MMOs, Guilds, Endgame.... and Kids

After hitting level cap and completing the story in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward I feel like I'm pretty much done with the game until the next story patch hits.

The end game content of MMOs is usually tuned to be really fun with a consistent group of people.  Typically this is called a Guild but it goes by many other names.  In FFXIV it's called a Free Company.

I have a fantastic free company and they're always up for running content with anyone.  They're super inviting, friendly, fun to talk to, and a blast to run content with.

"So", you might ask, "what's the problem?"

Well, I have kids.  2 little kids under the age of 5.  They need things at all hours of the day.  It's better now that they're both out of the baby and toddler stage, but they still consistently need things even after they're all tucked in for the night.  Sometimes it's some water for their water bottles, other times my little one needs help with the potty (yay for potty training), occasionally my 4 year old needs to have a deep philosophical discussion about the stars.

My family will always be my priority, so I will drop whatever I'm doing to help them.  My typical activity after they're in bed is to game and if I'm not playing a game I can pause I just walk away from the keyboard.

Therein lies the problem.  If I'm playing a MMO with people that I actually know and who actually rely on me it means I can't just walk away from the keyboard.  Running that same content with random people through matchmaking is a viable option, but it's just not nearly as fun.

My current position is either run end game content without much fun with random people or run endgame content with my FFXIV free company and run the risk of ruining the experience for everyone else.

I don't like either of these options which is why I'm mostly done with FFXIV until there is more single player content.

I wonder how many other parents out there run into the same type of situation.

Comments

  1. Same for me, but I only have the one at home and she's 5, so it's very rare that she gets up after she's tucked in. For me it's more the wife than the child that prevents MMO playing at night. I can usually sneak in an hour 3 or 4 times a week, but I tend to binge on weekends instead of consistently playing in the evenings.

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  2. I do know that the FC (assuming Greysky?) is pretty awesome about setting up multiple statics for folks that can't necessarily run specific times. Maybe that's something to work out?

    I'm kind of selfish in that, when we do have kids, I'm really worried about what it'll do to my personal gaming time. But success stories like you, and many others, make it less scary. :)

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    Replies
    1. Having kids has definitely changed the types of games I'm willing to play. It's rare for me to get deep into online games now since there's no pause button. Single player experiences and mobile gaming are a much bigger part of my gaming rotation than they used to be.

      The other side of this is that they're getting older. It's a real possibility that I'll have 2 little gaming buddies for the games I'm interested in soon. They're already into Nintendo stuff that I like.

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