Blog Banter: Playing With My Toys
Welcome, welcome to Blog Banter, the monthly blogging extravaganza headed by bs angel! Blog Banter involves our cozy community of enthusiastic gaming bloggers, a common topic, and a week to post articles pertaining to said topic. The results are quite entertaining and can range from deeply insightful to ROFLMAO. Any questions about Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
My wife has never been an avid gamer. Over the years she has had games purchased on her behalf or participated in games with me if she’s interested. Honestly, she’d rather play Bejeweled or Tetris for the most part, but every now and again we find some common ground. There always seems to be a lot of angst from other gamers to get their wives or girlfriends into gaming. I think that’s silly, my wife doesn’t try to get me interested in scrapbooking or crocheting. I have, as an enthusiast, always been welcoming when she has wanted to try something.
I’d like to point out that there are no surefire “gateway” games. I hear a lot of talk about getting girlfriends hooked on the Sims, Rock Band, or other “girl gamer” games. I think that is the first problem. There are no “girl gamer” games. The way I’ve been able to get my wife to play games with me is largely driven by two things:
1. Our desire to spend time together
2. Her interest in a particular game
My wife has played Burnout 3, Pac-Man, Bejeweled, and most recently Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. Her tastes are eclectic, but that’s ok with me. If she has interests that diverse, how am I going to pin her down to a specific “type” of game to play? Also, do I really want her to become a gamer or do I want her to understand my hobby? Actually, the real answer is I just don’t want her to be jealous of my hobby. Having mutual interests is important in a relationship, but I think that more gamers could stand to diversify themselves. There are plenty of things couples can do and trying to get your signficant other to become a gamer seems self-serving. I honestly wouldn’t think twice about scrapbooking. I have neither the patience, skill, or inclination to learn. What I do focus on is making sure I spend time with my wife and still game. If that means I can’t rush off to play my new game as soon as the kids are in bed then I’m sanguine. The important thing is to keep an open mind, because I never know which game she’ll want to try next.
Other participants!
Gaming with my wife, You could be doubling alone, Next Gen Killed Our Gaming Relationship, Forced Perspective, From Gaming Geek to Heroes Freak, My Lady and Gaming, Gaming with your significant other, Gaming Together, Maybe?, Girl Gamers = Hawt, Gaming with my significant other, Move Over Hott Boy, I Want to Play, ‘Til Mongoose Mowdown Do Us Part
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February 28th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I haven’t ever really understood the whole “must get my spouse to game” thing either. It’s my personal opinion that one of the keys to a successful relationship is sharing similar interests while also having some time apart. It’s a delicate balance but I think both things are important. As long as the two people are spending time together and actually enjoying it, I don’t see a big need to make sure all interests are mutual.
And for the record, I love scrapbooking as well!
March 5th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I’m glad someone agrees that there are no “girl gamer” games! And if I had a partner that wasn’t into games I wouldn’t try to force it on them. If it comes naturally then that’s way better.