Let the Games Begin!

Last night, I got one of the most concise Facebook messages I’ve ever received.  A friend who lives several states away who is a friend on XBOX Live sent it.  Actually, since he doesn’t have a Facebook account, his wife sent it on his behalf.  It reads, simply: “My husband doesn’t think you play enough video games.”

I was flabbergasted.  I was outraged!  Is there a more damning indictment for a self-described geek?

I was… not playing enough video games.  It’s true.  I think I’ve turned the system on as much for Netflix in the past few months as to play games.  I’ve played a good bit into Bioshock 2, but that’s about it other than some guilty pleasure games (no, not that kind of games), like MLB Front Office Manager (I’m a statistician at heart) and World of Outlaws Sprint Cars (one of my first career choices as a kid was race car driver).  I really haven’t played video games much in 2010 at all.

Another husband and wife who are friends of mine posted some things on their Facebook pages that gave the whole thing some perspective.  The husband is an avid Playstation 3 gamer and a huge fan of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  When I say “huge fan,” I mean that he plays the game online for more hours than many people work.  Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but if so, not by much.  The other night, his beloved Playstation 3 bit the dust.  Inside of it was the Call of Duty disc.  His wife posted a status that was celebratory of the joyful, momentous occasion.  She was ecstatic!  She lamented all of the hours her husband had “wasted” on the game (I should introduce her to Jane McGonigal – her husband is really saving the world!) and hopeful that the system would never be repaired or replaced and that the offending disc would be trapped inside, helpless, as the system was compacted, incinerated, or whatever they do to dead things that are abominations and never should have entered this world.

I don’t play enough video games.  Lately, I actually don’t play enough games of any kind.  I haven’t played any pnp (for the uninitiated, it stands for pen & paper, or tabletop) games lately.  I was storytelling a weekly game of Hunter: The Vigil until recently when things got just a bit too hectic for the standing commitment to running a quality game, which I take extremely seriously.  I can give you all of the standard excuses.  They are indeed valid.  It still comes down to the same point.

I don’t play enough games.  I need to rectify that… for my own mental health, as well as to save my geek cred.  The gauntlet has been thrown!

Now, I just need to figure out how to work this into my schedule.  How (and how often) do you fit gaming (video or otherwise) into your schedule?