Shadowdancer
First Post
I just have to get this off my chest and blow off some steam after a very long, frustrating day.
I'm wondering if anyone else out there has non-gamers who are an important part of their life -- significant other, family, close friends -- who just don't get what gaming is and how important it is to you?
My wife is that way. I love her, but you'd think after 17 years of marriage she'd start to catch on. I'll use this Christmas as the latest example in a long line of her cluelessness about how important gaming is to me.
Back in the fall, as both of us do each year, we began to ask each other what the other wanted for Christmas. From past bad experiences, I know not to tell her specific RPG products to buy, because she thinks the whole concept of RPGs are stupid, and doesn't think they are important enough to get the name of the product right, even if I write it down for her.
This year, I had seen the "Lord of the Rings" version of Risk in a gaming store, so I decided to tell her that as my one gaming-related item on my Christmas list. I figured it's a board game, she won't view it as something strange like she does D&D.
Well, yesterday (Sunday, Dec. 22), she wakes me up early with the words "Get up. You have to take me to that store where you saw that game you want for Christmas." I quickly learn she not only has not bought the Risk game yet, she hasn't made any attempt to locate it. She could have bought a copy over the Internet, but didn't; now it's too late to get here by Christmas. And the city in which we live has no FLGS in it. There are two in Killeen, about 30 miles away, and several in Austin, which is about an hour away. The store in which I had seen the game was in Austin, but it is closed on Sundays. And she refuses to go to any gaming stores without me -- I'm not sure why, other than she thinks they are weird, and all the people there are also weird.
While I was showering, I made her call the two stores in Killeen; neither had a copy. So we drive to the gaming store in Austin which I figured had the best shot at having a copy -- no dice (pun intended); they were sold out at both of their locations. They are having trouble keeping it in stock, and having trouble getting more copies from their distributor. They got three copies in Friday, and immediately sold them. They might get some more copies in Monday or Tuesday, they don't know. They are even nice enough to call a couple of their competitors trying to locate a copy, they are sold out, too.
I knew of a couple of gaming stores located in malls, but I hadn't been to either one in a while, and couldn't remember the name of either one. So we had to drive to both malls. This was a nightmare because of the traffic and because of the crowds of last-minute shoppers. Both stores have gone out of business. We try calling and going to some other places which sell board games -- toy stores and places like Wal-Mart. No one has a copy.
My wife is puzzled by all this. Her attitude is "This is a stupid game. The only person in the whole world who could possibly want a copy of it is my husband. There should be lots of copies of this game available in the stores. Why are all these other people buying this stupid game no one else wants?"
Now my wife is intelligent. But her whole attitude toward gaming and related matters is just infuriatingly simplistic. When I first told her that the Risk game was what I wanted for Christmas, her first question was "Who are you going to play this game with?" There was a tone of suspicion in her voice, as if she were afraid I was going to make her play. I have three friends with whom I play D&D and other games on an almost weekly basis; we've been doing this for at least 10 years. Obviously, I would play Risk with them, but this information only draws another question from my wife: "How do you know they'll want to play this game?" (Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Strangle. Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Test. Katana. On. Her. Head.)
It's not like I'm not going to have any presents to open on Christmas. There are already several with my name on them beneath the tree. But it would have been nice if this one present that I specifically told her I wanted, she would have at least made an attempt to buy it earlier, when she would have had a better chance of finding it in the stores.
I'm wondering if anyone else out there has non-gamers who are an important part of their life -- significant other, family, close friends -- who just don't get what gaming is and how important it is to you?
My wife is that way. I love her, but you'd think after 17 years of marriage she'd start to catch on. I'll use this Christmas as the latest example in a long line of her cluelessness about how important gaming is to me.
Back in the fall, as both of us do each year, we began to ask each other what the other wanted for Christmas. From past bad experiences, I know not to tell her specific RPG products to buy, because she thinks the whole concept of RPGs are stupid, and doesn't think they are important enough to get the name of the product right, even if I write it down for her.
This year, I had seen the "Lord of the Rings" version of Risk in a gaming store, so I decided to tell her that as my one gaming-related item on my Christmas list. I figured it's a board game, she won't view it as something strange like she does D&D.
Well, yesterday (Sunday, Dec. 22), she wakes me up early with the words "Get up. You have to take me to that store where you saw that game you want for Christmas." I quickly learn she not only has not bought the Risk game yet, she hasn't made any attempt to locate it. She could have bought a copy over the Internet, but didn't; now it's too late to get here by Christmas. And the city in which we live has no FLGS in it. There are two in Killeen, about 30 miles away, and several in Austin, which is about an hour away. The store in which I had seen the game was in Austin, but it is closed on Sundays. And she refuses to go to any gaming stores without me -- I'm not sure why, other than she thinks they are weird, and all the people there are also weird.
While I was showering, I made her call the two stores in Killeen; neither had a copy. So we drive to the gaming store in Austin which I figured had the best shot at having a copy -- no dice (pun intended); they were sold out at both of their locations. They are having trouble keeping it in stock, and having trouble getting more copies from their distributor. They got three copies in Friday, and immediately sold them. They might get some more copies in Monday or Tuesday, they don't know. They are even nice enough to call a couple of their competitors trying to locate a copy, they are sold out, too.
I knew of a couple of gaming stores located in malls, but I hadn't been to either one in a while, and couldn't remember the name of either one. So we had to drive to both malls. This was a nightmare because of the traffic and because of the crowds of last-minute shoppers. Both stores have gone out of business. We try calling and going to some other places which sell board games -- toy stores and places like Wal-Mart. No one has a copy.
My wife is puzzled by all this. Her attitude is "This is a stupid game. The only person in the whole world who could possibly want a copy of it is my husband. There should be lots of copies of this game available in the stores. Why are all these other people buying this stupid game no one else wants?"
Now my wife is intelligent. But her whole attitude toward gaming and related matters is just infuriatingly simplistic. When I first told her that the Risk game was what I wanted for Christmas, her first question was "Who are you going to play this game with?" There was a tone of suspicion in her voice, as if she were afraid I was going to make her play. I have three friends with whom I play D&D and other games on an almost weekly basis; we've been doing this for at least 10 years. Obviously, I would play Risk with them, but this information only draws another question from my wife: "How do you know they'll want to play this game?" (Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Strangle. Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Test. Katana. On. Her. Head.)
It's not like I'm not going to have any presents to open on Christmas. There are already several with my name on them beneath the tree. But it would have been nice if this one present that I specifically told her I wanted, she would have at least made an attempt to buy it earlier, when she would have had a better chance of finding it in the stores.