At least this guy has his prorities right... make the house out of ice yeah, but make sure you can still get on XBL

It takes a lot of work for this site to run as well as it does. Some people might take Victor’s Twitter whoring, the fantastic forum or the regular updates for granted but behind the scenes, there is a fair amount of co-ordination. Being a lowly writer, the majority of my behind the scenes work centres around making sure my articles don’t cover the same topics as something that is due to be published – and working on blueprints for an unusually large Gaming Lives jizzgloo for Markuz, but that’s confidential. For example, I know that fellow GL writer, Ben is currently writing about the culture of female gamers hiding under the idea of ‘girl power’. The whole “I’m a gamer and a girl! OMFGZ!” culture is a rather annoying and borderline sexist one; you wouldn’t see a male chef saying “I work in a kitchen and I’m a boy!” for example so why girl gamers need their gender pre-fixed to their hobby is beyond me, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss.

While girl gamers seem to be all the rage, being a (guy) gamer and a self professed geek still comes with a lot of stigma. Despite the majority of households in the UK owning at least one console, gamers are still seen by the general public as nerdy, reclusive virgins which is only half true and while I don’t really give a damn what the general public think of me, this image of a basement dwelling, sex starved man-child; controller in one hand, Warhammer rule book in the other is very debilitating when trying to find a partner. Without trying to brag, I have had a fair few girlfriends but none of them really embraced my inner geek. They could accept it, but they never quite understood it. We’d never cuddle up on the sofa and have a quiet night in front of the Xbox, we never once had a discussion about why a Utahraptor would win a fight against a Japanese spider crab and we certainly didn’t share the same enthusiasm for collectible figurines and Lego. This always led to the sense that I could never fully be myself around girls, which may explain why my relationships don’t seem to last very long. Do you know how devastating it is to find out that your girlfriend thought the stormtrooper helmets on your hoody were cars because she’d never seen Star Wars? Or to receive a blank, empty stare after explaining that you spent £25 on a Halo 3 figurine because it “looked awesome”? If not then you are lucky to have a partner who understands and accepts you for who you are. Or you don’t own Star Wars clothing and gaming toys.

I asked my last girlfriend if she'd like to "polish my helmet until it shone" and her eyes lit up until I whipped this baby out!

The problems aren’t just limited to conversations or the time spent together either. Valentine’s Day is a particularly difficult celebration for most men in relationships because, let’s be honest ladies, we’re too busy staring at your chest to hear or care what type of perfume you’re requesting. Depending on how you look at it, I was lucky enough to be in a relationship when Valentine’s Day rolled around last year. She used to be an avid PC gamer, but I didn’t hold it against her – she had a 360 and a SNES after all so she wasn’t a total lost cause…Valentine’s Day was approaching and we both agreed that presents where in order. Being a typical male, romantic items such as flowers and chocolates were out of the question, but knowing that a computer game related present was a viable option, I started thinking of possible gift ideas. “What games has she mentioned?” I asked myself. Professor Layton was the first thing that came to my mind, but unfortunately she already bought it herself the day before. I was back to the drawing board. Suddenly, I remembered back to the previous Halloween. Dead Space had been released, causing my girlfriend at the time to squeal with delight. She was a huge horror fan, having a large collection of gory movies and regarded Silent Hill as the best game ever. I rushed to the shop, picked up a copy and wrapped it as neatly as I could. I have never seen such a look of disappointment when she opened her present. Maybe I should’ve just bought her a pink slanket instead.

There's only one thing wrong with this girl... I don't know her gamertag

I’ve been single for 3 months now and it’s already starting to show; my beard has become so unkempt that passing wine making enthusiasts keep trying to pick blackberries out of it and I haven’t left my room for anything more than work or food in about four weeks. It’s time to have a shave, leave the house and try to meet a girl who will embrace a geek like me. I might even put an ad in my local paper’s lonely hearts column.

Single, 22 year old male seeks a female who understands the difference between FPS and RTS, knows that Transformers are more than meets the eye, appreciates the need to spend £30 extra for a collector’s edition steelbook case and ‘statuette’ – read; toy – and realises just how awesome dinosaurs are. Ability to speak in binary code or Wookiee, optional.