Valve keeps the controls fairly simple, that may be a way to get him to play them.Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor said:
187: Parents Just Don't Understand
- Thread starter tendo82
- Start date
My mother and I both raise one eyebrow when looking at the other's favorite pastime. She's a civil war re-enactor who makes and sells period clothing. I'm a pretty avid gamer (tabletop, video, you name it you got it). Both of us have dipped into the other's hobby on occasion and found it not for us: I spent a summer wearing a corset and hoops to please her, she tried valiantly to beat Donkey Kong Country when I was a kid. I was miserable the entire time I was laced up, she never got past the second level.
Whenver the two of us get into a discussion it becomes clear that we each think the other's hobby is a waste of time and a huge "gold sink", that the other's interest is boring and of no lasting value. Both of our interests are at core experiential... you're left with precisely the same thing when you're done with a video game as you are at the end of a successful bicentennial parade: satisfaction.
Sometimes I'm not sure why we can't admit how alike we are.
Whenver the two of us get into a discussion it becomes clear that we each think the other's hobby is a waste of time and a huge "gold sink", that the other's interest is boring and of no lasting value. Both of our interests are at core experiential... you're left with precisely the same thing when you're done with a video game as you are at the end of a successful bicentennial parade: satisfaction.
Sometimes I'm not sure why we can't admit how alike we are.
Ah, the (not so) civil war- when men were men, women were women and teeth were... eeeww!Solipsis said:
Is she with the "damned Yankies" or the slave traders? She must make a pile of money- that sort of stuff is really popular isn't it? Films etc? A friend of mine worked on the cozzies for Moulan Rouge, only thing I liked about the flick (had to watch most of it with the sound off LOL). Come to think of it she didn't make a lot.
My mother's brothers loved gaming, but my mom never played them simply because they made her dizzy and gave her a headache too easily. However, she understands that there are games for children, games for teens, games for adults, and games for everyone. That's why she doesn't give me a hard time about my gaming.
My father, however, is very stubborn and thinks all games are for children because I grew up playing tons of Pokemon and Mario (although I must admit, they're more for "everyone" than just "children"). Now he always assumes that all the games I play are for little kids, even if he is in the room with me, watching me play a game where blood is flying everywhere...
My father, however, is very stubborn and thinks all games are for children because I grew up playing tons of Pokemon and Mario (although I must admit, they're more for "everyone" than just "children"). Now he always assumes that all the games I play are for little kids, even if he is in the room with me, watching me play a game where blood is flying everywhere...
My father and my mother's brother are the reason I got into gaming. They both had the Atari, and Intellivision. My mother saw how much my older brother and I enjoyed playing the games so she ended up getting us a NES. She never enjoyed video games herself, but saw them as good entertainment for children(and a good babysitter for when she was doing things around the house). My stepfather also sees video games as for children. Being 23 now my mother and step-father frown upon me having my DS at EVERY family gathering, telling me it is a waste of my time, this coming from a lady who is always watching CSI Miami, and a man who watches T.V. religiously.
Come to think of it, my step-dad also complained a lot when I was growing up because I would rather sit on the deck in the sun with a good book than play sports, and he would always tell me that reading was for old people who can't move around much.
It is definately not a generational gap, but rather a difference of opinions.
Come to think of it, my step-dad also complained a lot when I was growing up because I would rather sit on the deck in the sun with a good book than play sports, and he would always tell me that reading was for old people who can't move around much.
It is definately not a generational gap, but rather a difference of opinions.
Luckily, my dad actually enjoys and understands gaming, and plays a few of them himself on his own. usually Diablo 2..he loves that game. And I LIVE for the Diablo series. so we have that in common, sorta.he also bought me my first gaming system, the NES and played Super Mario Brothers with me and my sister when we visited him (divorced family). but my mother is the exact opposite. she gets really pissed off when she sees me buy another game cause she thinks its "childish" and a waste of time and money. and whenever I'm playing ANYTHING, and shes observing me, she says the most lame remarks that I'm sure most have you have heard at least once if not more. the most common one being "all you ever do is run around" and "how is this game any different from the others". hearing these makes me cringe.
i think shes slowly turning around or her narrow minded views. cause she realizes that its a very large and booming industry, of which my career will be based on. but that doesn't stop the annoying one liners.
i think shes slowly turning around or her narrow minded views. cause she realizes that its a very large and booming industry, of which my career will be based on. but that doesn't stop the annoying one liners.
