Comment Managing the rift (Score 2, Interesting) 1054
There's going to be a rift, there just is. The trick is to manage it according to your core values.
(I've been married 18 years and counting, so my solution may or may not be germane to your situation.)
Here's what I did. I'm co-founder of a City of Heroes SuperGroup called the Spandex Avengers on the Infinity server. My parter-in-crime, Chump, is single and freely admits that he has no life. I have a wife, two kids, two dogs, two cats, and too many things to juggle to even hope to keep up with Chump. We looked at this early on and came up with a solution: multiple characters.
My buddy gets home and hops online at 4:30 pm CDT. He may or may not eat. He plays his primary character and either soloes or finds team-mates and levels up his character.
I get home around 6:30. I make dinner and do the dishes while listening to my son read to me and ask homework questions. If I'm grilling or baking something that doesn't require supervision, we'll go outside and shoot some hoops or throw the ball around. We sit down and eat and then I finish helping him with his homework. We're all finished with family stuff by 8:30, at which point my wife sits down in the Living Room to do crafts while watching TV. I sit down at my gaming rig in the Dining Room, don my headset mic, and log on to TeamSpeak and CoH. I'm close enough to my wife for her to get my attention and far enough that I'm not afflicted by TV and she's not afflicted by my games.
Chump logs off his main character and we grab our team characters based on a second, themed SuperGroup, TK421 (why aren't you at your post?). He's TK421.01, I'm .02, and so on. We play these characters until he logs off at 11:30 or 12, and I might log off then and I might play my own solo Controller, Phritz, until 1 am.
By playing two characters, we allow for times when he's playing twice the hours that I am while allowing us to keep a second character at roughly equal levels, thus preserving the experience.
It's possible to play an addictive game and maintain a relationship, but it takes a very solid understanding of all the variables. This arrangement works for me - ymmv.
Regards,
Phritz / TK421.02
(I've been married 18 years and counting, so my solution may or may not be germane to your situation.)
Here's what I did. I'm co-founder of a City of Heroes SuperGroup called the Spandex Avengers on the Infinity server. My parter-in-crime, Chump, is single and freely admits that he has no life. I have a wife, two kids, two dogs, two cats, and too many things to juggle to even hope to keep up with Chump. We looked at this early on and came up with a solution: multiple characters.
My buddy gets home and hops online at 4:30 pm CDT. He may or may not eat. He plays his primary character and either soloes or finds team-mates and levels up his character.
I get home around 6:30. I make dinner and do the dishes while listening to my son read to me and ask homework questions. If I'm grilling or baking something that doesn't require supervision, we'll go outside and shoot some hoops or throw the ball around. We sit down and eat and then I finish helping him with his homework. We're all finished with family stuff by 8:30, at which point my wife sits down in the Living Room to do crafts while watching TV. I sit down at my gaming rig in the Dining Room, don my headset mic, and log on to TeamSpeak and CoH. I'm close enough to my wife for her to get my attention and far enough that I'm not afflicted by TV and she's not afflicted by my games.
Chump logs off his main character and we grab our team characters based on a second, themed SuperGroup, TK421 (why aren't you at your post?). He's TK421.01, I'm
By playing two characters, we allow for times when he's playing twice the hours that I am while allowing us to keep a second character at roughly equal levels, thus preserving the experience.
It's possible to play an addictive game and maintain a relationship, but it takes a very solid understanding of all the variables. This arrangement works for me - ymmv.
Regards,
Phritz / TK421.02
