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Turning my wife into a geek.
My wife likes games but she’s not a geek. It occurred to me that if I could get her into good games, we might have something here. It started with German board games. On Scott’s recommendation, we’ve been playing Lost Cities and Carcassonne. We bought Settlers of Catan, but we haven’t found anyone who will actually play with us yet. (Lots of people have said they would, no one has shown up). She’s being drawn into it because I will play these sorts of games with her instead of playing on the computer all night.
She’s never played video games though, except for Tetris years ago on a computer. I bought a DS when it first came out, even before I had ever really thought of there being a Geek lifestyle and before I started listening to Messers R & S. However, it spent a long time gathering dust. After I started listening to the show, I realized that there were games that I was missing out on and started buying games based on Geeknights recommendations. Buying Tetris and Brain Age really advanced the cause of Geekdom for my wife because she now carries my DS in her purse so she can play these games.
But it left me without a DS. Until today. Today I bought a DS Lite and two games: Bomberman and Mario Kart. We’re going to be going to Hawaii in August (while all of you are at Otakon) and these games will be teh awesome on the plane.
So now she plays board games and plays DS games. There’s still anime. The only thing I can get her to watch is Miyazaki. She loves his films, but hates my beloved Ghost in the Shell. She doesn’t even begin to understand some of the other stuff I’ve watched. She just shook her head at ROD and Trigun. Yet, she’s come a long way in her geek transformation. This podcast has helped. Sometimes I’ll play it when we’re playing Lost Cities. She’s not high on the swearing, but she’ll listen. She’ll roll her eyes at the rants, but she doesn’t make me turn it off.
While she doesn’t consider herself a geek, I’ve got her doing geeky things and that’s fun. I don’t think you’ll ever see us at a con, though. Being in our 40s, we’re just too damn old. Maybe in ten years, when our kids are teenagers, then we’ll have an excuse.
She’s never played video games though, except for Tetris years ago on a computer. I bought a DS when it first came out, even before I had ever really thought of there being a Geek lifestyle and before I started listening to Messers R & S. However, it spent a long time gathering dust. After I started listening to the show, I realized that there were games that I was missing out on and started buying games based on Geeknights recommendations. Buying Tetris and Brain Age really advanced the cause of Geekdom for my wife because she now carries my DS in her purse so she can play these games.
But it left me without a DS. Until today. Today I bought a DS Lite and two games: Bomberman and Mario Kart. We’re going to be going to Hawaii in August (while all of you are at Otakon) and these games will be teh awesome on the plane.
So now she plays board games and plays DS games. There’s still anime. The only thing I can get her to watch is Miyazaki. She loves his films, but hates my beloved Ghost in the Shell. She doesn’t even begin to understand some of the other stuff I’ve watched. She just shook her head at ROD and Trigun. Yet, she’s come a long way in her geek transformation. This podcast has helped. Sometimes I’ll play it when we’re playing Lost Cities. She’s not high on the swearing, but she’ll listen. She’ll roll her eyes at the rants, but she doesn’t make me turn it off.
While she doesn’t consider herself a geek, I’ve got her doing geeky things and that’s fun. I don’t think you’ll ever see us at a con, though. Being in our 40s, we’re just too damn old. Maybe in ten years, when our kids are teenagers, then we’ll have an excuse.
Comments
I had linked luck with my ex-girlfriend. I tried to use her love for Buffy to get her into video games (by buying the buffy GC game) and the buffy comic books. She ended up obsessed with buffy action figures and playing DS games like nintendogs and the Sims. But never really catching the bugg of anything else. I didn't get a chance to try some of the miyazaki anime to get her interested.
She has been in a D&D campaign for the last five years while I have been dry on that front.
I think if you're going to be a geek you should get a geek spouse.
It "just works" that way. Anything less is like hacking shit with multiple third party software... It might work in the end but it's sure a pain in the ass....
And I agree with Nazhuret, but it also explains why my main PC is overclocked and water cooled.
But it's your wife.
Crem has a good point, you really ought to get her into stuff that'll interest her. I'll get back to you on what exactly to watch, but I strongly suggest things that focuses on relationships or happy whimsical things like Azumanga Daioh.