Arcade Spousal Abuse

[JoyMonkey]

Have a read of this thread on rec.games.video.arcade.collecting.
Imagine the horror- you're skimming through the classifieds and find that your own wife has put your games up for sale!

[ChadTower]

WOW.  And the guy is actually saying he doesn't want them and may sell!  The wife deserves to be thrown out of the house, not to get her way here.

[KenToad]

Ditto -- My new wife of 2 months (girlfriend of 5+ years, live-in for 3+) actively encourages it.  I hold back and she says why not get another project game.  Never mind I am almost out of room in the house and the 3rd garage stall will have to become the new storage spot for extra's.

I wouldn't have married her if she was going to become "the boss of me". We are neither the boss of each other.  If one spouse bosses the other around with demands and prevents you from enjoying yourself (as long as you're not overboard), then you have a problem in your marriage. Seriously.

It's almost like where there are so many women who continue to get verbally assulted as well as physically and stay in a "bad marriage" becuase "they love the guy"... the same holds true the other way... if you can financially, space and timewise 'afford' your hobby, and your significant other places tons of demands/restrictions and complains at everything you do, and you're one to post "i gotta pass this by the wife" or "the wife won't let me do this"... then you have the same problem and should seek consoling. Seriously... Especially if you're the one bringing in most/all the income AND she has similar cost (time and money) hobbies that you don't complain about.

Marriage is about equality, not one side "ruling" the other.

I don't know MonitorGuru--if you're taking up all the space in the house and the garage and she doesn't really care for the games, then I don't really think that's equality.  On the other hand, if she does dig the games, then you just happened to get really lucky to have a gamer wife.  I've tried and tried to get my fiancee to try the games, but Cameltry is the only game she would try more than once.  However, we have very limited space in our apartment and I'm already taking up the lion's share with my brewing equipment.  Now she has to deal with my current bartop project and the floor is almost never clear enough to vacuum.  Keep in mind, she's German and likes to keep things organized , so I respect her for not flipping out about the mess that I keep creating and cleaning up over and over again.  Just my thoughts, counselors can be fine, but some dudes around here would probably need more counseling for letting the games get between them and the opposite sex.  Tron ain't that good and this is just a hobby.  Don't let the obsession get in the way of living a good life. 

Cheers,
KenToad

[RayB]

The key is tolerance. You don't have to like something, but you can tolerate it. Like I tolerate the fact that my bathroom cabinets are 100% full, but only 2% of it consists of products I use. The rest I consider a big waste of money on products that she thinks she'll use but doesn't. 

[LPZ]

LPZ: Do you not see any irony in the fact that your games are relegated to the GARAGE? I think most women could care less what's in a garage, since it's out of sight...

My wife wouldn't mind If I kept my machine in the house.

[CheffoJeffo]

Like I tolerate the fact that my bathroom cabinets are 100% full, but only 2% of it consists of products I use.

Why did this made me think of MAMEing bathroom cabinets ?

 

Cheers.

[Stingray]

My wife actually encourages my oddball hobbies. I think she realizes that as long as I'm happy at home, I won't be out getting into trouble.

-S

[vibez]

It depends how long have been married. In the 1st few years they might complain. But after 10yrs of marraige. I'm sure they will be encouraging you get out the house for a while

[omar]

Like I tolerate the fact that my bathroom cabinets are 100% full, but only 2% of it consists of products I use. The rest I consider a big waste of money on products that she thinks she'll use but doesn't.

That's funny. My wife has a thing with towels. Everytime we're in a mall, she'll buy more towels. We have literally 200 towels! It's only me and her. How many towels does two people need?

She does'nt mind me spending money on this hobby though. As long as she can play ms. pacman and galaga/galaxian she's content. I do like spending money spread across a few days--that way I don't really know how much I'm spending(and I don't want to know )

[ChadTower]

Like I tolerate the fact that my bathroom cabinets are 100% full, but only 2% of it consists of products I use. The rest I consider a big waste of money on products that she thinks she'll use but doesn't.

[MonitorGuru]

I don't know MonitorGuru--if you're taking up all the space in the house and the garage and she doesn't really care for the games, then I don't really think that's equality.

[KenToad]

She doesn't get into all of them, but she plays the Galaxian and Ms.Pacman, and we both play the BubbleBobble together. She doesn't get into the Playchoice and is bad at Arkanoid.  Once I get SuperPacman built (handmade cabinet) she will play that.

