Most members of the video game press dont have children?

While listening to this past weeks Bombcast, it dawned on me that none of the main Giantbomb crew have any children, which then got me to think that actually most of the video game press don't have children, aside from the few that I could think of like John Davidson and Dana Jongewaard from IGN. 
 
Why do you think this may be, as having children is a pretty common, (and necessary to a certain extent) part of life...
 
Interested to see where this thread goes...

In order to to be part of the video game press, tubes must be tied, and some snip-snip is required. Fairly common knowledge.

It's not by choice, you know.

EDIT: And joking aside, Vinny has kids, I believe.

Some people are just content with gaming and getting laid.

Doesn't Vinny have kids?

@NekuSakuraba said:

Doesn't Vinny have kids?

Dude just got married 6 months ago, he still has 3 months to go.

Wow, 2 people who think Vinny has kids? Weird. 
 
And the job doesn't pay too well and requires a ton of time. Two aspects that are not particularly compatible with raising a family.

Jeff Greene has daughters and plays Wii games in his underwear.

I think the main reason for this is that by and large; when looking at the WHOLE of the video game press. They are usually under 25; and many people are having children later and later in life these days.

@KaosAngel said:

@NekuSakuraba said:

Doesn't Vinny have kids?

Dude just got married 6 months ago, he still has 3 months to go.

This is really weird that I know this but Vinny has been married since late 2009.

They have more important things to worry about.

I just don't think the job and life style required to be good at it work for a lot of people, given all the late nights and hours and hours people need to spend playing games outside of work to get the job done. At least for people that review a ton of stuff. Yes some have been able to do it and make it work, but that doesn't mean everyone can.
 
Or it could just be that the same type of people that are attracted to this kind of work are the same that don't want kids. Hard to say.

Pay is a big thing, also a lot of the gaming press are pretty young. The Giant Bomb staff, with the exception of Patrick, are ahead of the bell curve in terms of the average age of gaming press.

scooter has a kid over at 1up, Vinny is bound to have a few bastards kicking around ;-)

TD;DR: No, just suffer or skip to the next guy's post. :)

What do you mean "a necessary part of life"? I've managed to live several decades, so far. No children in sight. Granted, there was a scare once or twice (though I've always practiced safe sex to an almost paranoid level). Having offspring may be necessary for life, as a whole, but it is not necessary for the individual to be alive. There are always plenty of idiot mouth-breathers happy to have an "accident" and then claim the mantle of "saint, sage, near god damn hero" that society puts upon their shoulders merely for engaging in the same biological activity that every human on earth in all of existence as well s every animal, period, has since the dawn of life.

Why don't people have kids? Well, why don't a lot of people have a boat? Or a horse? Because they're a hassle. The wisest choice more people could make is not to breed, unless they have their financial concerns all wrapped up for the next twenty years. And even then, only if they truly really have some odd urge to xerox themselves. I don't have a boat, horse, or child because I do not want to spend the next twenty years wiping a human being's ass, driving them to school, buying their clothes, going to school conferences, dealing with boyfriends or girlfriends, slackasses, and possibly later on some expectation of tuition or other follow-up. Because I want to save money for retirement and enjoy a life where I can do things I like to do and not live paycheck to paycheck because I've saddled myself with four more mouths and two more million dollars worth of obligations.

I haven't counted, but most of the people I associate with (outside of work, at least) are in the same boat. Whether they're single, in a relationship, or even married, most have chosen to be child-free (not child-LESS -- child-FREE). They aren't selfish. They aren't self-involved. They have chosen not to take on a self-imposed burden that they aren't ready for and probably never will want. Let's face it, almost nobody CHOOSES to have a child. They're just lazy about protection and when the accident happens, they decide "well, shit.. guess I'm going to be a parent, now". (And have no doubt about it, there are no people who did not want children and wound up having them, anyway. I know a lot of people including myself who specifically do not want to breed and none have somehow managed to magically become pregnant -- we've pretty much solved the causes of unwanted pregnancy for those who are willing to take even the most minimal consistent effort in avoiding it).

None of this is to say that I have a problem with YOU breeding. Or anyone else, for that matter. Sure, I might have a bit of a problem with subsidizing people's breeding. I might have a problem with idiots who can barely afford things as it is that pump out a kid (or many) despite it. I definitely have a problem with people who spend a ton of money on fertility, because they're so fucking set on xeroxing themselves that they can't spend that money adopting a child who already exists and would love a family. I definitely have a problem with people who choose to have children and then act like society should worship the fucking ground they walk on, because they're doing society a favor, somehow. Or that by forgetting a rubber that one time, they somehow have been endowed with great wisdom that trumps that of everyone else in existence. But in general, people choosing to breed? Not my problem. Not my concern. And I don't care. More power to them. I'm certainly grateful that my mother had children, though I'm certain we were all "accidents" and I know that her life would have been much better without making the mistake.

