Parent's reaction to video games

[gmergurl]

Friends: Most of them play videogames, so obviously they think they are cool, some are addicted (as healthy as you can be) and some are just casual (Zynga is huge). The one friend that can't stand them and thinks they are all nerdy... well lets just say that she did buy a DS for the guitar hero game.

Sis: Huge Zynga fan.

Bro: Xbox, FPS, TPS fan who thinks anything else but Xbox and shooters are stupid and gay.

Dad: Doesn't really care, except when I'm playing them instead of doing work, even when I don't have work.

Mom: Games are the devil, but only when I play them. She'll spend all day on internet poker, solitaire (solitaire!), or Zynga games, but hell, when I play them it's suddenly the worst thing imaginable and the reason I can't get a job, didn't have a good boyfriend for a while and the list goes on and on. She literally does spend most if not all of her day playing games, but I can't play for one hour. She also gets creeped out when I play MMO's and I try to explain instances (or raids) to her, because I'm playing with (and type talking to) complete strangers. However, she plays internet poker, and talks to these people too. Again I have indeed tried to explain things but she doesn't see the similarites.

But I digress, enough ranting about my mother.... perhaps I should watch some Extra Credits in front of her..... >.> I'd never get her to watch it willingly by herself.

 

[Windcaler]

Everyone in my life is fine with video games. My parents bought me my first console (the NES) when I was 6 or 7 and they've supported my gaming since then. Likewise all of my friends are gamers or at least have a passing interest in video games.

Honestly though, I tend to disassociate myself from anyone that disagrees with any of my hobbies. For example besides playing games, I hunt and fish, I play a game of Pathfinder and shadowrun every week, and I spend an hour each day excersising (push ups/situps and a 2 mile run though that less for fun and more because I like feeling healthy). So I have a lot of hobbies of different kinds and most are for fun, though some are arguably more healthy then others.

When I first left home and joined the army I got into Dungeons and dragons. I had a few family members that thought my table top gaming was a waste of time and they quickly got told that if they wanted to remain in my life they would either have to accept every aspect of who I am or at the very least not complain about it. Some of them didnt and honestly I think Im better off not having those relitives in my life anymore. My friends got a similar treatment. However in my opinion anyone that continually upsets you or causes you undue stress is not a friend.

Video games arent something I discuss with my coworkers as we usually have work related things to discuss.

This just goes back to a question I ask a lot, why would you associate yourself with people who continually act in some negative fashion toward you or something you enjoy?

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Oddly enough my mom is okay with it.

She knows that I can't stand games she play (Spyro the dragon. Bakery story etc), and she can't stand the games I play. (Fallout: New vegas, Half Life 2) To be fair, I did kill a man in front of her in RDRE at an Blackjack table.

She now convince I can't be good in that game.

 

[JezebelinHell]

A parent, a gamer and never discouraged about gaming by my parents or anyone I know. Actually, they both play games as well, if you count my dad playing Governor of Poker. My mom has a Steam account and recently spent over $50 during the summer camp sale. I really have no idea why people find it so important to have everything they enjoy validated by everyone else. Personally anyone that thinks negatively of it in my life probably isn't someone whose opinion I care much about anyway.

 

[BGH122]

I HAD a gaming addiction two years ago. I got over it with professional help.

My parents still think I have it. They constantly insult me thinking it won't hurt my self esteem.

Everytime somebody dies and games are blamed, they send me a link through email and print it hundreds of times.

I do other activities. I can't play 10 minutes without being called an addict.

So they are not fond of games at all.

I doesn't sound like you had a gaming addiction, it sounds like you had (and still have) very unsupportive parents.

I don't mean to offend, by the way. Sorry if it seems that way.