I think iam a very special case then i dont know if it is because iam dutch or something but my dad and mom Are total Mario fans after i got my Nes. So doing they also understand all the other games i play with the nessecary blood and gore involved. Its strange that before my dad and mom fell into their mario rush they were very sceptic about all this and that it all provoked real violence
GR Tim
GR Tim
My dad had picked up a nes in 1989 with a couple of those 190 in 1 games. He sat he down when I had just turned 3, I sat down and he told me the controls for contra. My mom was watching from afar. About 25 seconds into playing I was out of lives and I just stared at the screen, then tried again. My mom proceeded to saying "Uh oh" She was right.
Me and my dad haven't gotten to play many games together because he loves tetris and the original bomberman. I recently got him to play bomberman LIVE, for a while he kept asking me where the door and enemies would spawn, and I had to keep saying it was just a death match, and he'd say "Oui, mais les portes sont ou?"
Me and my dad haven't gotten to play many games together because he loves tetris and the original bomberman. I recently got him to play bomberman LIVE, for a while he kept asking me where the door and enemies would spawn, and I had to keep saying it was just a death match, and he'd say "Oui, mais les portes sont ou?"
This article really brought back memories. It has touched several heart strings and caused me to remember things from back when I was just a child.
I remember when I was a little boy, growing up in the Soviet Union. When I was just a few years old, It was 1989, I believe, my father first introduced me to games. As one of the more well-to-do families, we were allowed just a bit more comforts and luxuries than all the rest.
He brought me Tetris.
Tetris was a game that me and my father enjoyed playing. We loved every moment of it. We loved competing for who would get more points and who would lose the last. We bonded during the next few years. But my mother really hated gaming. She not only didn't understand the point, but called it a waste of space, a worthless time sink. We never really got on, afterward.
In the following years, after the fall of Communism, I was introduced to western games. I was amazed at the variety and the entirely different tone of these "Capitalist Play-things". Instead of the bleak, colorless appearance of "Tetris", I got used to the colourful, most wonderful look of these "new" games. It enthralled me to such a degree that I stopped playing tetris. Until the New Years of 2008, I wouldn't play Tetris again.
My father and I never really connected with a game after tetris. It was the first and the greatest and I'm sure we both still remember. My mother and I, however were driven apart by the difference of opinions regarding games and we never really made up.
So, I suppose, it is partly that the older generation looks at video games with, at most, frank curiosity that causes us to wonder whether they really do understand it, but I think that they do. They most likely understand the concept and idea, but, I suppose, it matters how they rationalise the point of it. This may cause different reactions - some may find games attractive, some may think they're a waste of space. But I rest, almost certain, that they know that gaming is important to some of us and will not try to explain how useless or awful it is with an intent to cause us to cut off ties to gaming.
So, in short, wonderful article. Really touched me and brought back memories of me and my family in the early days of computer gaming.
I remember when I was a little boy, growing up in the Soviet Union. When I was just a few years old, It was 1989, I believe, my father first introduced me to games. As one of the more well-to-do families, we were allowed just a bit more comforts and luxuries than all the rest.
He brought me Tetris.
Tetris was a game that me and my father enjoyed playing. We loved every moment of it. We loved competing for who would get more points and who would lose the last. We bonded during the next few years. But my mother really hated gaming. She not only didn't understand the point, but called it a waste of space, a worthless time sink. We never really got on, afterward.
In the following years, after the fall of Communism, I was introduced to western games. I was amazed at the variety and the entirely different tone of these "Capitalist Play-things". Instead of the bleak, colorless appearance of "Tetris", I got used to the colourful, most wonderful look of these "new" games. It enthralled me to such a degree that I stopped playing tetris. Until the New Years of 2008, I wouldn't play Tetris again.