Likewise, a lot of people today are choosing not to have children. Or if they do, waiting until much later in life. Who is ready for a long term relationship at 20 or 24, much less squirting out children and caring for them? People have options and they aren't the taboo that they used to be, so accidents are less likely to happen as they used to. While I think children are, for the most part, pretty awesome, I certainly don't want to deal with then every single day and I'm not going to commit the rest of my life to that obligation. I make well into six figures, but I don't see how I can maintain anything like the standard of life I live now if I had one or two kids plus a spouse. And even if I wanted to, I'm not willing to bring humans into this world who are almost certainly going to have to deal with divorce or some other sort of animosity between their parents (yes, I know, we all like to believe that we're in love and it's going to last foreeeeeeeeeeever and eeeeeeeever). Further, I came from a background without a real dad. Only a step-dad who exploited me as a mix of work-horse and opportunity to relive his failed sports aspirations and the encouragement to accomplish both of these things on his behalf started at the age of two and were always violent. Statistically, parents who were raised violently raise their children violently and while there's not a willfully violent or physically aggressive bone in my body, I am absolutely never ever going to risk that.

I won't lie and say that there haven't been times in my life - especially as I've gotten older - that I haven't daydreamed about what it might be like to be a father (though that would have always gone against the mutual agreement that I have entered into relationships with, where it was understood that neither desired children). It'd be great to hang out on lazy Sunday afternoons with the kid. Or go to the park or zoo. Or to help with homework. Or help them pursue whatever passions they discover. Just not enough to overcome the massive obligations and risks involved. Hell, I've lost a significant other and there are sporadic times that it still seems impossible to get through. And if I lost my dog, I'd completely lose my shit. That's enough, for me.

Also, kids have amazing reflexes and eye-hand coordination and I would be depressed when I couldn't keep up with a five year old on any videogame, except maybe Zork.

TD;DR: No, just suffer or skip to the next guy's post. :)

What do you mean "a necessary part of life"? I've managed to live several decades, so far. No children in sight. Granted, there was a scare once or twice (though I've always practiced safe sex to an almost paranoid level). Having offspring may be necessary for life, as a whole, but it is not necessary for the individual to be alive. There are always plenty of idiot mouth-breathers happy to have an "accident" and then claim the mantle of "saint, sage, near god damn hero" that society puts upon their shoulders merely for engaging in the same biological activity that every human on earth in all of existence as well s every animal, period, has since the dawn of life.

Why don't people have kids? Well, why don't a lot of people have a boat? Or a horse? Because they're a hassle. The wisest choice more people could make is not to breed, unless they have their financial concerns all wrapped up for the next twenty years. And even then, only if they truly really have some odd urge to xerox themselves. I don't have a boat, horse, or child because I do not want to spend the next twenty years wiping a human being's ass, driving them to school, buying their clothes, going to school conferences, dealing with boyfriends or girlfriends, slackasses, and possibly later on some expectation of tuition or other follow-up. Because I want to save money for retirement and enjoy a life where I can do things I like to do and not live paycheck to paycheck because I've saddled myself with four more mouths and two more million dollars worth of obligations.

I haven't counted, but most of the people I associate with (outside of work, at least) are in the same boat. Whether they're single, in a relationship, or even married, most have chosen to be child-free (not child-LESS -- child-FREE). They aren't selfish. They aren't self-involved. They have chosen not to take on a self-imposed burden that they aren't ready for and probably never will want. Let's face it, almost nobody CHOOSES to have a child. They're just lazy about protection and when the accident happens, they decide "well, shit.. guess I'm going to be a parent, now". (And have no doubt about it, there are no people who did not want children and wound up having them, anyway. I know a lot of people including myself who specifically do not want to breed and none have somehow managed to magically become pregnant -- we've pretty much solved the causes of unwanted pregnancy for those who are willing to take even the most minimal consistent effort in avoiding it).

None of this is to say that I have a problem with YOU breeding. Or anyone else, for that matter. Sure, I might have a bit of a problem with subsidizing people's breeding. I might have a problem with idiots who can barely afford things as it is that pump out a kid (or many) despite it. I definitely have a problem with people who spend a ton of money on fertility, because they're so fucking set on xeroxing themselves that they can't spend that money adopting a child who already exists and would love a family. I definitely have a problem with people who choose to have children and then act like society should worship the fucking ground they walk on, because they're doing society a favor, somehow. Or that by forgetting a rubber that one time, they somehow have been endowed with great wisdom that trumps that of everyone else in existence. But in general, people choosing to breed? Not my problem. Not my concern. And I don't care. More power to them. I'm certainly grateful that my mother had children, though I'm certain we were all "accidents" and I know that her life would have been much better without making the mistake.

