Parental Figures that Game

[Wolf Kanno]

So who has parents that actually play games? I don't mean the free games that come on your computer. I mean actual, "I need to go to a store and buy the game" games. What kind of games do they like?

[VeloZer0]

When we bought the family SNES way back when I was 8 my father probably beat as many levels in Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country as my brother and I combined. But aside from those two games I don't think I have ever seen him pick up a controller.

[NorthernChaosGod]

I actually started playing video games because my dad would play Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt with me. I must have been like 4 or 5.

My dad still plays games every now and then, he bought a PS3 and is currently playing God of War 3.

[Bolivar]

my story's same as Velozer0, but a little older. I got into games watching my dad and uncle (separartely) lose hours in NES stuff like Mario, Tiger Heli, or RBI Baseball. My Uncle kept playing sports games into the Genesis generation, but neither of them would pick up games today, i think because of how admittedly complicated and kind of watered down the industry has gotten. My Dad actually just bought a Blu Ray player even though he knows perfectly well the PS3 does that and tons of other stuff (except serve as a surround sound system, which is actually why he got it). A couple years ago he did come home with a plug in and play arcade classics set where he showed me the ropes in Galaga and we spent a pretty decent amount of time on that.

So I come from gamer blood (i am s0 L337 hardcore lol) but not the kind that would play 360/ps3/wii crap.

[Unbreakable Will]

Apparently my biological father would play games so much he kept losing his jobs, and forget baby Will was there. Now thats dedication...or neglect xD

[Jiro]

My mother likes action adventure games like... Spyro. Actually Spyro is probably about it, she hasn't played anything since then.

I have a friend whose dad plays shooters with us fairly often. He's not too bad at it, really. He certainly knows how to trash talk though!

[Bunny]

My half-brother's father introduced me to video games, specifically RPGs, by letting me play a few random battles in Final Fantasy way back when. He let me do more and more as I got used to the controls but we started out small. That's probably the best thing the useless bastard ever did for anyone.

[Laddy]

My dad's a pretty good FPS player, and he also plays MMORPG's and old-school CRPG's.

[Yeargdribble]

My mom was a good sport and would try, but she sucked. She couldn't get Mario to run and jump simultaneously (though she did make a flashy display with the controller every time she got that first hole). My step-dad was a technophobe to the nth degree and wouldn't have touched a controller to save his life. He did become somewhat addicted to solitaire later in life and would play literally for hours at a time whilst still bitching at me about how much of a waste of time playing the types of games I played was.


My wife and I try to be cool people who openly play games to the students at our school. Of course most of our colleagues think for less of us for gaming. Sadly, our students have terrible taste in games for the most part so it's usually not worth talking about. Either that or you have a 7 year-old telling you how awesome it is to blow people up in whichever military shooter they happen to be playing at the time. Most of the play GTA, which is a great game, but most of these under 10 kids can't grasp the satire of it or how much it DE-glorifies violence. The story just goes right over their heads.

Funny... even though there are a lot of kids who wear Mario shirts or have Mario backpacks, it seems that none of them actually play the games. It's bizarre to ask a kid with a Mario Kart shirt about his favorite racer only to find out he doesn't own a single Nintendo system. Likewise, I will sometimes play piano versions of Mario Galaxy music and of the probably 700 kids that have heard it... not a single one has had their ears perk up in recognition.

[Rantz]

The short answer is I don't have those parents. They consider themselves to have more important things to do, I guess.

When I lived with my parents and my dad was in the living room while I was playing something, I'd always get really nervous. He'd put down his paper or book or whatever and silently watch with a somewhat judgemental face. He'd sit like that for 5-10 minutes, and all the while I'd know what was coming: some smartass sarcastic comment like "why are you harrassing that bug?" (drawing Cure from a Caterchipillar in FF8), which he'd know I couldn't really give a meaningful answer to. As a result of him continuously doing so, whenever he started watching I'd feel pressured to do something that seemed worthwhile as if to prove that it was a "valid" form of entertainment. Oh, the hardships of parental judgement.

[Fynn]

My dad used to play Diablo a lot. That was way back when I was still scared to play the game - 8 or 9 years old, maybe? Anyway, after that he sort of quit gaming (aside from the occasional Mahjongg), but once we got a Wii for Christmas he started playing Mario Kart hardcore :D As for my mom, she was always saying machines hated her. When suddenly, she let herself be introduced to The Sims 3 by yours truly. She quickly got addicted (though she still makes strange mouse motions when rotating the camera, a bit as though she were trying to "dive in") and anticipates every upcoming expansion just as much as I do.

[DMKA]

My dad loves Space Invaders and Asteroids, if that counts.

He thinks any game that came out after those is satanic though.

[Roogle]

My parents do not play video games. In the early nineties, my sisters used to play the same video games as me and allowed our family to acquire a large collection of Nintendo and Super Nintendo games as we all had different tastes in video games. My sisters vastly preferred fighting games over other types of games like role-playing games.

[Peegee]

My dad plays wii golf games (tiger woods' something-or-other golf) and he keeps playing those Might and Magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_and_Magic) games - at least the newer ones, anyway.

his brother (older) considers video games a waste of time and told me so - he understands it can be a nice use of free time but to always play it is silly.

