NMD // Gaming

The Fun of Gaming With the Boys

I still love a great game. But these days, if I’m sitting down for a few hours, the people on the other side of the headset matter just as much.

By Near Mint Dad Gaming Dad Time Matters

There’s a certain kind of night that probably doesn’t sound important when you try to explain it.

The day is winding down. Everything that needed to get done is handled—or handled enough. I sit down at the computer, put the headset on, and start seeing familiar names pop into Discord.

One guy joins. Then another. Somebody says something stupid before we’ve even launched the game, and within five minutes everybody is already laughing.

That’s when you know it’s going to be a good night.

It’s the Boys

I love gaming. I love finding a new world to get lost in, chasing progression, finding gear, building characters, and seeing what developers have created.

But when I think about some of my favorite nights gaming, I usually don’t remember the mission objective or what loot dropped.

I remember the guy who couldn’t follow directions. The friend who somehow died during the easiest part of the mission. The one who said “Trust me” right before getting everybody killed.

I remember everyone arguing about whose fault it was while laughing so hard we could barely keep playing.

We could be in Star Citizen, Tarkov, WoW, or whatever game has us hooked at the time. The game definitely matters—but the boys are what make the night.

My Time Means More Now

This is probably the biggest thing that has changed for me as I’ve gotten older and become a dad.

I don’t have unlimited hours to burn anymore. My son is everything to me, and time with him and my family is more important than anything happening on a screen.

So if I find myself sitting down for two or three hours to play a game, those hours matter.

I want the game to be good, obviously. But I also want to laugh my ass off with the boys. I want to catch up. I want somebody to do something stupid that we’ll still be giving them shit about months later.

If I’m spending some of that valuable free time gaming, I want it to feel worth it.

I want to take the headset off at the end of the night and think, Man, that was fun.

That’s what gives gaming a different kind of value for me now.

The Disaster Nights Win

And somehow, the nights that go completely wrong are usually the best ones.

Give me the mission that should have taken 20 minutes but turns into two hours. Give me the guy who crashes the ship. Give me the raid where we bring our best gear and lose everything almost immediately.

Give me the brilliant plan we spent half an hour putting together that completely falls apart 30 seconds after we start.

A perfectly executed mission feels great in the moment.

But six months later?

We’re still talking shit about the guy who crashed the ship.

Those stupid failures turn into stories, and those stories become part of the friendship.

Maybe One Day There’s Another Headset

Becoming a dad has also made me think about gaming differently in another way.

My son is too young right now to understand why Dad likes games, comics, technology, and all the other stuff I’m into.

But one day he won’t be.

Maybe he loves gaming. Maybe he couldn’t care less about it. That’ll be completely up to him.

But I’d be lying if I said I don’t picture another chair beside mine someday.

Maybe I get to show him one of the games I loved. Maybe he shows me whatever his generation is playing and spends the entire night telling me how terrible I am at it.

I’d love that.

One of the things that means the most to me about being a dad is finding ways to share the things I love with my son—not because I need him to love all the same things, but because experiencing something together is different from simply telling him about it.

If gaming ever becomes one of those things for us, that’ll be pretty damn special.

Worth Getting On For

Everybody gets older. Everybody gets busier. Careers grow, families grow, schedules get harder to line up, and a random Tuesday night doesn’t come with unlimited free time anymore.

That might be exactly why I appreciate these nights more now.

A few familiar names. A headset. A game we’re probably going to screw up somehow.

And a couple hours laughing with the boys.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to make a night worth getting on for.

Near Mint Dad Life doesn’t stay near mint. That’s kind of the point.