Likewise, a lot of people today are choosing not to have children. Or if they do, waiting until much later in life. Who is ready for a long term relationship at 20 or 24, much less squirting out children and caring for them? People have options and they aren't the taboo that they used to be, so accidents are less likely to happen as they used to. While I think children are, for the most part, pretty awesome, I certainly don't want to deal with then every single day and I'm not going to commit the rest of my life to that obligation. I make well into six figures, but I don't see how I can maintain anything like the standard of life I live now if I had one or two kids plus a spouse. And even if I wanted to, I'm not willing to bring humans into this world who are almost certainly going to have to deal with divorce or some other sort of animosity between their parents (yes, I know, we all like to believe that we're in love and it's going to last foreeeeeeeeeeever and eeeeeeeever). Further, I came from a background without a real dad. Only a step-dad who exploited me as a mix of work-horse and opportunity to relive his failed sports aspirations and the encouragement to accomplish both of these things on his behalf started at the age of two and were always violent. Statistically, parents who were raised violently raise their children violently and while there's not a willfully violent or physically aggressive bone in my body, I am absolutely never ever going to risk that.

I won't lie and say that there haven't been times in my life - especially as I've gotten older - that I haven't daydreamed about what it might be like to be a father (though that would have always gone against the mutual agreement that I have entered into relationships with, where it was understood that neither desired children). It'd be great to hang out on lazy Sunday afternoons with the kid. Or go to the park or zoo. Or to help with homework. Or help them pursue whatever passions they discover. Just not enough to overcome the massive obligations and risks involved. Hell, I've lost a significant other and there are sporadic times that it still seems impossible to get through. And if I lost my dog, I'd completely lose my shit. That's enough, for me.

Also, kids have amazing reflexes and eye-hand coordination and I would be depressed when I couldn't keep up with a five year old on any videogame, except maybe Zork.

Kids are unnecessary and expensive.

Weird every example has been alumni from 1up's golden age. Maybe Ziff Davis slipped fertility drugs into the food. That or they paid well enough for the employees to support children.

@KaosAngel said:

@NekuSakuraba said:

Doesn't Vinny have kids?

Dude just got married 6 months ago, he still has 3 months to go.

haha... yeah. Math.

Kids are unnecessary and expensive.

That's because things like kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru and three page long reviews of Duke Nukem Forever are real turn-offs for the ladies. I'd like to see a single woman here prove that wrong.

@Branthog: Shut the fuck up, kids are a beautiful thing man. Call me when you grow up.

@Axxol said:

Kids are unnecessary and expensive.

You were a kid once, so I guess you were unnecessary. 

I would be depriving the world of a whole lot of awesomeness if I didn't keep my genes moving into the future of humanity.

I went through a "Oh man, kids are gross, they're too much of a hassle, they'd rob me of my happiness," phase as well. You grow out of it. Well, most people do. And having kids is an awesome experience. I can instill my values on a malleable mind and raise one (or two) fantastic human being. I feel obligated to, with so many idiots spawning out there. The world needs more great people.

@Axxol said:

Kids are unnecessary and expensive.

You were a kid once, so I guess you were unnecessary. 

@Branthog: Shut the fuck up, kids are a beautiful thing man.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@Branthog: Shut the fuck up, kids are a beautiful thing man.

Not really. Unless they're born into royalty, they're too much work for too little payoff, and even if they are born into royalty, that's no guarantee of success.

@Video_Game_King: Well to each his own, it was a joke btw.

Kids can be great, but they're not for everyone. To get upset at someone else because he/she doesn't want any is dumb.

To answer OPs question, its like others have said, most of the game press is young. I'd also say that most of the game press is fairly intelligent and it seems that intelligent people are putting off kids until later in life these days.

Well, this turned into an odd thread.

I don't have children, but I like kids...until I tire of them and give them back to their parents. But as the gaming press goes, I'm sure there are a bunch out there with children that we don't know about.

I think this question is extremely hard to answer, the only ones who can are the people of the games press themselves, because I'm pretty sure they will all have very different reasons for having or not having children. 
 
Calling kids a "hassle" or whatever is very childish in my opinion, but that's just my opinion. 
 
Also don't go around asking people why they don't have kids, that's just weird. What do you think Jeff or Vinny will answer you? C'mon!