I only have 6 games in the house right now., and building one in the garage.  All but the MsPac and Arkanoid are in the 4th bedroom downstairs. The MsPac and Ark (mini cab) are in the family room downstairs, integrated nicely in, not just a row of games taking up space.  She plays about 10 to 15 different games on Mame (Pac + Pal, PuzzleBobble, JumpingJack, LadyBug to name a few).

I was just saying that if your wife constantly is complaining and wont let you do things AND you're not overboard (not spending all of your time and money on it) and she has equal things she does (constant dinners out with girlfriends/expensive shopping trips/home furnishings/etc...) then if she is complaining, then there is a problem with your marriage and you need to work it out.

That's cool that your wife plays games.  I kind of wish I could get the same thing going with my fiancee, just once in a while to play a game with me.  She reads books that I recommend, instead, since we don't have TV to keep the BS in our lives.  I'm usually a dedicated reader, but I've slowed down with that quite a bit since this hobby really got started, i.e. since I started building.  I also agree with your philosophy, but most of the women I've ever found attractive do not seem to have hobbies or respect guys who play games all the time or build massive, worshipful shrines to their favorites .  Playing 80's games rather than new games certainly helps, but I didn't reveal my nostalgia for games to my fiancee until our relationship had pretty much fully developed.  It was serendipitous.  The hobby didn't really attack my brain until well into our relationship and even then I kept it in the closet for a while .  It's pretty hard to hide joysticks and a computer full of games, however.

Cheers,
KenToad

[Stingray]

Like I tolerate the fact that my bathroom cabinets are 100% full, but only 2% of it consists of products I use. The rest I consider a big waste of money on products that she thinks she'll use but doesn't. 

I once counted the bottles of shampoo, moisturizer, and unidentified stuff in my bathroom.  That day, my wife had 34, I had 1.

I'll bet there are at least a dozen bottles of stuff in my shower right now. I have no idea what most of it is even for. The only one I use is the shampoo.

-S

[ChadTower]

Yep.  My bottle of Head and Shoulders to her Bath and Body Works arsenal.

[CheffoJeffo]

Like I tolerate the fact that my bathroom cabinets are 100% full, but only 2% of it consists of products I use. The rest I consider a big waste of money on products that she thinks she'll use but doesn't. 

I once counted the bottles of shampoo, moisturizer, and unidentified stuff in my bathroom.  That day, my wife had 34, I had 1.

I'll bet there are at least a dozen bottles of stuff in my shower right now. I have no idea what most of it is even for. The only one I use is the shampoo.

-S

Is it possible that on some bath-and-body-works board somewhere that this exact thread is running with the POVs reversed ?

Cheers.

[markrvp]

Yep.

[monkeybomb]

My wife even uses soap.  God I hate that stuff. 




*Edit* I was kidding, despite what I started - I use soap. *Edit*

[markrvp]

Is it possible that on some bath-and-body-works board somewhere that this exact thread is running with the POVs reversed ?

The reverse POV conversation is definitely happening, but it's at a spa, a beauty salon, a clothing store, shoe store, or any other place where perfectly good money gets thrown away in the name of vanity.  We have the good sense to throw our money away on arcade games.

[SirPeale]

My wife even uses soap.  God I hate that stuff. 

Um...heh...um...you don't use soap?  Please stand downwind.

[AlanS17]

Is it possible that on some bath-and-body-works board somewhere that this exact thread is running with the POVs reversed ?

The reverse POV conversation is definitely happening, but it's at a spa, a beauty salon, a clothing store, shoe store, or any other place where perfectly good money gets thrown away in the name of vanity.

[LPZ]

I've been watching this thread and I couldn't agree more with the HBA(Health/Beauty Aids) thing going on with my wife either.  I have a dedicated  vanity cab that is all her's.  It must have at least 50 bottles of stuff in there.  Our main vanity is where I keep my stuff, about 1/8 of that vanity.  It's funny how when I take a shower that I have to sift through the condiments, until I find my Head and Shoulders too.  I do have to comment, though, on the time invested in building these machines.  I recently built a spinner, from a steering wheel I had and it took me about 10 to 12 hours from start to finish.  My wife was pretty amazed at the finished result, which in turn saved us alot of cabbage since I built it myself.  She kinda shakes here head at the time invested, but thanks the check book since I didn't have to throw any money to OSCAR!  Hope your have no bad feelings OSCAR

[davieboynj]

My fiance practically demanded that i pick up Mr Driller G from Ebay.

[Kremmit]

My wife even uses soap.  God I hate that stuff. 

Um...heh...um...you don't use soap?  Please stand downwind.

Shucks, Peale, with all your posts about clean and natural living, vegetarianism, etc. I thought you'd know soap was evil.  Full of chemicals, clogs your pores, dries out your skin, doesn't really rinse off...

