Hi, my name is Matt, and I’m a recovering gaming addict.

              

No, not gambling gaming, video games.  That’s right, I’m 28 years old, and I still care way too much about what is going to happen to Mario next (how can one plumber possibly get into so much trouble?). I stay up way later than I should trying to win yet another Halo match with my buddies.  And on occasion I may or may not completely tune out my wife while in the “zone”.  To be blunt, I spend way too much time playing games rather than taking care of responsibilities that really matter.  It’s sick, and I’m sick of it. 

                However, I think there is something to video games that resonates deeply with men.  It isn’t the cool graphics (although they keep getting better all the time), or the neat game play, or even the in-depth storylines.  These all add to the entertainment value of a game, but I think the guys who make these games are really intelligent and knowledgeable about the psyche of a man. 

                On Xbox, not only do you have the joy of playing the game through, but in nearly every game there are also assigned side objectives that you can score to your all-so-important “gamertag.”  Each time you complete an objective, it is added to your overall score so that everyone who looks at your gamertag can know just how good you are.  It is no coincidence that these side  objectives are called “Achievements”.

                Achievement is what we men crave and need for our fragile self-esteems.  The makers of video games know this, and this need for achievement is what draws us time and time again into these carefully crafted video game traps.  They prey on our need to feel like we built, conquered, or mastered something, and quite frankly, video games are an easy way to do that.  But this blog isn’t about video game addiction, and in any event, at the beginning of this post I claimed I was a recovering game addict, not a current one. 

                What is it that has my addiction on the run?  I can tell you it isn’t my iron will and I didn’t have to hit rock bottom to get there.  Instead it was one of the greatest moments in my life, when I became a father.  Not only am I a first-time dad, but I also have the privilege of staying at home with my baby boy.  Many men might find this hard to understand, but through our daily schedule, I find a good deal of achievement through watching my son’s growth and his progression.  We housedads should find satisfaction in this, because without our hard work every day at home, our children would not have the same opportunities for family connection that aid in their growth.  It is a good thing for us to take pride in our children and our role in the wonderful blessings they are to the world.  Instead of hiding our roles as housedads we should display our status just like our gamertag score to everyone.