Gamer Parents

[alif49]

We all know Linus is a dad, I have a 2 year old son and I am sure there are a lot more parents in this community that have to fine tune the delicate art of balancing playtime with the kids and playtime for ourselves. How do you make time for yourself to play games (online or offline) in addition to giving time to the family? I used to play PC games with him on my lap but after playing Far Cry 3, all he wants to do is pretend to shoot tigers so now I find myself waking up an hour extra before work to get my dose of Hitman Absolution. Also, most of our parents were not gamers. How do you think we will be as gamer parents? I can picture myself having a LAN session with my son some day but how much of a reality will that be? Lastly and most important of all, how do you combat the stigma that "it is time to grow up" ? I find that gaming is no different from any other hobby that most parents do like golfing, shopping (for the moms) etc. If you can provide a roof over your family's head, bring food to the table, do all the things that your family loves to do why is it that this stigma still remains? Any thoughts?

[EChondo]

Well, gaming is for any and all ages. It's more than just shooting and blowing stuff up. I personally play games for the story and if a time comes to where there are not anymore stories to gaming, then that is when I will give up on video games.

I still remember being 5 years old and playing a LAN party with my dad on Halo 1. Miss it so much, he quit playing video games a couple years after because of work, but when we finish the house up and he gets a bit older, he plans to build his own PC and play all the games he has missed out on for the past 10+ years.

I will happily be a gamer parent myself and I hope my children will also get into gaming as it is more than just a hobby even, it's a way of entertainment, like watching movies or listening to music. I won't force my children to do so, but I will give them the opportunity. Most of my cousins around my age also do a bit of gaming and my siblings do as well.

For your son, see if he will take a liking to the Nintendo DS or something handheld that isn't too difficult, I know what got me into gaming was my GB and GBC with my N64 and original Xbox.

[alif49]

Well, gaming is for any and all ages. It's more than just shooting and blowing stuff up. I personally play games for the story and if a time comes to where there are not anymore stories to gaming, then that is when I will give up on video games.

I still remember being 5 years old and playing a LAN party with my dad on Halo 1. Miss it so much, he quit playing video games a couple years after because of work, but when we finish the house up and he gets a bit older, he plans to build his own PC and play all the games he has missed out on for the past 10+ years.

I will happily be a gamer parent myself and I hope my children will also get into gaming as it is more than just a hobby even, it's a way of entertainment, like watching movies or listening to music. I won't force my children to do so, but I will give them the opportunity. Most of my cousins around my age also do a bit of gaming and my siblings do as well.

For your son, see if he will take a liking to the Nintendo DS or something handheld that isn't too difficult, I know what got me into gaming was my GB and GBC with my N64 and original Xbox.

I definitely play for the story as well but I find it to be more immersive when it is played for a long stretch of time as opposed to scheduled hours throughout the day. As a parent what would be your strategy to achieve this? As for trying to get my son into gaming, that is something that he will either pick up or he wont. I will never force him to like something just because I do. I will introduce him to the PC world, especially when he gets to the age when he starts liking consoles, but the decision is completely his.

[Prikk]

Im sure when we do have kids, we will see the value in them, so much so that we will be over them all the time like we are with video games now. However im sure will spend time playing games with my kids

[EChondo]

Well, gaming is for any and all ages. It's more than just shooting and blowing stuff up. I personally play games for the story and if a time comes to where there are not anymore stories to gaming, then that is when I will give up on video games.

I still remember being 5 years old and playing a LAN party with my dad on Halo 1. Miss it so much, he quit playing video games a couple years after because of work, but when we finish the house up and he gets a bit older, he plans to build his own PC and play all the games he has missed out on for the past 10+ years.

I will happily be a gamer parent myself and I hope my children will also get into gaming as it is more than just a hobby even, it's a way of entertainment, like watching movies or listening to music. I won't force my children to do so, but I will give them the opportunity. Most of my cousins around my age also do a bit of gaming and my siblings do as well.

For your son, see if he will take a liking to the Nintendo DS or something handheld that isn't too difficult, I know what got me into gaming was my GB and GBC with my N64 and original Xbox.

