School's Back in Session - More Free Time?

Ah, the beginning of September. School starts, TV shows start up again (or start new), the days get shorter and cooler. All things that you'd think would allow for more free time to 'game.' (except for the TV shows - but that's what DVR's are for!)

So far, I have not found that to be true. Seems I've been spending all of my "free" time playing catchup up for things left undone during hectic days of summer, or *gasp* working. Working's all well and good, after all, it does support my gaming habit. But it sure does cut into "free" time I could be doing something else. (And if you haven't figured out the "something else" is gaming by now, you should just click "next blog")

Back in the good 'ol days before I went back to work part-time, I had gobs and gobs of time while the kids were in school to run an instance, or knock out a few quests, do a reputation grind, whatever struck my fancy. And since I usually only work 1/2 days, I often have 2 hours before the rugrats shoot off the bus to do those things. So far this month tho', I've picked up a few extra jobs, and it's kept me hopping.

How to juggle everything so I have some fun too? That IS the question of the hour. I do a lot of multi-tasking. As I write this, dinner is sizzling on the stove (any mispellings are probably due to my constant getting up from the computer to stir something) and I have to keep an eye on the kids playing outside so no one (else) jumps off the top of the swing set in an attempt to reach the pool. I still have 2 hours worth of work to do after dinner, so looks like I'll miss my weekly Wow jaunt w/ Dad and Bro. I'm hoping to still be able to jump on after working, so that I can finish the 1/2 a level my priest needs to hit 54.

Hoping next week will be calmer. Sort of. The money from the work is a nice boost to the budget, but sure cuts into the game-time budget.

Can Parents Really Raid?

My brother and I were recently having a chat about how once you have kids, your gaming time is cut waaaay down. He's got a work friend that plays Wow with us, and has been trying to recruit us for his raiding guild. We both were not willing to commit to it, as they wanted people who could raid one or two week-nights every week.

His daughter is just a year old, so he's at the peak of 'gamus-interuptus' (that's Latin for "just when you've got the boss down to 15% health, the baby cries"). My kids are in elementary school, and we're into the homework years, the bicker over who's turn it is to play on the Wii years, the "I know you told me to get ready for bed, but I'm going to ignore you and hope you get too involved in your game to notice" years.

All these interruptions are minor in the grand scheme of home life. But it could be major in gaming life. I play Blizzard's World of Warcraft. I consider myself a casual player, in that I am on a PVE server, and rarely enter the battlegrounds to do any PVPing. I spend most of my online time doing quests, or grinding for gold or reputation. And I've hardly run any of the big instances. Why? I have kids. "Bah!" you say, "many people who PVP or run The Slave Pens have kids." Yes, I'm sure it's true. What keeps me from doing the bigger instances or raids is the time commitment. It's rare for me to get an hour of un-interupted time. Oh, I will often play Wow for 2 or 3 hours at a time, but that almost always includes me /AFKing for a few mins every 30 minutes or so, and that would SO not go over well during a raid.

Most people on my server try to start an instance run by 7:00 or 8:00pm, so they've got 3 or 4 hours to run the whole thing. Smack in the middle of the run would be my kid's bed time - and I can't get away with a quick peck on the cheek, pat on the butt and off to bed with ya. Nope, bed time takes at least 15 minutes. Times 2 kids. Even after I've put the kids to bed, at least one but usually both of them will be up one more time for something, or I have to stand at the bottom of the stairs and yell "Don't MAKE me come up there!" in an attempt to put an end to the pitter-patter of little feet running between sibling's rooms.

The start time is often a problem for me as well. During the school year, we've got homework to check and discuss, backpacks to load for the next day and if I'm feeling organized, lunches to get ready. My husband often doesn't get home from work until 6 or 6:30, so a 5:30 dinner is not common in our house. Even if the group were to be ok with me joining late, (after all, that's what "summoning" is for, right?) and could put up with all the "I'll be afk for just a couple - go ahead, I'll catch up", there's the glaring fact that my character is woefully under-geared (read: no purple/Epic gear) because, well, I don't do instances, so I can't get the gear. I only can gear up with what I can get on the games Auction House or craft, much of which is fine for grinding, but "meh" for real destruction.

My brother and I have solved our immediate problem of guild members giving us a hard time for never joining in on guild instance runs by creating our own guild. Currently, it consists of only family members, including my 75 year old Dad (who has been playing Wow for almost a year) and both of my kids, who play only occasionally, and umpteen alts for each of us. Family always understands when they hear "Mom, I can't find my (insert favorite toy of the week) and I can't go to sleep without it" over Ventrillo. Family never /heavy sigh's when you've got to let the dog in/out for the 3rd time tonight. And Family never gives you a hard time when you post "I'm not going to join the run tonight, we're going to the Hannah Montana movie". Well, almost never. (Just you wait, brother dear, your time is coming!)