diff --git a/code/controllers/subsystem/playtime.dm b/code/controllers/subsystem/playtime.dm
index 27fb7727e16..3f211a81423 100644
--- a/code/controllers/subsystem/playtime.dm
+++ b/code/controllers/subsystem/playtime.dm
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ SUBSYSTEM_DEF(playtime)
 				"minutes" = minutes,
 				"player" = playerid
 			)
-			C.persistent.playtime[roleid] += minutes
+			LAZYADDASSOC(C.persistent.playtime, roleid, minutes)
 		C.persistent.playtime_queued = list()
 	SSdbcore.MassInsertLegacy(DB_PREFIX_TABLE_NAME("playtime"), built, duplicate_key = "ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE minutes = minutes + VALUES(minutes)")