How do you fit gaming into a busy, unpredictable schedule?

You have to organize your time. and know that if you need time for your work, you also need time for yourself.
i go to the office 9 hours a day, spend about 2 hours in traffic, 1 hour getting ready to go out... that lets another 12 hours for everything else....
lets say 6 hours of sleep that gives me 6 hours for music, exercise, tv and/or games.

i dont work in the weekends so they are sacred for me. so that gives me 24 hours of alcohol, videogames, movies and social life.

i used to have a second job and managed to work at nights... also there was a time in which i was studying... in that case i only had my weekends.

I've lived almost without any video games for a few years when I used to work as a sysadmin. I was pretty much 24 hours a day on duty, weekends included.
I had calls during the night, or on Saturdays while I was out with my girlfriend, and I just had to drop everything and run.
All I could do was carry a PocketPC (phones weren't that "smart" yet) and play games like EverQuest, Ultima Underworld, or Age of Empires while travelling.
The only MMO I could play was DDO, since it's heavily instantiated so I could drop in or out easily if I had a call.

The long-term solution was getting a new job :) More money, more free time, more fun.

I work 10 hrs a day, literally. Constantly speaking to people in foreign languages etc... Wake up at at 06:50 and get home at 20:00hrs. +I'm married (no kids, yet). Get home, eat and try to spend some leasure time with my wife, she can tell you..
Gaming is really a big part in my life, if by any chance you can ask my wife =))
But, I found a way out in these matters (most of the time) in sleeping only 5-6 hrs a day, mostly!
I never was a person who liked to sleep and I really think that even if sleeping is one of the most important things in life. I don't want to spend 1/3 of my life in it. I'll have pleanty of time to sleep when I'm too old to move anyway.
So, if you ask me. Sleep less and enjoy the "awake time " as much as possible.

I have no idea. I have never been busy.

I don't have a busy, unpredictable schedule is all.

My University schedule is pretty consistent, giving me breaks every Tuesday and Thursday to do whatever, be that sleep in or play games earlier in the morning.

Weekends = Games that needs more time, hanging out and stuff
Days of the week = playing MOBAS or stuff like that , 1 or 2 matches per day if you can

I don't... cries
What's a video game, again?
I only collect them now. :x

I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to fit my work schedule into my busy, unpredictable gaming time.

Take less overtime, give yourself one day a week to dedicate fully to gaming. If gamings important to you, you have to make time for it and that time has to come from somewhere else.

Hmm, usually Idle Master gets to play everything I buy during the week, but I try to download a few of the interesting-looking ones for the weekend...

Then I blink and it's Monday morning again. :( Does thinking about playing count? :)

Think I'm in the same boat here, even when I manage to squeeze some time in. Since last year, my gaming activity has been nothing but idling, which is funny cause I don't even care about cards and badges anymore (that fad left me months ago). I usually schedule bunch of games for download before I leave for work, get home and then I realise I don't feel like playing anything, so I just switch to roam aimlessly on the internet. I can't even remember the last game that moved me in any way, most of the titles I completed were behind the "well I'm halfway in it, so might as well push to the end" mindset. Out of sheer desperation, I recently gave another chance to the genre of visual novels, only to realise that (aside from the art) they're nothing but utter trash, whether it is thanks to overused cliches, shallow character development or predictable stories.
Maybe I've just reached the point where nothing fills that void anymore.

Oh well, hope you found this uplifting as much as I did.

Surely you can spare an hour or two over the weekend to play a casual game? It's hectic on my end as well but I try to make time to play something (ha, daily). :P

I don't enjoy "short busts" as much as long 6-7 hours maratons, so my advice to you would be to quit your job or don't game at all. Forgive me for asking, but what are non-gaming things?