Poll: 1 in 5 Women Have Dumped Their Boyfriend Over Videogames

[Greg Tito]

Poll: 1 in 5 Women Have Dumped Their Boyfriend Over Videogames

A poll in the U.K. revealed that 20% of the women who participated have ended a relationship with their partner because they spent too much time gaming.

How many times has your significant other complained to you about spending too much time playing games in front of your PC or TV screen? Well, it appears that you are not alone. According to a poll conducted by U.K. website, MyVoucherCodes, a lot of women are upset with their boyfriends or husbands for playing way too many videogames. While the poll is in no way a scientific study, the statistics it offers are somewhat harrowing:

1 in 5 women have ended their relationships because the partner plays too much videogames or surfs the net too much.
80% of the women polled said that their partners spends too much time playing games or on the internet.
70% claimed that "gaming addiction" was the cause of arguments between the couples.
Call Of Duty (with no mention as to which one, but I assume it's MW2 [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Xbox-360/dp/B00269QLI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278694263&sr=1-1]) was cited as the game most likely to cause a fight.
72% of women said that their men spend too much time on the internet, but only 6% said it was enough to end the relationship.

"While men are more likely to spend their time running recon with, scoring goals against or shooting at people from all over the world, women are just as to blame for the time they spend online for relationship breakups according to the study," said Mark Pearson, the managing director of MyVoucherCodes. "I'm no relationship expert, but it seems that as technology improves, our ability to interact with those around us lessens - hopefully these statistics will be the push people need to reassess the way they treat loved ones."

Given that quote from the poll's administrator, I think the poll was conducted with a hefty bias. If the survey was only available on MyVoucherCodes, then the numbers would most likely be skewed by the demographic of women who visit that site.

Not mentioned in the poll was my own anecdotal evidence which suggests that 97% of gamers prefer playing games over fighting with their significant others.

Source: PCWorld [http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/333006/poll_20_women_dumped_ex-partners_over_gaming_habits]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamhirschhorn/205440154/])

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[uppitycracker]

Haha my ex fiance claimed this was a big reason for her leaving me, despite the fact that I stopped playing practically all video games unles she wasn't home. It's funny how easily women will turn to something they don't understand or enjoy, such as video games, and use it as a basis to start drama. Thank God I have a girl now that plays them just as much... and is smokin hot at the same time. Very rare thing, indeed.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Chicks can be so selfish.

 

[Gxas]

I'd rather play video games than fight. I really don't understand these type of women though. I would much rather play CoD than watch Jersey Shore with my girlfriend.

On an off-note, if I ever get into a relationship with a girl who watches Jersey Shore, you all have permission to slap me. Every single member on this site. You have my word.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Yea, I can't say that's ever happened to me either. I used to make a habit of only dating women who were interested in the same things I was. That further translated into me marrying a women who was interested in games as well.

It's just good sense.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I honestly don't know what to expect from my girlfriend... She accepts that I'm a gamer and doesn't expect me to "grow up" anytime soon, but she goes berserk if I play when she's around... And since it takes her about 0.5 second from noticing that I'm playing to get mad enough that I have to spend a few days having the piss taken out of me, it can get a wee bit problematic.

(and for that reason, I am willing to believe the poll)

Although I somehow managed to eventually convince her to play some good ol' Baldur's Gate with me, so there's still hope...

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

Allow me to be the first to call shenanigans. Simply because I love that word.

Looking at the website that hosted the survey, it seems designed to appeal to the shopping-obsessed female stereotype, which doesn't usually have anything to do with games - so, as you say, the survey would presumably be pretty heavily biased.

 

[ssgt splatter]

Good for them.

 

[Nickolai77]

The amount of time my ex spent chatting online to her "friend" was a big reason why i dumped her. Of course, with the rise of the internet i imagine this will be fairly common problem. Video gaming was never a problem for us though, since she did gaming more than i did!

 

[kronoset]

I honestly don't know what to expect from my girlfriend... She accepts that I'm a gamer and doesn't expect me to "grow up" anytime soon, but she goes berserk if I play when she's around... And since it takes her about 0.5 second from noticing that I'm playing to get mad enough that I have to spend a few days having the piss taken out of me, it can get a wee bit problematic.

(and for that reason, I am willing to believe the poll)

Although I somehow managed to eventually convince her to play some good ol' Baldur's Gate with me, so there's still hope...

I'm no relationship counselor, but do you let her play, or occasionally try to cater to her interests with games. Baldur's gate is a good game, but doesn't really appeal to chicks or green gamers right off the bat. Oddly enough, I've found that some girls tend to really like L4D (or Japanese-RPG styles of games). Maybe games where the female characters aren't all floating pairs of tits? Just sayin'.

