Poll: Girlfriend/Spouse who plays games: Good or Bad?

[Aurora Firestorm]

Hey, shout out to the women with gamer boys! I'm a gamer myself, and my boyfriend and I love to play the same kind of games. I can see this going wrong if both people are competitive and/or insecure about their comparative skills, but my boyfriend is really chill, so we don't ever clash. We like games with heavy plot, so we often curl up together over a long game, over many nights.

The other awesome thing is, we're both geeky academic types also, so we talk about Games As Art and other such things...meaning while games are a large part of both our lives, we don't have the "mindless game obsession" concept that SimuLord brought up. We both have other major hobbies, but games are a big thing, and it's okay.

So the answer is, unless you're that concerned about kicking your partner's ass, gamer romance is awesome! (If you are, chill out, and enjoy the ride. It's okay to lose once in a while.)

 

[InsanityBaronOfAtrocity]

Remember the words of OGF. You need to avoid women into traditionally manly things like video games and guitar. So far. I've seen no fault with this.

 

[Ossian]

There are Girls that play games!?

/dies.

 

[The Funslinger]

probably the best thing in the world, provided you possess multiple consoles in-house, and maybe spare copies of some games. Every eventuality, y'know?

 

[sniperworm]

Me and my girlfriend enjoy playing games together, it doesn't cause many issues other than us both wasting a day infront of the pc without doing anything worthwhile.

Time to drag her back onto Lord of the Rings Online I feel

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

Remember the words of OGF. You need to avoid women into traditionally manly things like video games and guitar. So far. I've seen no fault with this.

"Video games" = "Manly" (and "girls don't do Manly stuff" also) is a trope that is screwing over the ability of girl gamers to be accepted, and the gender portrayal in games. This needs to be dispelled as soon as possible.

Also, if apparently girls who like manly things are bad, my relationship should be over so fast it would make your head spin. I enjoy weight lifting, video games, sport shooting (rifles and pistols), hunting, rock climbing, martial arts...

If you like a more traditionally "feminine" sort of the 1950's, that's cool, but we're good people too!

 

[Imp Poster]

After seeing my two closest friends dissolve their friendship over WoW loot from a raid then I having to choose sides, I don't care much about playing video game trait as I do about the person. It just doesn't seem worth it. Anyways, same goes with dating girls, I won't hold it against them if they don't play games. I admit, it would be nice if they did though.

 

[Requx]

Couples who game together stay together...true fact.

 

[Mr. Google]

My girlfriend and I both play games, but while my main interests are RPGs, she prefers (online) shooters. It's a nice contrast. We rarely play the same game together, maybe we should try to find a middle ground somewhere.

I've had bad experiences with gaming couples in WoW though, especially if one of them was the GM

Borderlands its perfect! haha

 

[Mechsoap]

Playing games is never bad.

 

[Nanaki316]

I'm a huge gamer girl... meaning I game a lot not that I'm quite fat.
We both play WoW and run a guild together, that's actually quite successful! We play quite a few other games together like Forza, COD, F1 etc but then we have various different gaming interests as well.
I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan, RPG's in general really and he'll tend to play the FPS's more than me.
I'm very lucky, we've found a middle ground and know when to enjoy things on our own too.
He likes having a gamer girlfriend too x

 

[Robyrt]

Good, on the whole, because shared interests help you relate to each other. I'd try to dial down the competition angle though - maybe you can find some co-op games?

More importantly, your partner should understand why you like games, even if they don't share the sentiment. I had one girlfriend who had never seriously considered video games... and ended up beating my total time played in Virtua Fighter. (Which is not exactly Farmville.)

 

[megs1120]

GOOD! I wish my boyfriend liked games, other than that, he's perfect. If he had played anything since the 2600 era, maybe he wouldn't come down on me so hard about video games.

On the other hand, if he was a gamer, he probably wouldn't have many of the other interests we share.

I suppose it'd be a mixed bag, but it'd be nice if I could talk about something I enjoy without him rolling his eyes and changing the subject.

Bad, but I say that from the point of view of someone for whom games are a peripheral element.

My ex-wife played WoW, and it created problems in our marriage because it got to the point where she'd rather raid with her guild than go out with her husband. And since I don't play MMOs, it separated us since all she ever talked about was what was going on in her friggin' WoW guild! Her starting to play that accursed game was the moment where, looking back, our communication started to break down. I hate that fucking game.

Oh, God, MMOs, I had completely forgotten about MMOs. If a boyfriend of mine got into MMOs, that'd be it. They're like drug addicts.

 

[SimuLord]

discussions at length about ancient history or anthropology or Alton Brown or other more socially redeeming things than games.

I don't know about you, but I am certain I have NEVER talked to a girl about history or literature or anthropology. I think it's more likely that I could find a common interest in gaming than in the academics.

O.T. As can be inferred from above, I think having a common interest in gaming is good if you (or her) have little else that you both have enough knowledge about to talk with (and school doesn't count, by the way).

You're not looking in the right places---I have several female friends with whom I can discuss those topics, and they're vastly more interesting people than my gamer friends, precisely because they frequently challenge the boundaries of my intellect and I'm a better person for knowing them.

Can I safely assume from your aversion to academics that you're quite young, perhaps not college/university educated? Because the other thing those three friends I'm thinking of have in common is that the youngest of the three is 28 years old (the oldest, at 33, has been my friend since kindergarten) and all have master's degrees in some element of the humanities, the arts, or history.

 

[zehydra]

discussions at length about ancient history or anthropology or Alton Brown or other more socially redeeming things than games.

I don't know about you, but I am certain I have NEVER talked to a girl about history or literature or anthropology. I think it's more likely that I could find a common interest in gaming than in the academics.

O.T. As can be inferred from above, I think having a common interest in gaming is good if you (or her) have little else that you both have enough knowledge about to talk with (and school doesn't count, by the way).

You're not looking in the right places---I have several female friends with whom I can discuss those topics, and they're vastly more interesting people than my gamer friends, precisely because they frequently challenge the boundaries of my intellect and I'm a better person for knowing them.

Can I safely assume from your aversion to academics that you're quite young, perhaps not college/university educated? Because the other thing those three friends I'm thinking of have in common is that the youngest of the three is 28 years old (the oldest, at 33, has been my friend since kindergarten) and all have master's degrees in some element of the humanities, the arts, or history.

I used to talk Politics/Philosophy with my girlfriend, it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I can't see the downside of having a gaming spouse really, aside from occasionally fighting for the controller. Granted my wife doesn't like to play "Big AAA Games" as much as she likes watching me play "Big AAA Games"... which is fine by me really.

 

[sheogoraththemad]

dammit mate, I'm jealous on you

 

[InsanityBaronOfAtrocity]

Also I have never personally met a well adjusted, happy, good looking and physically fit bird who plays games. I mean I've met the odd slut who "ZOMG I lURVvv cod lol" but never one who liked the more sophisticated side of things. IE morrowind, total war series etc.

 

[Nimcha]

My girlfriend and I both play games, but while my main interests are RPGs, she prefers (online) shooters. It's a nice contrast. We rarely play the same game together, maybe we should try to find a middle ground somewhere.

I've had bad experiences with gaming couples in WoW though, especially if one of them was the GM

Borderlands its perfect! haha

I'll look into it, thanks! We both loved Mass Effect 2 by the way, but that's hardly a game you can play together

 

[Hosker]

I could imagine it being great, but I can't exactly speak from experience. It would be best to stick to co-op games.