I share my house with a group of individuals, let's call them "my family" for argument's sake. Apparently at a meeting to which I wasn't invited they deviced a plan, a cunning strategy which sole goal is to keep me from gaming as much as possible. However, shrewd and clever as I am, I have seen through their evil ways and have devised a counter strategy. I want to share this with my fellow gamers who might be in the same position as me.
Be careful with sharing this information because they might get unto us and adjust their strategies!
Prepare yourself
First you have to observe their strategies. Watch for repetition in behavior, take notes. Identify the individuals and learn their strengths and weaknesses.
When you have gathered all the data you can begin defining your countermeasures.
There are two important rules to take into account.
The first one is Divide and Conquer, they might be formidable as a group but as individuals they are quite vulnerable.
The second one is to never let them know that you are on to them.
The leader of the pack
You must identify the leader of this conspiracy. This movement preventing you from gaming didn't start spontaneously, there is someone pulling the strings. Identifying the ringleader will be a good step in securing yourself some quality and well deserved game time.
The leader is usually easy recognizable, she (oops!) the leader is the most vocal one opposed to your gaming. Test this by casually grabbing your controller or keyboard at any given moment and act like you are going to start up a game. The first one asking what you are doing or suddenly coming up with some chore or alternative task that will prevent you from gaming is without a doubt the leader.
Now that you have identified the leader it is time to come up with countermeasures. First thing to do is separate the leader from his/her minions. Best tool for this is chores. Minions hate chores, make a schedule of chores and discuss this with the leader. Than make sure that the minions know that the schedule was actually the leader's idea. This will drive a wedge between the leader and his/her minions.
Next thing to do is not mention gaming altogether, don't talk about gaming or tell anyone you are planning to. This will make it hard for the leader to plan anything to prevent you from gaming.
Remember the schedule? This will be the guide for you planning your gaming sessions. Make sure you have everyone but yourself occupied at times that are ideal for you to have some great sessions.
Now start bribing the leader, they are susceptible to bribery, either material things or nice gestures. Then try to wear them out, make sure the leader is so exhausted that he/she doesn't have the energy to do some game-blocking.
I leave it to you own imagination what is needed to exhaust the leader
The general
This is the right-hand man (or woman) of the leader. The general is most likely the oldest of the minions. The general mimics the leaders behavior and will report any gaming activity to the leader. Be wary of the general because they are sneaky beings.
To counter the general you must know what drives him/her. This is not that hard because most likely the general will be a teen (if the general is older but living in your house the tactic will still work). Let the general constantly know who controls the internet and internet services like Netflix in the house and who paid for the general's mobile phone. A great tactic is to block the internet for a couple of hours just to drive home the point you are making.
By this time, because of the chore list, the relation between the leader and the general will be shaky at best.
The Rival
A dangerous opponent because he/she has the same agenda as you and that is to do as much gaming as possible. Because of this the rival will participate in the conspiracy against you so that he can have the console/PC all to himself.
The best strategy here is the "Homework" strategy. But instead of directly asking the rival if he has done his/her homework, you alert the Leader of the fact that the rival is playing video games instead of doing homework.
The Leader will proceed to confront the rival (because the leader has the natural urge to stop all forms of gaming) securing your window for some care free game time.
Another strategy for dealing with the rival is distracting him/her with shiny things. Nintendo has some great options like the Nintendo 3DS and the really awesome Nintendo switch, success is guaranteed.
The leftovers
At this point only insignificant pawns will be standing between you and your gaming machine. All that is left is....
PS. This guide also works great for other activities like Steemit!
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