How do your guy's wives deal with all the clutter?

[Anthony1]

Okay, I know that some of you guys must be in the same kind of boat that I'm in. You have a wife, and you have this gaming hobby, and at different points in time the two things collide and you start to have some problems.

My wife has always been pretty cool about my gaming addiction. She knows that I need to play games every now and then for a couple of hours, and she cuts me the slack and the space to do that.

But when I got into this whole retro thing, and I started getting these old systems and games and accessories and stuff. She thought I lost it. She has a real problem with Clutter and the whole Pack Rat mentality. She is always going through her closet and giving her old clothes to Goodwill and stuff. Going the the Garage and getting rid of stuff we rarely use. Leaving stuff in the driveway for the Salvation Army to pickup, etc, etc.

So here I am, buying up all these old video game systems. It was bad enough, that I already had two current video game systems lying around the house. Now, I"m adding 6 old ones. And of course you have the controllers, and the cables and the power adapters, and the extension cords, and memory cards and Turbo Taps and stuff.

I also got my old RGB gaming monitor out of the Garage and set it up in my computer room.

Anyways, to try to appease her, I went and got 4 of those large plastic drawers that people use to put clothes and stuff in. I was able to squeeze all my old systems and games and controllers and cables and stuff into these plastic bins. Then what I do is I'll pull one system out and have it hooked to the RGB Monitor in the Den/Home Office, and then I will have another one hooked up to the Big Screen TV in the living room. Then I just rotate the systems. I put all the games and controllers away every night though. And I do my best to hide all the cables and power adapters.

Anyways, I was just wondering how you guys deal with the Wife and the whole clutter situation. I know that some of you guys are fortunate to have your own dedicated "Game Rooms", but not all of us have the extra bedrooms to accomodate that.

On a side note - In the next several years we are going to build a huge add on to our home, and one of the extra rooms that comes out of the deal, will be my personal game room/museum, but that is still about 4 or 5 years away.

[maxlords]

My wife just accepts it as part of who I am. Course...when we were dating I made it abundantly clear that this is how it is :D

[Videogamerdaryll]

I figure...My wife doesn't like it very much mainly because I buy too much and our place is small....so I try and keep some things hidden like all the stuff I got this weekend..I had a big pile of stuff on the living room floor that would of made her eyes :o

I put it all away before she got home..,my wall of games is one tier higher now..but she didn't notice..and everything else is in the closets.
She did see the pics I took of some of the stuff I got today (weekend finds)and didn't say anything... :)
She Collects Coca Cola items and has a rather large collection..not like my clutter,but clutter..
I also help her with that collection..adding many items this weekend.

When I met her I had a large collection(living with my mom)..and I told her that I will never stop collecting video games...it's on my blood...
Now it's for my Son..
My wife is a gamer too..but I think she just might be bothered by all my Video game clutter..
I don't want t ask her...

[Bratwurst]

My wife goes HEY GET THAT SHIT OFF OF MY SIDE OF THE BED only I'm not married I really only keep a gnome captive in my fridge and sometimes he yells at me so I like to think we're in wedlock. Domestic squabble and all.

[dave2236]

no wife + lots of games = no problems


in the future

non-gaming wife + lots of games = holy crap..I'll have to make a Mario/DH bed

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I don´t have wife, i´m happy...i have fun with my games...in a future, i expect that my wife loooooveeeees the video games...

[Goblin]

I have a closet in the basement that I do my best to confine my collection to. I hate clutter myself so if I need more space than that, then something is wrong. My wife is very understanding, but it helps that she actually enjoys playing games from time to time, so if I come home with a few titles, I just make sure one is something she would enjoy. (Hey look what I bought for you). The only other house rule is that I'm not allowed to pick up another arcade cabinet until she gets her pinball machine.

[mrhaboobi]

Im not whipped, problem solved. 8-)

Plus it helps that my girlfriend ( living together for 6 years so may as well be married ) works in a video game store. Needless to say shes trying to work for the local game distributors, so i dont ever see my collecting ending.

[digitalpress]

When she married me, she married the collection too.

She's not "happy" about it but it's just who I am. Before Liz there were some who were a little too high-strung about it, or less tolerant, or would avoid discussion or acknowledgement about this little fascination of mine. Liz embraced the gaming though she's really not a gamer, and there are rooms in our home that are off-limits game-wise (you'll never see any trace of the hobby in our living room, kitchen/dining area, master bedroom.

I try to be as considerate as possible. It may technically be "clutter", but it's always organized clutter so it doesn't look like a mess.

[nellwyn5]

Heh, actually I'm kind of worried about this. My fiance and I don't like together. The stuff that I have in Japan can fit on one of those metal shelves. However, at home in NY I have much more, and I have plans to increase this collection tenfold. I'm afraid that she's going to get to NY and be kind of annoyed. She knows I collect, but I wonder if she KNOWS I collect? In reality it doesn't make a difference since it's a part of me I'm not giving up, but I'd rather it be something we can do together instead of an argument. Any suggestions to a young couple?

[Mayhem]

Given what I saw of QoF's place, she's worse than me :P LOL

[Quazick]

My girlfriend think it's pretty cool. I guess....

[Keir]

My wife actually likes it. No, she's not a gamer, but before I got into serious collecting I was always the neat freak and she was the messy one. Now she has an excuse to leave here crap everywhere!

Like Joe said, however, some rooms are off limits (the bedroom for instance). One night soon after I got the latest DPG I brought it to bed with me to read. She just looked at me and said "No."

