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Playing Games While Not Ruining Your Relationship?

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."

41 of 1,054 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong crowd... by Mz6 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or obvious solution #3... Regular /.'s don't have to worry about this "problem", so why ask me^H^Hthem?

    --
    Hmmm.
    1. Re:Wrong crowd... by StuWho · · Score: 4, Funny
      Yup - you want a quip about Microsoft being demons then you've come to the right place. Romance tips... All I can suggest is buying a furry glove

      --
      "If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments." Earl Wilson
    2. Re:Wrong crowd... by Julien+Brub · · Score: 4, Funny

      Who said all our significant other's aren't gamers?

      What about all those The Sims playin' 1337 chicks? ;) Hey, I'm often chatting to my girlfriend while she sits 3 meters away from me. It makes her laught all the times.

      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!

      --
      "I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance." Isaac Asimov
    3. Re:Wrong crowd... by ePhil_One · · Score: 4, Funny
      Perhaps we need a new T-shirt from ThnkGeek

      My wife told me it was either her or the video games

      God I'll miss her!

      --
      You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
    4. Re:Wrong crowd... by Captain+Pedantic · · Score: 5, Funny
      Slashdot == where dead horses go to be flogged some more.

      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.

      --

      None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
    5. Re:Wrong crowd... by cmallinson · · Score: 4, Funny
      Who said all our significant other's aren't gamers?

      I agree. I have not seen my wife since I put zoo tycoon on the computer. She is an l337 zookeeper.

    6. Re:Wrong crowd... by meatspray · · Score: 5, Funny

      BAH!

      how can you forget a beowolf cluster of dead horses!

    7. Re:Wrong crowd... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I am a dead horse you insensitive clod!

    8. Re:Wrong crowd... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hah. I'm an expert, I can ruin a relationship without resorting to games at all.

    9. Re:Wrong crowd... by jenilyn · · Score: 5, Funny

      >Co-operative play is what's missing, that's all.

      This is something that has recently baffled me. All of these thirty-something guys that now have wives and families (no, not most of /., but there are some) still want to game. If they can play with their wives, more the better. My husband and I swept through Baldur's gate, and I could not believe there weren't more games out there like it for us to play. Now we've got Baldur's Gate II, and Champions of Norath, and this is what we can play. Naturally, he kicks my ass for the most part, since he's been through the damn thing three times while I've been feeding babies--but he'll hang back and let me frost a battle when he knows I can or want to.

      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.

  2. Lucky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    'Look honey, cute bears' but she just didn't bite."

    You're lucky, I'd have bitten your head off after a comment like that.

    1. Re:Lucky by MortisUmbra · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd say hes very lucky hes not married to you....

      That is what you meant right?

      --

      "The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
  3. Re:Adulthood calls... by DoctorDeath · · Score: 5, Funny

    I agree spend time with the SO at home and play at work!

    --
    Sig temporarily out of service.
  4. Solution by mallocme · · Score: 4, Funny

    tsk tsk... bears? should've used bunnies. Always gets them.

    1. Re:Solution by Tackhead · · Score: 3, Funny
      > tsk tsk... bears? should've used bunnies. Always gets them.

      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.

  5. Ruining my relationship? by Sinful_Shirts · · Score: 4, Funny

    What are they talking about? I've built plenty of meaningful relationships in the Sims!

  6. Re:Adulthood calls... by (54)T-Dub · · Score: 5, Funny
    I agree, but I think you could simply say:
    You can't be a compulsive __________ and have a healthy relationship.
    And fill in the blank with any habbit except maybe "flowers buyer"
    --

    "I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance" - Isaac Asimov
  7. Who cares? by dogas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just play the game, man. Jeez, who the hell wears the pants in *your* relationship?

    I think I speak for a collective 47.6% of all slashdotters when I say... WHA-PSSSH!!!

    --
    'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.' -HST
    1. Re:Who cares? by shystershep · · Score: 4, Funny

      . . . the other 52.4% having had a relationship with someone of the opposite sex at some point in their life.

      --
      The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. - Albert Einstein
    2. Re:Who cares? by kni52 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think you must mean 4.76%.
      Remember, mind those decimal points!

      --
      My subtext is just a figment of your imagination.
  8. What Worked For Me by Greenisus · · Score: 4, Funny
    The only time this could have ever been a problem for me was the summer FF7 came out. My girlfriend got a 9 to 5 job for the summer, and I had a free ride from my parents (I was in school at the time). So, I'd play by day, and hang out with her at night.


    We did get in a fight one night, though, when I called her Aeris . . . .

  9. Cue the jokes by josh3736 · · Score: 4, Funny
    At this point, it is time to cue the jokes about:
    • Surely you don't actually have a SO
    • SO == Realdoll (Work Warning!)
    • In Soviet Russia... since everything seems to be in Soviet Russia around here
    • and of course, "Where can I find one of these so-called girlfriends?"

