Gaming Lifestyle: Saying, “I do.”

Let’s get this part out of the way first: a couple of weeks ago, I got married to the most beautiful, smart, funny, kind and generally wonderful woman in the entire world (no offense to the Horrible WAGS, you’re all fantastic). The weather held out (we got married outside), the reception was epic, and Cole and his wife get huge thanks for coming up when he had to work at 6:00 the next morning. That Monday, we got up at a really unreasonable hour and spent a week on the beach. (Go to Cozumel. Seriously). Then it was back to reality. (Reality, I hate you).

That’s shiny, GiffTor, but can we get to the video games, already?

Yes, she really did say, "I do." No, I was not holding her family hostage.

So here’s the thing…weddings, even when you keep them fairly simple and have a lot of the crap knocked out of the way ahead of time, kind of eat up almost all of your time. Time you normally spend on gaming. So, long story short, except for one game I played on the airplane (I’ll get to that in a minute), I had almost 2 weeks without gaming. And it wasn’t that bad. I’m not going to lie, leading up to the wedding, there were few things I wanted more than to be able to sit down and zone out for a while and kill some Cerberus goons or hellspawn in righteous catharsis, but it wasn’t in the cards, mainly because I love my wife and it didn’t seem like a good idea to start out our new life together with an argument regarding the Xbox.

Then:

Bachelor Party oh God hangover rehearsal rehearsal dinner | Oh crap I’m getting married today | pick up the tux go to the hotel pound a couple of beers with the best man because I’m a nervous wreck suit up walk to the location with the groomsmen like a boss watch a trashcan catch on fire before the ceremony get put out by the best man with water from the canal say I do pictures Reception Of Awesomeness +10 fall asleep.

Fast Forward 28 Hours

With the exception of Air Attack HD on the plane (which is a 4-star Android game), I went a whole week without video games. Just typing that would make me shudder a little bit if it were in any other context. As it was, though, I barely noticed. I wore a watch but didn’t look at it except to determine if it was cocktail hour* yet. My phone was turned off. I only checked social media around 10 at night. And putting on fins and a mask was like snorkeling in an aquarium. No, I didn’t miss the Xbox or the desktop at all. Looking back and realizing that I had that whole week with no games (and mostly no electronics other than a Kindle) where I never once jonezed for the boot-screen got me to thinking about where gaming falls in my life and what kind of gamer I am. There’s a reason I turn the Xbox on after dealing with The Spenser after work; there’s a reason I’m not a big fan of competitive multiplayer; there’s a reason my wife** turns on The Sims 3 when she gets home from work.*** I game to chill out.

2 hours of this = 5 minutes of laying on the beach with cocktails.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a great time getting my head handed to me in Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart with the Horrible crew and I’ve got plenty of competitive spirit…but at least during the week, you’re not going to find me playing “versus” anything unless it’s pretty brainless and light-hearted (I’m sending love your way right now, Fruit Ninja and YDKJ). While I can handle co-op campaign or even Horde-mode style play on your average Tuesday evening, I’m just not in the mood to deal with actual interpersonal conflict after work.

Both my wife and I come home pretty fired up after a day at work; although she’s nothing but sweetness and smiles, to be honest, I can be a bit of an asshole until I’ve had a chance to switch into my not-talking-to-opposing-counsel gear. Our little post-work gaming routine**** gives me time to do that. I don’t feel the need to change my GamerTag “gamer type,” but after months of craziness and a week doing nothing, I’ve finally found my gaming identity. So, if you see me online, feel free to invite me to your game – chances are, I’ll join up. Just see what day of the week it is first.

*By “cocktail hour,” I mean, “the time of day at which we took our stuff from the beach to the pool and continued drinking at the swim-up bar. It was awesome.

**Yes, it’s still weird saying that.

***After we kiss and say, “HiILoveYouHowWasYourDay?”

****I literally couldn’t have married a more awesome woman.

Gaming Lifestyle – The true stories of how we play video games and how it can effect our daily lives.

Source:

Giant Bomb (game image)