Playing Games While Not Ruining Your Relationship? 1054
Silicon Mike asks: "A nice sized group of us here at work recently picked up City of Heroes, and started playing together. While all of us were gamers to some extent, now we're all pretty addicted and want to play together online all the time. The problem some of us are running into is that our significant others aren't too happy with us gaming all the time. Other then the two obvious solutions (quit playing or dump the significant other) I'm wondering how other people have deal with it? I tried installing Zoo Tycoon on my other computer and saying 'Look honey, cute bears' but she just didn't bite."
Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
Lucky (Score:4, Funny)
You're lucky, I'd have bitten your head off after a comment like that.
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:5, Funny)
Solution (Score:4, Funny)
Ruining my relationship? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:5, Funny)
And fill in the blank with any habbit except maybe "flowers buyer"
Who cares? (Score:5, Funny)
I think I speak for a collective 47.6% of all slashdotters when I say... WHA-PSSSH!!!
What Worked For Me (Score:5, Funny)
We did get in a fight one night, though, when I called her Aeris . . . .
The Obvious Solution... (Score:1, Funny)
Cue the jokes (Score:5, Funny)
</bitterness>
Seriously, you just need to budget your time. A few games, then some time together doing whatever, then another game.
Or you can always just wait until she goes to bed to start playing.
Wait a sec... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Lucky (Score:5, Funny)
That is what you meant right?
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Solution (Score:4, Funny)
Tried that with DOOM I. Didn't work too good. (But if it does, marry her.)
Good old BUNNY.MP3, the best end game music ever [doom2.net].
Re:Well (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah because "Man I bent over backwards for that cow and she STILL dumped me" is so much better.
Re:Nice try, but... (Score:1, Funny)
Training (Score:2, Funny)
Now she owns a casemodded computer including a pretty state-of-the-art videocard and simular soundsystem and tft monitoy. When she is at my place in the weekends she brings her rig with her and we play lot's of lan-games together. And she also goes with me to a monthly lan party.
It's all a question of training my friend.. training....
Re:Well (Score:2, Funny)
Re:long-distance (Score:5, Funny)
*bedeebedeebedeebedeebeep*
He: (boom, zzzot, blam) HELLO?
She: Hi, hon-hey, what's that in the background?
He: (boom, *boooOoom*) (whispering) dudes, turn it down or put on some pr0n or something, quick! -- NOTHING, HOney!
She: Don't you lie to me...
He: (ooooh, baby, come back to bed nooowww...) Look, I know I'm on a business trip, this sorta thing happens.
She: Don't you LIE to me, you worthless bastard!
He: (slurp, groan) Sometimes these things happen, I'll make it up to you, honest!
She: BULLSHIT! You're not ON a business trip! You're not even in a HOTEL ROOM with some CHEAP FLOOZIE!
He: Bu-but, I can exp-
She: You're at one of those FUCKING LAN PARTIES AGAIN, AREN'T YOU?*click*
Re:Well (Score:3, Funny)
I would have a decent PC and a proper gaming life.
How cruel can it be?
Re:Cue the jokes (Score:1, Funny)
The answer to your preiars is here [gamegirladvance.com].
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:2, Funny)
See that horse over there? It's dead. Looks like it was beaten to death with a club, both pre- and post-mortem. It's hard to tell for sure, however; it appears that after that it was put through a metal stamping machine, and then had a wrecking ball dropped on it multiple times for good measure.
In other words: the same slashdotters that don't have relationships not only beat off, they have beaten this horse into a bloody pulp. It ceased being funny after the 457th telling of it.
Re:how about the third obvious solution? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Time to grow up a little, IMO (Score:5, Funny)
Too late, just start using wife.
My wife gave me a quite an "interesting" look when I referred to her as my girl friend after the wedding day.
Tried to convince her that it meant that I would always consider her more then just my wife
You asked for it... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:5, Funny)
The only difference is after she's done she actually thinks I'm interested in how ugly her best friends brother's cousin's roomate's nephew's baby is while I'm fully aware she couldn't give a crap if my Necromancer leveled !twice! tonight.
