Confessions of a married gamer

I am going to take my blog into a little different direction since games are few and far between some months. Yes, you'll still be able to read all my opinions on the games that I buy but I am going to add some personal stuff in here. Nothing too personal and nothing too serious, just fun things I think about when I am working at night.

Now I do have 5 children and 3 of them are female. It was taken for granted the boys would be gamers since society says boys play games. However, I made sure to teach my girls to appreciate games and gamers even if they didn't play themselves. Both my girls do play a bit, one more than the other but whomever they decide to spend their futures with will be happy they at least understand gaming. I can't stand girls (yes there are some guys but we'll focus on females here) that sit and pout because their husband or boyfriend is playing a video game and not spending every free second paying attention to them and catering to their every whim. She expects him to give her free time to do things she likes whether he likes it or not but heaven forbid he wants the same thing. I have had friends whose wives had said they had to sell their gaming set ups. Seriously? She should sell her shoes then.

I labor under the idea that if you can't beat them, join them. This goes for gaming too. I was never into FPS games until my husband became obsessed with Halo 3 and Call of Duty. I finally got tired of waiting for my turn at the Xbox and joined him on Halo 3. I didn't throw a tantrum, I didn't pout and I didn't cry. I put on my big girl pants and dealt with it. Now I like FPS games and have my own Xbox (I still don't like to wait my turn).

Being a married gamer has its advantages too. I have been married 18 years now. People often ask me what our secret is since we were married extremely young. By all accounts we should be divorced already. Well let me let you in on a little secret...video games. We play together. We will sit and watch each other play games and offer advice or help solve problems. We are a team in games and this helps us be a team in life and if he pisses me off, I can sneak into his Call of Duty game and kill him repeatedly. That always makes me feel better. It's true. I admit it. I do that. Nothing helps you get over anger faster than headshots on the person you are mad at. I never go to bed angry. I confess I mute him when he is being a whiny baby about being killed.

Because we have 5 kids, we do not get to go out much. So gaming is our date. So that means we date practically every day. We do have our own interests like he skateboards and I do counted thread embroidery but we do like to spend time together. I confess we are the "cool" parents and my kids love and hate that. They can't complain about us to their friends when they are mad because their friends want us to be their parents but they do love the fact their friends think we are cool.

I confess I love the fact that because I play video games, men are jealous of my husband. They are always asking him how he got me to start playing. He has to tell them he didn't get me to start playing, I was already playing when he met me. I do offer these poor souls advice on how to get their girls interested in gaming but until we stop looking at video games and a "guys only" club, it will be difficult. This is why I took such pains with my daughters and gaming.

Now don't get the wrong idea about us, we are not a fat couple sitting on the couch, eating chips and being slovenly. We are active and tidy. We are responsible and reliable. I am proud of the fact after 5 kids I still maintain a size 4-6 pant. That isn't easy to do but I will confess I'd rather play a game than go for a jog.