 

[geek.flip]

I'd like to see the numbers run for women who break up with guys for being football/basketball/baseball/NASCAR fans. I'd imagine a larger trend would emerge; to whit "women who break up with men for having hobbies and interests other than aforementioned women". Personally, I think having separate interests and spending time on them separately is a good thing. Then again, I'm a screaming introvert (only on the inside, naturally).

 

[ExileNZ]

My current one got annoyed when I played instead of spending time with her, but then we live in different cities so it makes sense to catch up as much as possible (though I'll note I started playing because I needed a break).

That said, the previous one was quite happy to ignore me and play flash games all day, so I've been in both seats...

 

[Meemaimoh]

Luckily enough for you males, that leaves 4 in 5 women that haven't done so.

 

[Flames66]

This is partly why I do not have a girlfriend at the moment and am not looking for one. If I get into a relationship, I want it to be long term. This means that we will have to share interests and she will have to put up with me playing computer games. If I was in a relationship and the girl got threatening about my gaming then I would basically say " just leave then".

 

[GodKlown]

It seems odd that anyone would break up with someone for enjoying a hobby, unless of course that hobby did encompass their entire day. In that circumstance, how did you ever get someone in the first place?!

As for me, I have never had a relationship fall apart because of the internet, gaming, or a combination of the two. I like a girl who doesn't mind joining in on a game, and am willing to share and multiplay something. There are plenty of games out there that could appeal to both sexes, but I suppose the selfish blame can go either way here. People can obsess about games and not want someone to screw them up by playing (either through lack of ability or interest), and others can obsess about not getting enough attention away from a screen. Simply put, if you don't share the hobby, don't complain. You picked them knowing full well of what they were in to. If you don't like someone who plays video games, stay the hell away from them instead of complaining.

Had this poll been about someone breaking up because the other was addicting to cell phones or text messaging, I'm sure you might see a common trend in men who get tired of women.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

I honestly don't know what to expect from my girlfriend... She accepts that I'm a gamer and doesn't expect me to "grow up" anytime soon, but she goes berserk if I play when she's around... And since it takes her about 0.5 second from noticing that I'm playing to get mad enough that I have to spend a few days having the piss taken out of me, it can get a wee bit problematic.

(and for that reason, I am willing to believe the poll)

Although I somehow managed to eventually convince her to play some good ol' Baldur's Gate with me, so there's still hope...

I'm no relationship counselor, but do you let her play, or occasionally try to cater to her interests with games. Baldur's gate is a good game, but doesn't really appeal to chicks or green gamers right off the bat. Oddly enough, I've found that some girls tend to really like L4D (or Japanese-RPG styles of games). Maybe games where the female characters aren't all floating pairs of tits? Just sayin'.

I don't know where you've seen "floating pairs of tits" in BG, compared to most games, it's practically nun material. And I don't generally play the kind of games where all female characters look more naked than if they weren't wearing anything. But anyway... We're playing multiplayer, since we're in a distance relationship and she knows I'm playing online with my best friend as a way of spending time together... Beats sitting on IM and forcing oneself to come up with topics to talk about for 4 hours every day, in my opinion.

And anyway, it's more a question of actually getting her to show some interest in games. It's not that I'm not trying to come up with titles she would enjoy, it's that she pretty much refuses to play any games at all and has all sorts of stereotypes about videogames rooted deep in her head.

Actually, she's not the "seriously game-hating" kind of girl that might have been invoked by my first post, it's more that she gets mad at me if we have a chance to spend some time together and I'm doing something else (she once almost broke up with me because I went to see a film with my dad instead of seeing her as I did every other night).

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Well, now doesn't this smell like a bad case of the "I WANT ATTENTION!"?

(she once almost broke up with me because I went to see a film with my dad instead of seeing her as I did every other night).

That sounds terribly selfish. So, you visit her every single night but once you decide to spend an hour or two with your dad and it's suddenly the end of the world? Don't take this for granted, but if I was in your shoes I would try and break up with her.

 

[Ryuk2]

I call bullshit. If a girl had a boyfriend who played games and she dumped him at some point, you ask her ''Did you dump him because he was playing too much videogames?'', some of them will say yes. If you ask the same girl ''Did you dump him because there just was no chemistry (or something) between you two?'', she will say yes.
The answer depends on what kind of question you ask.
Sure they don't like it, but most of the time it is not the reason to dumb them.