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

A long time ago, my mom bought me a little PC Namco Museum, and I was awful at it, but I had fun. About the same year "I was about 4, maybe 5" My dad showed me a shooting range sim. I had fun with that too, but we lost it. Mom plays a bunch of casual games on facebook. Mostly Bejeweled blitz. (The one casual game that I find fun in any way, MAYBE peggle too) Over time I've started to try newer and better games. I also play a bit of retro stuff like OOT, Goldeneye, Majora's Mask, etc. Now my parents think they turned me into an anti social misanthrope. Untrue. Being surrounded by ignorant little shits who won't accept that games do not cause violence of any sort or that they may be a decent art form turned me into the anti social, baby hating, human contact avoiding, mistrusting, misanthrope that I am. I play a lot of Saints Row 2 and Dead Rising 2, and it doesn't stress me out in the slightest. Matter of fact, It's a great stress reliever and is probably one of the few things preventing me from doing the world a favor and ridding it of these morons. Before I realized the utter stupidity of the human race I got little to no resistance though. Dad also will occasionally come watch me play Call of Duty, and I think one time even asked if he could give it a shot. He also seems genuinely interested when I talk about how I slip live frag grenades into peoples pants in Fallout 3. I like my dad.

 

[SoranMBane]

snip

Now I am not a person who really believes in luck. I have this feeling in my gut that how people respond to you and your level of success is just a matter of outlook and effort. This seems pretty detrimental to my self image, because it probably is. People tend to gravitate to a positive attitude, and if I am extrapolating from your message correctly, you seem like the kind of guy who doesn't hang your head. Johnny Impact and I however are the guys who don't seem to have that attitude, so on some level there is a social deterrent created.

Whether or not you realized it, you've surrounded yourself with people who respect you because you carry an attitude that respects them. Or am I being too presumptuous? Sorry for lumping you in with me Johnny.

That may be. I suppose the people who one would normally think of as being too bull-headed to accept the artistic merits of video games (the right-wing nut jobs, the dumb jocks, the yuppies and socialites, etc.) are all also people I try to cut out of my life to avoid their poisonous influence, and would never even consider worth trying to explain my views on the subject to them, while the people I respect enough to socialize with on a regular basis would naturally be more willing to accept what I have to say. The "luck" to me is really in the shear number of people both in and outside of my family that I've met who are intelligent and open-minded enough to listen to what I have to say and respect my views. Maybe it's just that I'm articulate and intelligent enough to be a magnet for these kinds of people, and I've never been ashamed of my gaming, but I'd always pegged myself as kind of a shy person, so it just seems odd to me.

Also, I'm a girl, not a guy. No harm done, but I'm just letting you know.

 

[Sansha]

My close friends play video games, as well as my two brothers. My sisters plays our old N64 and thats it. My mom is meh on the subject, where as my dad enjoys watching them. He tried playing them but he is in his 50s so he doesnt really try much. But he asks questions and such about what they are about and everything. Hell he asked me to only play Heavy Rain when he was there, it was like watching a movie.

Your dad is trying to find common ground with you, and enjoy time spent with you.

My dad tried the same, and we had fun. He bought our first computer, which got me into video games. Now I'd rather play games than any other leisure activity, so he was a little disappointed by that. Mum thinks they're a waste of time, and I agree, but I enjoy wasting it.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

My parents were actually pretty cool about the whole thing and my dad used to take me to arcades when I was little, so they don't get excited about seeing violence in a game. Then again, my dad used to be in the military and my mom is a nurse so they never, and still don't, make a big deal about it.

What's funny was one time my mom was watching my play Mortal Kombat, I don't remember which one but it was on the SNES, and Liu Kang's head exploded, her only comment was how unrealistic it was and walked away. Not that it exploded, but how it was depicted and visualized, I didn't want her to clarify that.

 

[The Sandvich]

My mom doesn't really understand games, but she doesn't have a problem with me playing them. Not much to say about her

My dad...well it's hard to explain. His opinion seems to change from game to game. He works with computers a lot (though more hardware than software) and is generally involved with a lot of tech stuff, so he gets pretty impressed with some of the games I play (mostly Rockstar games). He also plays a lot of fighting games with me, specifically Soul Calibur. I can actually remember most of the things he's said about the games I've played while he's around:

Red Dead Redemption: "Wow, the visuals actually really do look nice. Though steering on the horses looks kinda fake" (During the scene where John shoots the Mexicans when he first goes to Mexico) "Yeah, that guy reminds me a lot of Clint Eastwood"

LA Noire: "The facial animation is really impressive. It still looks like animation, but wow"
"Hey, you gonna play that detective game again? It's actually kind of fun to watch"

Grand Theft Auto 4: "Yeah right, that's not how it would happen. If you just walked into a hospital and started shooting it up, there'd be police blocking all the exits!"

