Acceptance for my special interest

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I find that I can get along well with a number of different types of women, however there is a problem with actually being in a relationship. When women find out what my special interest is they label me a man-child and any hope of of dating is immediately put out.

My special interest is video games, I view the single player ones as equivalent to books in that I'm looking for a well thought out and paced story with well developed characters. I view the multiplayer ones as a chance to get some competition that can require a lot of planning and thinking on your feet.

It is something I really enjoy but over the years I've learned to give it the proper place. I hold a job, I have a car, I do what's necessary to further my career. I place friends and family far above the games in importance. Maybe if I had fishing, football, reading(which it actually had been in the past), or history as a special interest I wouldn't get so much disdain. However any young lady around my age just views it as something childish. How can I find acceptance for something that is an undeniable part of my life?

My boyfriend plays video games (he's over 20) and so do all his friends. It's a pretty acceptable hobby.

^ good advice.

there's lots of us around - me and my boyfriend spend all weekend sometimes just playing video games. >.<

Us too, my bf and I. Good times.

I agree with you, especially with current games. Bioshock and Mass Effect 1 & 2 (especially ME2, it was a lot more immersive in my opinion, but I digress ) come to mind as having great' movie-like stories, yet fun to play at the same time.

I think there's nothing wrong at all with liking to play video games, as long as they don't interfere with your life and relationship. Playing them with your partner can be great for bonding (or destroying if you're too competitive!). Of course it's OK if your partner doesn't like playing them themselves, but to view it as childish is wrong in my opinion. It's no worse a time-waster than watching TV or movies for entertainment (for educational purposes it's different, but there are many educational games, although mostly for little kids), or reading a fiction book.

You have nothing to feel bad about. Gaming is a popular hobby for men. My brother in law is around your age and he plays COD. Heck, my dad is 54 and he plays COD too!

My gf doesn't mind me playing video games in moderation. That's the keyword.

Honestly at this age it's time to find another special interest that's more likely to be perceived as not a waste of time; in my experience girls are ok with special interests that can be monetized (e.g. a business, investing in stock markets, etc.)

I actually developed a special interest in stock markets and investing after playing space trading games (the X series), where you fly around space stations buying goods and selling them at a higher price. I realized there are people doing this kind of trading in real life and that doing it on a computer is relatively pointless.

Lots of guys are into gaming. It's not childish - I know lots of guys in their 30s who are into it (and a guy in his 20s who isn't I think is sort of unusual). They all get on Xbox and play together. It's like golf for them. I know some people who write video games and it's big, big business. I agree with some others here, you're finding the wrong girls. They sound like they want to be old ladies already.

I don't know where you are finding these women because honestly, I don't know a grown man who doesn't play video games.

Are you sure it's your interest in videos games they find unattractive, or the intensity and frequency with which you occupy yourself with them?

The problem with video games, is, when you are playing them, you are just sitting around playing video games. It's not seen as a productive, or socially inclusive hobby with respect to most women.

People who play video games excessively, in my experience, tend to not be "doers", and women can be put off by this.

Find a gamer girl, sweetheart.

I swear my hubby married me because I am a gamer!
I play video games (I like RPG styles, Fable II HOOKED me!!) tabletop RPGs, European board games, and collectible card games.

There aren't a lot of us (that I have seen) but we are out there. You should totally check out some dating sites that cater to 'geeks'

Ditto half the people on this thread. My BF and I practically fight over who gets to use the nice computer sometimes to play RPG's

I feel embarrassed about my playing of video games for some reason. If I had a girlfriend I imagine myself starving myself of games to show how good I am. I suspect that would be the wrong thing to do though.

In any case, I CAN survive without them, the television the Wii uses is broken and my computer is broken (I am using my mum's laptop and all I can play are flash games online or watch walkthroughs on Youtube) and I am dying. It has happened before.

The main thing is that my big brother is always trying to get me to play more for some reason... sometimes he acts like a complete 2-year-old (you have no idea how many times my parents and I have said that).

/shrug I play video games. I'm 26 next week, its really pretty normal in this day and age. Whatever women you're talking about must live in the stone age. I used to work at a video game developer where half the staff were in their 30s. It's normal.

'Sweetheart, its cheaper than beer & titty bar lapdances aaand I get to be at home with you!'