I never thought I'd be a war widow

Joey from Friends knew this wasn't the time to ask his mate how he was 'doin'

Ok, so I don't have a husband in the army and he is in fact alive and well at present. But I have lost him. I've lost him...to BF.

Nope - not best friend. Nope - not boyfriend (trust me he's as straight as a ruler). I'm talking about...BATTLEFIELD.

For those in the dark (where you should remain I might add), Battlefield is a game. A war game played on your Xbox, Playstation or computer (probably other mediums too but I can't be arsed to look them up). Teenagers play it, and so do men who are almost 40.

My husband has always been into computer/video games, but since a few years ago this one has slowly taken over the rest and encroached our lives. Not only does he play it most nights and sometimes during the day on the weekend, but he also looks at his BF game stats on his phone as well as videos on YouTube - that is, videos of people recording their games and doing 'hilarious' commentaries. Cough.

He also has a few mates who are BF nutbags as well, and they play together in teams online and talk to each other on headsets like NERDS. When those headphones go on he may as well be dead to me. He certainly can't hear a word I'm saying. We could have a home invasion resulting in the kids and I being abducted and he wouldn't have a clue.

One time he was part of a BF 'clan' (I'm not making this up, that's what they're called), where him and a bunch of strangers played together as their own army side against other 'clans' - and yes they were all family men in their 30s and 40s. There was even one player's wife who was in on the act, I believe her avatar was 'French Maiden.' Cough.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised though considering the average age of Australian gamers is 32 (source). With the advancement of technology, games are so much better now than they used to be (in terms of graphics, functionality, etc.), and the money pumped into the industry is nothing short of insane so it's no wonder older dudes (and chicks too!) are frequently gettin' their game on.

Anyway, I'm not sure what happened to the clan, but my husband's obsession with BF is still stronger than ever and now it's BF4 we're talking about - that's how many versions of the game they're up to now (no one plays the other BFs anymore, didn't you know?).

Let me be clear on something though - I'm not slamming games. I love games and have always been the kind of person who races to get Pictionary when friends come round. I even used to be into the handheld / computer type ones too.

I'm fully aware of how many tickets I have on myself when I say this, but yes, I am nothing short of AWESOME at Tetris (and can play a pretty mean Frogger too). We also have a sitdown arcade machine in our house which I sometimes play - let's not talk about the day I couldn't leave the house until I got to the final level of Galaga (and that's nothing compared to the time I cried because I couldn't get past a certain level in Double Dragon back on the archaic family PC).

Other than that though I'm afraid games these days don't get much of a look in (unless they're hide n' seek and playdough).

And speaking of the children, it's evident my boys are now following Daddy into war. My three year-old loves his toy soldiers ("just like Daddy's game!") and screams "medic" when any of his toys happen to fall over or get "boo boos." God help me.

Back to my husband though, even though it does seem crazy how into BF he is, he does love it (except when he's swearing at the screen because his team lost or the internet is causing lags). He does really love war history though, especially watching docos, so perhaps he was in the army in a former life and this is his instinctual outlet.

Who knows. All I know is it's not all bad being a war widow. I get to do things like watch my own TV programs and do uninterrupted work at night without feeling guilty.

And in years to come I know all the boys in the house will be off at 'war' (probably even the cat as well), and it will just be lonely old me at one end of house...playing tetris on the arcade with a bottle of wine.

Now that's my idea of awesome.

Also a BF war widow? Unleash your woes in the comments
 
Photo credit: gamerhub.tv