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:just think of your woman as a game (Score:1, Funny)
now if i can just get past the pms pit of fiery hell i'll make it boobyland!
Re:Time to grow up a little, IMO (Score:5, Funny)
A view from the other side (Score:4, Funny)
So I have two suggestions: either cut back on the gaming a bit - for example, set aside certain nights to not play - or tell me your username and what server are you are on. I'll tell my wife, you guys can hang out together online, and I'll take your SO to a movie.
Give up the games until (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:4, Funny)
What about all those The Sims playin' 1337 chicks?
Try giving her a "I love my geek" pijama from ThinkGeek, and she might understand that it is not just a habit but a lifestyle and that you're proud of it.
She'll even be proud that all her base are belong to you!
How's the parent rate a "funny" ? (Score:5, Funny)
In short, video games are better than a bad relationship by orders of magnitude. I'd rather play Daikatana than spend ten minutes with my ex. Yeah, relationships are a give and take thing, but when you're doing all the giving and SheBitch, Queen of the Universe is doing all of the taking, well.... fuck that noise. GTA calls.
A good relationship, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Bad relationships drive me to video games. Good ones leave me with little inclination to pick up the control pad.
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
My wife told me it was either her or the video games
God I'll miss her!
RL is teh suck. (Score:5, Funny)
Huh? Has anyone actually tried this? I mean, unlike Leisure Suit Larry, the game you describe may have better graphics, but the gameplay itself is as boring as the Sims, and the speed-up key can only be used once a day, and in an astonishing display of programmer ignorance, the speed-up key only works at night when you're trying to game! At least the Sims design team got that part right -- you want to fast-forward during the day when you're at work and nobody's home!
> instead of exploring levels of some fake world, figure out what places you can take your woman to in the real world that get her in the mood. figure out how to get her to do x and y things that she would never think of doing.
And the list of defects goes on. Like, there's no fucking save/restore feature either! I mean, you spend six weeks of game time setting up a surprise menage-a-trois with you, your girlfriend and just *one* lousy goat, and if the persuade roll fails, all you can do is pull out the old .45 and restart.
No way, man, "RL" is teh suck. I wouldn't even warez it.
a comprehensive solution (Score:3, Funny)
For those of you who think compromise is out of the question... well, there's always going to be at least a little compromise.
If the girl is living with you, the only thing you can do is play late, late into the night and forego sleep entirely.
BUT...
If she's NOT living with you, there's some things you can do to maximize game time, and minimize relationship stress:
MAKING TIME
-----------
* Say "I'm concerned that you're not having enough fun on your own, away from me. You should really go out with your friends tonight. I don't mind, really."
* Pretend you have something really man-oriented and boring that you have to do, that she hates. Such as: Buying stuff for work at the electronics store, taking the car in for service, helping a friend fix his car, or building a spice rack for her. She'll leave on her own. Be sure to buy a spice rack in advance.
* If you play online games, try to get a friend to "prep" your account before you play to maximize your in-game time doing what you want to do (and not reequipping, etc.)
* Determine the minimum number of hours you can sleep. Obvious.
* Eliminate all of your friends and other unnecessary distractions.
* Buy the fastest motorcycle you can get. They're cheap and great on gas. This minimizes commuting time. Also, move closer to work.
* Buy groceries online. Shopping is a horrible timekiller. Buy foods that can be prepared quickly.
* Hire a maid if you can afford it for the cleaning.
* For the remaining chores: Many guys do chores and other boring stuff after the girl leaves. Screw that. Get that stuff out of the way while she's still there. When she leaves, you're not doing dishes/laundry, you're gaming!
* Feed her turkey and insist that you really want to see that three hour Senate lecture on CSPAN. When she falls asleep, game time!
* Find out the latest possible reservation you can make at a nice restaurant. Say, 8:30pm. Around 5:00pm, say, "I've got reservations to a great place. You'll love it. But I need to finish this. Don't worry, we have time." Works well. When she harasses you about it, say "soon... soon..." Easily stretchable to 3 hours.
GUILTING FOR TIME
-----------------
* I have actually used this line, and it has worked. "Babe, if I don't get at least 3 hours of gaming each day, I get really cranky. I don't want to take that out on you." It actually worked, she occasionally just says "why don't you go play your game for a while."
