BringBackBuck said:
9 weeks ago my wife gave birth to my son. After 9 months of pregnancy and a 12 hour labour that had complications and resulted in an emergency caesarean my son was born. It was the most awesome moment of my life. Since then I have been changing nappies, been shat on, pissed on, and vomited on. I no longer go out drinking with my mates, my gaming time has been reduced to pretty much zero. I changed jobs and moved from inner city Sydney to suburban Melbourne so that I could buy a house in a suitable environment to raise kids. I get 4-5 hours of poor interrupted sleep and get up and go to work 10 hours a day to provide for my family. Since my wife is now out of the workforce we now live on half the income we did 6 months ago. In short I have sacrificed a hell of a lot for my boy and its only been 9 weeks.
After 16-17 years I will have invested more love, time, energy and money in my boy than you can possibly imagine. At that point it is possible my son will be playing some sort of game on some sort of machine that I dont quite understand but I think is probably bad for him. I have no idea what I will do. But I might take away his computer/games/not buy stuff for him and feel completely justified in my actions.
So my question is this: What do you think you would do when you are 45yo and your son is playing Super Mario Paedophile Adventure on his PS17?
Just wondering, you sound more than a little embittered, do you, even a little bit, regret having a son? Is it disheartening that you can never really aspire to a greater station that you already are due to time commitments etc. Nor can you leave your job for a new chance at something different, for if it doesnt work out, you will be unemployed and the extra burden of your wife and child with no incomes will simply be far too much. I'm not trying to get you down or anything, these are just (some of) my thoughts as to why i would not wish to have a child. I'm very interested in your opinion on the matter.
I completely agree that you deserve the opportunity to spend time with your adolescent children, although not only as some sort of unwilling repayment of a debt for putting a roof over their head etc... It ought to be voluntary and enjoyable for the both of you.
That being said, i'm surprised you have such a negative perspective on the gaming scene, being a self-professed gamer yourself. For what its worth, in my honest opinion, being a gamer, although not a 'hardcore' 4 - 5 hour a day after school etc kind of teenager, is certainly benefical. Due to schooling stereotypes etc gamers are often not involved in the more unsavory elements of high school/college and in turn can achieve more in their education.
In answer to your question, disregarding the fact the game is about pedophiles and italian men, I would let my kids play the games simply because i find that the general social group of gamers facillitates learning and progressive interaction.
