# video games?



## effess (Nov 20, 2009)

I'm in my mid-thirties and have never outgrown video games. I am hard-working (hold down a steady job in the financial industry), good father and husband (help out around house, play with kids, etc), work out regularly, etc. I'm trying to make the point I'm not a stereotypical "nerd" living in his mom's basement. But I still enjoy video games. No shame :smthumbup:.

My question is this, how many guys here still are into gaming? How do you handle it in terms of when you actually play?


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

Hubs and I game together.

We finished LA Noire in 2 weeks. Heavy Rain was finished in about a month and now we're on Dead Island which is scaring the crap out of me. LOL!

As long as it doesn't take over your life, I am all for it! Some people have issues with it though...they act like 12 year olds. not cool. We play after the house is taken care of, the kids are in bed and chores are done.


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

I'm 40 and my PS3 gets regular use. That and my Steam acct. Got bored and played all the DLC for Dragon Age Origins.


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## I'mInLoveWithMyHubby (Nov 7, 2011)

My mom in her late 60's is addicted to video games! She has every game console, DS, DSi, iPod, iPad there is with many games. She's played them nightly/daily since Atari came out. 

I will play a couple on my iPod touch, but I get bored with them and move on. I prefer scrabble(words with friends) or sudoku. My hubby doesn't play. My kids have a wii. They like the dance and singing games, but I have all girls.

Even though I'm not a guy. Females play too.


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## WadeWilson (Jul 4, 2010)

Gamer 4 Life
And proud
I'm finally at a point where I don't feel obligated to play what's hot while it's hot...
I can now feel comfortable playing what I like...
I don't feel rushed to end a game in record time, I don't have to discover every secret, nor do I have to accomplish every achievement...


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

WadeWilson said:


> Gamer 4 Life
> And proud
> I'm finally at a point where I don't feel obligated to play what's hot while it's hot...
> I can now feel comfortable playing what I like...
> I don't feel rushed to end a game in record time, I don't have to discover every secret, nor do I have to accomplish every achievement...


I just wait 6mos and a $60 game is only $30. It still plays the same and I don't feel rushed to finish it so I can get to the next new game. I am a trophy wh0re though. :rofl:


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## Mistys dad (Dec 2, 2011)

The largest demographic for video game purchases are males age 25-40.


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## WadeWilson (Jul 4, 2010)

Mistys dad said:


> The largest demographic for video game purchases are males age 25-40.


That proves there's no shame in being a fully grown adult and playing video games...
The real question is who will be brave and admit that their Pokemon purchase was not for a small child?


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

WadeWilson said:


> That proves there's no shame in being a fully grown adult and playing video games...
> The real question is who will be brave and admit that their Pokemon purchase was not for a small child?


I will admit Lego Harry Potter years 5-7 wasn't entirely for a child.


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

The Wii was TOTALLY for the kids  Totally.


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## effess (Nov 20, 2009)

joe kidd said:


> I'm 40 and my PS3 gets regular use. That and my Steam acct. Got bored and played all the DLC for Dragon Age Origins.


I love DA:O!! I can't wait for part 3.


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## Confused_and_bitter (Aug 6, 2011)

H is a gamer we have 2 Xbox 360's one is mine and he also loves flight simulators, sim city, silent hunter, and some star wars game all on PC.

We always played the Gears of War games together. He sticks to sports games like boxing and hockey. I have Rocksmith and LA Noire.


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

I can waste a week on the Sims. omg. Since that game came out in 1999/2000.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

I don't play them at all, my wife 45, became addicted to WOW, ended up playing every night from about 7-11:30. She ended up having an affair with a guy in her Guild, she left back in July and see's him on weekends.


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## effess (Nov 20, 2009)

I'mInLoveWithMyHubby said:


> Even though I'm not a guy. Females play too.


I know there are girls tht play too, but i so infrequently come across them that it is hard to believe lol.


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## effess (Nov 20, 2009)

joe kidd said:


> I just wait 6mos and a $60 game is only $30. It still plays the same and I don't feel rushed to finish it so I can get to the next new game. I am a trophy wh0re though. :rofl:


Another idea is to pre-order it on Amazon and you can get anywhere to $10 to $20 off, then re-sell it when your done with it on craigslist, eBay, etc and you can recoup almost 75% of the cost.


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## WadeWilson (Jul 4, 2010)

that_girl said:


> I can waste a week on the Sims. omg. Since that game came out in 1999/2000.