Well, on the whole the gaming press is particularly young group of people and many of them are at an age where you wouldn't expect them to have children. It may also be that with the amount of work many in the gaming press have to put into their job they don't consider it viable to juggle their job, look after kids and handle the other aspects of their life. I don't agree that having children is necessary to any extent in this day and age though. Sure, humans as a whole need to procreate but seeing as there's certainly no shortage of people on this planet right now, if someone thinks a child won't make them happy or won't properly fit into their lives there's no reason at all they should choose to have one.

As has been pointed out most video game journalists are making relatively small salaries while being forced to live in some of the most expensive places in the country (San Francisco and Los Angeles). I listen to Giant Bomb, Gamespot and IGN podcasts on a regular basis and very few of the editors are even married. Because of the youth of most members of the gaming press, small salary, extreme time commitment, and constant travel and drinking it just isn't an environment conducive to having children.

There are even less games journalists as Dana Jongewaard got laid off from IGN earlier in the week. Nicole Tanner also got canned so there are even fewer females working at IGN. Of course Jessico Chobot keeps her job but that's a whole other discussion.

i dont see whats so bad about someone not wanting children...  its their decision and the world is already overpopulated so i dont see whats so bad about not having kids.  i want kids myself but that might change as i get older

@Video_Game_Kingsaid:

That's because things like kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru and three page long reviews of Duke Nukem Forever are real turn-offs for the ladies. I'd like to see a single woman here prove that wrong.

A love of games is probably far down on the list of why a lot of people on this site are single.

There are a few reasons why this may in fact be the case (working in enthusiast press doesn't pay much, for instance, or maybe it's hard to negotiate with a hardcore gaming/manbaby gamer lifestyle (joking on that one...partially), but I'm going Occam's Razor and saying it's just a reflection of society as a whole these days, where people get married later and later in life, and have kids later as well, if at all. If you asked me 15 years ago, I'd've thought I'd have 2 kids by now. But at 30, I'm glad I'm with someone who doesn't want kids, and that someone proudly proclaiming that her biggest problem some nights is a variation of "whether [she] should play Tekken or Alice: Madness Returns".

Put marriage/divorce rates while you're at it. People have that choice. Everyone decides what makes life better for themselves, including whether or not to have children. Whether that decision is right or wrong is only for that person/people to decide, not anyone else.

As for the significance of life/existing in this world. I'll put the same answer as I put in HitmanAgent47's 'finding purpose thread': What is better? Having the opportunity to create a purpose and enjoy an existence, or none at all?

I'm thankful I exist and was born. Some may think this existence is insignificant, but without it, you won't even have the ability to experience such a discussion in this very forum, or play video games, or laugh at things you find hilarious, meet a signficant other, or establish a worthwhile friendship with others, or the other million other awesome things a person can experience in a lifetime.

If some people weren't born, we wouldn't have the great things we have today such as things this very forum enjoys like video games, game journalists, whiskey media (or modern science, art, and culture). Sometimes kids become awesome adults that contribute great things to society whether it be in innovation to improve our society/lives or entertainment/culture to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, sometimes, kids turn out to be Hitler, Bin Laden, or any other evil person in history. That's the exception. However, I believe the amount of awesome/good things that come out of people more than outweighs the stupid/evil that others do.

@Branthog said:

TD;DR: No, just suffer or skip to the next guy's post. :)

What do you mean "a necessary part of life"? I've managed to live several decades, so far. No children in sight. Granted, there was a scare once or twice (though I've always practiced safe sex to an almost paranoid level). Having offspring may be necessary for life, as a whole, but it is not necessary for the individual to be alive. There are always plenty of idiot mouth-breathers happy to have an "accident" and then claim the mantle of "saint, sage, near god damn hero" that society puts upon their shoulders merely for engaging in the same biological activity that every human on earth in all of existence as well s every animal, period, has since the dawn of life.

Why don't people have kids? Well, why don't a lot of people have a boat? Or a horse? Because they're a hassle. The wisest choice more people could make is not to breed, unless they have their financial concerns all wrapped up for the next twenty years. And even then, only if they truly really have some odd urge to xerox themselves. I don't have a boat, horse, or child because I do not want to spend the next twenty years wiping a human being's ass, driving them to school, buying their clothes, going to school conferences, dealing with boyfriends or girlfriends, slackasses, and possibly later on some expectation of tuition or other follow-up. Because I want to save money for retirement and enjoy a life where I can do things I like to do and not live paycheck to paycheck because I've saddled myself with four more mouths and two more million dollars worth of obligations.

