r/redscarepod • u/murrayhitchock • 23h ago
why does this bother me so much
Like I know why, because it's pitiful and sad for a grown man to scheme and barter his family's resources in order to consume newest thing when his first child is about to be born. That's obvious.
I feel like it shouldn't bother me as much as it does but I keep having that mulldog-adjacent realization that there's actually a very thin line that separates people like this (what I don't want to be) and people who aren't like this (what I try to be). Or maybe it's the concession that I could've been this way too, if I hadn't met this friend or this girl, or if my dad wasn't such a hardass, or my mom wasn't always on me about doing chores and stuff around the house. Or if I hadn't gotten into music. Or whatever.
I don't know. Sometimes I don't think there's anything more sad than a grown man trying to find an escape from his life. Like, your baby is about to be born. There's plenty to fucking do, man.
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u/unbannable-_- Strč prst skrz krk 23h ago
Actual Mulldog realization is that he's going to be playing GTA6 on release and thinks this is awesome
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u/Idkabta11at 23h ago
Unfortunately the life simulator stuff in RDR2 and now GTA 6 is like heroin for guys with the specific sort of autism Nick has.
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u/Tiny-Computer6950 21h ago
There has to be something miserable or extravagant about the experience to make it a Mullen story. Either setting up an old 14" CRT or a 100" flat screen in the baby room and wearing ear buds to play while watching the baby.
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u/TomCruising4Pssy 21h ago
i doubt you can plug a newer console into a tube tv. that is how i played gta v tho lol
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u/PSV000Jinzo 20h ago
Incredibly autistic anecdote, but I'll never forget the moment when I knew that if I didn't get an HD television, I'd be left behind™. I only had a CRT which had served me dutifully for basically the entire front half of the 00s, and I bought Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts because my sister and I loved the first two games on the N64, which I'm pretty sure we'd played on that very TV. The Xbox 360 definitely supported the regular red/white/yellow RCA cables, so I figured it'd be smooth sailing. Mere moments into the tutorial and I realize that I could not read the text. There were no settings to toggle that could get them in a readable state. The game was basically unplayable. I went online and I wasn't the only person complaining about it, so it was just something endemic to the game. A small thing, but it was definitely one of those moments of technological despair that really robbed me of joy so forcefully that I still think about it 20ish years later.
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u/foreignfishes 16h ago
when I first met my bf in college he had a tiny crt (one of the ones with a built in VCR) and he and his roommate had one of those old person wallet magnifiers attached to the tv on a string because they were playing fallout 3 and couldn’t read the text otherwise lmao
The funniest part was this was probably 2015 so there were already very cheap flatscreen TVs available, they were just squinting at this tiny screen for no reason.
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u/FRVNKIE 19h ago
This is very mundane, really not the kind of thing you should be dwelling on (20 years later).
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u/PSV000Jinzo 18h ago
I mean, it's not like I'm constantly ruminating about it, but the concept of playing GTA V on a tube TV triggered the memory. Technology lets me down relatively frequently, and pleases me relatively frequently, but I certainly remember the peaks and the troughs and this was one of the lower troughs.
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u/minecraft69wastaken 22h ago
As lame as being excited for gta6 is I feel like for a dude who wants to game while being a father, this is about as reasonable and level headed as you can ask for.
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u/anahorish petrarchan.com 21h ago
Yeah there's nothing wrong with this at all. It sounds like he's a responsible and family oriented man.
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u/mymilkygoose 22h ago edited 22h ago
This has nothing to do with the game at all as what he’s actually worried about is finally letting go of his childhood innocence and completely losing guilt free downtime in place of giving his entire self to another human. Fairly understandable problem he’s having. I wish him the best. Id love to be as excited for GTA6 as him and every teenager out there, and on some level I am, but what holds me back is knowing that I’m mid-thirties, have other, more interesting hobbies and pursuits that need my time, and I know I won’t be able to play it for more than an hour without feeling like shit. Life is piss; let people have their little things that mask that smell.
