Is your wife/family/friends supportive of your addiction?

[Pleiades10]

My girlfriend loves my games. When we first started dating 2 years ago, however, she only played Ms.PacMan occasionally.

Now that we share an apartment, I often find her trying to best her high score on PacMan Plus, Eyes, (both on Mike Doyle's 96-in-1 kit on my Ms.Pac cab), Gunsmoke, Bump N Jump, and recently, she's taken a serious interest in Mousetrap.

In addition, she embraces MAME, and has grown so fond of Super PacMan, that she wants me to add one to my arcade collection!

Her 4 year old son loves pretty much every game I have, especially Galaxian.

And of course, my friends are totally supportive of the hobby. They wouldn't be my friends if they weren't!

Kyle

 

[ArcadeMaze]

My wife is supportive. She doesn't get into games, she likes to play Golden Tee and Championship Bowling with me, but that is all. She doesn't care what I do as long as household things get taken care of. Heck, for Christmas she couldn't think of anyting to get me, so she gave me "Auction Money". Our Family room has turned into a family room/gameroom. So, maybe I should say she is a "good sport"..... One of the many reasons I adore her.


ArcadeMaze

 

[Jedidentist]

Add me to the "tolerant" group. "I thought it was just supposed to be 1 or 2 games?" The money doesn't bother her too much, she just hates the crap around when I'm restoring them...and doesn't like the space they take up, but she stays quiet about it most of the time.

 

[shardian]

My wife loves the games. I've proven over time that my hobby makes us money instead of costing us money. Thus, she is quite supportive.

She loves hosting parties, and she loves coming to local game nights with the other local gameroom folk. Unfortunately, she's been on bed rest the last month and will remain for 7 weeks still. She got one peek at the new games the other day, and that is it. The Crusin USA will have come and gone, and she only got to play it once and she is sad about that.

Notes:
- My wife can score 60k+ on Mario Bros.
- She knows the difference between a 4-way and 8-way joystick.
- Paperboy is HER game ( and she owns all the high scores)
- She beat the majority of other guys at Ms. Pac during a tourney night.
- She crochets kick-ass arcade themed goodies, as some of you are well aware.

As for other family - my in-laws love the games and are very supportive. My mom-in-law loves to play Pac-man.

 

[ixtlann]

Hi guys,

wondering how much understanding you get from your wife, family, friends or significant other regarding our addiction? My wife, whom I affectionately shall refer to as SiniSara totally hates my games and resents the time and money Ive spent working on them. "what good does your games do for us?" is asked quite often to which it's hard to argue. The irony is now that I'm close to having my games where I can finally enjoy them, I'm fairly certain it'd piss her off knowing I was out playing games in the garage and enjoying myself, lol. In fairness to her, we haven't bought a house yet which is her ultimate goal. I'm onboard with it now as owning a house may mean dedicated gameroom rather than funky garage.

How do people in your life respond to your games?

Tom

My wife is cool with it, she plays a little bit herself.
it all relative though.

i used to be BIGTIME into car shit. And 2 seaters suck once you has a kid. ahhahah
i told her im selling the mr2 and buying some more fawking pinballs machines for us to play, and she was like, cool if that what you wanna do.
Then i was getting tax returns, and i was like, i want another.
then a month or so ago i was like ehhhh i think its about time i get another....

and in the last week or so, i been like found somehting i has to have, its my bday! and fathers day is coming up! she said it will have to be done with my "play money"

ie not coming from our paychecks.

i think i got it covered though.

 

[Nevus]

My wife is very tolerant. We have been married 16 years. I just started about a year ago. I tend to embrace(READ AS obsess over) a hobby after starting. I now have 4 uprights and one cocktail. I plan on a few more. We have a bedroom that's become an office so It was sort of my man space all along. It's the only room my wife really has not tried to decorate etc. My only complaint the room gets a little hot when all the games are on. We have 4 young sons that like them and she loved to play pac man etc as a kid so it helps.

My advice to the young ones here. Don't spend more money that you make, spend less and avoid debt. Remember that your wife has desires and interests just like you that are just as important to her. Your hobby is not more important than her desire to not have crap all over your house etc. Also, I see some great garage arcades on this site. None of them seem to allow the wife a place to park. That would definitely draw some badness at the Nevus house!

 

[shardian]

Also, I see some great garage arcades on this site. None of them seem to allow the wife a place to park. That would definitely draw some badness at the Nevus house!

Actually, my wife is ADAMANT about not parking in an attached garage - which is why I converted it into a room. She saw one of those 'every family needs to watch this' shows where they take a freak occurence and scare tactic you into thinking you're gonna die. Now she thinks that if we park in the garage we will all die...even though we have CO detectors on both floors, do not have gas appliances, and would have to leave a car running for a couple days to get to lethal doses throughout the house.

Oh well, at least I got the garage!

 

[gibbous]

Whenever a thread like this comes up, it makes me sad.

