Said even better, I'll use the kids as an example. When they are getting out of hand the wife has to speak 2-3 times and yell 1-2 times, when I'm home all I have to do is speak once and sometimes it is followed by the " dad glare " and all is settled, every relationship needs structure and structure is gained through " roles " in the relationship. This becomes apparent more so when children are involved, but there also has to be a certain amount of compromise to level everything out, other wise no one would see eye to eye.
My wife watches shows that just do not interest me, and I entertain myself in ways that just does not interest her and this opens up time to " yourself ", when she's watching her soaps on-line I play xbox, but there are things that interest us both and these are used for family time to bond and build relationships.

My problem is that my wife loves to play Skyrim too. We'll get the kids all put to bed and she'll sometimes hop on the Xbox before I can - blasted woman!

If I wan't to play Skyrim for a nice long stretch, I just ask if she cares if I sleep in the next morning, and then pull an all-nighter. If we don't have any special plans for the next day, I'm usually good. So any Friday or Saturday I can do a good 8pm-3am stretch of Skyrim, and still get a decent 6 hours of sleep afterwards... But I usually only do this if I'm feeling kind of anti-social. I'd much rather spend Friday night at the tavern... um... I mean sports bar.

P.S.
If your wife is a gamer too, you can always buy her something to divert her from Skyrim. I bought my wife Sims 3 (on the iMac), and the new Zelda (on the Wii). Each of these bought me a good chunk of time where I didn't have to share the Xbox.

If your wife is not really a gamer. Have her to join you in playing Skyrim, and the ask her to pick flowers and catch butterflys. This will surely win her over.

good show old man!! These are the same hours I play, kids go to bed 7:30-8pm the wife works till 11pm and is usually baffed by the time she gets home around 11:30pm so I play 8:30pm-2 or 3 am and I will try and get up with everyone ( 8am ish ) but every once and a while she leaves me till 10-11am, god bless her cotton socks

I'm married with two kids. I don't get to play as much as a lot of single people do, but it makes it more enjoyable when I do get the time. My wife doesn't mind my gaming, either.

ha i've tried to get my non gamer girl into playing but its painful to watch her just try to move around...she cant get the hang of 2 joysticks at once to move and look without making me nauseous

off topic but have you tried skyrim on the iMac? i ask because someones about to hook her up with theirs and im wondering if it can handle skyrim (she doesnt know the specs yet, only that its 22inch and cost $1400 when they purchased it)

My wife was generally excited for me to start playing the game -- mostly because I had been talking about it for a few years. I was surprised how impressed she was by the game, but eventually I had to start referring to it as "homework"

I got my SO hooked on Morrowind. Before that, I had to share Skyrim. Now she won't share Morrowind with me. XD

Both the kids being gamers doesn't hurt, either (and school-age. Hello, early bedtime!). They play on the Wii, we sit on the couch with our laptops.

If you have the final say in everything, no matter how often you "use" that final say, you either think you're more important than her, or if you don't, you just think you should be in charge without any valid reason whatsoever.

There's nothing wrong with treating eachother like a king and queen, however, if your wishes, desires or opinions hold more weight than hers, you're not treating her as a queen, you're treating her as a subordinate.

Being "old fashioned" as in holding open doors is fine. I do that too. I also don't think men and women are the same, we have different needs, qualities, etc. However, I do believe that in a relationship men and women are equal, i.e., one is not more important than the other. All that jazz about "being a tiger" (you're no tiger... get in an argument with a tiger and you'll see why) and being a "strong man" who "takes charge" is fine. As long as she agrees. If she doesn't, and you still think you should get your way, you're just an insecure little dictator. And if she accepts it, she needs a real man to show her what's she's really worth.

Again, if it works for you two, perfect, enjoy. I couldn't live with a woman that accepts being told what to do. I I'd feel less of a man if it was simply a given that my wife would have to defer to me.

(On a side note: Alicia Keys for life-lessons? Seriously? I probably should've taken that as a sign I'm wasting my time here...)

I think i am married with some girl i met at some bar

We do things we can together and our own thing outside of that (her reading or gaming on her laptop and me on my computer). Married 26 years.

As long as you do not put gaming (or much of anything else) ahead of your relationship, you should do fine. If ever given a choice between spending time with my wife or doing something else, I would choose her every time (why else would I marry her?).