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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Incompatibilities and his gaming addiction

18 replies

Tcbay52 · 26/11/2025 18:48

Hey all, I need some advice. My boyfriend of 10 months recently broke up with me but then came back (the same day...). He apologized and claimed he wanted to fix things. I'm his first girlfriend, he's always been kind, helped me through depression and returning to university, often asked me how I felt. He talks about marriage and children. I agreed to therapy because he insisted on me going. Now we live together. I know it might be too quick but we always wanted to do this.

We're very different. He often texts his uni female friends and hangs out with male friends too. I only have one female friend in another city. All of them are taken but I'm still jealous. He did favours for these girls and bought them souvenirs from vacation. They used to regularly drop him off too. I set a boundary that he shouldn't hang out with the girls one on one. I have trust issues even if he's meeting a male friend so I often try to join him and his male friends for beer or the gym. One female friend suggested him a summer internship abroad together but we were planning to go to the States in the summer so he declined. It made me uneasy about potential emotional intimacy between them during such a long stay abroad, and about her intentions in general. She said she didn't wanna go alone.

I'm frustrated that he spends almost all his free time gaming. I'm struggling to stay productive myself when he only focuses on entertainment. He plays everyday after work for at least 3 hours & if I'm not there he can play for days. I asked him to reduce it but he insists it's his passion. He often needs rest from me and a lot of 'me-time'. He admitted he can finally breathe whenever I travel somewhere without him. I wanted to try couples counselling but he recently gave me an ultimatum - either I stop controlling his free time and relationships (male friends he goes to the gym or to drink with), or it's over. I appreciate his other activities & he does household chores but almost all his spare time is gaming. We've signed up for a language course together only because I wanted to. I feel he lacks ambition and goals beyond the PC in everyday life. He has a job and a degree but I think it's kind of a bare minimum.

I don't know how to talk to him anymore. Expressing my concerns ends up in him blaming me and telling me I'm the problem. His friends & family agree with him. I told him I'm unsure if he actually cares about the relationship. He said he does, otherwise he "would've dumped me long ago after finding out I was expelled from uni" (I waited a bit too long to tell him that). I'm unsure if I'm the problem or he simply doesn't care enough. How to ask for a compromise? Whenever he grabs the console or sits in front of the PC I get so irritated. I don't want to watch him waste his whole life like this. He says he likes his 'gamer' lifestyle.

OP posts:
Justlostmybagel · 26/11/2025 18:53

Obvious answer is dump him immediately. I don't see the big conundrum.

Thehop · 26/11/2025 18:55

You are not good for each other, you need to split:

PashaMinaMio · 26/11/2025 19:04

I’m so sorry to say it OP but it’s over. A think you’re both a bit to blame. I get a slight feeling you’re perceived as being a bit clingy and/or controlling and your description of him suggests hes not only immature but needs more freedom than being in a relationship can give him.

He’s a dyed in the wool gamer and probably always will be unless you have lots of rows about it and eventually split because the relationship becomes toxic.

The fact his family are siding with him suggests they might be hoping you’ll break up.

Project your mind to the future with him. You bogged down with kids while he games, goes out with the boys and leaves you at home.

Nah! You’re well shot of him. Block him on absolutely everything so he has “room to breathe!”
Get yourself back out there. The right one is waiting in the wings fof you.

Mum4MrA · 26/11/2025 19:08

Sorry, I don’t think he’s the one for you. If you aren’t on the same page at this stage of a relationship, then it’s (probably) not going to work. You deserve better. Good luck.

BestWay · 26/11/2025 19:08

You’ve only been together 10 months and you’re clearly incompatible and neither of you seem to particularly enjoy the relationship. Split up and move on with your life. There is no dilemma really.

AmberSpy · 26/11/2025 19:10

I could never date someone who spent upwards of three hours a day gaming, that's a huge turn off. That said, you trying to tag along even when he is just spending time with male friends sounds absolutely exhausting and I don't blame him for being sick of it. Honestly it sounds like this relationship is not doing either of you much good, I'd advise ending it for good and moving on.

Slightyamusedandsilly · 26/11/2025 19:11

He's an arse. A man child. He spends most of his time playing.

Is that really what you want in a partner? It's like your boyfriend is 13 years old.