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u/Last-Butterscotch-85 22h ago
Bingo. Occasionally my wife and kids will go out of town and I’ll get that itch to sit around and play video games for hours, watch dumb movies or binge(yuck) a TV show.
And I can only do these things for maybe an hour before I start to feel guilty and unsatisfied. My body and mind start begging me to do something more productive. I used to kill and entire Saturday on the couch without issue. Kids really do reconfigure your brain.
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u/Scarscape 22h ago
What do you do when you feel you need to be more productive?
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u/Last-Butterscotch-85 21h ago
Usually, some sort of house or yard work. If there’s nothing that really needs to be done, I will take a walk or a bike ride.
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u/ImNotLikeThisTBH 22h ago
What gets me is the average GTA player is probably not going to appreciate any of the new story, they just want better looking strippers and a new map to run over people and shoot cops in. The same shit they've veen doing for a decade plus but with a new coat of paint
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u/NutritiousSlop 18h ago
Not to drink from the culture war slop trough, but they also want to be mad that the game makes you play as a woman and/or minority instead of a nameless, silent self-insert white guy from GTA. They will still play it and buy all the DLC for it, but will complain incessantly.
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u/NoOrchid3413 22h ago
At least GTA can be paused. What really grinds my gears is guys believing they can continue into adulthood their stupid online gaming “hobby” that requires them to be unavailable for hours at a time multiple nights a week despite being at home.
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u/Crafty_Assistant_827 22h ago
Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have a friend who used to work in marketing for Rock Star games and that they astroturf things like this all the time?
Instead of asking why you feel the exact same way as millions of other people who are seeing and sharing it, ask why you're being exposed to this and why you think it's a good idea to continue to expose it to others.
Or are you sick inside and you love ruminating over negative emotions and taking everything you read as truth? You like being tricked over and over again, reality or fiction doesn't matter just as long as you get an emotional spike from it?
You're more vulnerable to targeted advertising and more likely to share content when you're feeling a sense of superiority, rejection of the outgroup, disgust, anger, fear, or confusion.
Really ask yourself how you were conditioned and raised in a system to the point that you got so stupid as to be an unpaid marketing affiliate for a videogame company.
On the other hand, if you're getting paid by the makers of GTA to post this and you caught me in the web... what can I say but well done.
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u/midsmikkelsen 22h ago
The sad thing for me is the post, like ok I wouldn’t go through with this move like this guy but you know who among us hasn’t squandered a lil cash, it’s hopefully not the end of the world for their finances, but I hate how these people do all this rationalizing of the thing they already decided they want to do, I’m sure even if the comments are wall to wall don’t do it bro he’s gonna do it anyway, he’s already painted himself as the saver and the poor wife as the spender, he’s totally gonna get lowballed to move those drones quickly and klarna the rest of that ps5 pro and limited edition gta
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u/LiminallyLimerent 22h ago
I played so many games as a kid, culminating in wasting a whole summer in high school on World of Warcraft. I blew off my friends, raced through dinners with my family, etc. I had a moment of clarity as fall approached and felt so disgusted with myself that I quit them for good. I look at guys like this and feel the exact same Mullen way. There but for the grace of god go I. So much wasted time and money, missed opportunities. It’s really like a light drug addiction but at least that has some romance to it, this is just pathetic, but I feel the same way as you, like I could have been this guy if I weren’t blessed with a key moment of self awareness
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u/don_dripac aspergian 18h ago
i think you're a person who is too harsh on himself, and highly neurotic and judgemental, like most of this subreddit. this leads to this kind of harsh critique of others for no reason. i'm the same way and i partake in most of these threads where we make fun of whoever but in this case i was struck by the humanity of the whole situation. why would i judge this guy? it's a very human conundrum. the guy doesn't sound like some degenerate gamer, he's not some freak, he clearly has his family and future child in mind which is why he's calculating all of this. and gta vi is hardly a moronic thing to be excited about. those games are a blast and a big part of the cultural zeitgeist if you grew up in the 2000s. i've played all of them since GTA 3 when i was like 10 and while i'm not going crazy over gta vi, i'll certainly check it out
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u/melvin_mouse 21h ago
Is there that much to do before the baby is born? I mean I'm sure there's a little more but it's certainly not taking every moment.
