I like to look at my Steam ‘most played’ list, in large part because it combines the enjoyment of numbers and the strange addiction of lists. It’s not a complete view of my gaming history, given that my Steam account is only 7 years old and not all games are played via Steam, but it’s still pretty close. The biggest missing titles are MMOs, specifically EVE and WoW, both of which I have easily 1000+ hours with, and League of Legends (also very likely a 1000+ hours title). Mobile gaming has also racked up hundreds of hours between CoC, BB, and now CR.
My top ten played, along with hours.
- Mount and Blade: Warband – 597
- Age of Wonders 3 – 327
- Civilization V – 292
- ARK – 254
- Payday 2 – 234
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 210
- Might and Magic: Heroes VI – 197
- FFXIV – 172
- Fallout 4 – 165
- Total War: Warhammer – 113
Two things go a long way to rack up hours with me; multiplayer (either co-op or 1v1 matchmaking) and mods. Warband being at the top is in large part due to the Prophecy of Pendor mod, which I have easily spend 300+ hours with. Skyrim also got a lot of play due to mods. Age of Wonders 3, Civ 5, ARK, and Payday 2 all benefit from multiplayer.
Interestingly, the only titles on the list likely to move up are Fallout 4 (still playing),TW: Warhammer, which I will return to at some point to play the DLC and potentially mods, and parhaps FFXIV once life settles down a bit for my wife and I. ARK is a maybe, but its an impossible game to play casually, and I don’t see a window for that one coming back again. Warband is getting a sequel ‘soon’, as is Civ V, and eventually Skyrim will as well. M&M Heroes has a sequel (reportedly a rather bad one), and I haven’t heard much about Payday 2 getting one (as the game itself still gets updates and DLC).
The list is also a reflection of different games playing differently. I’d say easily dozens of the hours for Warband are watching a siege battle play out as I’m either out of ammo or dead. ARK is similar, but instead of a siege it was waiting for a dino tame to finish. In multiplayer games like AoW3, Civ V, and Heroes, time was spent waiting for another player to finish their turn. This results in a much slower pace, and so the same content gets ‘stretched’ out over more hours. That sounds negative, but I don’t actually view it that way, as even in waiting, I was still ultimately entertained by the entire experience (otherwise I’d have stopped playing).
Games like Shadow of Mordor are the exact opposite. I have 17 hours with that game, being about 60% of the way through it, but I already feel done. That 17 hours was really good, especially the first 10, but its just not a long-term game. It’s too much coming at you all the time, and that’s just not sustainable.
I don’t think I’d go as far as saying that /played is the be-all-end-all of judging a game, but I also have a hard time thinking of a more important metric. My top 10 is pretty accurate in terms of the games I’ve enjoyed the most over the last 7 years, and I just find it almost impossible to move a game with even 30 hours /played above something I have 200+ with.
Hardcore Casual 
I like lists :D
My own:
1) Borderlands 2 (346)
2) Path of Exile (259)
3) Skyrim (124)
4) GTA 5 (98)
5) Fallout: New Vegas (81)
6) Team Fortress 2 (71)
7) Fallout 4 (53)
8) Prison Architect (49)
9) Borderlands: Pre-sequel (48)
10) Payday 2 (46)
Multi-player is a big draw for me as well but as somebody who can play a lot and is regularly interrupted it needs to be something I can jump in and out of without bothering other people.
Most of my game has been taken up like yourself with LoL, WoW and FFXIV, probably a similar amount combined over the different NCSoft MMO’s as well (City of Heroes still my all time favourite MMO). WC3 custom maps probably got close to 1000 hours play as well and maybe 100ish for each of the earlier GTA games.
It’s a bit depressing when you start adding it all up isn’t it.
I don’t get depressed, only because if it wasn’t time spend gaming, it would be time spent watching TV or doing something equally unproductive (and possibly more expensive, like drinking out). It’s not like because of gaming I haven’t gotten around to writing the next great novel or finding a cure for cancer.
I started learning to program last year in visual basic and this year in Python, completely turned my job in a new direction I love. Wish I had discovered how much I enjoy it 15 years ago. I can’t help but think where I would be now if I had used some of that gaming time instead.
But yeah I don’t really get depressed, “enjoying wasting time is not time wasted” and all.
Taught myself html in 7th grade messing around on notepad with one ‘how to’ book, went to college for CompSci, realized my sophomore year I don’t actually like writing C++ style code. Luckily it all worked out, but for about 6 months I thought I was doomed either to write code and hate it, or have a wasted college degree.
So I always knew I played games a lot but it’s kind of funny to see it quantified.
1. Terraria (1406)
2. 7 Days to Die (932)
3. Skyrim (485)
4. Civ V (318)
5. ARK (299)
6. Eador: Genesis (243)
7. Dungeon Defenders (183)
8. Don’t Starve (160)
9. Torchlight II (132)
10. Borderlands 2 (75)
Total time played with everything else included is just shy of 5200 hours in 8 years. And of course as you’ve already said these numbers don’t count all the non Steam games. I know I have more time in Minecraft than Terraria, and I played probably 40 hours plus a week from late in the closed beta until about the time Warhammer launched. Before WoW I played EQ for years with some SWG in there as well. And Blizzard says I’ve got almost 2100 hours in D3.
Very interesting list! I like the Mount and Warblade is up there! I just got that from the Steam Summer Sale! Have you ever posted on other gaming sites before?