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TOPIC: Gamers?
 

AbbyLyn
Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
I was just wondering if there any other gamers here on DadLabs. How has having kids changed your gaming habits? I know its going to be an adjustment for Tim and me to not be able to play whatever we want whenever we want.
While watching Tim play Bioshock last night it really sunk in that things are going to be changing really soon for us.
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JustJustin
Re: Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
I'm a gamer. Not as big as I used to be before I got married, but I still sink some time in front of my tv/computer.

I've noticed a change in my gaming habits and my son hasn't even been born yet. I've been taking up some more of the responsibilities around the house. Not because my wife won't do them, but just cause I'm a nice guy!

The time I spend playing games probably won't change too much from how it is now. Why? As an individual, I do not watch much TV. Four to five hours a week... tops. And most of that is just things my wife is watching. So, I spend more of my free time playing games. Unfortunately there is still a stigmatism with playing video games that most of the population still hasn't gotten over. It's as much a form of media as TV is, asleast to me.

My online gaming will change. I'm a FPS kinda guy. If the baby needs something, I can't really press pause. So, I will probably be playing more single player games.

With more "kid" costs on the way, less money will be spent. But with the economy the way it is, I've already been trading games with friends more and renting games to keep from buying loads and loads of games.
Last Edit: 2010/03/15 00:30 By JustJustin.
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bobjr79
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
My son is about 4.5 months and I definitely don't play as much as I used to. I'd rather sleep instead of playing when I get the chance. Naps are awesome!
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JustJustin
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
That's a good point. Sleep will be the most important thing to begin with. But once the baby gets on a schedule, I imagine I will go back to playing again during down time.
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ben
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
You say Gamers and I think tabletop RPGs, board games (Settlers of Catan and any number of stretegy games), or Amber Diceless RPG. Especially Amber since I'm going to Ambercon US in a couple weeks. But maybe that dates me as an older generation. Those games, ARE harder to stay active with as you acquire kid-shaped responsibilities. I read countless reports of families using video games as entertainment or stress relief. In SAHD-land, there are networks of dads who regularly schedule some A$$ Whoopin' right after bath time. Maybe the budget isn't there for a new game every week, but that doesn't mean they don't fit it in.

As for me, I don't do video games. It strikes me as odd that the people, who in the 1980s and 1990s got together to play a game around a table or living room were considered loners but now the people who spend time alone with a game console are part of a community. Just a migration of marketing and social norms.

I can't wait for ACUS. We frequently have parenting conversations between games. One family had a pseudo-christening at the con a few years back. But then, I'll even be done with that for another year.
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mommybeana
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
Yeah I am also a gamer as well as my husband. What we do is try to make family time first. Also try to make our gaming time later after everything with the little one is done and when he is resting. We don't play as ofen as we use to but we still try to have fun when we can. Sometimes I think my son is a future gamers also he will not go to sleep to anything but game music, I tried a lulaby CD and he wasn't having that lol. He had to have FF music!! lol. We play PC MMORPGs like FFXI atm.
Last Edit: 2010/03/15 02:21 By mommybeana.
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AbbyLyn
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
I've been trying to get in as much gaming as possible before the baby gets here because I don't see having the time to play once Jack is here. I also have a feeling I just wont care about gaming as much once he is born. I'm still waiting to sink my teeth into Final Fantasy XIII, but with everything going on we haven't had much money to budget in new game costs. I may renew my WoW sub once the baby is born because I can see myself playing in the middle of the night when I can't sleep because I was woken by crying baby.
Table tops are another subject I hadn't thought of. Tim was a DnD nerd when he still lived in Austin and was wanting to get back into it when we moved back. I wanted to try it out as well, but I hadn't thought about the fact that we'll have a baby sitting next to us as we play.
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Daddy Clay
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
The crazy thing: I became a gamer AFTER I had kids. I never really had time for games -- I think it may be a generational thing (I'm older than you people). When my oldest started taking an interest, I decided I better figure this stuff out. I've always felt that there is no excuse for parents not fully understanding the technology that their kids use (computer,social, gaming) so that they can monitor and regulate use.

