I Wish Moving Was Like Playing Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing is a super fun and super addicting game on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.  In college, I used to sit playing this game on my DS while waiting for my class to start.  I was in my early 30s, so, yeah, I’d get weird looks.

Anyway, my son made this comment the other day.  And I couldn’t agree more.  I’m at that packing-point right now where it’s all just random crap I have to pack.  I hate it.

In Animal Crossing, you get to buy furniture and decorate your own house.  The ultra cool thing that I wish was for real:

The furniture you pick up turns into a leaf and you shove it in your pocket.

I wish I was only moving a bunch of leaves in my pockets.

Anyone else hate the moving process as much as I do?

 

I HATE Video Games

I am not a gaming mom. Yes, I want to play video games. I don’t play them because I am HORRIBLE AT THEM! I can’t walk without getting stuck into corners let alone build an entire city. Since I’m no good at it, I refuse to do it. THERE, that will show those stupid games who’s boss. So, I don’t hate them for any moral purpose, just my own bruised ego.

Actually I’m more afraid that I will like them and never leave my room again. Because I would totally do that. I would LIVE Oblivion. I watch my daughter play, and she constantly tells me to be quiet, as I’m doing the “armchair video game player” thing. Sometimes I am helpful, she asks me about things I have experience with such as what weapon is best for close combat. I am living vicariously through her. I am secretly jealous of all gamers, especially other gaming moms. You guys even have a special language. I am not part of that, but that’s ok, I LIVE FOR REAL ADVENTURE..HA! Just kidding.

I love how video games helped my daughter’s eye hand coordination. I love that she gets to “check out” for a bit and live in another world. She doesn’t and wouldn’t sit on the game forever so I am lucky that I’ve never had to tell her to stop, or she has played too long, no I’m not lying. One of my guilty thoughts is that when she is playing her game, I know right where she is. She is safe, and right next to me. Yeah, I know, she should be smelling flowers and frolicking outside with nature, but here in Seattle, unless you want to get wet or have a small case of frost bite, the outside thing just isn’t possible here for months out of the year. Also, our neighborhood isn’t as safe as it used to be. You all know about the Pacific Northwest and serial killers..they’re ALL HERE, or made a stop here. So unless she’s behind my 6 foot locked chain link fence, she’s not running around outside. She’s 14 going on 20, she isn’t riding her bike or catching bugs anymore. If she wants to commune with nature I’ll take her down to the beach or on a hike.

To all of you mom gamers, I am in awe of your ability to play the game and I am secretly jealous. To everyone else, I think they are all horrible and I would not admit that it’s my own dang fault. Practice makes perfect. I just can’t do it. I’ve tried, I end up breaking things..small things, don’t panic.

Play on to all who have the power.

Em

I’m A Gaming Mom

Yes, I play and love video games.  I know a lot of moms hate these things, and I know the reasons.  My husband doesn’t like video games.  When I used to have time to play, I would not play when my husband was home.  And I definitely would not stay up at night to play, forcing him to go to bed alone.  I love video games, but I know when the time is appropriate to play.  The games I normally play are RPGs, or role-playing-games.  For those of you non-gaming moms, this isn’t a type of bedroom game you play with your husband.

One of my first RPGs was Final Fantasy VII – one of my all time favorites – and I nearly came to tears when Aerith died.  I sat stunned, thinking “WT-effing-F?!”  I played Silent Hill, another all time great, and sat in the dark with my stomach in knots, looking over my shoulder and jumping out of my skin whenever the cat so much as sneezed.  I did the same with the first Resident Evil.  In Tomb Raider, I loved making Lara Croft do all those cool moves.  Dragon Age, Uncharted, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, RPGs and action games – I’m as bad as my teens sometimes.

But for me, the best games ever are the Elder Scroll games.  I admit, I started with Morrowind but instantly fell in love.  Hours upon hours I spent in Oblivion, skipping wherever I went to increase my acrobatics skill and traveling with my best bud, Storm Atronach.  And then there was Skyrim.

I gave birth to my youngest daughter earlier that year.  I pre-ordered Skyrim as soon as it popped up on Amazon, telling myself that my daughter would be self-sufficient enough by that time for me to spend at least a few hours a day playing my game.  No such luck, of course.  I’ve only played it three times since I got it last year.  Now my teens play it.  *sigh*

They talk about making weapons and killing dragons; about exploring towns and the surrounding wilderness; and about all the strange and exciting people they run into.  After playing it a total of three times (about 15 hours of gameplay), I had just made it to my first town.  My kids have essentially ruined the game for me.  Now non-gamers might think these last few sentences (as well as this whole post) as idiotic.  I really don’t care.  Gaming moms get what I’m talking about.

I’m the type of gamer that if you’re playing the same game as I am, and you’re farther ahead than I am, I don’t want to hear about it.  Nothing.  Don’t even tell me about some cool spell you whipped out or so much as making a stew.  By the time I actually feel like playing Skyrim again, my youngest WILL be old enough to fend for herself.  And by that time, the next Elder Scrolls will be out… or probably not.  Bethesda will still be spitting out expansion packs for Skyrim.

For now, my teens will probably be writing the reviews for the video games section.  Or I may just ask readers to review a game that they have played and I haven’t.

MJ