How do I convince my dad that games aren't "Evil"?
- Thread starter RootbeerJello
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There are two ways of going about it.
1. Like several people have said, he doesn't restrict what you play, so don't worry about it. It sucks when your parents dislike your hobbies -- my parents still look at me funny when I talk about playing DnD with my friends -- but you have the option of biting your tongue and ignoring him.
2. Make him sit down and play a good game, start to finish, with you. I made my parents sit and watch while I played Portal, then played a couple of levels of Bioshock with my dad; he got really into it and now he's planning on building a gaming rig for himself and my baby sister (and he's been bugging me for recommendations). Protip: play something like Bioshock or Half-Life 2, not something like Prototype or GTA.
1. Like several people have said, he doesn't restrict what you play, so don't worry about it. It sucks when your parents dislike your hobbies -- my parents still look at me funny when I talk about playing DnD with my friends -- but you have the option of biting your tongue and ignoring him.
2. Make him sit down and play a good game, start to finish, with you. I made my parents sit and watch while I played Portal, then played a couple of levels of Bioshock with my dad; he got really into it and now he's planning on building a gaming rig for himself and my baby sister (and he's been bugging me for recommendations). Protip: play something like Bioshock or Half-Life 2, not something like Prototype or GTA.
Well my house is bit haunted, vicious axe murderer back in 18th century, you know. But the illusion breaks a bit since they just turn annoyed instead of blue when I try to devour them.Rawker said:
If he's not stopping you then let him wallow in his ignorance. But if you must convince him...
1: every ten years or so parents get mad at something else because they can't deal with their kids acting like twats or becoming independent and don't want to believe they have anything to do with it
2: there has bin no evidence(that I know of) that supports a direct link between video game and real world violence
3: the game is most likely about more then just killing people, tell him that he has no right to criticize what he doesn't understand
4: tell him that he should trust your judgment, you can't be a kid forever
5: ask him to define "Evil". life isn't black and white
6: any same human being thinking clearly and acting with a modicum of sense can easily differ between real and imaginary violence
7: video games can in fact act as an outlet for anger, therefore they in fact decrease the likelihood of real violence
8: ask him if he's ever played a video game or done any research on their effects, if he hasn't he has no idea what he's talking about
9: he's making a statement that something depicts violence so it therefore encourages it and is therefore evil, I guess if that's true we should all just turn a blind eye to all the horrible shit in the world and all media should be "Barnnys Adventure in Toyland". people constantly act like video games are the only medium that depict anything explicit, what about movies, they'e just as bad if not worse, and nobody complains about them. Know why?, because movies have bin around longer and therefore aren't intimidating to the older generation because of they're familiarity. People have always bin wary of advancement in technology, because it threatens to change the rules they've learned to live with. Plus people overlook all they're youthful intercessions, the things they grew up with are fine because they turned out okay, so it must be this new thing, right?, WRONG, they were the same brand with a different model, and a lot of they're parents were the same. But they overlook that because they don't want to face they're problems.
Wow I got worked up, sorry if I offended anyone. I suggest using any or all of these arguments, but do some research and find some written facts to show him
1: every ten years or so parents get mad at something else because they can't deal with their kids acting like twats or becoming independent and don't want to believe they have anything to do with it
2: there has bin no evidence(that I know of) that supports a direct link between video game and real world violence
3: the game is most likely about more then just killing people, tell him that he has no right to criticize what he doesn't understand
4: tell him that he should trust your judgment, you can't be a kid forever
5: ask him to define "Evil". life isn't black and white
6: any same human being thinking clearly and acting with a modicum of sense can easily differ between real and imaginary violence
7: video games can in fact act as an outlet for anger, therefore they in fact decrease the likelihood of real violence
8: ask him if he's ever played a video game or done any research on their effects, if he hasn't he has no idea what he's talking about
9: he's making a statement that something depicts violence so it therefore encourages it and is therefore evil, I guess if that's true we should all just turn a blind eye to all the horrible shit in the world and all media should be "Barnnys Adventure in Toyland". people constantly act like video games are the only medium that depict anything explicit, what about movies, they'e just as bad if not worse, and nobody complains about them. Know why?, because movies have bin around longer and therefore aren't intimidating to the older generation because of they're familiarity. People have always bin wary of advancement in technology, because it threatens to change the rules they've learned to live with. Plus people overlook all they're youthful intercessions, the things they grew up with are fine because they turned out okay, so it must be this new thing, right?, WRONG, they were the same brand with a different model, and a lot of they're parents were the same. But they overlook that because they don't want to face they're problems.
