How do your parents view video games? (or just gaming in general)

[Saitexx]

This topic crossed my mind the other day when i was reading the swedish newspapper and it mentioned that Counter-strike was big in sweden and that we do pretty good on the competitive scene.

I showed this to my football fanatic step-dad, and he just sorta, laughed at it. I guess he just thinks of video games as a "toy" or "pass-time" thing.
I tried to explain to him that alot of people see gameing as a legit job and dedicate huge time into it, he basicly said "Get a life" "Back in my days we rave blabla".


Do/did your parents dismiss/accept that you game alot, or do they think you are wasting your time?



I leave you with this animation i found, i think its pretty funny and displays a mom not understanding her gamer son

 

[tippy2k2]

My father loves gaming (though he relies on me buying his games for Xmas/Birthday because he doesn't know what sucks and what rocks) and has been playing since the NES days. It works out nicely though because he is freaking OCD about these things and will play and re-play and re-play and re-freaking-play the same batch of games I've gotten him (Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series, and Skyrim). He can't handle twitchy games so I focus on RPG's since they give him the time he needs to figure out the buttons and what he wants to press.

My mother purchased a Wii and a 360 for family gatherings but she only uses the Wii for that balancing board game that let's you do yoga and whatnot. Her and my step-father will both play some Dance Central when the family gatherings happen.

So yeah...my parents are both pretty accepting of them vidja games.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Happy first post.
Have you received the welcome wagon?
All that stuff about staying out of the basement, the red button, blaming Kross, ext.

Have you read the CoC? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/codeofconduct]
[sub]Not that you're breaking any rules.[/sub]


OT: My parents were actually very encouraging about video games. When I was little, I had dyslexia very badly. My brothers had an SNES with Final Fantasy III (VI), they didn't play it very much, so I picked it up and absolutely loved it. I couldn't read a single piece of text on screen, but somehow I still managed to enjoy it. My parents liked the idea that I was playing these games because it encouraged me to read. As I got older, I kept playing RPGs in particular and my reading ability got better. Special classes in school helped of course, but practice makes perfect and I don't think I would've improved nearly as much without the video games.

These days my mom enjoys watching me play them because she likes to help me solve the occasional puzzle and they've become just as fun to watch as they are to play. She's a big fan of the Indian Jones movies... she really liked watching Uncharted.

 

[Colour Scientist]

My mom doesn't take too much notice, she's always encouraged it.

For her, my SNES and game boy were a godsend because it meant that I was sitting quietly for hours on end. For a hard working single mom, it was the ultimate baby sitter. She still buys me games for birthdays and stuff and, actually, when I think about it, every console I've owned has been a gift from her.

Actually, two Christmas' ago, I remember she told me that she had bought me the Sims because the guy in GameStop told her it would be a great game for a girl and I pretended to be enthusiastic. I don't remember what she actually got me but it was a proper game that I would enjoy instead. It was pretty well played, I didn't know she knew enough about games to make that joke.

Huh, I guess she does take notice, I love my Mom.

 

[krazykidd]

My mom thinks that if i have time for games , i have time to study to become a doctor . I'm sucha dissapointment for my mother .

My dad on the other hand understood how videogames help with critical thinking , timing, hand eye coordination , reading and a bunch of other things . So i have been playing games since i was two . It's because of him i'm heavily into jrpgs and fighting games .

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

[hr]
My parents are extremely supportive of my gaming habits, so much so, that I get berated if I don't share any new games with either of my parents. So I'm very fortunate to share a hobby with my parents.

My Mom prefers puzzle games and world-building games. Hidden object games mainly. But she has come to love Portal, Pharaoh, Civilization and the innumerable hidden-object games you can shake a stick at. She struggles to navigate 3D environments though.

My Dad loves his violence and he loves a game he can just pick up and play. So pretty much every TPS and FPS games we share. (Although I have sworn an oath never to watch him play a game. For example, in COD World At War, he climbed on top of a crate to reload his LMG while being shot at! GAH! Get behind cover! Switch to your secondary weapon! Flank them!)

Hell, we all pooled some cash together recently to buy Bioshock Infinite for all of us to try out. (Mom for the story. Dad for the action. Me for the narrative/action/story/art style/sound/thorough exploration)

Then again, we've all been gaming since the times of my Dad's NES.