OMG
I love sims...
I would remove the the doors when there's a fire and wait...


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

I usually get this from pidge if I game too long.


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

WadeWilson said:


> OMG
> I love sims...
> I would remove the the doors when there's a fire and wait...


I'd build a pool, get them all in, and remove the ladders.

mwahahahahahha :rofl:


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## Confused_and_bitter (Aug 6, 2011)

I remember when the first sims came out I spent many many hours of my life playing...

I never put them in danger but now I have to go do that LOL


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

that_girl said:


> I'd build a pool, get them all in, and remove the ladders.
> 
> mwahahahahahha :rofl:


Brutal. You didn't pull the wings off flies as a child did you? :rofl:


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## WadeWilson (Jul 4, 2010)

Confused_and_bitter said:


> I remember when the first sims came out I spent many many hours of my life playing...
> 
> I never put them in danger but now I have to go do that LOL


Funny, I assumed everyone 86'd their sims at some point or another...
I had a home in sims 2 that had soooo many grave stones....


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## Lionelhutz (Feb 2, 2012)

Thank god for video games! I guess to outside observer it looked unhealthy but a few years ago I was definitely using them as an escape valve when I gave up on my marriage.

I play almost anything from strategy to FPS but for some reason I never got into multi-player role playing


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## COguy (Dec 1, 2011)

Been a gamer since I was 6 and my parents got a Master System. Thankfully I have a diverse range of interests outside of video games.

Wife got super annoyed at how often I played when we first got married. The ironic thing is I cut back my playtime by like 50% when we got married. If I didn't need money to survive, I could be happy playing video games all day long.

Now with kids though, I get maybe an hour or two 2-3x a week.


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## Complexity (Dec 31, 2011)

Hellz yes, she likes to play fighting games like Tekken and she "beats" me once in a while (cough cough). Though we both love story driven games like Mass Effect 2 and scary games like Dead Space, she likes to watch and get the bejezuz scared out of her lol.


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

I bought Mortal Combat for her. We would drink beer and play when the kids were gone for the night. She would ask why I just had to do a fatality every time I won. LOL


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## isla~mama (Feb 1, 2012)

I keep reading about these affairs that started on Warcraft-- I've been playing WoW for years and the only attention I've gotten are comments about how much my gear sucks.  To answer the OP I love warcraft but have never really been into any other VG. I make sure the kids and house are taken care of before I let myself play, but yeah it does sometimes feel a bit ridiculous to be investing time and mental energy in flying dragons and herbs that don't really exist.


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## CH (May 18, 2010)

Big time gamer

In the late 80s and early 90s it was the TSR D&D games
Forgotten Realms & Dragonlance

Then with the SNES it was the final fantasy games up to the Playstation

Then came counter-strike, always the 1 more map and it's off to bed line. Along with the warcraft & star craft games.

All of these games took time but you could always walk away from them and it didn't take up your life.

Then came the dreaded World of Warcraft (ugh...) and that game was like a 2nd job once I joined raiding guilds. Finally got off that crack ***** though, thank god.

Now it's:

Mass effect 1, 2 and now 3
Modern Warfare, all of them

Still doing all the new FF that comes out on the PS3

And the occasional game that interests me from time to time like Batman AS but I haven't gotten AC yet cuz I only buy those games once they hit the $20 on sale on steam.

So yes, I'm a big time gamer.

Oh wait, I forgot about the MUD games and the ASCII games on the apple IIe. Bard's tale was also a good game back in the days, grab the graph paper buddy or you're not gonna beat the game  But then I was doing that with alot of the MUD games anyways. Oh and Ultima online!!!! Comon, who never got tricked by a high level saying they wanted to help you, then got murdered in the woods and had all your stuff stolen and the SOB also took my HOUSE!!!

I could go on forever lol.


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## COguy (Dec 1, 2011)

cheatinghubby said:


> Forgotten Realms & MUDs


I Like the cut of your jib!


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

Those Steam sales are like crack. Damn you Gabe!!!!! lol I mean really, Fallout New Vegas for $5? I can't pass on that.


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## Broncos Fan (Mar 1, 2012)

effess said:


> I'm in my mid-thirties and have never outgrown video games. I am hard-working (hold down a steady job in the financial industry), good father and husband (help out around house, play with kids, etc), work out regularly, etc. I'm trying to make the point I'm not a stereotypical "nerd" living in his mom's basement. But I still enjoy video games. No shame :smthumbup:.
> 
> My question is this, how many guys here still are into gaming? How do you handle it in terms of when you actually play?