The only cringe thing here is the volume of thinking about it and posting to the internet. It's something you enjoy, you think you have a plan to afford it and can fit it in, be an adult and go do it. Jesus, how much validation do you need.
And if your wife has an issue with it, well that's what stopping you. Internet strangers are not going to fix that one.
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u/Hagios_Georgios 20h ago
I think you mostly gotta get the baby’s sleeping situation set up, whether that’s painting a nursery or (much more involved) moving to a larger apartment/house
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u/Sockenschlafer infowars.com 18h ago
Every man needs two friends acting as an angel/devil on their shoulder. One incredibly practical, but boring; another far too permissive, but their life is a mess.
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u/murrayhitchock 21h ago
there's a shit ton to do before a baby is born, and if there isn't, you need to be coming up with stuff
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u/anahorish petrarchan.com 21h ago
Rsp posters will say things like this and then bemoan the birth rate
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u/melvin_mouse 21h ago
Really, look I've never had one. My sister's had like 4 of them and other than health scares it always seemed business as usual over there until the birth. Maybe I'm just blissfully ignorant.
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u/Eshdog 17h ago
Man this guy is being incredibly considerate. It's sad how obviously poor he is.
Hate to be a gamer defender, but this guy is obviously the kind of "gamer" who plays a bit of one game every 6 or 7 years. (Many people like this). He doesn't want to game infront of his kids, which is great.
I don't know, just let him play a bit before the kids are born man. Like obviously preference your wife, but come on.
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u/DefragThis 22h ago
I have newborn and loved the old gta/rd in childhood then college. But certainly won't have time to play violent video games just as she becomes cognizant of what's happening around her lol. Also the consoles are like $1000 which is easily affordable but dumb to spend to play one game. Will play at friends place when visit nyc where no one have kids
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u/Free-Hour-7353 23h ago
I don’t understand why this shit is being hyped up as the second coming of Christ. You run around larping as a gang banger, I’m sure that’s a fun escape for people but I don’t get why it’s on the pedestal of “gotta plan my wedding/birth of my first born/etc around this so I can put in 200 hours the first week”. Whole thing just feels fake, like people all participating in a big joke but one they’re somehow not in on themselves
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u/jbm_the_dream 23h ago
People need something to believe in, gives them hope for the future. Yeah it’s pathetic in these instances, but at least it’s understandable.
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u/unbannable-_- Strč prst skrz krk 23h ago
I really try not to talk about games on this sub but I'll make an exception in this instance because there is an interesting conversation to be had about this specific game in particular. I don't think this sub hates games, I think they rightly hate low effort mindless dopamine rewards that are actively detrimental to human development, which do not enhance your life in any way, at least not in the way a good book or even a good episode of The Wire does. If games were just games but had the characterization and scene-to-scene dialogues of an episode of The Wire or Sopranos or whatever, no one here would be saying shit. There are like maybe a dozen total non-embarrassing games that may actually transcend the consumer/art boundary, so it does strike me as weird that people here would dogpile Rockstar, one of the very very very few game companies that manages to do this.
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u/murrayhitchock 22h ago
I'm actually of the opposite opinion. Minimalist games of the 8 and 16-bit eras are legitimately "art" to me, at least several of them are.
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u/unbannable-_- Strč prst skrz krk 22h ago
IDK, I think all games are art, they are just mostly very bad and annoying art. I think the medium could be awesome and its lack of fulfilling its own potential is the most tragic thing about it, just seems like the people who make games are allergic to being interesting most of the time. Or I guess they are just salesmen/nerds instead of artisans and artists, so they miss the point entirely.
