Gaming with People You Know (Really!)

I currently game with my husband and my nephew. I’ve also gamed with friends in the past, and I think there are interesting points to gaming anonymously to gaming with friends and family.

With my husband, it’s natural. We met in an online game (back before they had MMO’s mind you, yes I’m that old) before we met in this realm of life. We’ve gamed since then, and I imagine we’ll always game. It’s our “date” night. Some people go to fancy dinners, my husband and I stay up till four A.M. questing, talking, and killing things. We learn team work, communication, and are an awesome team. We always have been, which is why we’re married. (Don’t worry ladies, he still takes me out once in awhile, but most of the time I’m more happy at home than I am out.)

The friend that I gamed with a long time ago I’m no longer friends with. I think I would be if I had the choice, but she really doesn’t seem that interested in a relationship anymore. Perhaps I’m still too much of a gamer for her. When I was younger (and before I was married) I found that gaming with another girl often leads to competition with guys. That can be healthy, and it can be annoying. I don’t mind anonymous females that I don’t have to face in real life, but I still get jealous.

The family part is to me the coolest one. Before gaming with my nephew I didn’t know him nearly as well as I wanted to. I used to watch him when he was really young, and I knew him then. Over the years, we went our separate ways. When he learned we were fairly serious about sticking with WoW, he relocated to our server, and we’ve been playing together since. I know a lot more about him now, and enjoy spending time with him. It makes my gaming time more fun knowing that I get to share that time with him.

I’ve been thinking about picking up some FPS games to play with some of the people I work with. I’m a little worried about it as I don’t know a lot of them nearly as well as I know the people I play WoW with, but I think I’d be up for the challenge. It’d give me a chance to get to know more people around here, and I could always use more people to hang out with.

All in all I tend to be a loner and a leader playing games. I like going my own way, and I like helping others in their own quests. It may seem like an odd combination, but it suits me.