Back about 10 years ago I was around 25 and I decided to give up video games. I was newly married and thought it was the right thing to do. Now I'm 35 and Christmas before last my wife showed up with a new xbox for me out of the blue. Never asked for it and hadn't played anything at all in years. She told me "guys play video games." After a rough few years it was one of the few cool things she'd done in a long time, and even now she's the one who pushes it on me, asking when we speak in the evening whether or not I'd played that day. She values masculinity, although in a stereotypical form, and for better or worse that's how she is. I can't really complain in this instance.


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## effess (Nov 20, 2009)

cheatinghubby said:


> Mass effect 1, 2 and now 3


I love Mass Effect!!! I cant wait until mine comes in the mail!!!!! I love the concept of your actions vastly effecting the outcome of the current game, but the next two as well. Its not an original idea, the Knights of the Old Republic did that as well. But nobody has done it to the scope that BioWare has with the ME triology.
Speaking of Mass Effect, and since you like other fantasy world games, have you played Dragon Age series?


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## LadyFrog (Feb 27, 2012)

I can't stand them; they bore me to tears.

Dh & kids love them.


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

effess said:


> I love Mass Effect!!! I cant wait until mine comes in the mail!!!!! I love the concept of your actions vastly effecting the outcome of the current game, but the next two as well. Its not an original idea, the Knights of the Old Republic did that as well. But nobody has done it to the scope that BioWare has with the ME triology.
> Speaking of Mass Effect, and since you like other fantasy world games, have you played Dragon Age series?


The DA series is good. Enjoyed DA:O better than DA2. Don't forget the Elder scrolls. Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. I really loved God of War 3. Kratos! :smthumbup:


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## Broncos Fan (Mar 1, 2012)

Kingdom of Amalur has been pretty good so far. It got mixed reviews but I've had a blast, using it almost as a break from Skyrim for a while. Plus any rpg developed by a former major league pitcher has to be good, right?


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## joe kidd (Feb 8, 2011)

Broncos Fan said:


> Kingdom of Amalur has been pretty good so far. It got mixed reviews but I've had a blast, using it almost as a break from Skyrim for a while. Plus any rpg developed by a former major league pitcher has to be good, right?


Actually heard it was pretty good. Hell maybe we should start a thread for people to post their gamer tags. :rofl:


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## COguy (Dec 1, 2011)

joe kidd said:


> Actually heard it was pretty good. Hell maybe we should start a thread for people to post their gamer tags. :rofl:


We would be hardcore, taking out all our marriage problems on unsuspecting noobs.


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## jnyu44 (Feb 13, 2012)

I gave up gaming a long time ago cuz I think I have the addictive gene. When I play, I go for hours and I can't stop myself. It's a shame cuz I love playing games...but I know I have a decision to make.

My happy medium is watching professional starcraft 2 videos on youtube and playing a little bit on my bro's computer when I go visit family during vacation. 

I also make sure I have a crappy machine that can't run those games well. 

It's all worked out for me so far luckily. I love games, but I've seem to largely forgotten about them.


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## EleGirl (Dec 3, 2011)

effess said:


> I know there are girls tht play too, but i so infrequently come across them that it is hard to believe lol.


A lot of those 'girls' are guys playing females. I'm still trying to figure out why they do that.


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## COguy (Dec 1, 2011)

EleGirl said:


> A lot of those 'girls' are guys playing females. I'm still trying to figure out why they do that.


They do it because it's easier. Guys are so dumb and horny they literally give free stuff away to girl characters in the game.


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## MrsOldNews (Feb 22, 2012)

I play whenever I get the chance. Mainly fighting games. I'll challenge any of you to any soul caliber game played on random and kick your a$$ lol. I love rpg games too but I only have the time to play video games like once or twice a month with my schedule. And I've got a 360 and a wii. Can't wait till my daughter gets old enough to spend a little time with mom working on her hand eye coordination  FYI guys I know a lot of women who play video games on a regular basis. Most of them don't have kids though.


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## Sanity (Mar 7, 2011)

Broncos Fan said:


> Kingdom of Amalur has been pretty good so far. It got mixed reviews but I've had a blast, using it almost as a break from Skyrim for a while. Plus any rpg developed by a former major league pitcher has to be good, right?


Just finished it after 40 hours of gametime. Had a great time. Make sure to read the story and follow it.