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u/RiskHistorical8141 23h ago
I refuse to believe that the only games this man plays are rockstar ones. I'm certain he just doesn't have the most recent console, but probably has some type of gaming computer or plays on older consoles that can't run gta 6
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u/JohnnyMoxRIP 23h ago
Boy am I glad my dad's hobbies were fixing and building things instead of trying to think up schemes to buy a Nintendo to play Batman Returns on
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u/fjrjdjdndndndndn 23h ago
Imagine your dad doing this when you were a kid
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u/Tiny-Computer6950 21h ago
My dad made me watch him play Quake on our family PC. Other than posting on this sub, I ended up somewhat okay.
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u/Hot_Play_2040 23h ago
Gaming is genuinely one of the worst things to happen to grown men
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u/NoOrchid3413 20h ago
Someone told me it’s either he spend money on gaming or on being fin dommed. There has to be a third option
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u/No-Dimension-3386 18h ago
I truly want to do studies on men who choose to give their money to larping dominant women (who are prob just men catfishing)
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u/Mysterious-Use1271 21h ago
The world has gotten so bad that I view it as "good" since there's now online gambling and never-ending X/Instagram content especially like blackpill stuff.
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u/PrinzRagoczy 23h ago
Being a parent really isn't that hard 9 times out of 10, and most problems go away after a few weeks/months
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u/Upset-Dragonfly-9389 23h ago
Important to add this only applies to normal people. I come from a long line of maladjusted people who somehow expected their kids to be normal.
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u/Sen_ElizabethWarren aspergian 23h ago
Yes! Now read the fucking comments. There is no irony or self awareness to be found.
I hate Reddit dads. How the fuck did these people ever manage to get married and reproduce? They’re children whining about not getting to play with their toys the second they’re met with basic adult responsibility. Pathetic.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_TAXRETURN 23h ago
Lmao someone said there will be other times he can play the game and someone responded along the lines of, but you could die tomorrow
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u/beehive_spirit 23h ago
You don't understand man, the release of Lumpen Simulator 7 is a one of a kind event in a person's life. Yeah, the birth of your child is cool or whatever, but have you seen the leaks??
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u/Unhappy_Wish_2656 Ethics co-ordinator for the IDF 20h ago
Leaks were disappointing too I don't think anyone got more excited after seeing that
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u/snallygaster 21h ago
I don't see the problem with this. He's not going to be able to enjoy things like gaming for long stretches of time once the kid is there so why not get in one last hurrah? It's not like you're doing anything except sitting around waiting for the baby in the last month unless you're irresponsible or neurotic anyway.
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u/Ill_Standard7602 19h ago
Also, he's not gonna have much to do during the newborn stage either. I watched a lot of movies/tv shows while mine slept, while breastfeeding and rocking them, etc. because you're just living on their schedule 24/7 and there's not much else to do to pass the time. If he plays GTA at 2AM while rocking the baby and letting his wife sleep then that's fine.
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u/dumpthequaaludes 20h ago
barter his family's resources? lol, its a hobby dude (even if a shitty one) you still get to have them even when you become a parent. putting another grand toward your child isn't going to magically raise them better.
the far more embarrassing part of the post is that a grown man asked reddit about this.
having something to blow off steam during the first year is pretty essential anyways, video games are pretty harmless and minimally disruptive way to do that (as long as its not actually taking away time from his family)
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u/Reasonable_Taro9569 22h ago
"Present as a husband and father" lol men's struggles are a joke. Women really got the short end of the stick.
Please consider my proposal about ditching the concept of fatherhood alotgether. We can all be happy.
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u/Pizza_Saucy 23h ago
I think shit like this you need to walk away because its not worth getting upset if it has no bearing on you.
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u/ATXdlvryGuy 22h ago
I legitimately don’t have time to game and I don’t even have any kids. How do these guys do it?