* Explain that since you dumped all your friends (for her of course), that your online buddies are "your real friends, who I've known for years. It's the same as if a friend asked me to go bowling or something, you can't ask me to cut them off. Besides, I promised earlier I'd help my friend learn
* Hooking the girl on her own game doesn't work. Period. If they're already a gamer, you probably don't have too much of a problem, assuming they like to play what you play, which is very unlikely. Such toys only hold their interest so long (usually a few minutes) to non-gamers. However, girls LOVE to chat. You may have luck hooking her into your buddies via IRC. She's somewhat "involved" with what you're doing, lessening the problem, yet, she's not gaming.
EXCUSES
-------
* Anytime she wakes up and says "why are you playing that again", three magical words: I COULDN'T SLEEP.
* Seeing a doctor to help keep up the insomnia charade is quite effective.
* My friend called before you arrived/woke up and asked me to help him with something really fast. It'll just be a few minutes.
* "A few minutes always turns into an hour on the computer babe!"
* "I just logged into to check something real quick, and my buddy desparately needed my help. I can't let him down! It'll just be a few minutes."
All of this stuff should get you an average of 3 hours of gaming per day. If you need more than that, you need to dump the girl.
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, when I tried to explain that calling Japan for 6 hours was more expensive than me gaming, I got the "What's your point" look.
Oh, and I cannot disturb her during that 6 hour conversation. Cannot! Under any circumstances.
However, when she is done, it does not matter that I am in the middle of a battlefield running from a cunning sniper trying to find a medic. Oh no! I am to disconnect immediately!
This is why netcafes are a godsend.
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:5, Funny)
Your balls called... they said when you're ready to play CS again they'll be waiting.
Cut back (Score:2, Funny)
Anyways, don't patronize the SO with Zoo Tycoon. From my experience, girls are not all for that cutsey-wutsey stuff we think they are. They like to smash baddies and monsters with a giant sword just like the rest of us. And also, they like the social aspects of such games. So my advice is: cut back on gaming before she blows your non-gaming buddy, and test her on EQ, DAoC and the like...
(Hey, YOU asked...)
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
May I refresh your memory?
In Soviet Russia, dead horse flogs YOU
I, for one, welcome our dead horse flogging overlords
All your dead horses are belong to us
BSD has been flogged to death
????
PROFIT!!!
etc, etc, etc. Do not expect any originality here.
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
I agree. I have not seen my wife since I put zoo tycoon on the computer. She is an l337 zookeeper.
Re:Who cares? (Score:3, Funny)
Remember, mind those decimal points!
Re:Join me, Luke... (Score:3, Funny)
His wife is a little worried about this...but I don't think she needs to be. He's not the most repsonsible guy on the planet, but he's pretty good too. We went out to buy a new video card, he remembered to get the enfamil and pampers as well. When the baby wakes him up at night, he logs in and plays for a while, rocking it to sleep. He's also learned how to play while distracted.
Of course, the women folk are completely unimpressed by his multitasking. Apparently, it's reckless to hold a baby whilst fighting a horde of minions, but it's okay to hold a baby while ironing or boiling sausages. I don't get it myself, but then again my dad was a gamer. He beat Zelda before I did.
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
how can you forget a beowolf cluster of dead horses!
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:2, Funny)
Is that some kind of sexual metaphor?
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Time to grow up a little, IMO (Score:5, Funny)
Treat them mean, to keep them keen... (Score:1, Funny)
The 3rd obvious solution, is to get your GF into the game also.
I'm wondering how other people have deal with it?
Or, you could just "treat her mean, to keep her keen"... like, "If ya don't like it bitch, just fucken leave me, aight?".
(She won't leave, you will however get a slightly tearful blowjob).
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
Make the significant one sleep (Score:2, Funny)
Then I can play all night long
Ended a perfectly good relationship (Score:1, Funny)
She got up, walked over to her desk to her new P4 3.2 Ghz machine and started
FINAL FANTASY Online
OH WHY WHY WHY!!! It's been 2 months and hell putting up with her 5 AM indulgence to play that stupid ass game all night!!!
