I can't say I didn't see it coming, but it's finally really starting to become a reality. I'm engaged and I plan to get married this November. As wonderful as that has been, it had the all-to-easy-to-see conflict of how much of my free gaming time would remain exactly that, gaming time. At first it wasn't too bad, we lived in separate homes, seeing each other often, but I would still go home most nights and have my own time. Now we just got our own apartment together. She's truly a wonderful woman, kindhearted and understanding for sure, not to mention quite gorgeous. Ultimately though, she doesn't share my love of gaming. At most she may entertain something simple and instantly enjoyable, such as a Mario game. After about 15-20 minutes though, that's it, she's bored. I chalk a lot of this up to the fact that she didn't have a television in her house growing up in Belize. As such, she enjoys spending her time outdoors and being active. I don't mind that stuff, but I do also enjoy my "sit on the couch in front of a television" moments and other than movies and the occasional garbage tv session, that's not her cup of tea.

Having said all of that, she doesn't mind my gaming at all. I've just had to adjust my amount of time spent on it as a hobby. I've got friends who's consoles have done nothing but collect dust since they've been engaged or married. I know she won't force me to do that, but the true dilemma now is that in my limited amount of gaming time what do I play? I'd become accustomed to buying whatever game I wanted when it came out and playing it thoroughly until I was done with it. Sometimes buying 2-3 new releases at a time and just working my way through them all. That's just not feasible anymore. For one, I can't go spending my money willy nilly when I've got all this grown up stuff to consider like paying for the wedding, saving money for a house, saving money for having a baby (having babies is expensive!), saving money for the kids to go to school, etc. Secondly, I just won't have the time available to me to play multiple long, 20+ hour, singleplayer experiences which I'm so fond of in a short amount of time. Ultimately it's pushed me more towards experiences that have a quantifiable time investment, like sports games. Something I can pick up and know, "Ok, one game of basketball is going to take X amount of time."

I hope I don't sound resentful, this is just the reality of having more responsibility in my life and not only catering to my own personal wants and needs. I still get to play the games I love, but at a much, much slower pace that I'm used to. When Mass Effect 2 came out, I bought it day of release and completed it in about a week and a half. I also bought Mass Effect 3 at launch and I finally finished it about two days before the "updated" endings were released. She does travel for work from time to time, so I may get a week here or there where I can kinda go nuts on a game. Overall though, my gaming time is shrinking. I've never been one to shy away from buying a game new, I have a job, I make decent money, I'll buy what I want...right? Well now I find myself comparing and contrasting, telling myself I can only buy one game for the next couple months. Trying to figure out which one I'll enjoy more right away, wondering which will probably drop in price sooner and if I could pick it up for $30 a couple months from now. That's definitely not the worst thing in the world, as I'm saving money and getting the most out of the games I do own. I love keeping up with the latest things in gaming, but here I am and I haven't played Uncharted 3 because for me it was a choice of that or Skyrim. Guess what game I'm still playing?

Well I've rambled on long enough. Again, I hope this doesn't sound too bitter or resentful as I truly am happy, I just am slightly mourning the fact that my biggest hobby is having to take a reduced role in my life as my priorities and responsibilities shift and change. As I type this, I'm thinking in my head...Darksiders II or Sleeping Dogs? Either one I get will probably be the last new game I buy until Assassin's Creed III. I really loved Darksiders and am excited to see what they will do with the sequel. At the same time, I love Hong Kong action cinema and the idea of an open world game in that vein is super appealing. Or do I now go finally get Uncharted 3 since it's much cheaper? Choices, choices.