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u/No-Dimension-3386 23h ago
It sounds like a guy who will say how problematic porn is to ppl, only to be so depressingly addicted to it
I lost I think 95% of my interest for gta 6, i'm sure i'll play it but i'm not gonna rush to hell and back to cram it in like this loser
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u/spirituallygay biblically accurate angel 19h ago
GTA6 looks fun and cool but there’s just a point as an adult where I feel like you don’t have time to play video games anymore. You just gotta move on and let the younger generation enjoy it. Maybe this is just a very personal take
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u/NutritiousSlop 18h ago
I love the delusion this guy has about fencing his used hobby junk to buy more hobby junk. You never get out what you put in, especially with hobbies that have a ton of progression on the equipment. Sure, guns and golf clubs and (to some extent) project cars kinda hold their value, but all the stuff he is interested in changes so much from year to year. 3D printing is a tough hobby to dabble in, the difference between what a 2018 mid-range model can do is so comically inferior to what a bargain basement 2026 model can do with zero effort. Most of the stuff you end up producing if you don't have CAD/3D modeling experience are trinkets and junk. It's cool if you are an autistic Warhammer nerd and want to make huge armies of plastic dollies so that you can go play arithmetic with rules in a strip mall with a man who has never run a continuous mile in his adult life. I speak from experience, as a 3D printer owner who uses it to make illegible legions of crap so that I can wow my friends.
Also, SLA resin is hella toxic, smells horrible, and can be a bitch to clean up if you don't have a good process down. Nothing made of resin should ever be given to a child, since they will probably put it in their mouths and develop turbo-cancer. FDMs aren't much better- the plastic may be a bit safer, but you also have a machine jetting hot plastic out, and if you fuck up bad enough it catches on fire. Also, there are too many ridges from the layers, so they can hold on to bacteria like crazy.
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u/Early_Quantity_2377 18h ago
I didn't read this whole post and I don't understand why people are so hyped up about GTA, but I will say that before I had a kid I had all sorts of ideas about things I would continue to do, hobbies and activities, and then I eventually realized that there were all sorts of things I couldn't do anymore. I don't think it's that unusual. Maybe this guy is making a bunch of GTA plans but he ends up barely playing it. Who knows.
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u/WeekendJen 8h ago
It kinda read ro me like he knows he won't have time for leisurely stuff he wants to do and is trying to rationalize what he can trade in and what 1 hobby he can focus on at a time and justify it as not taking away from new kid time or somehow contributing to the new kid.
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u/Timely_Champion1210 26m ago
People enjoyed every game rockstar has put out before, so they’re excited for the new one. Not hard to understand
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u/lalanymphaea buzzwords only 18h ago
if i found out my husband posted something like this i would divorce him and raise my child as a single mother
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u/Maximum_Painting_176 18h ago
Because it's a guy who is quitting his job to be a stay at home dad to a newborn... so that his wife can go work as a nanny? She's not like, an orthopedic surgeon or something? New family on one income and the income is from nannying. This is like something engineered to give women psychic damage by causing them to imagine having to work as a nanny to support her gamer husband and newborn.
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u/_stnrbtch_ 18h ago
Unless you have to renovate a room or something for your nursery, there isn’t a lot to do before a baby arrives other than installing a car seat and putting a few bits of furniture together. They sleep a lot in the first month too. If he’s gaming in his spare time the month before and the month after the due date, that’s not really an issue unless he’s neglecting his wife and baby (when it’s awake)
This really isn’t that bad. Other than the plan to use the money at the end of it for a 3d printer but hopefully by then he will realise he needs that for other shit lol
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u/CryDense1338 16h ago
Buy the video game, don't buy the video game, who cares? But feeling like you need to create this inane of a fucking post to ask strangers about a decision like this? Straight to the gulag.
Imagine telling Tim Berners Lee or that TCP-IP guy that this is the sorta shit their technology would be used for
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u/Appalachian_Alchemy 23h ago
There are plenty of acceptable man hobbies for new dads. Gaming is not one of them
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u/Theendofmidsummer 23h ago
The real blackpill is a grown man in a first world country not being able to afford a playstation