Support NeoGAF

[gela94]

I hope there are enough women here to make this thread worthwhile I'm a gamer since I was 10, that's when we got our very first pc, I still remember our whole family sitting in front of the screen and starring at the blinking things without having a clue
I pretty much started my gaming hobby with games like jill of the jungle, the fugger2, port royale, pretty much alot of simulation games but I was always envious of people who had consoles, because back then games on these were just better.
I think my very first console game was silent hill 1, I rented a ps1 and the guide book, I remember originally I wanted parasite eve 1 but the shop didn't had that one. It was such an amazing experience that 15 years later I made my boyfriend/ husband play it. I always had a big fascination with japanese rpgs, which as everybody knows are pretty lenghty.
So this year I became a mom and my gaming time is pretty much zero, I got a bit of time after the baby is in bed but then I can't decide what to play and waste most of my time on Gaf
Now I'm afraid that with the lack of time I will drift towards time waster games.
And also what I'm worried about if you are a gamer yourself how do you not get your kid super early into gaming??
I guess for most women it's the same, that they are much more involved into the parenting than the father when they are still babies, so are you playing during feeding or midday naps or is gaming now such a waste of time that you have given up?

 

[Vawn]

And the "lady" here who isn't really. He knows who he is.

 

[Anal Wake]

A father here. I have less time for gaming, for sure. But I still game heavily, mainly at night. My gf is a gamer too, a sort of casual tho. Instead of playing some RTS sims (she loves them to death), she started to play mobile games that don’t require hours of gameplay to progress in a meaningful way. But from time to time she fires up Tropico or Banished and plays for hours.

 

[Malakhov]

When I became a father I stoped playing games for years. Simply didnt have the time or motivation between the job, kids, stuff to do at home like lawn, pool etc..

I started playing again a few years ago and now I play once they go to bed at night or they have activities. It's hard finding time to do it when you're involved like you normally should be as a parent.

 

[Anal Wake]

And the "lady" here who isn't really. He knows who he is.

Wait, so the OP isn’t a pregnant woman? God, gotta start ta read those opening posts.

 

[iconmaster]

So this year I became a mom and my gaming time is pretty much zero, I got a bit of time after the baby is in bed but then I can't decide what to play and waste most of my time on Gaf

Congrats!

Here's the thing about kids: eventually, they will video game with you.

 

[Kuranghi]

I'm sure you are trying to keep costs down but if you have any spare funds get a Switch, then you can play while you wait for her/him to fall asleep, headphones or maybe just mute.

I am struggling to want to play a bit recently and I don't even have kids, spending more time on neogaf than gaming, much more time in fact.

What kind of games do you like? We can recommend some drop in drop out stuff.

 

[Malakhov]

And the "lady" here who isn't really. He knows who he is.

Stupid comment, you dont name anyone in particular and just troll this thread.

 

[Malakhov]

I am struggling to want to play a bit recently and I don't even have kids, spending more time on neogaf than gaming, much more time in fact.

I have found this to be a problem with a lot of things and not just gaming in particular. I read and follow way more stuff about hockey than actually watch games as well. It's getting worst as I grow older.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

And the "lady" here who isn't really. He knows who he is.

 

[Komatsu]

During the first six months I'd recommend sleeping whenever and wherever you can instead of gaming. Once they turn about 2, you can give them a disconnected controller and play whatever - they will be entranced by what is in front of them.

 

[SlimySnake]

Stupid comment, you dont name anyone in particular and just troll this thread.

He's referring to ladyberkenstal lol

 

[gela94]

A father here. I have less time for gaming, for sure. But I still game heavily, mainly at night. My gf is a gamer too, a sort of casual tho. Instead of playing some RTS sims (she loves them to death), she started to play mobile games that don’t require hours of gameplay to progress in a meaningful way. But from time to time she fires up Tropico or Banished and plays for hours.

I guess she could get into fire emblem games I assume the older the kid get the easier it becomes to sneak in some time to play.

 

[gela94]

When I became a father I stoped playing games for years. Simply didnt have the time or motivation between the job, kids, stuff to do at home like lawn, pool etc..

I started playing again a few years ago and now I play once they go to bed at night or they have activities. It's hard finding time to do it when you're involved like you normally should be as a parent.

Yeah I want to be involved as much as I can and I wonder if gaming will feel like a time waster.