I haven't counted, but most of the people I associate with (outside of work, at least) are in the same boat. Whether they're single, in a relationship, or even married, most have chosen to be child-free (not child-LESS -- child-FREE). They aren't selfish. They aren't self-involved. They have chosen not to take on a self-imposed burden that they aren't ready for and probably never will want. Let's face it, almost nobody CHOOSES to have a child. They're just lazy about protection and when the accident happens, they decide "well, shit.. guess I'm going to be a parent, now". (And have no doubt about it, there are no people who did not want children and wound up having them, anyway. I know a lot of people including myself who specifically do not want to breed and none have somehow managed to magically become pregnant -- we've pretty much solved the causes of unwanted pregnancy for those who are willing to take even the most minimal consistent effort in avoiding it).

None of this is to say that I have a problem with YOU breeding. Or anyone else, for that matter. Sure, I might have a bit of a problem with subsidizing people's breeding. I might have a problem with idiots who can barely afford things as it is that pump out a kid (or many) despite it. I definitely have a problem with people who spend a ton of money on fertility, because they're so fucking set on xeroxing themselves that they can't spend that money adopting a child who already exists and would love a family. I definitely have a problem with people who choose to have children and then act like society should worship the fucking ground they walk on, because they're doing society a favor, somehow. Or that by forgetting a rubber that one time, they somehow have been endowed with great wisdom that trumps that of everyone else in existence. But in general, people choosing to breed? Not my problem. Not my concern. And I don't care. More power to them. I'm certainly grateful that my mother had children, though I'm certain we were all "accidents" and I know that her life would have been much better without making the mistake.

Likewise, a lot of people today are choosing not to have children. Or if they do, waiting until much later in life. Who is ready for a long term relationship at 20 or 24, much less squirting out children and caring for them? People have options and they aren't the taboo that they used to be, so accidents are less likely to happen as they used to. While I think children are, for the most part, pretty awesome, I certainly don't want to deal with then every single day and I'm not going to commit the rest of my life to that obligation. I make well into six figures, but I don't see how I can maintain anything like the standard of life I live now if I had one or two kids plus a spouse. And even if I wanted to, I'm not willing to bring humans into this world who are almost certainly going to have to deal with divorce or some other sort of animosity between their parents (yes, I know, we all like to believe that we're in love and it's going to last foreeeeeeeeeeever and eeeeeeeever). Further, I came from a background without a real dad. Only a step-dad who exploited me as a mix of work-horse and opportunity to relive his failed sports aspirations and the encouragement to accomplish both of these things on his behalf started at the age of two and were always violent. Statistically, parents who were raised violently raise their children violently and while there's not a willfully violent or physically aggressive bone in my body, I am absolutely never ever going to risk that.

I won't lie and say that there haven't been times in my life - especially as I've gotten older - that I haven't daydreamed about what it might be like to be a father (though that would have always gone against the mutual agreement that I have entered into relationships with, where it was understood that neither desired children). It'd be great to hang out on lazy Sunday afternoons with the kid. Or go to the park or zoo. Or to help with homework. Or help them pursue whatever passions they discover. Just not enough to overcome the massive obligations and risks involved. Hell, I've lost a significant other and there are sporadic times that it still seems impossible to get through. And if I lost my dog, I'd completely lose my shit. That's enough, for me.

Also, kids have amazing reflexes and eye-hand coordination and I would be depressed when I couldn't keep up with a five year old on any videogame, except maybe Zork.

Oh, the selfish fuck litany of the person whom nobody wants a child with. I see.

@SeriouslyNow: a bit harsh. he expressed his opinion. disagree with him, but no need to judge the man.

There are even less games journalists as Dana Jongewaard got laid off from IGN earlier in the week. Nicole Tanner also got canned so there are even fewer females working at IGN. Of course Jessico Chobot keeps her job but that's a whole other discussion.

@KaosAngel said:

@NekuSakuraba said:

Doesn't Vinny have kids?

Dude just got married 6 months ago, he still has 3 months to go.

This is really weird that I know this but Vinny has been married since late 2009.

I thought Vinny said he had a daughter in one of the early podcasts back in '08.

@supaman900s:

You've prolly heard it one hundred times by now, but it's like the beginning of the movie "Idiocracy". Intelligent people look to procreate when the time is right for a family and, well, with the economy the way it is, the job market looking sparse, it just doesn't seem to be the right time to be creating children. That being said, with the low pay, fast-traveling life of a video game reviewer, a good amount of them wouldn't be home enough to be the father they want to be.

I'm 30 years old myself, been with my fiancee for over a decade and we decided we didn't want children. I've seen far too many people lose any semblance of drive and ambition when those kids came. Do all your interesting and fun stuff before you need a solid and stable life for a child.