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## Sanity (Mar 7, 2011)

Many years ago I use to play WOW and starting raiding but found the time vs reward ratio was crap. Raiding for 4 hours was not uncommon and I had to quit. Today I just play casual games or non mmo's.


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## DvlsAdvc8 (Feb 15, 2012)

33 y/o gamer here. Usually late at night. I don't see any problem with it unless you're trading significant life time for game time.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

DvlsAdvc8 said:


> 33 y/o gamer here. Usually late at night. I don't see any problem with it unless you're trading significant life time for game time.


I think it sneaks up on people, especially a game like WOW. There's a forum for WOW addicts that has over 5000 posts on it, some have been playing it over five years with 1-2 of those five years in game time....sad.


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## nader (May 4, 2011)

I tried WOW for a few hours but never got past the ostrich-beak collecting stage (I was with the cow / teepee dwelling people.

My pattern is I'll play one game nonstop for a couple months until I beat it, and then I'm over it. I am finishing up Skyward Sword right now, but trying to savor it.

God help me if I ever start playing Skyrim.


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## Freak On a Leash (Feb 19, 2010)

isla~mama said:


> I keep reading about these affairs that started on Warcraft-- I've been playing WoW for years and the only attention I've gotten are comments about how much my gear sucks.  To answer the OP I love warcraft but have never really been into any other VG. I make sure the kids and house are taken care of before I let myself play, but yeah it does sometimes feel a bit ridiculous to be investing time and mental energy in flying dragons and herbs that don't really exist.


Hey! I love my dragon mount!  I'm 48 and been playing WoW for 6 years and love it! No one has ever tried to pick me up either. 

Oh come on! Investing your time and energy watching reality shows is better? As long as you are having fun and playing isn't having a bad effect on other aspects of your life then what's the harm?


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

Freak On a Leash said:


> Hey! I love my dragon mount!  I'm 48 and been playing WoW for 6 years and love it! No one has ever tried to pick me up either.
> 
> Oh come on! Investing your time and energy watching reality shows is better? As long as you are having fun and playing isn't having a bad effect on other aspects of your life then what's the harm?


When one is spending 3-4 hours a day on WOW and raiding 3-4 hours a couple of nights a week it's going to be a problem. I've often heard the excuse that playing these games is no different than a "Hobby" or watching TV, but I don't know of anyone with a regular hobby that takes up 2-4 hours every evening. 

The other excuse is " At least you know where I am", but in reality the spouse that's playing WOW isn't really home at all, there's no interaction with the family when you play, they get ignored. For a great many people games like WOW are highly addictive and an escape for people with avoidance personalities.


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## Freak On a Leash (Feb 19, 2010)

Notice I used the exception of "when it starts effecting other aspects of your life..then it's bad". I used to raid and all that. I stopped. It took up too much time. I used to play WoW with my husband and daughter (they got me into it). My daughter got a social life and stopped playing and my husband got bored with the game and started watching TV constantly and drinking. I think WoW was a much better way to pass the time. We had fun together playing it and he went from that to ignoring me...go figure. 

Plus, I have a LOT of hobbies. Playing WoW is just one of them. I might play WoW a few hours a week at most and I just quest and do crafting. 

Everything, be it playing video games or watching TV or playing a sport, like golf or football, is bad when it's overdone.


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## AbsolutelyFree (Jan 28, 2011)

When I was a teenager, I was pretty big into computer games. When I got a little older, I began to see it as a huge, huge waste of time. I played a different online game, not WoW but similar. There was a feature which allowed you to see how much total time you have spent playing your character. This wasn't measured in minutes or hours, but days. Or, in my case, _months_! And that was just on one character. Plus, there was all the time I spent playing other games.

No doubt I had fun with the games, but I imagined what I could have accomplished if I took all those hours and applied them toward something else. I can think of many activities which I would have likely enjoyed just as much, which would have had a more lasting benefit instead of being just a time sink.

So after I got to about 20 years old, I pretty much stopped playing computer games altogether and haven't looked back.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

AbsolutelyFree said:


> When I was a teenager, I was pretty big into computer games. When I got a little older, I began to see it as a huge, huge waste of time. I played a different online game, not WoW but similar. There was a feature which allowed you to see how much total time you have spent playing your character. This wasn't measured in minutes or hours, but days. Or, in my case, _months_! And that was just on one character. Plus, there was all the time I spent playing other games.
> 
> No doubt I had fun with the games, but I imagined what I could have accomplished if I took all those hours and applied them toward something else. I can think of many activities which I would have likely enjoyed just as much, which would have had a more lasting benefit instead of being just a time sink.
> 
> So after I got to about 20 years old, I pretty much stopped playing computer games altogether and haven't looked back.


