*Guest Ringmaster!* Gamer Moms Don’t Suck!

Today, I’d love to introduce you to Lindsay!  Lindsay is your Guest Ringmaster today while I go off to fight the good fight with Sears Auto. Again.  Lindsay is a girl near and dear to my heart- Gamer, Mom, and all around fun person!  Thanks for taking over the 3 Ring Circus today, Lindsay! 

Okay, you all know Laura, yes? I’m Lindsay from Lindsay Blogs and I share a bit of a kindred spirit with Laura. We are both gamer moms. There are many different levels of “Gamer Mom”ness and I’m here to clarify a bit. There seems to be a bit of a misconception that “Gamer Moms” are, by definition, terrible mothers who neglect their children and have tunnel vision aimed directly at their computer screens.

The following paragraphs may contain statistics and certain claims that are in no way scientifically proven. All percentages are completely made up and should not be used for a research paper or anything.

Mario Moms

Our first group of gamer moms to explore are what I like to call “Mario Moms.” These moms are your moms who think that Mario is still the #1 game in town. They say things like Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side:

“Put away that PlayBox thingy and do your homework!”

These moms try to be “cool” with their kids and attempt to play with them, but they think that jumping the controller will actually make the character on the screen jump higher. These are the “gamer moms” who are not really gamer moms in any way, shape or form.

Friday Night Moms

While there is probably another level between Mario Moms and Friday Night Moms, I’m going jump right into it. This group of moms really enjoy playing video games (real ones, not Mario Kart) on the weekends every once in a while and might even have a game night with their friends who also enjoy video games. Based on what I know, I bet Laura falls somewhere in this category.

Casual Gamer Moms

This is the category that I used to fall into. I’m currently a Recovering Gamer Mom (more to come on that later), but I used to spend  a few hours (or less) each night after the kids went to bed playing World of Warcraft. I didn’t play when my kids were awake and I still attended to their every need. These moms are the ones that gamer geek boys thing are super awesome (or sad, they might just think I’m sad) and most other moms simply can’t relate. There are varying levels of Casual Gamer Moms – some are more casual than others and some are more hardcore without being hardcore.

Hardcore Gamer Moms

That brings us to the epitome of gamer mom. These are the ones that give the rest of us a bad name. These moms spend hours upon hours every day chasing pixels on a screen in hopes of attaining gamer fame. These are the moms that neglect every obligation in order to keep playing whatever game they are addicted to. For the perfect example of this type of gamer mom, you will need to watch The Guild and look for the character named “Clara.” She is the absolute epitome of Hardcore Gamer Moms. Those poor kids.

Recovering Gamer Moms

This is my current categorization. I used to be a Casual Gamer Mom (I was a Hardcore Gamer before I was a mom) and finally overcame the addiction to World of Warcraft about a month ago. I have given up “the game” before (once for as long as a year) and always seem to relapse. This time, however, I have no desire to play again, so I don’t think there’s a worry of relapse this time around. Plus, I have too much other stuff taking up all my time! Now I might fall into the Friday Night Mom category.

Alright, so we’ve discussed the different levels of “Gamer Moms” and we’re clear that not all moms who play video games are negligent, right? I’ve seen far too many articles written about how bad “gamer moms” are and I think it’s about time we clear the air of the whole thing. It’s nonsense, really. Now, excuse me. I have some Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to play.

 

Thanks again, Lindsay! Wanna come over and play Street Figher? hrm?