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Living a Charmed Life
By Corvus | December 1, 2008
This is a bit late, but I didn’t want November’s Round Table to slip me by.
It probably goes without saying that I spend a lot of time with games. Over the last 20+ years of my life, gaming has risen in prominence from casual hobby, to obsession, and finally–to career. Nearly my every waking impression of the world is filtered through thoughts about games–or at least must compete for brain space with the perniciously-amorphous and ever-expanding mass of game-thought.
There have been points in my life where my relationship with games was held in a delicate balance with my primary relationships. There have been points where I needed to vigorously defend my right to sit at a computer and play Ultima rather than tune out in front of the television. There have been significant others who don’t understand why a grown man would want to get together with his friends and pretend to be people from another world. There have been years that I never touched a board game–or even played a hand of Gin. To be fair, I never dated someone entirely resistant to games–I played Myst with a girlfriend, introduced several of them to my RPG storyworld, and have played numerous board and card games with others.
But, on the tail end of an appreciative holiday, I find I must take a moment to reflect on my current relationship and be thankful.
In the early days of our relationship, Ms.Z and I bought an X-BOX together, along with a copy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee). Thanks to her passion for all things of the Buffy-verse, Ms. Z threw herself into the game, going home over her lunch break to play, and only reluctantly turning over the controller for me to handle the particularly frustrating jumping puzzles. We also played Oddworld together, but with me at the controls. As time went on, her interest in the console waned, with brief resurgences when a particular game captures her imagination. We’ve also added more consoles to the fold over the years–many because she surprises me with one as a gift.
Early on in our relationship, Ms. Z also joined my participatory storytelling group–her first RPG experience. Over the years, she has actively sought to grow as a player and shown interest in the behind-the-scenes work I do as I develop my style and system. She provides insightful feedback and has been instrumental in my finding groups of people to game with as we jaunt about the country.
Board and card games play a role in our relationship as well. Not only do game nights (an institution she established) feature games of Carcassonne on the 360, but Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, Guillotine and my own game, Renown also make regular appearances.
Speaking of Renown, Ms. Z has been at every play session, helping explain the rules and generally excelling at the game. She’s also been very hands on–revamping the manual for me (which we’re still editing and hope to release soon) and eagerly discussing the possible impact of granular changes to the rule-set.
Ms. Z occasionally asks me if I ever wish she were more of a gamer. I’m always a bit puzzled by this, as she plays her DS nearly every night before drifting off to sleep. She eagerly anticipates our next participatory storytelling sessions and expresses regret when holiday doings interrupt our game nights. So while she does not spend nearly every waking moment tracking the correlations between life and games, as I tend to do, you’d be a bit crazy if you didn’t consider her a gamer.
I am extremely thankful to have someone in my life who shows interest in my passions and is willing to share in my excitement when I play a new video game, even when she isn’t interested in playing the game herself, someone who enjoys a good Scrabble throw-down, consistently beats me at Settlers of Catan and makes me work for my wins in Carcassonne, someone who listens when I ramble about game mechanics and appreciates the expression of them when we sit down play.
So, thanks Ms. Z. You’re gamer a-plenty for me and I’m fortunate to have found you.
Tagged:Blogs of the Round Table, family. | 4 Comments »
December 1st, 2008 at 7:29 am
You sent this post back in time from a future Valentine’s Day, didn’t you.
December 1st, 2008 at 8:13 am
How sweet! I’ll have to make sure my wife doesn’t read this, or she’ll be wondering why my post wasn’t similar.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Very heartwarming. I echo Travis’ comment; better clear browsing history…;-)
It’s interesting that the idea of “being a gamer” is such a rigid notion. Someone like Ms.Z who loves playing games has somehow been convinced that she’s not a gamer.
I think it’s time we loosen the definition of “gamers,” or maybe even get rid of it altogether. Just because someone doesn’t troll XboxLive for Gears of War games 24/7 doesn’t mean that they aren’t a gaming enthusiast.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:47 am
No Scott, we just need to come up with thousands of sub-genres for “gamer” so everyone can be correctly categorized. Eventually everyone’s personality/interest matrix will be represented by a color-coded numerical indicator they will wear on their shoulder.
Or maybe just we should just loosen the definition…