I'm pretty fortunate that The Wench has understood from day one that my gaming is non-negotiable.  And yet even she, who has the patience of a wiccan saint to have to put up with the likes of me as you can all well imagine, has her moments of complaining about whether I "HAVE to play tonight???" etc.

How about the rest of you? How things been with your wives or significants?

RPGPundit

My ex-wife seemed to have an intrinsic hatred of gamers of many types.  Though she tolerated video games to some degree.

I didn't know about this side of her until years later, after we were married for almost a decade.  (I met her during my long 15+ years hiatus away from rpg games).  She eventually blew a gasket after I started playing D&D again (shortly after 3.5E D&D was released), along with other problems which accumulated over the years.

My wife is a gamer, so generally not. However, I do play in a Sunday night game, and every once in a while she asks me if I can't beg off to spend time with her instead. And it's only because she can't attend that game. That's the closest I ever come to getting flack about gaming.

I have a friend who has to fight tooth and nail every single weekend to get the same Sunday off to game -- I feel sorry for the poor clod.

My SO has no problem whatsoever with my gaming hobby. If it weren't for her generally shy disposition and to a much lesser extent the language barrier she might even have a go at it herself.
She's an avid videogamer herself and likewise I don't have any problem with that.

I seriously think SO's who cannot except our gaming hobby for what it is or act condescending about it should be dumped ASAP.

All my partners have been supportive if not active in gaming. Some weeks I game 3 days and not one complaint from my current GF...awesome! I am willing to skip a game if she has an event lined up.
It also helps that 1 of the sessions fall on the weekday so we don't do much in the evening anyways as we have to get up at 6am. Friday game ends early and the weekend group is every other week so no big deal.

Both of the women I actually wanted to marry (one of whom I was engaged to for a time) were gamers, although the fiance was very particular about what kind of games she'd play. I usually rule that anyone dating me is going ot have to agree to at least one night a week where I have 'time with the guys', and she can have 'time with her friends'. I'd use that night for gaming if my SO was not one as well. I could not possibly date someone who wanted to spend every waking moment with me.

No because I don't have one and never will.

Humans suck: Why would you want one living with you?

All my SO's gamed with me.  It was kind of a requirement.

My wife is no exception.  She plays in both live groups, though not the online ones.  SHe recently lost Kiko (her Hobyt priestess/assassin), who was the oldest surviving PC in my most active group, but she created Oliver, A bugbear knight of the Hunters of the Shade.

The "worst" reaction I've received from any girlfriend is a sort of benign amusement. However I very rarely play RPGs more than once a week, and typically less than that.

My wife is good about it.

She knew I was a gamer going in to the marriage and she views it like any other social activity. As long as I don't game every single week of the year, she doesn't give me any flak. Since I game 2-3 times a month, this hasn't been a problem.

She even tried D&D 4e last year and had a great time. She thought Pathfinder was too complex. She also enjoys board games, which helps her meet other gamers.

No, even though she's not into gaming at all (even videogames or board games).  She sees that I really enjoy it, and figures it's a cheaper hobby than, say, golf or poker, so I get a night a week.

I'm also willing to compromise, of course.  If there's a lot of stuff to be done at home, I'll take a week off.  Everyone I game with is reasonable; if someone needs a week off, we'll do something else or if we can't hit critical mass we'll skip a week (or two...).

Worst reaction:  "Oh?  So it's like a friends night thing?  That's cool.  Have fun!"
Best reaction:  "Oh my God I love fantasy!  Can I try playing?"

I've gotten pretty lucky, but I've also learned not to date anyone who has an active hatred for some aspect of my hobbies.  

I heard a saying once -- that the best significant other is one who will guard your "sacred space", in other words, one that will recognize that despite being romantically involved with them, you're an individual with your own interests that sometimes diverge from what they want to do, and they do their best to make sure that you're given time to enjoy your pursuits without being bothered about it.  So long as you do the same for them.

So anyone who can't imagine me doing anything apart from them, or having interests that might not interest them, it's not going to happen.  We're individuals first, partners second.  You have to be whole as an individual before you can be whole as a couple.  If someone sees my occasional night out with the game group as a threat or a negative aspect of the relationship, it's not going to work.

The GF before my wife, it really was a non-issue while we were going out. I made time for both, and they generally didn't conflict, for whatever reason. After we broke up, I later learned she started playing D&D with some distant friends of my group, which I indirectly introduced to her.

So score one for fate.

My wife has always known about my Gaming. It's gone through stages, to be honest. We had "Trying to figure out the appeal" to "Playing some D&D" to "Trying to be indifferent" to "Playing some games SHE was interested in (Buffy)" to "Stop being an ass, and help me with the baby" to "Neither of them are babies anymore, go ahead and game."

I'm sure some other stages are down the road, but even though she finds it really geeky and odd, she realizes I groove on it, and politely asks & listens to me about what's going on in the game (and I can actually wrap up an 8-hour session, into about 3-5 minutes of exposition, unlike every gamer I've ever met at a Con).

I game about 2-4 times a month, and always make sure to coordinate with her, which goes a long way.

I feel for a buddy of mine: he met his wife through gaming, and she now hates it. He has a sickly son, and there's times where I wonder if his boy is really that sick, or just sick enough so she can justify why he can't go to the Game...

I have another friend that as soon as he has a girlfriend, he practically drops off the planet for the next 6 months. Occassionally he'll pop up after that, and once he breaks up with the girl, you can't get rid of him till he finds a new one!

My wife hates gaming with a passion - she calls it my "Crazy Hobby". She asks me every few months when I'm going to stop gaming and I have to point out that I played long before her and won't every stop.

However, I play once a week, spend hours every week writing new stuff and go to some conventions which she doesn't mind that much. I thought that after 13 years she might understand, but if I gave up tomorrow, she'd be happier.

As to the idea of dumping her because she doesn't like my hobby - get real!

My wife is a gamer. She is one of the members of my group and enjoys it immensely. She adds a bit of strange to each game we play. Sometimes serious, sometimes silly, but always fun. Even if I do give her a hard time about her sometimes off-kilter views.

Its a bit interesting because she'd stumbled on the Game Geeks review of Hearts & Souls, before we met. I joke about her stalking me, but she really didn't know until I was talking about that I was that writer.

She's a wonderful woman. I think I'll keep her.