As the title of this new blog alludes to I’ve recently become a father, which still seems like an odd thing to say. As such I wanted to get down how my new life role may or may not change my gaming habits. Gaming is my main hobby, form of relaxation, time killer, and emotional outlet, so having a very young family might break me if I can no longer play. Okay, that might seem a little dramatic and probably is.
This weekly blog will help me reflect on what the week has brought. It will also allow you, the reader, to get an insight into my progressively shattering mind and watch as carnage, or at least gaming related tweets, ensues during early fatherhood.
The tweets will come from my personal account @nova_47 and account for the podcast I host @TankedUP_Cast because I’m tired and I can’t be relied upon to switch accounts when a 140 character stroke of genius comes to me. I’ll link the tweet and give you a little-reflected explanation as to my state of mind at the time and further context. Don’t worry this will strictly relate to gaming. No one wants to read about nappies unless that’s your thing.
Pokemon Go everywhere
So having a new baby means loads of calming, gentle walks. Oh and all the #PokemonGO I could wish for.
— Tanked UP (@TankedUP_cast) July 12, 2016
I’ve mostly been playing Pokémon Go. Okay, I know what your thinking. Using my new baby to get out of the house and catch small digital critters probably isn’t something a new father should exploit. But I was desperate, I hadn’t gamed for about 5 days and needed something to keep the shakes at bay. Turns out Pokémon Go is pretty fun, if currently a little basic and not really all it could and should be.
#Furi has some beautiful environments and tight, challenging combat albeit a little frustrating at times #PS4sharepic.twitter.com/D1I4TBpkEo
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) July 12, 2016
Look a tweet about a game, no mention of a baby. I got a chance to sit down, yeah during sleep sessions, and played this brutally difficult boss battler. The fact that its single player and offline means I can pause it. Pause! What a revelation. When baby stirs or cries I can push a button, pause my progress, and come back to it whenever I want. I think this idea of pausing what you’re doing during a game might catch on.
With a new baby comes hordes of visitors. Don’t they know I’ve got prisons to design during sleep time!
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) July 13, 2016
I’m realising the only time I’m going to get to play is when the baby is sleeping, either on me or in her sleep pod foam thing. However, why does everyone want to see a new baby, don’t these people understand I bought Prison Architect in the Steam sale and I want to play that instead of chatting about babies. Steam currently says I’ve played 17 hours. Maybe I fell asleep and left the PC on because I’m still on the first campaign mission. Either that or I’ve blocked from memory being really bad at it.
The forever unfinished prison
My life currently feels like a new MMO. All I’m doing are fetch and escorts quests. No boars have appeared yet though #dadlife #Wambulance
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) July 14, 2016
Explains itself really.
The first two weeks of fatherhood have been difficult and that’s only considering my gaming situation. I didn’t expect to game much during this time but found that, without the release of Pokémon Go, I would have played the same in 2 weeks as I normally would have in 2 days. Not off to a great start then. At least the baby is still alive and doing really well. Small victories.
Remember until next week
[…] three weeks into baby number 2 and as with my first New Dad post with baby 1, I am getting in some Pokémon Go every day. It’s mostly limited to the school […]