Be a Gamer Wife; Not a Gamer Widow 1j5t1h

A common problem amongst many who game (especially MMORPGs) is “wife agro” or that the spouse/girlfriend of the gamer doesn’t like them playing or how much time they spend gaming. As a wife and gamer myself, I was lucky enough to be married to a person who has also loved gaming since childhood but a common problem we see with friends and family (and co-guildies) is that when only one is a gamer, the other often feels left out. 5i6c1c

They actually have groups for this sort of thing; “WoW widows” for those who feel they have lost their husbands to World of Warcraft and even SWTOR has some hate threads on the Internet from disgruntled women who feel they have lost their men to the game.

But one blog post I stumbled across was a little different. This wife talks about how she worked through the struggles with her husband and his WoW-playing in How I Became a WOW Wife, not a WOW Widow.

It’s a very long piece- nearly 2,000 words- but she says some things that a lot of women need to hear and honestly, a lot of men could do with reading it too so you understand where your woman is coming from when she nags you.

After being bothered over the WoW issue, she sat her hubby down and said something along these lines:

“When you hurry up and rush through spending online with these people you don’t even know, I feel as if I’m totally alone in this house, in this family and in this marriage. And frankly, it’s getting to the point where you might have to choose – me, or WOW.”

And because he loves her, he sat and listened. And because he had an interest in keeping his marriage intact, they discussed these things called “feelings” (maybe you’ve heard of them?) and they worked out solutions to the issues.

In this scenario, the time and she began to blame the game for what was in reality, a lapse in communication on their part.

person into and taking an honest evaluation of how you can improve the situation.

I also highly recommend inviting your significant other to play with you. Get her in the game, show her the ropes and introduce you to her friends. This will reassure her fears that you have secret “SWTOR GFs” and show her that you want to bring her into your circle. If it’s just not her thing, well at least you made the effort to show her what it’s all about. And when she gives you the time and space to enjoy your game, you should give her the same courtesy and spend some quality, devoted time doing things she enjoys as well.

Check out the full blog post: How I Became a WOW Wife, not a WOW Widow for more info on her story and how they worked it out.

Do you have trouble from your partner for the time you spend in SWTOR, WoW or some other game? What seems to be the chief source of the complaint? What do you do to resolve it?