Tcbay52 · 26/11/2025 19:13

PashaMinaMio · 26/11/2025 19:04

I’m so sorry to say it OP but it’s over. A think you’re both a bit to blame. I get a slight feeling you’re perceived as being a bit clingy and/or controlling and your description of him suggests hes not only immature but needs more freedom than being in a relationship can give him.

He’s a dyed in the wool gamer and probably always will be unless you have lots of rows about it and eventually split because the relationship becomes toxic.

The fact his family are siding with him suggests they might be hoping you’ll break up.

Project your mind to the future with him. You bogged down with kids while he games, goes out with the boys and leaves you at home.

Nah! You’re well shot of him. Block him on absolutely everything so he has “room to breathe!”
Get yourself back out there. The right one is waiting in the wings fof you.

Edited

It's all weird to me because right now he's acting all nice and normal, like nothing happened... No thought about having made an ultimatum like this and its effect on me. He won't even ask why I'm so cold now.

OP posts:
RealEagle · 26/11/2025 19:15

You don’t like him going out without you,with male or female friends.He games to much .This is not gonna work .

RescueMeFromThisSilliness · 26/11/2025 19:45

I agreed to therapy because he insisted on me going

He insisted? Good grief. You've been together less than a year, and he is insisting that the relationship needs therapy? I expect he though that the therapy would turn you into the person he wants you to be, which is a complete doormat who lets him do whatever he likes with no consideration for you whatsoever.

Stuff that for a game of soldiers. You are stuck with this twat. Don't put up with it any more. Just dump him and move out.

gamerchick · 26/11/2025 19:50

It shouldn't be hard 10 months in OP. You aren't compatible. You can't control his free time, you need to stop doing that with your next relationship. He isn't going to stop his hobbies for you. Tbh gamers shouldn't date none gamers. It never works. I wouldn't.

You're not going to work long term.

anonymoususer9876 · 26/11/2025 19:56

You both want different things and they are too important to either of you to have any kind of compromise.

You both sound young still. I do think you’d benefit from your own therapy about trust. And I think he needs time to live his single life and learn how to be less selfish before he embarks on a relationship that may end up with children.

ReleaseTheDucksOfWar · 26/11/2025 22:52

Tcbay52 · 26/11/2025 19:13

It's all weird to me because right now he's acting all nice and normal, like nothing happened... No thought about having made an ultimatum like this and its effect on me. He won't even ask why I'm so cold now.

  1. if someone makes an ultimatum it better have a bloody good reason like, stop drinking because it's ruining our life. When an ultimatum is given it means the relationship is already on a knife edge.

  2. "he won't even ask why I'm so cold now" If you're being cold and and you're expecting him to ask, to be blunt that's slightly manipulative of you. You're doing it (I guess) to get a reaction from him and try to reconnect with him, but the fact of the matter is that if you are having to behave like this, then really it's already over.

Physically write down the pluses and minuses of the relationship as it really is now on a piece of paper and weigh it up.

Frankly from all you've said, it's not going to go anywhere and honestly, next time expect better for yourself. If you can't talk honestly and have to slide into manipulation to get anywhere, it's a bad relationship for the long term.

VimesandhisCardboardBoots · 27/11/2025 15:36

It sounds like you're just massively incompatible with each other. Why stay in a relationship that isn't working?

It does also sound like you doing like him doing anything where his attention isn't fully on you. He can't do his hobby, he can't go out with his friends, you have to be front and centre at all times. It may be worth working on that before your next relationship.

surreygirly · 27/11/2025 15:44

I could not waste my time with a man who plays silly little kids games all night
I need a man not a boy

OriginalUsername2 · 27/11/2025 15:56

You’re not compatible.

You need someone with more ambition and less female friends. You can’t make him into that, you have to take people as they are.

shuggles · 27/11/2025 16:23

@Tcbay52 We're very different. He often texts his uni female friends and hangs out with male friends too. I only have one female friend in another city. All of them are taken but I'm still jealous. He did favours for these girls and bought them souvenirs from vacation. They used to regularly drop him off too. I set a boundary that he shouldn't hang out with the girls one on one

The majority of men don't have any female friends at all.

But those men are not pursued for relationships.

Pashazade · 27/11/2025 16:50

Honestly far too much drama for a ten month relationship? Therapy this early into a relationship, dear lord that’s ridiculous. As others have said you’re not compatible, just chalk him up to experience and move on, life is too short for this nonsense.

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