January 3, 2015 Video Games Are Ruining My Friendship! Hi Brandon, One of my good friends is a guy that I’ve known like forever. We’ve always gotten along just fine until recently. Lately, whenever we hang out all he wants to do is play video games. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good since I play against my brothers. The problem is that my friend is kind of a sore loser and insists that we play the game again and again until he finally wins. It’s getting to the point where his obsession with beating me is starting to ruin our friendship. So, is this a guy thing? Should I just let him win to save our friendship? Thanks, Game-Over-In-Orlando Dear Game-Over-in-Orlando, I hate to sound like your mom, but since you’re in Orlando and not up to your eyeballs in snow, like some of us poor suckers in the northern part of the country, maybe you guys need to put down the controllers and get outside for a bit! I know you probably didn’t expect me to tell you to “put down your gadgets and play in the sun, like kids did back in my day.” And since I’m not your grandfather, that’s not what I meant. I just meant that you have a perfect excuse to stop the 24/7 rematches and do something else: it’s pretty nice out, and you have other body parts you like to use besides your poor, tired hands. Not only will it be fun to do something different for a change, it will also give you guys a chance to do something that he’s better at. Odds are, there’s something. Maybe he’s a really fast bike rider. Or he throws a football like Tom Brady. Or he’s a future NBA player with a killer basketball game. If you give him a chance to shine in some other area, he’ll probably stop obsessing about proving that he’s the ultimate video game champion. This isn’t guaranteed – some people are just sore losers. (And it’s not just a guy thing. For at least 20 minutes after MacKenzie loses Candy Crush, she acts all pitiful and sad like she just broke three nails after a brand new manicure. Then she suddenly erupts and explodes in anger like a volcano! ) But even if that’s the case, he’ll eventually have sore hands, and then he’ll have to stop! I hope this helps!