[hydr0x]

my girlfriend hasn't got too much problems with it, i've been collecting since i know her and she does also play some games (Mario & Zelda games, Pikmin). What she loves is watching me play "cute" rpgs (lufia and such stuff). The only thing is, we only have a 50 m² appartment for the next 5-7 years (during our study) and she wants me to not get more things than can be stored in this appartment without making it look like a mess. But she already has allowed me to get a big game-room in our future house YAY

[Dobie]

My wife has more clutter than I do. She collects.... well, everything having to do with dishes. Pyrex, Fiestaware, Cathrineholm, and much, much, more! So she can't say a word about my stuff. 8-)

[christianscott27]

my wife deals with it pretty well considering games are just not her thing. it does come up sometimes in a bad way "plastic junk" is usually what she calls it. now that we have a baby, space is more of an issue than before, i have made the game room into a more family friendly place. i made it childproof, put the babies toys in there and we also hang out in there to watch DVDs on the PS2 (thanks sony, she really likes that feature). in the not too distant future we'll have to move and only time will tell if i'll be able to secure a decent game room in the next place. to be fair i have a lot of stuff, besides the standard shelves of systems and games i have a stand up arcade game, a cocktail game and two countertops, lots of other game "stuff" besides. i've also hosted half a dozen trademeets or as she calls them "nerdfests" at our place, the last one getting pretty big and messy.

so even though her gaming side consists of a few rounds of mario on the GB and a couple attempts at pac man she's been very cool about it. in a perfect world she'd love games as much as i do but still i'm a happy man.

[ghsqb]

My wife's a saint.

She plays games with me, I'm teaching her about the hobby.
She knows if she's in a thrift what some of the really rare games are.

I was looking at trading one of my copies of Lunar: SSS for Sega CD and she pipes up with "Make sure to check the artwork on the disk and make sure you have a double" :-D

Like I said, saint!

[Tritoch]

It's weird, because my wife WOULD be a gamer if she let herself be. She knows how addictive they are though, so she specifically avoids playing video games outside of the occasional game of Pac-Man (emulated in Pac-Man World 2 on GCN even though we have the 2600 cart), Breakout (the day our 2600 paddles broke was a sad one for her), Mario Party, Mario Kart 64, etc.

As for the clutter, I keep a few "current" systems (right now GameCube, Xbox, GBA due to the GB Player, and N64 for it's multiplayer) hooked up in the living/main room and housed in the big entertainment center we bought. The rest are in the Gaming Room/Study (PS2 since I mostly play RPGs on it, DC, 2600, NES, SNES, Genesis/CD/32x, VB, Game Gear), and housed in our old entertainment center and the closet. The computer desk is also located in the study (along with my beat-up, but wondefully comfortable couch from college), but since she rarely uses the PC it never becomes much of a problem. Even though I keep that room mostly neat (by my standards anyway), she still avoids it for the most part.

[chevy_chase]

I got three words for you : Domestic Violence.

Allways seems to do the trick for me

[Keir]

What? >:(

[hydr0x]

I got three words for you : Domestic Violence.

Allways seems to do the trick for me

*ban*

[Starcade]

I am single, living with my mom, she bitches alot about my games, partly because I dont clean them up really, but they are in MY room, on MY floor, yet most games I am not playign are in my closet, neatly stacked. :) I get tired of her bitching constantly though, she collects all these little miniiature lighthouses and dolls and stuff, why cant i have a few carts around? :hmm:

[Raedon]

move out.. you can be as messy as you want then :)

[Starcade]

@ Raedon, I am 15, I have a job, but it pays me like I am some sort of slave, also, I plan on living with mom untill I am like 30, by then I will have alot of cash in the bank, and by then, mom may be dead (Hope not), and the house is all mine anyways. :)

Note: No, I am not wishing death to my poor old mother!

[rbudrick]

Wow dude...you are soooo whipped. I don't yet live my girlfriend, but for the last 7 years, she has been completely supportive of my collection. She digs hunting em out with me, although she doesn't play em much.

I certainly don't agree with chevy_chase (who really isn't funny, as he profoundly admits), but a big "F.U., Lady!" would probably do it.

Those who don't collect *something* have got to have some sort of mental condition. Doens't your wife collect something that she's passionate about? If not, she should be supportive of your hobbies, IMO.

Sorry, didn't mean to rant on ya there.

-Rob

[IGotTheDot]

Mine doesn't care much. I just need to keep things somewhat organized if it isn't in the game room. How the game room looks is up to me. The door says closed becase the cats are not invited.

[Darth Vader]

Having a big house with an even bigger basement helps! As long as I have the stuff organized, my wife really has no problem with it. She sometimes thinks I am nuts, but I am the same as when I married her almost 8 years ago. Plus she likes to play some of the old NES and SNES games so that helps!

Danny

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

It's pretty easy for me - virtually all game-related goodies are contained within the Escape Pod. There's a Playstation in the den, but that's really about it as far as stuff that anybody can see when they walk in the door.

[chevy_chase]

Hey... guys and girls, about the domestic violence thing.... just kidding!
I was just trying to be anoying (Seems i was succesfull ;) ), some people just have an akward sense of humor i guess, and i'm one of them...

Peace, And don't beat anyone....
except for the elderly (because they're weak, so it's easy to pick on them, GNAAAGNAAAGNAAA)

[sniperCCJVQ]

The door says closed becase the cats are not invited.

No cat jizzed on the stuff !