Sharing Nerdiness With Your Parents.

[Sariteiya]

Sometimes parents don't understand the things you love, think that things like gaming or anime are "weird" and "a waste of time."

But sometimes they don't. Sometimes parents will try to embrace your interests, learn more, and share with you. Heck, sometimes your parents are nerdier than you.

My father was of the first opinion, he was apathetic towards my gaming, and thought the fact I enjoyed Pokemon and Anime to be childish. On the whole however, he was pretty uninterested in all my hobbies, so it wasn't a big preoccupation with him.

My mother, on the other hand, always made a huge effort to understand the things I loved, and get involved. Even though she was fairly lost as a gamer, she would sit and watch cutscenes with me, or ask me about different game mechanics. She loves to watch Miyazaki movies with me, and played Pokemon with me when I was young.

So what are your experiences? Did you parents share your nerdy nature? Or abhor it?

 

[Phlakes]

My mother still owns a Nintendo 64 and has played through Banjo Kazooie maybe 50 times. My father plays a bit of Mario Kart but nothing else.

 

[Tasachan]

Mine are pretty much the opposite of yours. My mother sees it all as a waste of time, but my father generally got in on the games -- though he was pretty bad at it. He beat Pokemon Snap before me, and Final Fantasy X as well. Now that I've moved out, and the family computer is in the same room as the PS3/big tv, he occasionally watches my brother play games and follows the story line and whatnot.
He's the one that got me into the Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. He's also a huge photography nerd, and occasionally I like to pull out his old SLR and get him to teach me how to use it.

 

[the spud]

My mother still owns a Nintendo 64 and has played through Banjo Kazooie maybe 50 times. My father plays a bit of Mario Kart but nothing else.

I'm sorry, but does your source happen to be a mass effect reference?

OT: My mother and father are both tolerant, but neither is espescially interested.

 

[chromewarriorXIII]

My parents are what got me into gaming thanks to them owning a Sega Genesis. However, nowadays they don't play anymore and I'm lucky if I can get my mom to play a song in Rock Band with me. They don't really care either way though. Or at least, my mom doesn't. My dad hates that I can sit for an entire day and play a game.

 

[Dimitriov]

My Dad is a bit of a film buff, and can be kind of nerdy when it comes to movies and stuff (as in he knows the directors, actors, and their bodies of work and so on...) but other than that he really doesn't have an appreciation for things like sci-fi, anime, video games etc. like I do.

On the other hand I tend to credit a lot of my interests to how my Mom raised me. She doesn't really like video games either, but when I was around five she read the hobbit to me and my brother and the full Lord of the Rings a few years later. Also I've been watching Firefly with her and she seems to really enjoy it.

 

[jacobythehedgehog]

My dad says I should sell my video game collection, he doesnt get how I can have soo many games. But truth is I still play all of them.... except some that really suck

 

[Biosophilogical]

My dad used to play games when we were young. Mainly GoldenEye and Gran Turismo on the N64 and PS1 respectively. My mum is of a view which makes her ask this question "How can you keep playing these things, they are all either racing, quest or shoot-'ems?. They are all the same." I think the only game she ever played was pong or something when her parents bought it for her yonks ago, but she only played it minimally so as to not hurt their feelings.

 

[Rylot]

Both of my parents were happy to let me game (they bought me a N64 for my birthday) since it gave them something to take away when I was grounded.

 

[trooper6]

My mother would take me to Sci-Fi conventions when I was a kid.
She and I were on Starcade, the video game game show from the 1980s.
My mom was the most awesome sci-fi lady ever who'd dress up in costumes...long before people in the states started calling it cosplay.
My mom bought the household the Colecovision and would play it as much as I would.
My mom, like many black women of her generation who were inspired by Lt. Uhura, was a huge Trekkie.

My mom was the best, and I miss her terribly.

My Dad isn't so much a traditional nerd, but he's a writer and taught me about cryptids and UFOs, magical realism and The Book of the Damned.

They didn't play D&D...but they were both nerds in their own way and I was always able to share my nerdiness with them as they shared their nerdiness with me.

 

[Double A]

When I was a lot younger, my dad liked to play some James Bond games for the PS2 with me. When he was younger, he was a pretty big fan of X-Wing and TIE Fighter. He also had Dune II, which I found when looking through a CD case, and I thought that was pretty cool.

He doesn't really care for much of it now that he's over 50.

Anyway... my mom likes reading some of the books I like, and really, really likes the LOTR movies. She also likes all of the Star Wars movies (yes, that includes the prequels... I'm somewhat depressed about it). Also, Doctor Who. She used to watch it in the 70's and 80's, and now we both watch it on Netflix.

 

[Erana]

My mother looks down on video games and is displeased at my any mention of video games.

I know it is because she wants me to be respectable lady, but I like games, and I guess this is how I express my rebellious, teenage rage.

 

[Kinpatsu]

Short answer: My parents are totally cool with the gaming my brother and I do.

Long answer: My dad got me started on games, really - he had (and still has) an Atari 2600, Intellivision, and old PC games like Myst. As soon as I was old enough to use a mouse, he set me up with games of my own. My mom doesn't really game, but she does watch sometimes. She loves fantasy and sci-fi, watches those kinds of TV shows and movies with me, and goes to cons with me. They are both okay with our games and occasionally interested, but don't really get involved a whole lot.

 

[Palademon]

Apparently my dad used to like playing arcade games, but modern games are completely lost on him since he sucks.

My mum doesn't mind games, but the only things she'll play are Animal Crossing, The Sims, and Professor Layton. She got tendonitis from playing Animal Crossing too aggressively.

I don't think either understand anime, and I cringe at my mum attempting to pronounce things. I wish she would just try to describe the show instead when refering to it.

 

[dertyqwerty]

My whole family is into gaming, parents more mildly than us youngin's. We're just a big bunch of nerds.

My cutesy story though is when my mom was curious about World of Warcraft, since I played it so much, she thought she'd give it a shot. So I set up her with a character on my account and tried to teach her the basics. She was terrible, but she was SO EXCITED when she learned how to loot. So cute.