Commentary
Boys and their toys: Why I hate video games - Part I
- by Amanda , March 28, 2007
I hate video games. Seriously. I hate them. All. More than that, I hate that video games- despite my avidly avoiding them- can still affect my life.
Let me explain.
My long distance boyfriend is twenty four years old. Steve is a college grad working and preparing for law school. He loves video games. He spends his free time playing video games. He just bought a big, flat screen, HD television to play his video games. And all I have to say is, REALLY?!
Now, I admit I play sudoku and tetris online for study breaks, but there is a huge difference between 30 minutes of homework-avoidance and hours upon hours of mindless wandering and shooting in virtual worlds. Because video games are so popular, evidenced by the fact that new games and platforms emerge weekly, I have to assume there is some inextricable draw. But what is it? Why is shooting at some alien-space-thingy more interesting than going somewhere, seeing something?
Another huge problem: gaming never takes less than two hours and subsequently turns grown adults into little kids yelling at television screens. Admittedly, a long distance relationship does alleviate some of the gun shooting, dead-person-gargling which would filter through the house if my boyfriend did live here. To be blunt, if gaming affected my daily life, Steve’s new XBOX 360 will be in serious danger of total annihilation. Plastic shards and wire bits.
In the next week or two, I will be visiting Steve after his ACL surgery. He has warned me of his plans for non-stop, post-surgery gaming. I plan on a second installment of this blog chronicling my slow fall into insanity. Stay tuned.
Forget the XBOX360, he'll just buy another one. Ditch the boyfriend.
haha... well, it could be worse... everyone's got their vice and his is videogames -- give the guy a break. would you prefer those same hours be spent on a porn addiction? pick your battles.
Does Amanda really want her long-distance boyfriend going out? It seems that playing a video game is a less expensive way to blow off steam than bar hopping, and the changes of him meeting another woman are less. Chances are that, being that this is a long-distance relationship, he might be starved for female attention. I'm sure there are no shortage of woman who'd put up with a gamer in exchange for getting a shot at landing a lawyer boyfriend. As for grown adults yelling at the tv, ever spend a Sunday watching football? Is Amanda's boyfriend's face painted like Master Chief?
This is a grown man, granted one that is only 24, who has decided that he wants to spend his spare time playing a video game. Big deal. He's not doing crack! This is a guy who works full-time and goes to graduate school. Give him a break! I wonder how Amanda's boyfriend feels about hr spending her free time blogging about her personal life and talking about him.
I say try to share in some of the fun if you can. Not all games are about shooting aliens and leveling cities. Pick up Guitar Hero for the XBOX360 and play it with your boyfriend as he recovers from his surgery.
It's a fantastic game for non-gamers and it'll make it all the easier to get him to develop an acceptance for one of your interests.
Face it Amanda, you date a gamer. While you're out making connections and schmoozing at some media event, you can network with peace of mind knowing your man is at home annihilating kids in another world. When you get home and he's had two hours of gun toting bliss, you can make him scootch over so you can watch ANTM or Ugly Betty together. Love the player, hate the game.
So I wonder what is going through his head when you take him shoe shopping?