Anyone involved in some sort of daily or ongoing operations department knows that there is always a cost of operations to each and every task. A bit of "give and take". This month we apply that principle to Co-Op Couples.

Read The Full Article: Co-Op Couples: A Little Give and Take

my wife and i tried UT3... didn't have much luck. i think we got past the first 2 rounds and got pretty bored with it

Good article. I'm one of the lucky ones. My wife loves a lot of different games. I'm still the gamer in this house obviously but when she has time she plays all kinds of stuff. She actually put about 85 hours into Fallout 3!

we don't have fallout 3 but my wife commandeered fable 2 when i got it and i hardly got to play. i guess you could consider me one of the lucky ones. she always wants to play on the weekends

me & my wife have been trying to do co-op couples date nite, our main problem is the time difference -(2 hr time frame)- between us & our friends on XBL, my wife not to much into games but stuff like L4D, Doom, she'll do

uhm...what? I guess my fiancee and I are another couple that "kicks these stereotype to the curb", and not just because we're both women. We both read this, looked and each other and said, "Uhhmm, there's something wrong here."

In our opinion: Gaming with your partner shouldn't be another obligation to fulfill. It should be _fun_ for both parties. True, that usually means compromise, but that's what relationships are built on.

We're lucky enough that we both like RPGs, and even luckier that we're finding we like the same kind of RPG.

Sure, gaming should be fun, but if it was fun alone, it wouldn't last as a hobby nor entertainment medium. Gaming is a way to relax, compete, relate, fantasize, and even give couples an escape when a night out isn't in the cards. Sometimes for one person to get the most enjoyment out of it, the other has to compromise, like you said. Which may mean trying games that don't fit your particular taste. So it is sometimes a sacrifice if there are more genres than just RPGs in the house.

Also: these articles are really more of a humorous look at how gaming affects a typical guy-loves-games-girl-doesn't-care household. Sometimes the article is deadpan, sometimes outright ridiculous, and sometimes serious. They most often reflect my point of view, which is why we encourage others to submit their experiences. No matter what the tone, though, it's completely up to you how to take it.

I've never felt that gaming with a significant other needed to be earned. Even with a spouse who doesn't enjoy my favorite games, or when the situation was a bit too competitive between us, the situation was never turned into an obligation.

Bribing a girlfriend with chores to play games with you doesn't seem like the greatest advice. Gaming together, even if she isn't into games at all, should be about having a good time with that person first and foremost. The same can be said for any other activity you share, such as movies, hobbies, crafts, etc.

Games I don't like or wouldn't play whatsoever can be extremely enjoyable simply because the social aspect is the inherent appealing nature of cooperative play.

Having a spouse that does enjoy playing the same games as you isn't required to be in a successful relationship with games. The experience can be more enjoyable because of the genre/content, but enjoying the cooperation will/should already be happening.