My father and I never really connected with a game after tetris. It was the first and the greatest and I'm sure we both still remember. My mother and I, however were driven apart by the difference of opinions regarding games and we never really made up.
So, I suppose, it is partly that the older generation looks at video games with, at most, frank curiosity that causes us to wonder whether they really do understand it, but I think that they do. They most likely understand the concept and idea, but, I suppose, it matters how they rationalise the point of it. This may cause different reactions - some may find games attractive, some may think they're a waste of space. But I rest, almost certain, that they know that gaming is important to some of us and will not try to explain how useless or awful it is with an intent to cause us to cut off ties to gaming.
So, in short, wonderful article. Really touched me and brought back memories of me and my family in the early days of computer gaming.
Great article! I distincly remember my own dad saying something similar about Mortal Kombat. But more disturbing was when my dad was watching me play fable 2 earlier this year. When battling the boss (mind you, I was in super-gaming mode), he kept pestering me to "throw the guy into the wall"....immediately I was sidetracked and totally detracted from my game. I therefore had to educate him as to "why" I could not simply "throw him into the wall". He still couldn't understand. Parents just can't seem to grasp the limitations placed on games and why we (as gamers) continue to play them w/ these said handicaps. I guess it will be a never ending battle...until we take over!! muwahaha! lol great topic again!
My dad really never found video games very interesting, but it wasn't until I realized it was the genre of game I was playing, not games themselves.
I was playing fantasy games, a genre my mom and I love. But my dad? He loves simulations, history, and sci-fi type games.
Of course that's why I have a soft spot for different kinds of fantasy and science fiction.
My Dad and I eventually bonded over one game, Flight Simulator. Since I couldn't buy my old man a Cessna for his birthday, I got him flight simulator and the best flight stick system I could afford. Being a a mechanical engineer and pilot for the military this immediately interested him, especially the realism of it. He loves that game and gets out his old flight maps that really work in the game. It's funny to see him get all into it and to learn about flying.
War games interest him a bit, and he'll watch some things for a while, but I haven't seen him have any desire to play anything but Flight sim.
Oh... and the PSN game... Pain. Apparently throwing some dude out of a slingshot is always funny.
I was playing fantasy games, a genre my mom and I love. But my dad? He loves simulations, history, and sci-fi type games.
Of course that's why I have a soft spot for different kinds of fantasy and science fiction.
My Dad and I eventually bonded over one game, Flight Simulator. Since I couldn't buy my old man a Cessna for his birthday, I got him flight simulator and the best flight stick system I could afford. Being a a mechanical engineer and pilot for the military this immediately interested him, especially the realism of it. He loves that game and gets out his old flight maps that really work in the game. It's funny to see him get all into it and to learn about flying.
War games interest him a bit, and he'll watch some things for a while, but I haven't seen him have any desire to play anything but Flight sim.
Oh... and the PSN game... Pain. Apparently throwing some dude out of a slingshot is always funny.
My dad, well, he's a proper gamer. He plays videogames with me alot, hell, he's usually better than me. He's my step-dad by the way, he's 30 now. We always play games and he doesn't mind about the ratings of games, he knows that games depend on maturity, and he talks to me about the game before buying it me if it's rated 18, or he'd buy it, if I can play on it, I can have it, if I can't...it's only his. (I'm 14) yet now, he basically let's me play what we want.
Speaking of which, I might go play black ops with him later
My mum...well. It's not SUCH a different story. She can't game with controllers due to a problem with the control of her right hand and how to use her fingers, yet she plays PC games ALOT. I've seen her play counter-strike before and she's pretty good at it, and she likes puzzle games as well.
She understands game ratings and lets me play what games I want to play if she's seen them and had a play with me on them.
Actually...I might go on garry's mod with my mum...or peggle.
Speaking of which, I might go play black ops with him later
My mum...well. It's not SUCH a different story. She can't game with controllers due to a problem with the control of her right hand and how to use her fingers, yet she plays PC games ALOT. I've seen her play counter-strike before and she's pretty good at it, and she likes puzzle games as well.
She understands game ratings and lets me play what games I want to play if she's seen them and had a play with me on them.
Actually...I might go on garry's mod with my mum...or peggle.