What is the point in life if you can't do what you truly enjoy? As passionate as I feel about these old games, it should be clear that they are part of what's made me who I am today. I grew up obsessing about these games, and I love having, playing, and working on them. I wouldn't spend all the time, money, and effort on them if they weren't important to me.

I'd concede that it helps if they like games too, but it shouldn't be necessary to understand the joy that having the games does for you.

My wife has more goddamn purses than she'll ever need. There is absolutely no reason to have so many friggin' purses. I think she's nuts. But I see how excited she gets when she spots one she wants and how happy she is when she finally gets it. How in the world can I even think of implying it's a waste of her time?

If you can't do what you love, what the hell is the point?

 

[smokinfish]

My girlfriend isn't a fan, yet, but I am working on it.

I think it has to be the size of the games that causes the problems. When I was spending money on XBOX Games, DVDs, PS3 Games, CDs, all small, I rarely heard a peep. and i bought allot of those things!

Now that I cut that spending out, and I'm buying arcade games at $100+ I'm getting flak.
It's mostly about the space they take up. So I went out and got a storage area, now you can actually walk through my garage. She seems to be a little more tolerant, now.

For someone who is not into arcade games (like her), it really is hard to believe that you can buy something that big for $50 or more. Sometimes I think she thinks I'm full of BS.

I think the real change will be when I expand our garage to include a arcade area and everything can live in there including my two pins that are in the house. And we can have people over to play them.

Then I might see the change I am looking for. RIght now they are all just works in progress taking up space in the garage. (and storage )

 

[gsealock]

The kids and friends think it is the coolest, my wife is somewhat tolerant. Every time I get a new one I eventually pay for it for a couple days, then she is over it. I think she likes the fact that my kids' friends like to hang out at our house though, that way she always knows where my kids are. It is the video games that keeps the kids here.

Now if it is a new megatouch or Midway touch, then she is the addict.

 

[WadeLanham]

My wife tolerates it. She just doesn't have the interest, and didn't hang out in arcades like I and a lot of other guys my age did when we were growing up. She was very resistant around game numbers 3-5, but she doesn't sweat it now. I've had about a dozen games leave, with a final number of around 12 games plus a 4 player racing game that is "permanent".

I can't have games in any of the "regular" areas of the house, but I have two rooms dedicated to games in the basement, which goes a long way towards keeping me happy.

Wade

 

[jcalder8]

My family has been supportive and have let me use their wagon to transport games over the years. Now my girlfriend is very supportive and she has given some suggestions for games she would be interested in.

 

[andykmv]

my wifie is very supportive. new shed goin up so it'll be the garcade!
edit: workmates are right into xbox so they're hankerin for the garcade too

 

[fatherpain]

After reading of most of your good fortune, I'm thinking a klov wife swap is in order....at least until I'm able to bring home 3 games I've paid for but am chicken to bring home, lol. You guys are lucky!

Tom

 

[playpin35]

My wife literally hates my obsession for games. My nephew and my mother likes the games. Both of them went with me to the texas pinball festival. My mom has even loaned me her van so I could pick up games in rainy weather.

 

[divemaster12]

A lot of you guys are in the same boat I am. My wife tollerats my games but hates when when i spend money on them. Even tho I pay a lot of our bills from my arcadeemulator.net website she still does not care. I do get her back there once in a while for some galaga. I keep telling her when i am ready we will have a party but thats been 2 years. But I am so close now to having all of my games restored
dm

 

[GameyMcGame]

Any unchecked (read: out of control) addition is likely to not go over well with any level headed wife.

I have ~10 games, in their own basement room. Buy about 2 games a year, sell one or two a year. I could easily go nuts and fill the garage but it wouldnt be a good idea for the marriage!

Moderation and priorities I suppose. If my wife had rooms full of dolls and constantly had more showing up in the mail, I'd not be a happy man.

 

[vintagegamer]

My wife has been bitten by the Asteroids bug, so she's been playing it daily. It's great to have the whole family out there playing games. My son, 1.5 yrs old, sits in a little fenced in section in the middle of the garcade, taking in all of the lights and sounds. He will be the Chosen One.

 

[MrGorf]

My wife is somewhat accepting. She doesn't play the vids much, but she will play the pins. The skeeball machine was actually a birthday present for her, and she loved that. My daughter has parites and invites her friends, and they all love to play. I do get 'the look' when I come home with a new game, but it's usually because the basement is getting filled up.

 

[Deadly]

There's two parts to playing this "game".
Part 1 - If your obsession isn't causing bills to not get paid, not taking food off the table and/or invading her private space then you simply explain this is what makes you happy and is your hobby much like she enjoys doing _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _.
Part 2 - You need to find her a game that enthuses her. I believe the common "happy" element being portrayed by others is simply having wife/girlfriend that is supportive because they have found their significant other a game or two that they enjoy. Once you accomplish that it makes it easier for the other person to understand why you want more.
I have my wife hooked on pinball now. She had zero problems with me spending $2700 and has played pinball almost every night for the last 4 months or so. We enjoy our time together - it simply added another common factor between us. Before when it was me only buying vids is when she shot me the stink eye quite often.