There's a forum called Wowdetox that has thousands of posts by people who have spent a year or more in total game time over the last three years, some have played since the game started, getting to the point they've lost jobs and divorced over this game. Some people have moved thousands of miles to hook up with Guild mates they EA'd with online. I've been through this and it sucks.


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## AbsolutelyFree (Jan 28, 2011)

allthegoodnamesaregone said:


> There's a forum called Wowdetox that has thousands of posts by people who have spent a year or more in total game time over the last three years, some have played since the game started, getting to the point they've lost jobs and divorced over this game. Some people have moved thousands of miles to hook up with Guild mates they EA'd with online. I've been through this and it sucks.


I'm certain that the total time would add up to more than a year for the the game I referenced in my earlier post. A whole year of my life! I don't have _regrets_ in my life, where I look back and think "I wish I had never done that." I do have a lot of stuff where I wish I had done something, or tried harder at it. Missed opportunities and such. I think that spending time on computer games is one of the main reasons for a lot of those missed opportunities.


When you say you've "been through it," do you mean that you lost jobs and damaged relationships through your own game play or through someone elses? Edit: Now I see your earlier post in the thread.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

AbsolutelyFree said:


> I'm certain that the total time would add up to more than a year for the the game I referenced in my earlier post. A whole year of my life! I don't have _regrets_ in my life, where I look back and think "I wish I had never done that." I do have a lot of stuff where I wish I had done something, or tried harder at it. Missed opportunities and such. I think that spending time on computer games is one of the main reasons for a lot of those missed opportunities.
> 
> 
> When you say you've "been through it," do you mean that you lost jobs and damaged relationships through your own game play or through someone elses? Edit: Now I see your earlier post in the thread.


My Wife started playing casually about four years ago and we used to talk about the game a lot and she filled me in with what she was doing in it. She really enjoyed it and I was glad she found something she really liked doing instead of watching tv ;~). The last year and a half she gradually withdrew from family activities when she joined a raiding guild, she no longer wanted to go out, rollerblade, walks or anything else we used to do. 

She began to play most evenings from 7:00- 11:00 and became so withdrawn the kids and I began to notice. I confronted her about it and she gave me the Speech. She claimed there was no one else, she moved out three days after I confronted her. It came to light she was having an affair with a guy she met on WOW about a year and a half before. They'd had an EA beginning sometime in the spring of 2011, she left the end of July. She's still playing and see's the OM , who also plays as obsessively as she does on weekends. He lives about 120 miles away.

I might add we seldom ever had any fights, got along very well until the OM appeared. To our friends we were the "forever couple". My wife was always interested in fantasy lore from the time she was a teenager, had piles of books of that type and was an avid reader until WOW came along. I think it and MLC simply hit too many switches and off she went.


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## Anubis (Jul 12, 2011)

I may be biased because video games have been paying the bills for a long time for me. But I find them to be like almost everything else in life - good in moderation, and when not made more important than they should be.

When I was young child, the complaint was that people spent too much time passively watching TV (the 'boob tube' despite the lack of actual breasts  ). At least with games there is often more interaction and mental stimulation than a summer of sitcom reruns.


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## Dark Nova (Apr 27, 2011)

My husband is a gamer, but so am I. After dinner we usually retire to the "game room" and I'll either watch him play (Mass Effect 3 right now) or I'll beg him to play some Age of Conan with me.


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## 35898 (Mar 12, 2012)

My husband and I met on an online video game, lol.  we still like to spend time playing videogames together like halo and battlefield, but recently we've been taking turns playing Skyrim and watching eachother. We've taken different paths in the game, so it's fun to see what the other runs in to, and advise eachother on perks, armor, etc,.. we're nerds  but we do well for ourselves, so it's okay.


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## DvlsAdvc8 (Feb 15, 2012)

My wife had to swear off video games entirely. She would play games like civ or sims and since the game has no clear stopping point like my madden or battlefield games do, she would just play through the entire night. She just can't pick an arbitrary starting point. When she was still in college it was pretty funny to wake up for work and find her still gaming and amazed it was 6am already.