Modern Warfare 2: "There's missiles being fired from a plane that you control with a laptop? That...doesn't exist"

Fallout New Vegas (opening cinematic): "Kinda funny, the Stratosphere's actually gonna be taken down soon, so it wouldn't exist in the future like that" (I then told him it took place in an alternate timeline)

 

[Ked]

they've never stopped me from playing anything since I was 7 and RAGED at Rayman 2's Whale Bay

Oh my god, this.. so much of this

OT: My parents don't mind me playing games and my dad enjoys playing Tomb Raider and Call Of Duty but I don't think I could ever get them to see them in the same light as a film. It does really annoy me that the moment I mention games around people who don't play they just switch of, but luckily most of my friends play games.

 

[Warlordnipple]

Generally hatred of video games is caused by a person being weak-minded and easily influenced by the news and their peers. The have done studies that show that hatred of games comes from the same part of the brain that causes a person to be racist. Like MLK said an injustice anywhere is an insult to justice everywhere. Unless someone thinks all forms of media are bad from tv to movies to television to radio to books, then they are just exhibiting the same type of racism people have had for hundreds of years wherein they just blame a minority culture for their own problems.
It is also pretty clear that video games are getting blamed for a ton of problems that tv just got blamed for. Obesity its gotta be our kids not getting any exercise not the 4000 a day calorie diet they are on because we grew up with fast food places like Mcdonalds and Burger King, except the portions have increased as well as the weekly visits. Violence is video games faults! oh wait but about 95% of men under 30 have played video games and the biggest mass murderer of the last 10 years never played a single one yet he did all the same poses people do in video games (Virginia Tech). Video games were instantly blamed for that, to bad there is no network that could make the other ones look like assholes for doing that because they all dead. People really just want to be racist and video games will always encounter a negative vibe for as long as that is still true.
This is America nothing is our fault it all must be some other guys fault for all of our problems because its not like we are to blame for anything ever.

 

[Voulan]

My mum would probably prefer me to have some other hobby, but otherwise she's okay with it - it makes me happy, and I still have amazing grades and a good social life. She watches me play rarely, but does it out of fascination rather than contempt.

My dad enjoys playing war games with me, because he's a war fanatic. So it's kind of like father-daughter bonding time, he'll talk about some historical facts and we'll share which of our favourite guns to use are. We also play car racing games.

My friends define me by my gaming nature, and find me interesting because of it.

 

[Warlordnipple]

My mom doesn't really understand games, but she doesn't have a problem with me playing them. Not much to say about her

My dad...well it's hard to explain. His opinion seems to change from game to game. He works with computers a lot (though more hardware than software) and is generally involved with a lot of tech stuff, so he gets pretty impressed with some of the games I play (mostly Rockstar games). He also plays a lot of fighting games with me, specifically Soul Calibur. I can actually remember most of the things he's said about the games I've played while he's around:

Red Dead Redemption: "Wow, the visuals actually really do look nice. Though steering on the horses looks kinda fake" (During the scene where John shoots the Mexicans when he first goes to Mexico) "Yeah, that guy reminds me a lot of Clint Eastwood"

LA Noire: "The facial animation is really impressive. It still looks like animation, but wow"
"Hey, you gonna play that detective game again? It's actually kind of fun to watch"

Grand Theft Auto 4: "Yeah right, that's not how it would happen. If you just walked into a hospital and started shooting it up, there'd be police blocking all the exits!"

