I think one of the hardest challenges I've had while being in a relationship has always been finding a balance between gaming and my girlfriend. My girlfriend id Japanese and she thinks that gaming = being an 'otaku.' Otaku is the Japanese word that means nerd but has a much deeper negative tone to it. Usually otakus have a stereotype of being unfasionable, girlfriendless, low life, and desperate. The way people associate a person as being 'otaku' is by looking at their hobbies. Do they watch Anime? Do they play video games? Do they collect action figures? I mainly play video games so my girlfriend already throws me into this catagory of being an 'otaku.'
At first, she tried to convince me to stop playing video games. "It's uncool to play games and when you play you don't pay attention to me." are one of the things she says, but video games are more than just a hobby for me. It's a good way to let me just get away from the grind that is an adult life.
Thanks to the Wii, I have found ways for us to play games together, but we never play a game together exceeding an hour. That is all fine by me. I'm happy that she's more accepting of my so called "bad habit."
What is the relationship between your loved one and video games?
It's pretty good. I introduced my gf to New Super Mario Bros. and she got hooked. Then she got her own DSi and we played some of the two player mini-games. I was nice and beat her by one point at first, then let her win a few after that.
ReplyDeletePlaying other games like Ouendan! co-op and even Little Big planet is fun. She had zero interest in games before me, but now she enjoys them. She even discovered some puzzle games like Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the DS.
But as positive as I say it, she would like me to have a few "real" hobbies outside of games and movies. And maybe stay away from RPGs...when I told her some games take more then fifty hours to beat, she did not like the sound of that. She likes playing together but she can't see playing a game that long single player.
You just have to tell her that it's spread out over months! Although I will say, I was considering finally jumping on the WoW bandwagon to game with Floyd, but I played on a trial account for the last day...and I don't like it. That one is just not for me. FFXIV...maybe. But with a wife and kid, I need to be able to pause/stop playing at just about anytime, and MMORPG's don't lend real well to that.
ReplyDeleteOn the Valentine's front, my family is going to visit my parents tonight and then we're going to the state fair tomorrow. I haven't been to that in years.
On the gaming front, I won't have much time this weekend. Oh well...
And as for significant other and gaming, I can say my wife will play a game now and then (just beat Uncharted actually), but with a baby, there's not exactly much time for that...
Mario and Nintendo seem to bring the world together. As for RPGs I can understand their feelings about them that's why I never play one when my girlfriend is around.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to knock out all the games that I've bought in the past two months. Kinto wants me to get MW2 and WKC so we can play with Landoram. My girlfriend is out of town so I'm might take this chance to knock out most of those games.