I Just Had a Video Game Debate With my Parents

[SergeMC]

my mom never liked gaming that much... but because of the reason that i began to gain weight... how right she was

my father? yeah, whole 'nother story, he loves new games (i think he played every single resident evil game there is)... but when i play retro-games like contra or skyblazer, he always tells me that these games in some way degenerate me... says the man who loves popping zombie heads all the fricking time...

 

[Aqualung]

I hate to sound like the 'I have it perfect' person, but...

I really do.

My parents couldn't be more supportive. They know it's my greatest passion, and I can tell. I recently decided from my very respectable Bachelor of Arts with Honours in history, to Video Game Design in another college. How did my dad respond?

"I think you're making the right decision, and we'll always support you for doing that."

And then he sent me a bunch of links to colleges and helped me research them.

My parents know that what I want for Christmas, is games; they listen to me talk about games and the industry, and show genuine interest and even surprise at how informed I am; they never set limits on my gaming unless my siblings and I were clashing to play.

Heck, they're so used to my geek culture now that they watch Doctor Who with me, and Star Trek- my mum used to watch ST as a teenager, and I never would have guessed.

My parents are extremely liberal about entertainment. I watched R rated horror movies with them when I was just a wee lass, for crying out loud- sure, it gave me the nightmares, but would I ever have seen the Exorcist or Poltergeist then?

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

I don't know about my dad, but my mum is completely apathetic. She lets me play whatever games I want, but she still doesn't see why I'm so worked up about California v Video Games. "What", she says, "does it matter if a state on the other side of the country passes a law about video games?" She just doesn't seem to understand that it would open the floodgates for unconstitutional laws in every state, including right here in sunny backwoods Pennsylvania.

 

[Mordwyl]

Luckily my parents are understanding and acknowledge their children aren't complete morons, so we could pretty much play anything we wanted. I do believe me and my little brother co-played Half-Life at some point in our preteens (me on keyboard, him on mouse). It was the first time I've truly enjoyed a FPS game.

 

[Canid117]

Your parents are trolls.

 

[The Anon]

I've never had a sit down and chat about games with my parents. My mum got me a BBC micro when I was about 4 or 5 and I've been gaming since. Only time she said I wasn't old enough to play something was when Doom(1) came out when I was about 7. So I had to spend my time gunning down Nazi's in Wolfenstien 3D until I was allowed to play it about a year later.

Her only complaint has been that I spend too much time gaming and not enough getting a life, and she's right, even though she's playing Fallout: New Vegas atm.

 

[HentMas]

Last night over dinner, my mum asked how I felt about the recent California vs. Video Games supreme court case. I NEVER like to debate video games with my parents because a) they never let me play them as a kid; if I wanted to I had to go to my buddy's house and b) because they know my standpoint almost as well as I do (considering they raised me) and it turns into an attack Zach's hobby fest (complete with shouting and a loss of appetite). Needless to say, my parents were okay with my playing things like Mario or Pokemon or even MegaMan but the minute I tried to bring StarCraft into the house, forget it. They threw a fit. I do, of course, understand their reasoning but I think it may have been a bit harsh. I can understand it if I had been, say, 11 but considering I was 16 at the time...I just don't know. I was wondering if anyone else has ever tried to civilly discuss video game censorship etc with their folks and what parents other than my own have to say on the subject.

dude... what happened with the chat?? what are their views?? i mean, i have talked with my dad about that but in the end he said it as a moot point because we live in México, and if sales start dropping on the US, it would seem obvious (as a business standpoint) that they would move to another country and focus on different markets (he is a great business man)

anywhay, i´m just interested on hearing the opinion of your parents.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

my parants know im mature and smart enough to draw the line.





*twitch*

 

[SomeBritishDude]

My parents are smart enough to know video games won't turn into a raving nut. But then again the whole "videos games are the devils spawn" thing has never really effected Britain like it has America. Americans think the slightest thing will trigger the end of the world. The British just grumble.