Wow I got worked up, sorry if I offended anyone. I suggest using any or all of these arguments, but do some research and find some written facts to show him
FIRST POST proves your dad right on a theoretical levelgrimsprice said:
Ay...*facepalms*
OT: Just start up a conversation about it when you're not in the middle of playing it. You could either change each other's opinions, or have a deep, engrossing debate about it.
He sounds like he's opposed to it but will let you play, so he's not a bad guy. The bad ones are the ones who think it's righteous to oppress you, even in a small thing like playing games
Just have a chat about it
Apart from the assignments part, that sounds exactly like my dad. Add in the fact that he experiences nausea when he plays 3D based games, and there is no hope to ever have fun with him.Omikron009 said:
OT: Show him the recent Penn and Teller episode regarding Video Game Violence and see if he has any remaining arguments. If he has a problem with the swearing, tie him down and force him to watch the older episode on Swearing. That'll learn him.
My dad's old school, still loves to crack out Lylat Wars on the N64 even though he has a 42" plasma TV. He can't really preach to me about violence, Lylat Wars is possibly one of the games with biggest kill count in a single playthrough.
Only thing he did say was the old guilt trip about playing WoW... I love the game but had to wean myself off of it for college, or else I'd have failed. Now I've got a place at Uni of Kent, go me.
Advice to you though, If you can't get him to play a game to see, show him a deeply emotional game with little 'gun-violence' in it. I'd suggest Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. It has blades and magic but the game is based around your characters sanity and how they control themselves rather than their combat ability.
Only thing he did say was the old guilt trip about playing WoW... I love the game but had to wean myself off of it for college, or else I'd have failed. Now I've got a place at Uni of Kent, go me.
Advice to you though, If you can't get him to play a game to see, show him a deeply emotional game with little 'gun-violence' in it. I'd suggest Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. It has blades and magic but the game is based around your characters sanity and how they control themselves rather than their combat ability.
oyu just can't well let him think what he wants. at least he's lets you decide for yourself what kind of entertainment you enjoy. thats worth a lot. i think watching formula 1 and tennis is dumb and something for idiots and my father doesnt try to convince me that its not. its called "not giving a shit" (sissys call it tolerance)RootbeerJello said:
I'm still working on the cure for stupidity but until then I'd make comparsans like with film.RootbeerJello said:
Tell him that any film with killing or guns and the suchlike as a focus and tell him that they'l make him evil. Take a world war 2 film for example and say it'l make him a nazi, you get the general idea
Say... "Guess What Else Makes You Violent" then Kick him in the nads and continue with "Yeah I bet you're feeling pretty cheesed off right about now.
Convince him to be an atheist. He'll probably stop giving a fuck altogether...
On a more serious note, just make him play Wii Sports.
On a more serious note, just make him play Wii Sports.
I like this idea. Counter his complete lack of evidence with a complete lack of evidence of your own. After all, if we didn't have hypocrisy, where would we be today (The correct answer is switzerland)?The_ModeRazor said:
Pay attention to this part. You may be pissed off at how he feels about your gaming, but this is important:RootbeerJello said:
He is letting you keep your hobby, and he is trusting you to make your decisions on your own on the value of the game.
The best thing you can do is if you keep playing the game is be the best person you can be, get your schoolwork done, get along with your family as much as humanly and reasonably as possible, etc.--he's going to see that the games are not having the influence on you he thinks they will. Show him that the trust he initially placed in you--that he believes you're a good person who will be able to judge what bad things are in time--is well-placed, he just misunderstood the context of where this hobby exists in your life.
This may not be the answer you want to hear, and I don't even know if you will read it, but I think this is probably, as far as I can tell from what you said, the best route you could take. Actions speak louder than words sometimes (especially when the words are up against a wall of parental stubbornness).
But oh, for the record, I think "the Gun Game" he might actually be referring to is the Doom series; the students responsible for the shooting at Columbine many years ago apparently played Doom, and some yahoos decided this must be why the two students went crazy and shot a bunch of their classmates. Of course the real issue was that they were both severely disturbed on a number of levels and were largely entirely ignored by their parents and people at school mistreated them. If he brings it up again, ask him if he thought this is what he meant, and explain that no, you are not playing Doom and that the investigators ultimately found that their video game playing was tangential to their motivation for the shooting.
Also, if he brings it up to you again, feel free to refer him to me. I'm a Quaker--a member of a pacifist religion. I've gamed all my life (including playing some "gun games") and in my 33 years I've had no trouble sticking to our Peace Testimony. My screenname is a reference in fact to my using pixel-pounding as a form of anger management, so that I don't wish to bring harm to people in real life. It works.