Three Survival Keys for the Married Sports Gamer

[allstar3970]

not married, but just moved in with my GF. She "tolerates" my game playing...i try to get her into games we can enjoy together,but she HATES sports games, especially NHL, which happens to be of course my favorite. I've had to explain to her many times (1) why i have to buy the new ones every year. (2) how every game i play in my dynasty is not exactly same.

[N51_rob]

Not a married guy, but that was a well written and entertaining. I've had GF that had issues with gaming, but since we don't share accounts and I'm out with them on most weekend nights it's never really been an issue. But again great article.

[Salhus]

Not married. But, I like how every post in here has been positive. Just shows how impressive maturity really is.

[dave374]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lieutenant Dan

I'm very fortunate that my wife is an avid gamer and tech/gadget geek. So she actually encourages me to play games, and it's what we do together for 'down time' after work and on weekends. In fact, she even has her own 360 and LCD tv w/headphones, and we game on two separate sets right next to each other :^) For sports gaming, she actually stayed up with me till 1:30 am last night helping me scout for my NFL draft in HC 09! She loved it, and it's not unusual on a night she's restless to ask me to play football or any other game to help her go to sleep to. LOL Lucky in Memphis, Dan

2nd best thing to being a Powerball winner.

Good article.

[StormJH1]

This is a terrific article, thanks for writing it. I appreciate articles that recognize that while the critical mass of hardcore gamers is that group of teenage and college-age males for which time is a surplus but (real) responsbility at a relative minimum...the average age of gamers is something like 29, and there are a lot of dedicated and knowledgeable gamers who have to balance that activity with work and family.

I will consider your suggestions and read the comments as well. But I just feel like I'm fighting a losing battle to save a hobby that I truly enjoy. And it kinda depresses me. Got married on May 31, 2008 (congrats to you, by the way), and it's great, but the woman just fundamentally does not believe that we should be in the same house but in separate rooms doing totally isolated things. This only really becomes an issue with gaming (and maybe watching sports). I point out to her all the time that I could be one of those guys who still goes over to buddies' houses or out to bars and drinks while she's home alone, and that at least with THIS hobby, I'm at home with her! But it doesn't seem to matter.

The WORST part of it is that our HDTV is in the bedroom, which means ZERO gaming when she goes to bed, which is generally 11pm. If I were able to just play uninterrupted after she goes to sleep (such as in the man-caves referenced above), I would do that almost exclusively, and the "attention" thing might not even be an issue. But she doesn't seem to want me playing then either.

Anyway, good article. Keep fighting the good fight. Better go before the wife figures out that I post messages on a video game chatboard....Or that there's a $50 annual fee for XBox Live...she might be starting to get wise to that one

[DubTrey1]

All of these posts remind me of the program that the NFL has for "NFL Widows" or something like that - There should be a similar deal for "Gamer Widows".... Shop therapy or some crap. I figure an all day of shopping, which consists of going from store to store to store equals me building up "comp time" in some form when I plop down on the sofa and the green rings of the 360 go on.

[stillatin]

i play gears of war and nba 2k with my girl, theres also betting involved, of what? i will not divulge.

[Lieutenant Dan]

dave374, that was hilarious! Thanks...

I know I'm INCREDIBLY lucky, but her interests in sports, tech, and gaming all were things that helped us get together, but weren't the MAIN things. Mostly it was her intelligence (genius IQ) and sense of humor and strength of character. She's also competitive.

We also both own Tiger Woods 09 and play that together online. lol And last night was one of her restless nights so she asked me to play any sports game so she could go to sleep...so out came Head Coach again.

I don't think it's a bad idea if gaming is a real passion for you to bring it up in any serious 'relationship advancement' conversation that this is a hobby that really means something to you and talk about why it's fun for you....

My wife when we first got together could not care LESS about sports games..she loved Tomb Raider and RPGs, Myst, Tetris, that sort of thing. But she watched me playing Tiger Woods 2004 when I first got it, and I handed her the controller and said, "create a golfer and give it a try. You'd be amazed how addictive and fun this is, and it's a good way to relax." She created her golfer, started the challenges and got hopelessly hooked!

Then she even got into sports games by playing Dirt to Daytona and Superstar Mode in Madden 2007 for hours and hours, which furthered her interest in both NASCAR and the NFL in general.

A lot of chicks dig RPGs. Have your gf or wife try creating a player in a sports game (Tiger, Be a Pro/Nhl 09, The Show/RTTS, Madden/Superstar, etc) and see what they think :^)