Unrelated to the actual topic - I think video games should be a good time-sink - I have several hours per day I spend just drooling and so I use video games to fill those gaps.

[Depression Moon]

My mother likes action adventure games like... Spyro. Actually Spyro is probably about it, she hasn't played anything since then.

I have a friend whose dad plays shooters with us fairly often. He's not too bad at it, really. He certainly knows how to trash talk though!

Is your Mom a teacher?

As for mine. Back in the day All I remember her playing was Duck Hunt at my cousin's house a couple of times and that was the last time that I remember until my older brother bought a Wii for my lil brother and she played Wii Sports for like a month or two.

Recently she told me that she played the Kinect at her friend's house. Just the one time I think. Before that I was playing a demo of Pacman Championship Edition DX on my PS3 with my arcade stick and she wanted to try it. She did horribly, but was funny to watch. That's about it.

[theundeadhero]

When I was five my dad came home with a brand new NES and The Legend of Zelda. He played it after work a lot until he beat it and then he helped me beat it. I got to the point where I could beat it all by myself at five. He also randomly played the first Super Mario bros. and Top Gun. Then years later I was surprised to see that he liked playing the first Diablo.

[Laddy]

My dad plays wii golf games (tiger woods' something-or-other golf) and he keeps playing those Might and Magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_and_Magic) games - at least the newer ones, anyway.

his brother (older) considers video games a waste of time and told me so - he understands it can be a nice use of free time but to always play it is silly.

Unrelated to the actual topic - I think video games should be a good time-sink - I have several hours per day I spend just drooling and so I use video games to fill those gaps.

Dude, my dad played Might and Magic too. He just beat VI for the third time.

[Loony BoB]

Until my stepbrother came along, I was pretty much the sole gamer in my family.

[Rase]

My dad loves FPS games and regularly shops on Steam. It strikes me as humorous.

[Jiro]

Is your Mom a teacher?


..No, but I'm really curious as to what gave you that impression! :p

[Flying Arrow]

The original Zelda was a staple for various family members. My step-mother went on to play a lot of the GB games over the years. Other than that, only one of my uncles really gamed. He owned a game store in a town north of Toronto (a Microplay) for a few years and even had a short local radio segment entitled 'The Game Guru' where he'd answer various questions about games on air. My manchild-like interest in games is due in no small part to the fact that as a kid I played so many games as a result of this store (I had an SNES, a Genesis, AND a 3DO). Moreover, my interest in RPGs is also a direct result of being fascinated by all the Nintendo, Sega, and Sony RPGs he had in his collection.

[Depression Moon]

Is your Mom a teacher?


..No, but I'm really curious as to what gave you that impression! :p

I had an English teacher who said she had played Spyro so I just wanted to see if maybe that was the same person. I just realized now that she also mentioned that she had played Fallout 3 so...

[Jentleness]

I am a parent who loves RPGs (and yes, I have announced that I must go to the store to buy a new game...the last one being FFXII).

Also, my parents (my mother will be 69 this year and my father 70) like to get together with my aunt and uncle and play such games as Mario Party on the Wii.

You are never too old to play...

[LowCaloriePie]

My father plays (and actually taught me how to play when I was little) the Metal Gear Solid games. Other than that and a little bit of Super Mario on the virtual console, he generally stays away from videogames.

[Jessweeee♪]

My dad was into games, but he quit them cold turkey when I tripped the power cord just as he was about to beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2. A couple of years later he got the Genesis out again and as a six-year-old I was old enough to play it myself so I gave it a shot! My parents got into them again briefly when they bought a Playstation for me and my brother. We never played anything together, but I have a fond memory of my dad playing the dinosaur level in Tomb Raider for the first time while we were all in the living room watching him. He killed the first few little raptors that ran out at him with a little bit of difficulty, and then my uncle said "hahaha good thing there aren't any big dinosaurs or you'd really be in trouble" and then of course a giant T-Rex ran out and my little brother and I were like "noooo run Daddy!" Eventually he killed it, but it took pretty much all of his ammo. And my uncle, having never played this game before, said "man if another one chased after you that would be so messed up" at which point Lara was eaten and my uncle was forbidden from speaking. It was that moment that got me into the Tomb Raider series!

My dad gave up gaming again forever when he purchased a James Bond game and got so frustrated with it he threw the controller.

[escobert]

I've been playing video games with my dad fro around 20+ years.

[ShunNakamura]

Dad played Zelda on the NES and SNES. As well as Mario and Donkey Kong. When we got a PS1 though he started drifting. He played a bit of Croc/Crash Bandicoot.

However, when we first got Age of Empires II he got hooked to that. In fact even up to last year I could catch him playing the game for hours at a time from time to time. Dunno, if he has been up to it recently though.

[Yeargdribble]

One of my students caught me buying Bioshock 2 as a gift for my wife yesterday. I hope he doesn't spoil it before I give it to her. Even though both my wife and I talk about gaming occasionally, I think the kids thought we were bluffing.

This morning it seemed to be a big deal and several kids brought it up in the hall before class. I just hope we make it through the rest of the day without anyone letting slip what I was buying.