Social Gaming Guilt

Tonight, Wednesday night, in theory, means Puzzle Pirates with Keith and Jen. Mondays and/or Thursday are normally Team Fortress 2 with Lars, Jason, Lenny and potentially Chris. Fridays are Gears of War night with the GWJ crowd (Goo-Jers? GuJers?) This essentially leaves Tuesday night for the wife, Saturday and Sunday night for whatever. The problem is that sometimes, I don't want to play the "scheduled" game. I know, it's no big deal, just don't play that game that night. The problem is that despite the stereotype, gaming is a tremendously social thing for me, and for whatever reason, I am the unofficial leader of the gaming groups that I'm a part of. When we played Rise of Nations on Wednesdays, if I didn't pull everyone together, the game didn't happen. I know Lars will play Team Fortress 2 regardless of me showing up, but in the BF2142 days, lots of players wouldn't join the rest of the crew if I wasn't there.

So tonight should be Puzzle Pirates. I don't know what it is, but I seem to have lost some of my love for the game. When we first played, not only did I look forward to the weekly scheduled time, but I was getting some time sailing around pretty much every night. I think part of it is that I'm not as good at the puzzles as I used to be, which is driving me nuts. The other part is probably just that I haven't been as outgoing this time around, so I haven't met any interesting people. I love Keith and Jen, but I'm a big fan of "the more the merrier". Back in the old days, we'd have my local crew plus Mettrey, Saltyhog, Bladebuckle, Baldwin and their extended circles. It was really so much fun.

It's really the same thing with WoW. When I played my Priest, I think at least half of the time I was playing to hang out with the Team Totally Awesome guys, or whatever they are called now. I hear rumblings that Jim is asking for me to resubscribe, says I "owe him for all the times he got sick playing BattleField". I have to admit, it is tempting. The idea of grinding up to level 60 (or probably 70) is just too depressing when I have a stack of games that I REALLY want to finish and already strapped for time. It is certainly something I will consider if I can burn my stack down.