WHY ME, LORD! WHY!
We went our seperate ways after I've unplugged the DSL line right out of the wall... I've heard she's still playing that good for nothing game... FINAL FANTASY!!! YOU SHALL PAY~!!!
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What Worked For Me (Score:1, Funny)
I Think I understand (Score:3, Funny)
-Lucas
Re:Bah. (Score:3, Funny)
Indeed, the other day I got flamed by a vicious 133t gal named Hunter.
Her only comment was "Ha HAH!" as she grav-boarded into the distance...
I shall seek her out again.
SB
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:3, Funny)
Bah, that's the
SB
Re:Adulthood calls... (Score:3, Funny)
Assuming he survives
SB
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:5, Funny)
This is something that has recently baffled me. All of these thirty-something guys that now have wives and families (no, not most of
I am likely one of the only people on Earth obsessed with Pitball, because it was something we could play together that I didn't totally suck at. Of course, it was limited, easy to learn, and didn't involve magic-users or anything good, so he won't play anymore. I still like it. And if I get him drunk enough, he'll play.
I know it's a teenage boy genre, but I'm checking out stupid videogame magazines in the bookstore once a month, looking for cooperative games for us to play. God knows we don't want to have to talk to each other.
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:3, Funny)
truly an american icon.
Re:Bah. (Score:4, Funny)
Thereby robbing us of our last shred of masculinity. If you take away our video arcades and our comic books stores, what do we have left? I mean, come on! Don't you women mock us enough as it is? Is it not enough to break our wills and rob us of anything vaguely resembling dignity by simply having two X chromosones? Has it gotten so boring for you that you now feel the need to make our lives miserable by beating us at our own games? Are you not intimidating enough as it is?
Once upon a time we had our sacntuaries! We could stride confidently (or the closest to a "stride" as we geeks could muster) into a gaming store and know that there wouldn't be anybody within ten kilometers that would make us feel like stuttering morons! It didn't matter that we were still stuttering morons without you around to remind us, becuase we could still stutter moronicly about each other about the evils of Pudding Workshop or discussing our favorite kinds of dice! Heck, it was about the only situation where we could make you as scared of us as we are of you; in small numbers we're amusing oddities, fun to torment and watch squirm, but when we collect together in a basement somewhere we were downright creepy!
But now we have women like you, by far the worst example of the species! You know it's all a front and you enjoy exposing us! I've seen your kind! You go to conventions and get a kick out of the way how, no matter how crowded the place is, there is never anybody within ten feet of you! Heck, how much longer will it be before you and a few of your friends use your natural anti-geek fields to herd us all into a corner and having those conventions all to yourselves?
We geeks have tried to let you have what you want with the hopes that you'll at least leave us with something we could call our own! We've sacrified so much in the interest of trying to coexist peacefully with you (just so long as you do your existing way over there somewhere)! Well, it's time for us to band together, take the stand we were never able to take in gym class and finally say No more!
You've taken my internet! You've taken my anime! You've robbed me of almost every reason I ever had to continue living! You've probably even stolen my soul somewhere along the line! By God, woman, you are not going to take my video games!
Of course, I hope by my saying this to you I haven't... well... you know... ruined my chances with... well... um... I hope I haven't come off too...
Soul-stealer!
Re:How's the parent rate a "funny" ? (Score:2, Funny)
thaen
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Definitely. (Score:1, Funny)
-[Conroy_Bumpus]- OH FUCK ME
-[Conroy_Bumpus]- I FORGOT TO PICK UP MY 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER FROM SOCCER PRACTICE
-[Conroy_Bumpus]- 9 HOURS AGO
-[Conroy_Bumpus]- HOLY SHIT
-[Conroy_Bumpus]- BYE
-- bash.org
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:2, Funny)
Of course my wife doesn't think it's funny, but that doesn't stop me from repeating it.
AMEN brother (Score:5, Funny)
Suchetha
Re:Wrong crowd... (Score:2, Funny)
She wasn't very good though so I dumped her.
Re:Bah. (Score:3, Funny)
> you've still got a few advantages: you can pee standing up for example.
And yet...
http://www.restrooms.org/standing.html