A View from Atlas Park: I Have Created… Life!
Since my last column, it has gotten even more difficult for me to sneak a few hours of CoH into my week. Fynn Nathaniel UnSub* was born mid-Saturday August 21, a healthy and generally sleepy baby boy. (He’s the reason why I’m late with this column and have a half-finished Spandex Cinema review that also should have been finished by now.)
Fynn is as concerned as I am about the activities of the Rikti
I am thrilled to bits to be a dad, but it also just adds to the whole Dabbler player type problems and having enough gaming time. While at the moment he’s small enough to lie on my lap while I play CoH or on the Xbox (I’ve already started teaching him how to clean up Paragon City streets and vital ninja techniques from Tenchu: Return from Darkness – both important things for a young boy to know) things will change. Sure, I’m looking forward to playing co-op or versus games or sidekicking him in the future (amongst other things – I’m not totally games focused!) but know this is going to have to wait a while.
In the meantime, Fynn is going to need my attention. Which means even less time for me. A selfish thought, I know, but an honest one. I also know that I’m not the only one who has to balance a family against the love of spending time in virtual worlds.
I don’t believe you have to give up what you love as a sheer function of maturity or progress. If you plan for it, you will be able to find the time. However, some sacrifices are inevitable. For me, this means less gaming outside of CoH (I guess Fable will have to wait…) and probably less time inside Paragon City as well. It will be worth it to be a part of Fynn’s life though – and who knows? I may be able to introduce into his life a love of computer games that will drive my wife crazy (until the day he routinely beats me… then he will truly be a man! First he’ll have to learn to walk though…)!
Okay – that’s enough about me and time-challenged gamers. Next column will be all about CoH – I promise.
[p]*Surname changed to protect the innocent and otherwise.
[p] – UnSub [email protected] 4 September 2004