I wasn't allowed to play games like GTA until I was about 14 which I can't really get mad at them for. It's still 4 years earlier than the recommendation anyway. Neither of them have ever been that bothered by it, at least, not anymore than Movies and so on. My mum doesn't like the swearing and gross violence in Left 4 Dead but she doesn't stop me from playing it.

 

[imnot]

well mine ar ok about them, my dand thinks they're a waste of money but wont stop me buying one.

 

[Darkauthor81]

My folks like to troll me on subjects like this. They know my stance on things but will bring them up just to start an argument.

Why?

Because they're just that f&%&ing bored!

Moving out was the best thing I've ever done. My life is almost completely stress free now without having to put up with bored drama queens.

 

[D Moness]

My parents are both more casual gamers (though my mom loves the old mario and mario kart games).

They even got me a nes with games for my b-day ages ago(I was 11 or so). My father doesn't like it if i spend to much behind the laptop on an mmo while trying to eat (sorry badly timed raid).

My mom really can not complain about me playing since she does spend a lot of time on those simple puzzle games(but then if she enjoys it that is good for her). My parents have always been supportive of all the hobbies i had/have though sometimes they did draw a line (not when it came to gaming).

 

[archvile93]

My parents really never cared what I played growing up, and guess what? I haven't killed or seriously injured a single person in real life.

 

[Cpu46]

My mum plays things like the Zelda games.

My dad's a *shivers* casual gamer.

But they're both cool about it. Considering I was playing Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto when I was 9. ^_^

Both my parents and my sister are now casual gamers, best thing ever cause now they have no leg to stand on when they complain about me playing games for extended periods of time.

OT: I never really had an interest in anything outside of Nintendo games until i was in 7th grade. Then I discovered the joys of the Xbox and Halo CE. By then my parents knew between the mountains of Fiction books I had read and the games I had played that I could differentiate between Reality and games so it was no biggie.

 

[Void(null)]

My parents were both very supportive of my gaming from a very early age.

Video games were one of the first things I was introduced to, my father bought an Amstard CPC 464 with a green monochrome monitor. My Dad picked it up to learn to code, he did it for a few weeks and lost interest. It then became the thing that kept a 3 year old me entertained in the mornings so they could sleep in.

Man, I loved Harrier Attack.

I could load the game and use the keyboard before I could read or write, thanks to the brightly colored buttons and arrow keys.

While they have never been big gamers themselves they have had their moments. My Dad played the entirety of Diablo co-op with me, and my mother loved Road rash. But aside from that they generally didn't understand my passion. They were happy to pick me up that new system or game just so long as I didn't talk about it.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

My mom really hates M-Rated games. She won't let me buy them and detests them, but tolerates me playing them.

My dad doesn't plain care about games. He said he doesn't want to learn the games, so he doesn't mess with them.

 

[La Barata]

My parents wouldn't let me play T rated games until I was old enough to realize I could go to the store and get them myself without them knowing. ....Wait a sec, I guess they never really DID let me...

 

[Tinneh]

My dad never really cared, and my mum just wanted to make sure I wasn't playing them too much, so I was fine.

 

[Jeralt2100]

Considering that I grew up before the ESRB had even been thought about, much less implemented, gaming was never an issue in my parents' home. I started off playing my uncle's Atari 2600, moved from there to a C64, and then on to the original NES. By the time the ESRB was implemented and mature games existed I was already 16 or 17. My parents never discussed gaming with me because of that. Games were games, there were no scandals before DOOM was released, and I was 14 then. Unless you want to count how brutally difficult Battletoads was.

 

[Artina89]

My parents play videogames as well and, as long as it didn't disrupt our schoolwork, let us play what we wanted as they thought that my brother and I were mentally well balanced enough to not take a game too seriously. My dad and I were playing Resident Evil 5 co-op this weekend just gone when I went to visit them and had a great time. I have great parents