So I started gaming. My son has a PS2. We have a Wii that we all really enjoy playing together (even my wife). I took up Spore, which my youngest then really got into. I masted Plants V Zombies. I'm now playing BioShock, in spite of Troy's disappointment, in order to understand 1st person shooters.

I think parents MUST be gamers, at least to some extent.
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AbbyLyn
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
I totally agree with you on the "needing to know about technology" thing, Clay. With the shenanigans I got into as a younger teen on the web, the idea of someday having a teenage daughter scares the shit out of me. Not to mention some of the games my brother and I played, and got our mom to buy for us ("Grand Theft Auto is a great game, mom. Its about fighting car thieves. Travis would love this for Christmas!"). Too bad for my kids that I KNOW what the ratings on the box mean and I know very well how to work with parental controls. (Nothing against my mom. She just trusted us a little too much. Or me at least. I don't think my brother could've gotten away with some of the things I did. He was the known trouble maker. Me, not so much)

BioShock is an amazing game! But for getting a feel for FPSs, not necessarily the best choice. I would say it has more of a RGP/Adventure feel. Still an awesome game, though! Can't wait to try the sequel. I would recommend Modern Warfare 2 for learning the ropes of 1st person shooters. It's fairly easy to get the hang of, and has one of the best stories in a video game... ever. I watched Tim play it before I ever did and it felt like I was watching a movie.
Halo is also a good game to try if you play the XBox 360. The mulitplayer is a blast and because there isn't any blood (that I recall, its been awhile) you may even be able to play it with your oldest kid (it is rated M, though, so check it out without him first!)
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bobjr79
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
Has anyone tried Wii Fit Plus? It has a feature called Baby Stats so you can keep track of your babies weight. It's kinda funny actually. You have to create a Mii for your baby and when you start the game he crawls across the screen and sits next to your Mii. I doubt it's very accurate though. I'll have to remember to weigh my son before his next Dr. appointment so I can compare it with an actual baby scale.

We tried weighing him with the first version and Wii fit.


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The new version has you hold him then subtracts your weight to get your babies weight.
Last Edit: 2010/03/16 08:12 By bobjr79.
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AbbyLyn
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 11 Months ago
Thats freakin' cute. I want to give Wii Fit Plus a try after Jack is born. We'll see how it works then.
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Daddy Clay
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 7 Months ago
I could really use a new game. I finished Portal, which was amazing, and now I'm hungry for another game. I've done BioShock and Call of Duty. The big restriction is that I have to get games for the Mac. The only other system we have is Wii. I'm thinking about a PS3, but that's not in the budget for the near future. Maybe Christmas.

Good games for mac?
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AbbyLyn
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 7 Months ago
Tim and I are really stuck on the MMORPG Dungeons And Dragons Online. It's not for Mac, per say. You have to do some tricky stuff with some program to make it work, but the directions are all online somewhere. Just google it. Tim started to do it but said fuck this half way through and just installed it on the Windows partition of the laptop. It'd be sweet to have another person to party up with.
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Daddy Clay
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 7 Months ago
I just finished Portal, and I would say it was the ultimate combination of brain teaser and first-person shooter. You won't get it until you play. It's also witty and really addicting. It has more in common with Plants v Zombies than Bioshock, but it is sort of a mashup of both. A really brilliant game.

I've gone backward, having finished Call of Duty 4, I've ordered Call of Duty 2 so I can check out the original WWII game play.

But I feel like I've exhausted the catalog for Mac games and that a PS3 has to be in my future so that I can play Far Cry 2, Grand Theft Auto 4 and some others that are on my list.

I am even more interested after hearing this guy talk about his book.
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mbd
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 6 Months ago
I'm on a mac too.

You might want to check out Braid which is a combination of platform game and puzzle game. It's on Steam I think (which I'm assuming you have, since you're running Portal?)

Civilization games are also pretty good too, though I'm not sure they're as dad friendly since they are pretty immersive and can take hours away from your life.

When you get a PS3, check out the new western 'Red Dead Redemption'. It's easily picked up and dropped, and I found riding the horse across the countryside a bit therapeutic .
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Daddy Clay
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 5 Months ago
I wonder if other gamer parents are serial gamers. By that, i mean do you feel compelled to finish one game all the way to the end before starting another. I knew that I was this way about books, but I had no idea it would extend to games.