    </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.

  10. Wait a sec... by Bob+Vila's+Hammer · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is slashdot, it is most definitely implied that your "significant other" is virtual/not real, so just close the program or put it back in the closet. Problem solved.

    --


    --"The perfect example of the man of action is the suicide." - William Carlos Williams
  11. Re:Adulthood calls... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And fill in the blank with any habbit except maybe "flowers buyer" "Cunnilingus giver" would rate highly with the ladies, too. :)

  12. Re:Well by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You know, I should have dumped that old broad and played more video games..."

    Yeah because "Man I bent over backwards for that cow and she STILL dumped me" is so much better.

  13. Re:long-distance by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > there's always the run for your frickin' life option, in which you tell her that you have a business trip somewhere, and then spend a weekend hepped up on coca-cola, pop-tarts, and pizza, sitting in front of your computer with your friends, an optical mouse, and a keyboard in a lan party in a cheap hotel room...

    *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*

  14. Re:Time to grow up a little, IMO by Christopher_G_Lewis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyhow, my girlfriend (er, fiance... gotta get used to that before the wedding) is more important to me than numbing my mind in front of the Xbox. If yours isn't, well, maybe it's time to cut her loose and pursue your real interests.

    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 :-)

  15. You asked for it... by happyfrogcow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine a beowulf cluster of significant others.

  16. Re:Adulthood calls... by LilMikey · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm right there with you. My SO absolutely HATES gaming... but she'll talk on the phone for 6 hours straight given the opportunity. Both of us are happy.

    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. :)

    --
    LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
  17. Re:Time to grow up a little, IMO by bigman2003 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So you're not married yet. My guess is that after a few years of marriage, numbing your mind with the Xbox won't seem like such a bad thing. Really- some guys drink to ease the pain. If all you are doing is playing games, I don't think that is too bad.

    --
    No reason to lie.
  18. A view from the other side by coljac · · Score: 3, Funny
    I'm in the same situation as this guy, only I'm on the other side of the equation. My wife is playing City of Heroes all the time, and I'm getting neglected. It's kind of a weird feeling because we had fights a long time ago when I played too much Counterstrike, etc, now I know how it feels. There is something a bit disturbing about watching someone spend so many hours in a game, and it quickly becomes apparent that little things like going to bed at the same time, eating meals at the table, or watching an episode of Sealab 2021 together are really important.

    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.

    --
    Everyone knows that damage is done to the soul by bad motion pictures. -Pope Pius XI
  19. Give up the games until by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You have a Kid old enough to play them with you! Then she won't even give you a second glance, she'll be so happy to have "a father who wants to spend time with his kid", ie, get some sleep herself!

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  20. How's the parent rate a "funny" ? by solios · · Score: 4, Funny

    Video games don't whine (well, good ones). Video games don't call you at work and DEMAND you spend more time with them. Video games don't pull stupid dramatic stunts that even high schoolers would laugh at to get you to pay attention to them. Video games demand time and money, sure, but they're not guilting you with WE NEVER GO OUT!!! and WE'RE GOING TO VISIT MY PSYCHOTIC MOTHER!!!. Video games do not withhold sex over something as stupid as showing up five minutes late.

    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.

  21. RL is teh suck. by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny
    > it's simple. your woman, and even your life, can be viewed as a game. instead of working hard to score in a game, work hard to score with your woman...

    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.

  22. Re:Adulthood calls... by chris_mahan · · Score: 4, Funny

    AMEN!!!

    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.

    --

    "Piter, too, is dead."

  23. Re:Adulthood calls... by Ateryx · · Score: 5, Funny
    As a result I find myself not needing the video games like I once did and happy about it.

    Your balls called... they said when you're ready to play CS again they'll be waiting.

    --
    "The truth suffers from too much analysis"
  24. Re:Adulthood calls... by 74nova · · Score: 3, Funny

    youre mom called, you have to be home early tonight to clean up the basement

    --
    use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
  25. Re:Time to grow up a little, IMO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Try introducing her as your FIRST wife and see the look she gives you.

  26. Re:Adulthood calls... by king-manic · · Score: 3, Funny

    I gave cunnilingus to one of my Gf's friends. My GF didn't seem to like it too much.

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  27. Re:Bah. by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Some of us play the same games boys do."

    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!

  28. AMEN brother by Suchetha · · Score: 4, Funny

    actually i've found that you can read/program/game while your sigfig is on the fone with you, and STILL manage to do both well... just keep going uh-huh.. and keep an ear out for certain key words ("pregnant" is a major one) and just let it buzz past you. practice and you'll actually manage to get to the point where you can game and carry on a "significant" (at least to her it will be) convo with her at the same time.

    Suchetha

    --

    learn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, party tonight
    or one out of three ain't bad