I’m certain that everyone reading this has felt left out at some point in their gaming lives. It started when I started leveling my priest more than four years ago now and hasn’t stopped since. For me it has actually gotten worse.

As my husband says, “We’re on different levels of play. I’m more competitive than you.” How does anyone think that this amounts to a valid argument when someone feels left out – especially a significant other or spouse?

I am in a polygamous relationship. Krieg, myself, World of Warcraft, and Starcraft II are all shacked up in this house where Soviet Russia meets Utah, where the game plays and screws you.

There’s a “group session” going on and I’m not invited.

Compromise is Key

No play makes for a very sad girl, but I’ve come to realize something from this… my parents were right when they said that, “relationships change and you have to move with the flow or get washed up.” For any person in a relationship with a highly committed gamer this can feel like a whirlwind of pixilated chaos. As explained in some of my earlier articles, I started playing WoW in an effort to spend more time with my then boyfriend but failed miserably in the process. I still find myself trying to use the same tactic on my now husband and have met with some small success. A mixture of staunch persistence, understanding, and clemency are time-proven tools needed to get through the whirlwind.

An example of compromise:

Husband:
“Honey, there’s another GDKP run this week and I really want a trinket. Can I go?”

Wife:
“Am I invited? I like gold too…”

Husband:
“…no.”

Wife:
“The trinket could easily drop in the GDKP group that we do together, how about we spend some time together instead?”

Husband, with a defeated look:
“Okay.”

The gamer might be downtrodden but generally after a few compromises, in my experience, they start seeing the non-pixilated light.

This is my call to you, significant others and spouses of committed gamers, for many of you it has become obvious that they are not going to change. But, armed with persistence, understanding, and clemency you can get through the muck and mire together.

Now, for you gamers, since you seem to enjoy your polygamous lifestyle so much, it is up to you to compromise on a regular basis. Five days of gaming and half a night with your S.O. isn’t enough to stabilize the relationship. More time must be devoted to the non-pixelated world – either by cutting down on the number of hours each day or shaving off a day or more of the gaming week.

Be thoughtful in your actions and you won’t end up in the proverbial dog house like so many do!

Levelling a girlfriend is, in many ways like levelling in an MMORPG, like World of Warcraft for example. At first you start off with small simple tasks or ‘quests’ that you carry out in a safe and relatively danger free zone. These ‘quests’ can be something simple like gathering plants or flowers, and returning them to the quest giver (your girlfriend) in return for small, token rewards, occasionally a few silver or a small trinket or bracelet. Often these quests will grant ‘reputation’ with your chosen faction which, again, can be turned in at a later date for huge rewards in return for your diligent service.

As you continue to level your girlfriend, you will notice that quests seem to get harder and harder, and take more time. Soon you will find yourself running all over the place to complete quests but you will notice that the levelling speed which seemed incredibly quick and gratifying at first begins to slow down. Getting from level 1 to level 3 was all done in one busy afternoon, but by the time your girlfriend reaches level 40, progress seems almost almost nonexistent by comparison. Furthermore, in order to remain up to the task of levelling your girlfriend you will need to invest large amounts of gold in order to maintain momentum. At some point you will also find out in no uncertain terms that your weapon is just not powerful enough and you will be expected to upgrade but this can be time consuming, even painful. You can make life easier by levelling your cooking skills.

Perseverance is key. By the time you near level 80 you will have seen almost everything your chosen girlfriend has to offer. You will be aware of all of her special abilities and your rotation should be down to a fine art. You could even consider group questing, but make sure your girlfriend is willing and able to do a 5 man, they can be quite messy at first but a skilled healer will ease your girlfriends initial damage mitigation. Remember, if you find yourself wiping, you’re doing it wrong. Some elixirs can be really effective when trying to reach the last few levels though.

Sadly, when you have reached max level, it is often the case that the amount of gold and time you have to spend on your girlfriend can become tiresome and repetitive. At which point you might consider levelling an alt girlfriend. If you decide to do so, remember that alt girlfriends will expect you go through the entire levelling process again and it can be tricky to gain reputation with a new faction with which you are unfamiliar. Also, trying to sell your old girlfriend is highly illegal and will result in a permanent ban.

Good luck! (source)

Pokeadot’s video of upcoming zones in the Cataclysm expansion, deftly shot with him performing the scandalous female orc dance, has made it to the front page of WoW.com! His video has been seen by over 18,000 people in the past  72 hours alone! We hope here at Irnub.com that he will continue to come up with new and creative ways to entertain you, as he certainly has done well so far. Congratulations on the success Poke and keep up the good work!

Taking news directly from the game developers usually isn’t quite our style but, we’ve decided that this one is exciting enough news for the gamer community to share with you all.

Miss your chance to get Blizzcon^® tickets? Well, here’s your second chance!

