurs Hip : 09-21-2006 at 08:04 PM.

09-21-2006, 08:06 PM	#12
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	A couple of times, but haven't done it in quite awhile.

09-21-2006, 08:25 PM	#13
Bearcat729 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio	No, but I did skip a days worth of college classes to play Metal Gear Solid __________________ Bearcat729 on XBox Live and PSN

09-21-2006, 08:31 PM	#14
Cap Ologist College Prospect Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Flower Mound, TX	I think I skipped a day or two of work during my Omerta days, which might be worse than skipping work for a video game. Text-sim mafia, nothing like it. Especially since 2.2.

09-21-2006, 10:01 PM	#20
azjoe_02 High School JV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chandler, AZ	Kinda weird....only 70% or so voting "yes". I would have thought that it would be somewhere around 85%.

09-21-2006, 10:01 PM	#21
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	Never missed a college class for a video game (in fact, for non-semi-business purposes I think I missed maybe 10 classes in freshman year, and 2 or 3 tops since), and certainly never missed work for one. I've never missed a single work for anything, as a matter of fact. Then again I've only worked 9-5 jobs for about 12-15 months of my life, but even when working part-time, etc., if I was on the schedule I was at work. __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

09-21-2006, 10:11 PM	#23
Maple Leafs Coordinator Join Date: Jan 2002	I missed college classes because I was tired from playing NHL 95 and Tecmo Bowl for 12+ straight hours over night with the guys, does that count? __________________ Down Goes Brown: Toronto Maple Leafs Humor and Analysis

09-22-2006, 07:29 AM	#26
ice4277 Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Berkley, MI: The Hotbed of FOFC!	I actually missed a final once due to this. Still ended up w/ a decent grade in the class IIRC.

09-22-2006, 07:36 AM	#27
Icy Pro Starter Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Toledo - Spain	Well i work for myself and from home so i don't count as can take my time when i want it. I did it a lot when i was at university. Every year i took some days after a new CM (old FM) was released. My record was when starcraft was released, i had a network setup with my room mate and we played for a whole week, not doing anything else than playing, eating, going to the WC or sleeping on really weird patterns, like playing for 12 straight hours, stopping to eat something fast, play for 12 hours more, sleep 6 hours, play again etc etc. It was pretty mad, we ended not knowing if it was day or night or how many times did we eat etc. Ahh memories. __________________

09-22-2006, 07:38 AM	#28
Raiders Army Coordinator Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Black Hole	I took 3 days of leave to wait in line for a 360 and play it.

09-22-2006, 07:54 AM	#29
Marc Vaughan SI Games Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Melbourne, FL	Yes of course (heck I changed jobs 10 years back so I could work on my favourite game ... enough said )

09-22-2006, 08:43 AM	#30
azjoe_02 High School JV Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chandler, AZ	I remember I was bored at work one night and was reading about FOF on this forum and left work 6 hours early, just to go home and try different line-ups etc. Man, 12 hour graveyard shifts...don't miss that at all.

09-22-2006, 08:47 AM	#31
Pumpy Tudors Bounty Hunter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittsburgh, PA	I called in sick for the release of one of the NCAA Football games (2003 or 2004). The thing is that I hadn't planned to do so. I think I willed myself into feeling sick so I could stay home. When NCAA 2006 came out last year, the release day was exactly one week before my last day at work, as I was about to leave New Orleans. My wife knows how much I anticipate the NCAA games, and she suggested that maybe I should just leave my job a week early. As much as I wanted to, I decided against it. The extra week of pay was too important. I gave it plenty of consideration, though. __________________ No, I am not Batman, and I will not repair your food processor.

09-22-2006, 09:08 AM	#33
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	Never called in sick, despite joking about it. However, I've planned vacation days around the release of some games. In part, this is because it is hard to coordinate my wife's and my vacations (due to each of our jobs - although she is not working currently) and neither of us are a big fan of traveling alone for vacations. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

09-22-2006, 09:15 AM	#34
Honolulu_Blue Hockey Boy Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Royal Oak, MI	I've never called in sick before to play a game, but I have come in late, very, very late because either I stayed up late playing or woke up in the morning and started playing before work and didn't want to stop. I'd come in sometime around or after lunch. It was pretty easy. I just called my secretary told her I was "tied" up and just checked the blackberry and voicemail for any developments. No harm, no foul. __________________ *Steve Yzerman*: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).

09-22-2006, 09:20 AM	#35
kingnebwsu College Benchwarmer Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Ohio	I had planned to take off a week for halo 2, but my asshole of a boss made me work 6 days that week (argh). I have for other games before and I plan on taking about a week off in November when Rainbow Six Vegas and Gears of War are released.

09-22-2006, 12:05 PM	#36
Lorena Unregistered Join Date: May 2004	Oh yeah. Antmeister and I took the day off to play Everquest. We stayed up super late and both called in "sick". That was crazy man, I'd never done anything like that... those stupid orcs kept killing us and we were determined to make it out of there alive. I worked close to home so I'd come home for lunch and play for a little bit. Gosh, that thing really was like crack.

09-22-2006, 12:11 PM	#38
Samdari Roster Filler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Cicero	I took the day off on the release of Star Wars Galaxies. It sucked, because I did not actually get to play until 8pm+. And the game sucked besides. Now that I am a government employee, however, I just play games at work. __________________ http://www.nateandellie.net Now featuring twice the babies for the same low price! Last edited by Samdari : 09-22-2006 at 12:13 PM.

09-22-2006, 03:44 PM	#40
Vince Pro Starter Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Willow Glen, CA	I've taken time off to play baseball, basketball or softball, but never specifically to play a video game. I've gotten a shift covered before, and ended up playing video games, but that's never been the chief motivation. __________________ Every time a Dodger scores a run, an angel has its wings ripped off by a demon, and is forced to tearfully beg the demon to cauterize the wounds.The demon will refuse, and the sobbing angel will lie in a puddle of angel blood and feathers for eternity, wondering why the Dodgers are allowed to score runs.That’s not me talking: that’s science. McCoveyChronicles.com.

09-22-2006, 03:51 PM	#42
Pumpy Tudors Bounty Hunter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittsburgh, PA	Just to chime in on the "missing class" discussion, I missed class a few times because I was more interested in walking 10 minutes to Burger King for onion rings. Let me explain that again: I missed class to eat Burger King's onion rings. __________________ No, I am not Batman, and I will not repair your food processor.

09-22-2006, 03:53 PM	#43
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	Back in the FPS days, you bet.

09-23-2006, 02:40 PM	#44
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	I'm pretty sure I missed some classes in college to do it, not work, tho. SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"

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