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Gaming vs Relationships

bgalbraith writes "BBC News has posted an editorial piece called Confessions of a Game Widow, where a frustrated spouse writes about getting neglected by her partner in favor of games such as Halo 2 and Half-Life 2. Her solution to all those like her: 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Let's get together and form a clan. We can call ourselves the Game Widows.'"

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  1. Addiction is addiction by smcg · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From TFA:
    My relationship of six years ended because of the PlayStation. When our son was born my partner spent all his time playing games. We never went to bed at the same time due to him staying up as he wanted just to get to a certain level. He slept during the day due to being up all night and I was left holding the baby literally. Our relationship ended and he admits now it was down to the PlayStation.
    Video game as chore, as negative reinforcement (removal of withdrawl symptoms), as escapism, etc. It's the type of folks who are prone to addiction in any form that become addicted to video games.

    To know "Daddy" as "the man who snarls at you when you want to play PlayStation" rather than a father figure, well, it really puts a somber image on things. If you'd rather raise your online char than raise your son/daughter, then the child might as well be missing one parent.

    Just interesting to see the shoe on the other foot, when the addiction applies to the parents. Much more serious when you think about it.