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## ShuttleDIK (Oct 18, 2010)

Props to all the wives who game. The industry kinda shunned their demo for ever... Mine will play Tetris & that's about it. Oh - Rockband. She loves that. That's good every couple o' months.

My kids are a little young yet to game, though I'm trying to get my oldest into Kinnectimals. Not so much the gaming, but the interactive play w/ the kinnectimal.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

ShuttleDIK said:


> Props to all the wives who game. The industry kinda shunned their demo for ever... Mine will play Tetris & that's about it. Oh - Rockband. She loves that. That's good every couple o' months.
> 
> My kids are a little young yet to game, though I'm trying to get my oldest into Kinnectimals. Not so much the gaming, but the interactive play w/ the kinnectimal.


Personally I don't get the whole gaming thing, I tried it and got bored after about an hour. Society seems to be changing into people who need to entertained 24/7 and plugged into the Matrix ;~). I guess I just don't fit that demographic. I'd sooner be outside and being active than stuck in th house in front of a video screen for hours on end.


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## barbieDoll (Jul 7, 2011)

Video games are the reason I fall asleep alone 98% of the time.


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## Freak On a Leash (Feb 19, 2010)

Dark Nova said:


> My husband is a gamer, but so am I. After dinner we usually retire to the "game room" and I'll either watch him play (Mass Effect 3 right now) or I'll beg him to play some Age of Conan with me.


My husband calls the computers the "electronic fireplace".  At one time we had 6 computers in our office. In my apartment we have three downstairs and two upstairs, not counting my laptop. My husband will often bring over his laptop and game with my son. Right now it's Star Wars: The Old Republic. My son is debating whether to get MassEffect3 or not. 

Age of Conan? Damn..I tried that with my husband back when it came out and found WoW to be far superior. My husband went on to Warhammer and is now playing Star Wars but he doesn't seem to be into any of the multiplayer online games anymore. 

As for WoW, like anything else, if it becomes an addiction rather than a form of amusement, it's bad. I have a lot of hobbies and activities that I do and WoW is just one of them. When the weather gets nice I spend very little time playing WoW, except for a few hours a night here and there. 

Staying up all night into the AM hours, ignoring your family and spending days doing one thing all the time to the exclusion of everything else qualifies as an addiction and a problem in my book.


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## sirdano (Dec 30, 2011)

heck I am 45 wife is 40 and we love playing rockband together. Now when she is out and I am alone I log on to World of Tanks. Best free playing game I have played in a long time.


Now at the most I can handle is about an hour or I star getting cramps. Then it time to quit go work out or read a book.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

sirdano said:


> heck I am 45 wife is 40 and we love playing rockband together. Now when she is out and I am alone I log on to World of Tanks. Best free playing game I have played in a long time.
> 
> 
> Now at the most I can handle is about an hour or I star getting cramps. Then it time to quit go work out or read a book.


Nothing wrong with that, an hour was about as long as I lasted at any game. But some like my wife end up playing 3-4 hours every evening and gradually just seem to morph into somebody else. I know now that anyone with avoidance tendencies should avoid the multiplayer games with no end point.


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## WadeWilson (Jul 4, 2010)

Rented Street Fighter X Tekken...
Was not impressed....
Back to Fable 3 until Skyrim to come down in price


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## southbound (Oct 31, 2010)

allthegoodnamesaregone said:


> Personally I don't get the whole gaming thing, I tried it and got bored after about an hour. Society seems to be changing into people who need to entertained 24/7 and plugged into the Matrix ;~). I guess I just don't fit that demographic. I'd sooner be outside and being active than stuck in th house in front of a video screen for hours on end.


I'm with you. I'm 44 and just can't get interested in the game thing. The Atari was the big game when I was a kid, and I loved it at the time, but I gradually stopped playing. I got it out a few years ago and played a while. It brought back memories and was fun for a while, but it soon went back in the box.


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## RandomDude (Dec 18, 2010)

My wife and I still play games from time to time, in fact we've also been having fun playing mass effect 3

She's still relatively new to gaming though (only started when I showed her dragon age origins), doesn't really like Skyrim which I play a lot but enjoys mass effect and is actually better than me with dragon age.


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## Paulination (Feb 6, 2012)

I am 43 and am currently playing MLB the show 12 and Silent Hill Downpour. I have been playing video games since Tomb Raider 1 came out in 96'. I love it. The key is, don't make it your wifes problem. When it is her problem, it is your problem. 

