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Married men—the responsible ones, anyway—have no need for video games in their lives. Case in point: my friend Graham spent the first two years of his married life living in NYC while his wife was out on the West Coast earning her Master's degree. To bide his time, he played a lot of PlayStation 2. The week before his wife returned, Graham and I met out for a few beers, and he presented me with his PS2 console and a whole slew of games, gratis. It was like something out of a sitcom, or a grueling Kate Hudson-Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy: Married man proffers up last physical vestige of freedom to wayward bachelor buddy. They get a touch misty-eyed, realizing the end of an era is upon them. There's boisterous laughter and a couple of shoulder punches to snap each other out of being overcome by the percolating emotion. Rough, one-armed hugs, whiskey shots. Cue laugh track, cue Executive Producer credit, and. . . scene.

There was at least $400 worth of electronic booty in that bag. Why wouldn't he just sell it? At first, part of me was a touch offended. It was like Graham was saying, "Here, you're a bachelor. Play this. That's what you guys do. Lord knows that's what I would do." The offense wasn't merited—when I returned home, I set up the console and began a relationship with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 that lasted several years.

When kids enter the picture, there are a couple things that happen. You tend to fade on your friends' radar. As domestication of your guy friends takes hold, less of your own life is relatable to them. They may, in theory, live vicariously through you ("Tell me about that girl you were hooking up with…"), but the truth is that their entire raison d'etre is wrapped up in a reality you can only imagine. They live in a world of selflessness and sacrifice, of challenge and compromise. Their allegiance is to their wives and kids, whereas I have pledged my allegiance to the United State of Me.

And there it is: bachelor-dom and its inherent selfishness. In the absence of a wife, partner, and soul mate, there have been random hookups, a series of shoulda-coulda-wouldas, booty calls—everything you'd expect from a bachelor. These aren't always as fun and carefree as one might expect. It is possible for a man to feel empty inside.