A good scrubbing with nice, hot water will leave your body cleaner than the 'ol "lather, rinse, repeat".  And smelling just as good, albeit un-perfumed.  You'll still need deodorant if you don't want to be stinking later that day.

It's gotta be hot water, though- if you only like it "warm", stick with the soap, as "warm" will not dissolve the oils & clean out your pores without soap.  That's why people started using soap, once upon a time when every hut & hovel was not equipped with an unlimited supply of hot running water.

(back on topic, a little bit:)  My wife lets my buy video games, but thinks I'm crazy with the soap thing.  But she admits I don't seem clean and non-stinky.  She's into (not Super) Mario Bros. in a big way right now.

[SirPeale]

Okay yes, you can get clean with hot water.  But soap isn't bad.  I'm talking about actual SOAP, not detergent bars like DIAL or ZEST. 

I have a friend that makes soap, her stuff is awesome.  All natural ingredients like olive oil, coconut oil, cinnamon, orange extracts and the like.  http://www.greenmountainessentials.com

[ChadTower]

That won't work for everyone.  I have quite oily skin and if I don't use soap, it just builds up and I end up with acne, ingrown hairs, all kinds of pore related problems.  It is painful and ugly.

[devmod]

well if she says no , at any moment, u just need to press ...


UP , UP , press B then A , then DOWN , DOWN

and all is set

[Dire Radiant]

Soap is awful. Oil of Olay Foaming Beauty Wash is where it's at, trust me.

Did I just say that? 'Scuse me while I go remove my ---auto-censored--- and talk about my feelings for a while!

(Edit: Oh come on... If I was using off-color language, fine, but using the perfectly correct anatomical term?)

[Dexter]

I'm blessed with my other half. After she got over the initial shock of coming home and seeing this...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,36749.0.html

..in our dining room, she now plays it as much as I do (it's still being setup but DKC on zsnes and shinobi are her main plays) and wants me to quad the control panel! Her only complaint is that shes left-handed and would like the controls reversed.

But like I tell her "If you're going to be awkward and be  left handed then....." 

[Wyluli]

I have only two cabinets which are now in the "dining area" (who needs a kitchen table anyway when it is only the two of you?).  My hubby is ok with my working on the Mame machine.  He has no interest whatsoever in how it works or anything, but when I get it fired up he does at least play it.  He does get a little whiney about me spending too much time on my project and not enough time with him tho.  He can't really complain about the spending as he spends a lot of money on baseball cards. 
Right now we don't really have room for any more machines, so once I finish the mame machine that will be it until we get a house.  Then I intend to take over the garage!  (insert evil laugh here).  Of course, he doesn't need the garage because all the tools, games, etc... are mine anyway......... Talk about a weird relationship.   

[Daniel270]

She made it perfectly clear for me...

The MAME^TM is mine...

the Gyruss is hers!!

Well... bad news on the home front...

No gyruss....

[Bones]

What?? Huh?? Does your better half now have a high score in Gyruss of 355,200? (Web page pic)

[stellarola]

I tell you all what, to those who get crap from their significant other, they won't like it until it's built or finished. They just don't understand it until they find themselves playing on it for hours  . I'm always thinking of a new project to work on, I think my girlfriend gives me crap, more about money. When I bought my candy cab (Neo29) for $400, she told me "What am I (her) gonna spend $400 on?" I thought she had a good point until she came home from a day of shopping and spent like $200 on like 3 or 4 articles of clothing. Yea, we know who's buying useless stuff now...heh....BOTH OF US  .

[Daniel270]

What?? Huh?? Does your better half now have a high score in Gyruss of 355,200? (Web page pic)

Yep.. she's had the score on the MAME since January... hasn't even come close to tying it much less beating it

[Daniel270]

Stellarola....

The wife loves my MAME...  she plays it about as much as anyone else (and as mentioned above, she's got the running high score in Gyruss)...    Spending for it has NEVER been an issue, nor has any other project ideas I've had (including the ones I've actually started)....

I just feel bad that I promised her a genuine Gyruss (had the money set back for it as well, until the move became a certainty) and now, can't get it for her now that the game's FINALLY (been waiting since April) ready.  So, next best thing I can do for her is to build her a dedicated MAME bartop version.  It'll be a few months before I can get started on it (gotta move first), but she deserves what I promised her....or at least as close to it as I can possibly provide.

That is, unless anyone around the Branson Missouri area will have a fully working Gyruss for sale after maybe March of next year??   Seriously tho, I think that, for what space I'll eventually end up with, the bartop might be a better way to go... at least for a while.