Moderation is the key. I play for maybe an hour a night and that is all. Not that she tells me I can't play for longer, she just never has to tell me to turn it off.


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## Paulination (Feb 6, 2012)

southbound said:


> I'm with you. I'm 44 and just can't get interested in the game thing. The Atari was the big game when I was a kid, and I loved it at the time, but I gradually stopped playing. I got it out a few years ago and played a while. It brought back memories and was fun for a while, but it soon went back in the box.


You cracked out the Atari?? No wonder you weren't geeked. Try a PS 3 with Metal Gear 4.


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## Lordhavok (Mar 14, 2012)

I'm 42, been hooked since I plugged in to the first pac man machine in the 80's. Love my ps3, wife plays for several hours during the day and helps me with my skyrim quest in the evenings. Fallout 3 is awesome to. We both love it.


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## cloudwithleggs (Oct 13, 2011)

effess said:


> I know there are girls tht play too, but i so infrequently come across them that it is hard to believe lol.


I will frag UR ass! 

I don't play wow.


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## effess (Nov 20, 2009)

I thought I was a serious gamer - but those WoW stories are nuts......
I usually play at night when the kids are in bed asleep and on the weekends they are preoccupied. My wife is such a busybody she always doing something else anyway. 
It would be cool if she was into it but interestingly enough we don't have that many common interests.


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## mestalla guy (Mar 20, 2012)

love gaming, im 25 and have always loved gaming. I see no shame in it at all as long as you are living a healthy life as well. My girlfriend hates it though, so i dont get to game as much as i would like


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## DownUnder (Jul 30, 2011)

My hubby and I both play Age of Conan, usually when the kids are in bed or during the weekends when the kids are napping.

We also just got an x-box so we will be playing with the kids as well as a family time


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## LemonLime (Mar 20, 2012)

My husband used to have an addiction to it. Now, I rarely play with him and he rarely plays because there are more important things in life than games, such as raising his child. How do you know you are a good husband to your wife? Is that just your perception?


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## Browncoat (Mar 25, 2012)

I play online games like WoW and raid because I get to know people, and because frankly when I don't pour myself into a game like that late at night my HD hits the wall that is my wife's LD and it leads us to frustration.

So yeah I raid 3 nights a week, and play often times other nights.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

Browncoat said:


> I play online games like WoW and raid because I get to know people, and because frankly when I don't pour myself into a game like that late at night my HD hits the wall that is my wife's LD and it leads us to frustration.
> 
> So yeah I raid 3 nights a week, and play often times other nights.


Wouldn't it be better to pour yourself into your marriage? I don't understand how hiding in make believe worlds with a bunch of other people probably in the same situation would be considered a solution? 

I don't know how it is in your case, but my wife never indicated to me she was having any issues, even when I asked. As she spent more and more time in the game, the kids got worried I forced the issue about why she was retreating in the game. Turns out she was "Getting to Know" people too and had an EA/PA.

I know now I'll never go out with a WOW type Gamer after my D goes through. If someone is investing that much time in a game it indicates a possible avoidance personality, I'll never go through that situation again.


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## Browncoat (Mar 25, 2012)

My wife and I are about to start seeing a therapist, we've both read many books on the topic and spent countless hours talking and talking about this issue. (We have been married nearly 15 years). Believe me, all we do is go over topics we've covered many times over. Just so you know in general my wife and I spend at least 30-60 minutes a day talking about stuff in life in general (not just about who is going to drive which kid where or which chores to do).

Communication isn't the issue, just the chasm in differences sexually.

Video games just give me a place where I can pour in my energy so that every night I'm not struggling with do I ask again only to be rejected or resisted yet again... and again... and again... night after night after night because basically she has no interest in sex (never has).

So rather than fight, we talk each night then I go off to raid half of the week so that the rest of the time she's more open to at least cuddling (no she really doesn't like much physical contact at all).


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

Browncoat said:


> My wife and I are about to start seeing a therapist, we've both read many books on the topic and spent countless hours talking and talking about this issue. (We have been married nearly 15 years). Believe me, all we do is go over topics we've covered many times over. Just so you know in general my wife and I spend at least 30-60 minutes a day talking about stuff in life in general (not just about who is going to drive which kid where or which chores to do).
> 
> Communication isn't the issue, just the chasm in differences sexually.
> 
> ...