I just got a copy of Starcraft II, but could not bring myself to start it until I got to the end of WWII in Call of Duty 2. And in my wold, with only about a half an hour of gaming time a night, it really takes a while for me to get to the end. Finally finished last night. Which means I'm moving on to Starcraft tonight.

I found Call of Duty 2 to be a really interesting and satisfying game, despite the first person violence. The campaigns and tactics were distinct, the environments and weapons were realistic. I thought it was engrossing. I played the game on "Normal" and found that it was not impossibly hard, even for a guy who's a bit clumsy on the controls (I play on a mac).

I'm really looking forward to the release of Portal 2 in February, but thought it interesting that Mac has already released a patch for it (and Starcraft II).

I don't have the cash right now, but anybody have thoughts on X-Box v PS3?
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Daddy Troy
Re:Gamers?
1 Year, 3 Months ago
Our buddies over at famigo games www.famigogames.com/ have just launched some pretty interesting technology that allows families to play games together but inside a protected area that also allows for chat and other functionality. Worth checking out.

If you are interested in talking with them directly let me know and I can put you in touch with them.
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ceanji
Re:Gamers?
9 Months ago
Have any of y'all asked your kids to play the old school games you played as a kid just to get a reaction? Nothing is funnier than explaining to a id that Pac-Man was one of the biggest games in the 80's
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dougj
Re:Gamers?
8 Months, 4 Weeks ago
My 5 yr old loves Mario Allstars (Mario 1, 2, 3) and Donkey Kong. Old School, newer games, doesn't matter to him.

I just picked up LA Noire for myself.
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epicnova
Re:Gamers?
8 Months ago
hey..if your kiddo loves gaming music.. probably best to check out stuff like www.ocremix.org They have a ton of Final fantasy remixes, many of them sooo beautiful and soothing. Just love 'em.
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AbbyLyn
Re:Gamers?
8 Months ago
Thanks for that link! I'm going to be sucked into that page for hours now, I'm sure...

So it's been a long while since I created this topic. The little one I was pregnant with at the time is now fourteen months old. My speculation was pretty much dead on. Since I'm living the life of a single parent (even though I am engaged. Long story.) it's been super hard keeping up with my favorite hobby. I really miss it. I still keep up with all the latest in gaming news (thanks to GameInformer), but I get almost no time to play or any extra money to spend on gaming. I live vicariously through the videos on GI.com
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CPL Dom Caboose
Re:Gamers?
3 Months, 2 Weeks ago
I will admit I have been a gamer ever since I was a little boy. It partly started because I used to watch my half brother play Mario on the NES and that got me hooked. I will say I think it is best to have parents be gamers in a certain aspect because it can be good bonding time for the parent and child. I also think the parents who do play actually get to see and be exposed to the games that are out there.

I have always fought for video games when parents say it makes kids violent and angry, but I also think it can be a problem (depending on what the parent does). I play games like GTA and Gears of War, but I am still happy go lucky and goofy when I play. I can be competitive, but I believe that games have more benefits than they do disadvantages. I have seen the benefits of it with myself (such as improved hand eye coordination and improved problem solving skills/creativity). I think parents really need to watch what they give their kids and what they ask for. The ratings on the games are not that hard to understand. They have letters and the descriptions on them, but I think it is partly that parents want to be friends more than authority with their kids.
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cbarden89
Re:Gamers?
3 Months, 2 Weeks ago
How about get a 100$ used xbox from GameStop? (I work there, and no, I'm not plugging for them - it's just an idea). They're cheap and come with a year warranty, regardless of the condition of bought with. Then you can actually get good games.
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Jcksn
Re:Gamers?
1 Month, 1 Week ago
I know its a bit of an old topic but, oh well.

I was pretty big into my new PS3 and all the call of duty's. Definitely a game I elect not to play in front of the kids. I can only manage to squeeze in some time after bedtime, but by then im so tired from work and the 2 hours I get at home that I just wanna go to bed myself.
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