 

[gela94]

Congrats!

Here's the thing about kids: eventually, they will video game with you.

Yeah but how do you stop it from happening too early? If you game yourself?

 

[gela94]

During the first six months I'd recommend sleeping whenever and wherever you can instead of gaming. Once they turn about 2, you can give them a disconnected controller and play whatever - they will be entranced by what is in front of them.

That's the problem I'm not sure I want him to get into this already so early.

 

[Come On Tars]

I play from 11 til 1am. Your marriage or relationship will take a shit if you don’t at least watch a movie or something together after the kids are down and before you get on the computer.

 

[fran.fernandez]

New born here,

finish last of us 2 and ghost of Tsushima with him on my arms.

just that.
Not much changed.

Oh. I also have those ergobaby, I put him in, sit in my pc chair and work.

 

[DESTROYA]

Don’t try forcing what you like on your kid .

 

[gela94]

I play from 11 til 1am. You’re marriage or relationship will take a shit if you don’t at least watch a movie or something together after the kids are down and before you get on the computer.

I can' stay awake so long because of the feeding schedule but yes we watch movies 3 times a week at least.

 

[gela94]

Don’t try forcing what you like on your kid .

I don't intent to do that.

 

[gela94]

New born here,

finish last of us 2 and ghost of Tsushima with him on my arms.

just that.
Not much changed.

Oh. I also have those ergobaby, I put him in, sit in my pc chair and work.

Well maybe with strong men arms this is possible but even as a newborn, that would have hurt my arms in no time
I have an ergobaby carrier but what do you mean?

 

[iconmaster]

Yeah but how do you stop it from happening too early? If you game yourself?

Ah, I missed that question in your post.

My wife and I did severely limit our oldest's screen time during his early months and years. The "how" was, IIRC, mainly just a matter of not having the TV turned on until after the kids were in bed. Nowadays you also have the added challenge of the smartphone. That's more a challenge for you than for him or her at this point, so the habits that you form for yourself now are important.

 

[Malakhov]

Yeah I want to be involved as much as I can and I wonder if gaming will feel like a time waster.

It's not a time waster if you enjoy it and find it relaxing. It's just that I was ending up too tired and preferred to do other things with the spare time. I'd often just try to play a game, play for 15 minutes then move on to something else.

 

[idrago01]

And the "lady" here who isn't really. He knows who he is.

 

[Malakhov]

That's the problem I'm not sure I want him to get into this already so early.

Don't! My kids didn't have access to tablets or any games etc.. until 5. Even then I limit the time they spend on it which is none during the week and just a bit on weekends.

I find them much more socially developed than other kids their age who had access to it more often than them and their imagination is on another level

 

[SlimySnake]

I hope there are enough women here to make this thread worthwhile I'm a gamer since I was 10, that's when we got our very first pc, I still remember our whole family sitting in front of the screen and starring at the blinking things without having a clue
I pretty much started my gaming hobby with games like jill of the jungle, the fugger2, port royale, pretty much alot of simulation games but I was always envious of people who had consoles, because back then games on these were just better.
I think my very first console game was silent hill 1, I rented a ps1 and the guide book, I remember originally I wanted parasite eve 1 but the shop didn't had that one. It was such an amazing experience that 15 years later I made my boyfriend/ husband play it. I always had a big fascination with japanese rpgs, which as everybody knows are pretty lenghty.
So this year I became a mom and my gaming time is pretty much zero, I got a bit of time after the baby is in bed but then I can't decide what to play and waste most of my time on Gaf
Now I'm afraid that with the lack of time I will drift towards time waster games.
And also what I'm worried about if you are a gamer yourself how do you not get your kid super early into gaming??
I guess for most women it's the same, that they are much more involved into the parenting than the father when they are still babies, so are you playing during feeding or midday naps or is gaming now such a waste of time that you have given up?

Im no mom, but i played a lot of games on my shifts. for the second one, i actually took the night shift because my oldest wouldnt let me game during the day so figured i'd sleep during the day and play at night with just one little one bugging me at night every two hours.

i also went through a dry period with games as kids get older. contrary to popular belief, its much easier when they are little. you are so tired that by the time you get time for yourself, its impossible to motivate yourself to start a game.

tahts why i only play AAA Goty contenders now. i cant play ubisoft games. most ea games. no mediocre trash. just find a game that you know you will like and play it. if you have to force youself to play a game, drop it and never look back.