Modern Warfare 2: "There's missiles being fired from a plane that you control with a laptop? That...doesn't exist"

Fallout New Vegas (opening cinematic): "Kinda funny, the Stratosphere's actually gonna be taken down soon, so it wouldn't exist in the future like that" (I then told him it took place in an alternate timeline)

I do intelligence in the Air Force and your dad is wrong about that Modern Warfare thing, plus that game is in the future. You can somewhat control rockets you fire out of a rocket launcher with a little keypad on the launcher now too actually.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

My friends and family are actually avid gamers themselves. They understand that it is a legitimate form of media and not just a form of holocaust planing. The media here dosent really care, unless its a HUGE event like the release of Reach.

 

[The Sandvich]

My mom doesn't really understand games, but she doesn't have a problem with me playing them. Not much to say about her

My dad...well it's hard to explain. His opinion seems to change from game to game. He works with computers a lot (though more hardware than software) and is generally involved with a lot of tech stuff, so he gets pretty impressed with some of the games I play (mostly Rockstar games). He also plays a lot of fighting games with me, specifically Soul Calibur. I can actually remember most of the things he's said about the games I've played while he's around:

Red Dead Redemption: "Wow, the visuals actually really do look nice. Though steering on the horses looks kinda fake" (During the scene where John shoots the Mexicans when he first goes to Mexico) "Yeah, that guy reminds me a lot of Clint Eastwood"

LA Noire: "The facial animation is really impressive. It still looks like animation, but wow"
"Hey, you gonna play that detective game again? It's actually kind of fun to watch"

Grand Theft Auto 4: "Yeah right, that's not how it would happen. If you just walked into a hospital and started shooting it up, there'd be police blocking all the exits!"

Modern Warfare 2: "There's missiles being fired from a plane that you control with a laptop? That...doesn't exist"

Fallout New Vegas (opening cinematic): "Kinda funny, the Stratosphere's actually gonna be taken down soon, so it wouldn't exist in the future like that" (I then told him it took place in an alternate timeline)

I do intelligence in the Air Force and your dad is wrong about that Modern Warfare thing, plus that game is in the future. You can somewhat control rockets you fire out of a rocket launcher with a little keypad on the launcher now too actually.

Since I'm not an expert with military weaponry, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to argue with him. Though I did tell him it took place 6 years in the future, and so he replied "Oh, nevermind"

Also, I forgot a game:

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2: "Man they go really in depth with this. It's like they're secretly training people for war" (which is interesting, because there is a game that openly admits that it's meant for recruitment or something)

 

[TheCorpseMan99]

My mom is encoraging but uninterested in playing herself. My mom's boyfriend is a game enthuiast and we often play together. I've never really had anyone in my life who thought that games were evil or a waste of time.

Likewise, the only games I've ever seen my mother play are "Tetris" and "Kingdom Hearts"

 

[Ked]

they've never stopped me from playing anything since I was 7 and RAGED at Rayman 2's Whale Bay

Oh my god, this.. so much of this

OT: My parents don't mind me playing games and my dad enjoys playing Tomb Raider and Call Of Duty but I don't think I could ever get them to see them in the same light as a film. It does really annoy me that the moment I mention games around people who don't play they just switch of, but luckily most of my friends play games.

Wait, you... you raged a Whale Bay too?

:O

Oh so much rage, it didn't make sense when I was younger to use the bubbles to breath, I rage quitted and I haven't gone back, I really should play that again but the disk has got a split

 

[Dragunai]

A witch hunt had to be formed so the bandwagoners had a wagon to band in.
Movies took the brunt for a while, then when the whiners realized no one cared they attacked rap music, metal and punk but anyone who listens to those music styles simply pointed out the irony of the establishment attacking them and thus empowering their messages so now videogames get jumped on because us "nerds" are seen as quiet and meek.

Ironically attacking the quietest people in the world saying they will become homicidal...

Reminds me of a joke Steve Hughes made about the war on Terror:

"So we're attacking the people in those countries because they have terrorists?"
"Yes!"
"But doesn't war cause Terror for the innocents of those countries?"
"Yeah mate but its Ok, because our terror is good terrorism!"

 

[Hypertion]

either they dont or they overreact really badly.