[HEADING=3]Welcome to The Escapist OP![/HEADING]

[hr]

 

[scorptatious]

Both my parents used to play games. My mom used to play stuff like Space Invaders, and my dad and older sister used to play Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart. (Not sure if it was SNES or 64)

While they don't really play games now a days, they're clearly not against it at least.

 

[MysticSlayer]

My mom was always worried that my brother and I would get addicted, so she put a lot of limitations on how long we could play. Can't blame her, though, since I do have a brother who got addicted to the point where it started ruining his life. She also was convinced that violence in games was mentally unhealthy, so she also limited the content. Oddly, I've become less aggressive since I started playing more violent games, so I guess she didn't know the difference between "games making your aggressive" and "you're a child/teenage boy, of course you'll be rather aggressive/rebellious". However, she was hardly against games and thought they were great, so long as they were played within limitations and that I only played "healthy" games.

As for my dad, he doesn't play them, but he has absolutely no problem with them regardless of time spent or their content. He does tend to encourage my brother and I to enjoy ourselves outside more, but after I started college, he really doesn't seem to care given how little free time I have to begin with.

 

[Saitexx]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

Sounds like you all have some awesome parents!
My parents have never really resticted my games, other than my mom being against GTA vice city when it had just come out.
My stepdad used to play games, but for fun. Asoon as i wanted to take gameing seriously and compete in tourney, they didnt stop me, but i could tell that they didnt aprove.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I treasure this memory of me playing God of War (the Cronos bit) on the floor while my mom and my sister watch over from the couch, enthralled with the game and never flinching at the gory QTEs. And whenever my dad quips about videogame violence I remind him he loves to massacre enemy villies in Age of Empires. It's all in good fun of course. They're all very supportive and cool about gaming.

 

[Misterian]

My dad is generally fine with how I play games as a hobby.

Though he himself rarely played any games, he said that the constant movement in games makes him nauseous, even when all characters are on the ground.

 

[Guffe]

Welcome to the Escapist!
Hope you enoy it here!

On Topic:
Mom plays 2D games like Mario and Rayman but it sounds like she's playing CoD by the amount of cursing going on
Dad used to play a lot more until the GameCube era when gaming just dropped for him, too much other stuff going on but always when I'm playing he usually drops by watching me for a while and asking how gaming is nowadays.
Me and my brother still game ánd most likely will for a long time.
So both are OK with it and understand why we like it.

 

[Zantos]

Welcome to the Escapist! Have fun!

OT: My Dad is always just a bit bemused by it. He doesn't play games, but he likes to chat about what I've been playing recently and watches me sometimes. When I played Darksiders 2 over the course of a weekend he watched pretty much the whole thing, and now when we have horses blocking up our road he'll shout "This is no place for a horse!" It's really quite funny. He says he wants to get into racing games, but only wants to do it with a wheel and pedals. And then we never get round to buying them.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

every time I try to explain the concept of a game I found, I only get past the basic premise until he replies with "and then you shoot things, right?".

especially hate it when he's right, too.

 

[PatrickXD]

My dad loved gaming as a kid, but lost touch with it when life got real for him. He loves the fact that myself and my brother manage to keep up with it, as he provided us with a better life than he had.
Now, though, he just plays the latest Call of Duty games.

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

My father occasionally watches me play Video Games, Generally Minecraft or Fallout 3/NV but he quite enjoys watching me play Games. My mother is indifferent, due to her having problems viewing First Person games (Weird, I know), but she doesn't scold me for using most of my Money on Video games, so that's a plus.

 

[Spambot 3000]

I think my Mum is pretty neutral about games, but my Dad really doesn't like them. My step-brother is the kind of guy who plays COD in his room all day avoiding direct sunlight so I don't think that does my Dad's opinion any favours.

 

[King of Asgaard]

They look at it as 'video games, oh you' until my grades start to drop. Then they're all up in arms over how I'm 'wasting time playing games.'
It gets annoying. Yeah, there is some truth to it, but it's one of very few ways in which I let off some steam and relax, as I don't go out partying at the weekend, or partake in any substances which may have detrimental effects on my health, so me not playing games would result in my grades dropping far more.
The irony of this post: I should be studying for an exam at the time of writing, but instead I'm faffing about on the Escapist. Yay me!