 

[jshackles]

Dad here, my kids are now grown and in their 20s.

When they were first born, gaming time was almost zero. Between working, looking after them, sleeping less, etc. it felt like a full time job just keeping them alive. That lasted about a year or two, after which it got to be a bit easier to tuck them into bed somewhat early every night and have maybe an hour or two of "free time" with your spouse or alone time if you're taking this on solo. At about age 4, I found it to be pretty easy to do handheld gaming. I'm old and this was a long time ago, but I had a GameBoy Advance which was a great system full of really good JRPGs which is my favorite genre also. On the mom's side of things, stuff got a whole lot easier at age 5 when they went off to Kindergarten then easier still at age 6 when they entered 1st grade and were out of the house all day. Who knows if that experience is ever going to return to normal, but at the time it was a huge relief - though especially for her since I work days. All this stuff gets easier, and the easier it gets the more time you will have to redirect back to your hobbies.

With my kids, by the time they were 7 or 8 they were responsible enough that I was able to buy them their own gaming systems and they had enough wherewithall to take care of them. But as others have said, no need to force this if your kids aren't into that sort of thing, but mine were. From there - gaming was great because it's something you can share with them (again, if they're interested in it). Maybe I just got lucky! But I have really fond memories of when my kids were little and we would have LAN parties, play on the Xbox 360 together, or play multiplayer games together on our DS Lites. It kinda sucks because you can't really play the games that you want to, but I wouldn't have traded my experience for the world. Obviously as they continued to grow up, what happens to most kids happened to them - spending more time with their friends while spending less and less time with "lame" mom and dad. By the time they were in high school they both kinda had their own things going on and took very little supervision from us and only really stuck around because we were paying their bills which is still true. The silver lining is that they've developed their own personalities and their own preferences.

I still have a really close relationship with my kids, and a lot of that revolves around our shared love of gaming. My son plays a lot of different games than me and he's really good at giving me solid recommendations. My daughter told me the other day that she's been playing through Doom Eternal - proud dad moment.

 

[Spukc]

Yes a lot

 

[Bryank75]

Here come all the the girls now.... don't get crushed under the stampede!! /S

Having kids changes everything and I always tried to get a few hours to play when I could manage but I don't play games to simply waste time either, I usually play only if I have something I have been anticipating or am curious about. So that makes my time usage more efficient.

My second boy is 7 now and he is currently at The One Reborn in Bloodborne, the first game he completed was Apotheon and he got really emotional at the end cause it was such a huge thing for him.... his favorite game is SOTC and he has been spending a lot of time in LBP making his own versions of the Colossus that move and have weakpoints..... he then tests it out and publishes it.

He also makes lots of levels in Mario Maker.

Games are even better with kids to enjoy them with once you get beyond the toddler stage.

 

[Bonfires Down]

There are girls here?

 

[DjMystix]

Dad here. Been gaming since 1984 (I think) and I have 2 kids (10 year and a 5 year old). Never stopped gaming but it did get harder. MMORPG are impossible for me to get into and same goes for games that require long online sessions with no way of pausing. But after work and family, gaming takes priority over every other hobby I have until I don't have anything left to play. I have built several arcade cabinets to play the old school games with my kids and they love it.

 

[Max_Po]

Yep dad here of a 2.5 year old.

Life changes, at first you just try to find time to sleep, then find time to play games after work.
A typical new game that you would pick up and play and finish in 2 days max now takes 2 to 3 weeks to a month.
Make sure your electronics/gadgets are away and out of reach.
My daughter has smashed my Switch tablet and tossed my MegaSG. (Mega SG survived)

 

[DESTROYA]

There are girls here?

He's referring to ladyberkenstal lol

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

If I had a kid and it didn't like drinking whisky and playing Neo Geo, I'd probably abandon it in a McDonald's parking lot.

 

[Tschumi]

I don't wanna sound like a wet towel but by the time I have kids I want my gaming habit to be over a year in my rearview mirror. With the possible exception of one or two console games of the Zelda/Kena (that should be a meme) mold.