At least you and her talk, I really hope you guys figure a way out of this. Myself, I never even had a chance, when I finally got her to talk she said she " wanted out", gave no definitive reasons and left three days later. Found out before Christmas there was an OM from WOW. 

From what I know now these EA's are pretty common on video games like WOW, the spouse often up and walks out leaving the kids, house and belongings all behind for someone they've been playing the game with. It's a reality that's seems even more far fetched than the game


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## Browncoat (Mar 25, 2012)

Oh I try to balance gaming with home life. 

I work from home and my wife is a housewife, so we talk on and off all day. We also spend time together as a family from when work ends until the kids are all tucked in (3 hours there). On non-raid nights we do stuff together until bedtime. It's just that for 3-4 nights a week we don't go to bed at the same time (though she either sits in the same room reading, or in sight of each other in the next room over).

So we spend time together it's just that for us, gaming actually helps us with our different sex drives.


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## allthegoodnamesaregone (Nov 18, 2011)

Browncoat said:


> Oh I try to balance gaming with home life.
> 
> I work from home and my wife is a housewife, so we talk on and off all day. We also spend time together as a family from when work ends until the kids are all tucked in (3 hours there). On non-raid nights we do stuff together until bedtime. It's just that for 3-4 nights a week we don't go to bed at the same time (though she either sits in the same room reading, or in sight of each other in the next room over).
> 
> So we spend time together it's just that for us, gaming actually helps us with our different sex drives.


That's pretty much what our routine was like, only I had a home office and she worked. Her computer was across the room from me and we would talk back and forth a lot while she was playing in the evening. I was glad she found something she liked doing at first, but it gradually removed her from our lives. The trouble started when we moved her computer was moved upstairs ( it was in front of a draughty window). She got heavier into the raids, vent and her guild, it all went south from there.


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## Browncoat (Mar 25, 2012)

You're right, it can become a problem. Friendships get made, phone numbers get exchanged. It happens for certain.

In my case I keep things transparent. I have two online female friends (as well as a number of other male friends), both live over one thousand miles away. I've never met them IRL, and my wife has spoken to both directly on the phone (since I gave them both my home number). When I talk to them I do so with my wife in the room when she's home, and if she's not I let her know that one of the women called and basically what we talked about (in a nutshell).

I don't talk about anything sexual at all... on vent/mumble, chatting or on the phone ever. I think that's an important line to keep. In fact even with my male friends I don't talk about the sorts of things I talk about here on TAM.

For me it's mostly just a chance to meet new people, laugh and tell some jokes.... but that's just me. It's tough when you have kids to have any sort of social life. Basically for me I'm not generally free to do much until after the kids are in bed... and not much happens in my little city past 9pm.


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## kwillis1 (Mar 28, 2012)

I have no issues with my husband playing video games. I actually enjoy playing with him!! It's just when he neglects certain responsibilities such as: renewing his driver's lic., getting a new social security card, going to the doctor's to get his prescriptions renewed.. because he'd rather play video games after work.. THAT is when we have problems.


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## romantic_guy (Nov 8, 2011)

I know it is a case of "to each his own" but I have never been into video games. I just don't have time. I watch very little TV (except during the NCAA tournament) There is too much music to rehearse, too many good books to read, and I spend most of the other spare time I have doing something with my wife. I would rather spend time with her than just about anything.


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## Browncoat (Mar 25, 2012)

romantic_guy said:


> I know it is a case of "to each his own" but I have never been into video games. I just don't have time. I watch very little TV (except during the NCAA tournament) There is too much music to rehearse, too many good books to read, and I spend most of the other spare time I have doing something with my wife. I would rather spend time with her than just about anything.


I am with you as far as TV goes, we don't have cable in the home and our rabbit ears only pickup PBS for the kids (on purpose). I used to say that I don't have time for TV, but that's a bit of a misnomer. It's not that I don't have time for TV, because clearly if I have time for books/video games I have time for TV. It's that I don't make it a priority, and other things consume the hours I could otherwise spend watching TV.

What I'm trying to say is: it's all about what you prioritize, unless you have to work multiple jobs around the clock and literally have no time.

As others have stated video games can be very addicting. I know that earlier in my marriage there was a time when I was so disappointed with things that I threw myself into playing games far more than was healthy. I had to make a clean break from games for quite a while, and since coming back I have set guidelines for how much time I play so that my family/work life don't suffer. In the end gaming can be an addiction though like drinking, gambling, etc... You have to be very careful with it, they are designed to draw you in.


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