How do I convince her games have merit?

[ProfessorLayton]

If 10 hours a week is an addiction, then I'm in some serious trouble. I beat the 15 hour Unwound Future in under a week and got in a lot of BC2, CS:S, and L4D2 time as well...

And find anything she does for a long time and tell her that it's as pointless as video games.

Show her Extra Credits?

......I'll second this idea.

I'm going to agree with this...

Another vote for Daniel Floyd and friends.

Same here. It certianly couldn't hurt.

 

[thublihnk]

Honestly, my mom shut the hell up about how much time I spend playing games (and for good reason, my grades jumped right up after my parents shut up about 'spending time in front of screens', especially now that I'm going to school for film) but she was never convinced I was doing something worthwhile until I showed her a couple Extra Credits videos. She's now asked to spectate on my Starcraft matches. (Weird. Yes. Weird)

That's just my anecdote. Take from it what you will.

EDIT: Seems I've been ninja'd about 5000 times. I'm glad other people are enjoying EC. Daniel, James, if you're out there; What you're doing is second only to the actual creation of great games in advancing games as an art and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

[BrownGaijin]

Off Topic: This reminds me of a (bad) Disney Movie...

Spoiler: No seriously

...I have an 'addiction' which she has to cure...

On Topic: It's difficult to say what to do exactly since I don't know the reason behind her over-biased opinion. While you might not like this answer, you may have to confront her as to why she thinks you're addicted. It could be as justifiable as low grades and a dirty room, or it could be as unjustifiable as watching a news report that says playing more than two minutes is more addicting that heroin.

If she is reasonable then the most you'll have to do is prove to her that video games aren't holding back your other responsibilities. Use sources such as Extra Credit (as mentioned before) to show the minds of other gamers people who play games. Talk to her about Loading Ready Run and their yearly special Desert Bus of Hope.

Worst case scenario, you'll have to study your brains out, leave the house, have a successful career, and then own fabulous house with a living room filled with every video game title that has been released.

 

[Sakurazaki1023]

Show her Extra Credits?

......I'll second this idea.

I'm going to agree with this...

Another vote for Daniel Floyd and friends.

Show her "Enriching Lives" and see what she thinks about "brainless" gaming...

 

[ecoho]

Show her Extra Credits?

......I'll second this idea.

I'm going to agree with this...

Another vote for Daniel Floyd and friends.

Show her "Enriching Lives" and see what she thinks about "brainless" gaming...

dam beat to the punch

OT: how old are you if your 18 in still in school tell her your leaveing the day you graduate if she asks how tell her your joining the service that should get her to shut up about games

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Tell ur mom to stop being a closeminded ***** (no offense... really). Just because ur mom doesnt understand and probably doesnt care to learn about video games doesnt mean their evil.

 

[The_Echo]

Explain how video games are in fact the exact same as any other kind of entertainment. Like music, literature, film and television, games are a time-waster, an escapist medium. We use entertainment for just that--to entertain us.

In today's society, entertainment's sole purpose is to fill in the blanks between work and socializing (however, entertainment and socialization can go hand in hand). Therefore, not useless.

 

[Jewrean]

Educational Games:
http://edugamesresearch.com/blog/2007/12/15/the-top-10-free-educational-video-games/

Get her to sit down and play Crayon Physics Deluxe or get her to observe you and your friends playing Singstar/Guitar Hero. The Trivial Pursuit games... etc.

 

[Quantum Star]

Show her Extra Credits?

......I'll second this idea.

I'll give it a third.

 

[Altorin]

My Grandma thought this, until she heard me singing along to some Italian music from Mafia 2 (she's Italian, and it's from her time era). Now she's okay with them.

Soooo..... is you're mom Italian?

that's crazy awesome that MAFIA 2 was the game that caused your GRANDMOTHER to not hate video games.

 

[Turbo_Destructor]

Show her the Mass Effect 2 Launch trailer, that would make anyone want to play video games (well, Mass Effect 2 anyway)

 

[discordance]

Even if you present her with evidence that gaming turns kids into people like Mother Teresa she's going to see it as a waste of time.

Actually it's a well known fact that Mother Theresa was an avid gamer.
Just remind your mom that even saints like to kick back every now and then for a pulse-pounding round of GTA.
Then when she raises her eyebrows and looks like she's about to ask a question, drop a smoke grenade and rapidly change the subject.

Worked for me.

 

[Electrogecko]

Tell her she's right and you'll spend your free time hanging outside instead. Then go break the law or get caught doing drugs. If she isn't an idiot she'd put two and two together.

Or just demonstrate the above example to her verbally.

Wow!

So so far I have:

?Sing Italian Music
?Break the Law

...next?

LMFAO!!! ROFL!!! /longdrawnoutsigh
That's some funny shit.
But seriously, I don't know how anyone can think video games are a bigger mind killer than T.V. How about you try showing her some of the Extra Credits videos on the subject? I can't think of anything that has better explained the psychological reasons behind the misconceptions over videogames in a calm and undeniably logical way. If that doesn't work, than she's a lost cause.....sorry man.

 

[ThePurpleStuff]

Everyone in my family is a gamer, my parents grew up into gamers so I was blessed with what I have now and I couldn't be happier.

But damn, I feel bad for anybody who has a parent, be it a mom, dad or both like the one you have. Everyone has pretty much said everything you can possibly do to convince her otherwise. So I'd be too repetitive. If it's the only way you can actually socialize with your friends or anyone else you know, convince her that she's taking them away from you.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Deal with it and then abandon her in a home 10 years from now? That's what I'd do, then again, I'm also vindictive.

I'd just sit down and have a talk with her, tell her that Video games are something that you like doing, that they help you stay in contact with friends and of that doesn't work, then she really is just stubborn and will refuse to listen to you...which is a bad sign in parenting in my opinion.

 

[leady129]

I was in a similar situation once. Sad fact is that if thats her mind set, you chances of reasoning or changing her opinion is zip. My solution in the end was to negotiate an hour a day ONLY ON WEEKENDS making a grand total of 2 hrs a week playtime. From there I slowly started to push that hour out to an hour and a half and eventually 2 hours.

Thankfully my folks eventually started to take it a bit easier on me and eventually, as long as it wasn't the ONLY thing they saw me doing I had no problem with them in regards to gaming. It was a four year process, mind.

 

[sb666]

Show her extra credits and zero punctuation.

 

[migo]

Buy her a Wii.

Give her Wii fit.

This isn't an option, he's evidently quite young if his mom can stop him playing games (his writing style makes him seem older).

 

[feather240]

Looks like you're screwed, parents in general seam to feel that their first thought has to be their only thought otherwise it hurts their authority. I'm sure some parents on this website would argue no though. (They're lying! )

show her extra credits and zero zero punctuation.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!

 

[sb666]

Looks like you're screwed, parents in general seam to feel that their first thought has to be their only thought otherwise it hurts their authority. I'm sure some parents on this website would argue no though. (They're lying! )

show her extra credits and zero zero punctuation.

I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!

I didn't mean to do that.