 

[EGOMON]

As a new father my gaming time has been significantly reduced not only because of time also you became paranoid and feel the need to keep an eye on your baby 24 hrs I just can't leave her alone I need to know she is okay all the time

 

[NikuNashi]

Not properly played a single game since my son was born 2 years ago. There is no time, me and my wife are alone raising him so we have little free time. However I think in time we will share a lot of gaming experiences together, looking forward to it.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

(Dad here) Handheld gaming / wearing a headset gaming is the way to go. I held each of the kids for countless hours, countless countless early-morning hours especially. Grabbing the Vita or 3DS and settling into the rocking chair was pretty easy. If you're pumping breastmilk then you'd have several hours a day just sitting there chained to that machine. Depending on how your house is set up, you could sit in front of your TV with a wireless headset on and watch / play something while holding the baby.

When the kid is asleep, that was time for my wife and I to hang out (as the family grew, also time for me to hang w the older kids). Gaming is sometimes a part of that, sometimes not. And I still get time away, but I usually play in 10-30m bursts while saving longer multi-hour sessions for weekends or serendipitous not-busy weekdays. Shmuppppps and other arcade-style games are my bread and butter now.

Try to play games during your baby-holding downtime and you'll end up playing quite a lot, especially if you have to sit for long periods of time.

 

[RJMacready73]

Dad here, don't get your kids involved in fortnite... fuck me once they get sucked into fortnite, it becomes all consuming.. my kid used to love the lego game and would play and try anything.. after i stupidity let him play fortnite that was it... nothing mattered, he found his digital crack and everything else just sucked, after a while i got fed up of the constant not fucking up about fortnite, the 1 more go, the can i finish this match... so uninstalled the fucker and he can go cold fucking turkey as that game aint ever going back onto my PS4, yeah dont let your kids play fortnite

 

[CrysisFreak]

Bernkastel can you please chime in???

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I have a different problem. My 2 year old wants me to play Animal Crossing so she can watch. Problem is, I hate Animal Crossing. Oh btw my wife is not really a gamer, but her hobbies are practically down to zero time spend right now. Will be like that for the forseeable future. I'm also wasting the few free moments I have on GAF and other shit, can't find the time to game. I guess when they're around 5 or so we'll be having time for this again. Don't understand how some parents can claim to be gaming earlier than that. We are both very much occupied with being parents all day all night 24/7..

 

[Bernkastel]

Bernkastel can you please chime in???

I am a dude. I went through all the trouble of requesting the mods getting an old inactive account deleted to get this name to clear the misunderstanding. Because "Bernkastel" was already taken. Have fun derailing the thread, as I am putting it on ignore.

 

[MR ARCADE FOREVER]

It's bye bye gaming. Good luck finding time.

 

[DogofWar]

(Dad here) My daughter is 3, soon 4. If I play a video game/watch a gaming video that has any sort of violence in it. From Suikoden 2 level to Brutal Doom level she gets upset and shouts "They are being naughty! They are fighting!"
I really don't feel like telling her "No it's okay to do that" so I am stuck playing games after her bed time haha!

Or the latest example, revisited the original Kingdom Hearts and avoided any enemies when she was looking, but I did smash a barrel and she remarked "He broke that box! His father will be angry now!"

You will get used to it, I cherish all games I play a lot more now - though certain things like farming and trophy hunting really wont be something you will want to do anymore.

 

[JonnyMP3]

My PS4 Pro is no longer 'Daddy's'
It's now mostly a Fortnite, Slime Rancher, Hello Neighbour, Plants Vs Zombies, Minecraft family machine.
Only time I get to game is when the kids are all in bed.
Though sometimes I do have a few games of Fortnite and PVZ with them.

They enjoyed watching me play Horizon, GOW and Spider-Man and have tried their hands on it, especially the 10 year old but generations have their own fads.

And when I am finally feeling fed up of their games... I tell them to go on Roblox on their phones and tablets.
Job done.

 

[Rikkori]

Lmao, there's no chance there's a girl on this forum anywhere.

 

[Elog]

My kids are from 3 and a half to 13 years old.

Biggest difference is that I stopped playing games that cannot be paused - I still do a little at night (Dota 2 or some other online game) but I focus on single-player games with a pause button.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Lmao, there's no chance there's a girl on this forum anywhere.

I only know very few( real women here)

Ailyn

Sublimit sounds like a female too

The rest is male

 

[johntown]

If I was a girl I would be avoiding this thread.