Blizzard is hosting a charity dinner the night before the first day of Blizzcon^® to benefit the CHOC Children’s Foundation.  $500 will get you that coveted Blizzcon^® ticket, a signed print, and you’ll even get to mingle with the “gamelords” of Blizzard. Plus, you’ll be helping kids right? If you’re hoping to attend this gala be prepared to wait in yet another queue for tickets as only 200 tickets will be sold total.

If you have deep pockets, are on fire with compassion, or are hoping to land a job with Blizzard you might consider jumping into line for these tickets!

Check it out further if you’re interested! http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/?rhtml=y

I feel the need to preface this story with the reminder that I did, indeed, end up marrying this guy and plan on being with him until we are both saggy and wrinkly. Also, if you missed the first part of the series, you can read it here.

By some the first two years of a relationship are considered to be the initial “honeymoon” period when someone walks around with as much of their partner’s saliva in their mouth as their own (gross but very true) and little relationship problems get brushed away in the heat of the moment. For the most part this was true of my relationship with the added bonus that I was dating a pale basement dweller with a penchant for Doritos and Bawls.

I had always been a closet Sci-fi geek and all around nerd so I tucked away my own judgment on his lifestyle and walked into the relationship with an open mind. This last thing is probably the main ingredient in the recipe for success with a gamer-type… For some reason still unbeknownst to me five years later Matt, now my husband, asked if he could pay my way to take a beach vacation with him and his family. He said that he could easily afford this through his earnings from FPS tournament winnings and plus he couldn’t expect me to have sex with him since his family was there, so why not I thought. A few weeks later it seemed that I had made the right decision when we decided to end our platonic relationship and start dating.

To my dismay, year 1 was dominated by highly caffeinated LAN parties at his house. At this point my extent of computer usage was chatting on AIM with my girlfriends so any attempt that I made at actually playing a game was laughable. Thus I situated myself into the sideline girlfriend position and readied for Year 2.

At the start of Year 2 we both moved out of our hometown and into separate places. Being only a mile away from each other made our separation only 15 minutes but as time went on it started to seem like a much larger gap than that. He began playing FPS games much less this year and devoted his energies to the World of Warcraft instead. Always the type to want to get ahead in seemingly intelligent ways, he botted his characters to farm gold and experience points to reach level 60 – getting his account banned at least two times in the process. As he sunk more and more time into this immersive MMO he started using the distance between us as an excuse to play more games.

Still keeping an open mind I determined to fix this problem by starting my own account. Sometime in 2005 I created the troll priest Orestia, because Matt played Horde and I considered a female troll to be the prettiest option that didn’t require me to play in what I then thought of as a scary zombie level, the undead starting area. Being a big newb I didn’t realize the time and effort that it would take me to reach level 60 to spend more time with, err I mean raid, with my boyfriend. Luckily I met a few friendly players that temporarily distracted me from Matt’s excessive playtime

After months of calmly pointing out what he was doing, his chivalry and affection were still lacking to the point that I decided to bring the ultimatum of “change or I’m gone.” The solution we came up with was to move in together. The result of which was fat asses and big “played time” numbers but, more about that in my next post!

More to come in a week or so, I have a wedding anniversary cruise to attend!

Living, much less being in a romantic relationship with a gamer can oftentimes only be described with one word: infuriating.

Sometimes I look at my husband and wish that I could turn into one of the characters in his game and throw a fireball at him. We’ve been together for 6 years today (it’s 12:23 AM – after midnight it’s official in girl time) and instead of cuddling me and reflecting upon our time together he is slamming buttons on his keyboard in the, more oftentimes than not failed, attempt to down a boss. But, it’s okay; really, I’m not just saying that to sound like a good wife. I’ve only reached this point of acceptance after going through countless hours of fights over his time spent gaming.

I wouldn’t doubt that more men than women are actually reading this article, hoping to finally figure out the magical steps to sate the beast within their significant other that only seems to come out when it comes to their gaming addiction. Too bad that there isn’t a spell rotation to fix everything irl amirite? To the possible dismay of the gamer reading this hoping for a quick fix, I can’t promise you anything – I can only share my experiences.

I will be writing a regular article about living and dealing with a romantic relationship with a gamer but for my first introduction I would like to give you a snapshot of the first three years of our relationship:

Year 1 – That annoying first year where you can’t seem to get your tongue out of the other person’s mouth. I know he plays games professionally but, hell his winnings did buy me a ticket to a beach vacation. It can’t be that bad right?

Year 2 – He’s botting his WoW character and seems to be getting a new account banned every other month. Actually, he was a huge asshole this year – I don’t see him very often because we live apart… he uses this as an excuse to play more games. Whatever, I mean, we’re still kinda new at this right? I start up a shiny new account for myself in the hopes of getting closer to him.

Year 3 – Still playing WoW but on my own. My plan to get closer to him through the game had its triumphs and its failures…  We move in together with a fellow gamer. All I can say about this year is that my signif and roomie both got fat from sitting on their asses playing video games.

Stay tuned for Years 1 and 2 in the next day or so!

Update: You can read part 2 here.