Well I do also prefer long gaming hours as opposed to just playing every 2 hours a day. Since I'm currently in school I game for a couple hours each night Sunday-Thursday, but Friday and Saturday it's all night dungeon searches and big lobbies of BF3 or playing Skyrim/Fallout.

As a student, I do get homework and I have to do it, so I can't play a lot when coming home after school, but I would assume right after you got off work you could play all you want(as long as the Misses doesn't mind).

I will also introduce my son into PC hardware/software and even networking and see what he likes.

[ConfusedDolphin]

My mum is a pretty intense Spider Solitaire player...

[Emkryan]

Well' date=' gaming is for any and all ages. It's more than just shooting and blowing stuff up. I personally play games for the story and if a time comes to where there are not anymore stories to gaming, then that is when I will give up on video games. I still remember being 5 years old and playing a LAN party with my dad on Halo 1. Miss it so much, he quit playing video games a couple years after because of work, but when we finish the house up and he gets a bit older, he plans to build his own PC and play all the games he has missed out on for the past 10+ years. I will happily be a gamer parent myself and I hope my children will also get into gaming as it is more than just a hobby even, it's a way of entertainment, like watching movies or listening to music. I won't force my children to do so, but I will give them the opportunity. Most of my cousins around my age also do a bit of gaming and my siblings do as well. For your son, see if he will take a liking to the Nintendo DS or something handheld that isn't too difficult, I know what got me into gaming was my GB and GBC with my N64 and original Xbox.[/quote']

Half-Life is a MUST!!!

[TechTheWorld]

My mum is a pretty intense Spider Solitaire player...

Same here. Lol.

[Whaler_99]

I have three kids - and as you say, balancing all this is hard. Most evenings I focus on the family and kids till they go to bed, time with wife, etc. I am somewhat lucky (maybe) in that for the past 25 years or so I have been getting by with about 5 hours of sleep a night. My body is pretty much trained on that. So, most nights after 11 find me at my computer till 1 or 2 am. It is a bit hard on me now that I am getting older. I don't play as many games anymore. I have a handpicked few I play. Like you, I am more for the story and in one case, for the friendships through the Clan I am in. My wife understands also that this is "my" time and doesn't bug me about it - too often. :)

Both my older kids are into gaming and my younger one likes to play movies on hers. I have setup a rather robust network at home, being an IT professional, and some evenings if the kids are playing a game I enjoy as well, I will jump in and play with them. This is a lot of fun and they are still just young enough they don't mind having dad play with them. But gone for me are the 5-10 hour plus gaming sessions. I get a few rounds of this and that in most nights and am happy with that. Things change and you adjust...

[Salmiakbal]

Am I the only one that finds it weird that you play games that involve killing people with your 2 year old on your lap? Just saying :p

I don't think there's much difference between our parents and us. They used to play card games and games outside back in the day and with us, now we basically do the same with our kids, only on a computer :p

[alif49]

Am I the only one that finds it weird that you play games that involve killing people with your 2 year old on your lap? Just saying :p

I don't think there's much difference between our parents and us. They used to play card games and games outside back in the day and with us, now we basically do the same with our kids, only on a computer :p

With him on my lap it mainly involved chasing deer, cutting plants, riding boats etc on Far Cry 3... I never really got the chance to play the story line hence me requiring to wake up 1 hour extra before work to game.... on the flip side how many of our parents and current parents watch action movies as their kids grew up? Rambo, Commando, Predator, Aliens? So if I heard of any one actually playing the fighting scenes during a game with their kid on their lap, it would not be weird at all. Frowned upon but definitely not weird.

[alif49]

I have three kids - and as you say, balancing all this is hard. Most evenings I focus on the family and kids till they go to bed, time with wife, etc. I am somewhat lucky (maybe) in that for the past 25 years or so I have been getting by with about 5 hours of sleep a night. My body is pretty much trained on that. So, most nights after 11 find me at my computer till 1 or 2 am. It is a bit hard on me now that I am getting older. I don't play as many games anymore. I have a handpicked few I play. Like you, I am more for the story and in one case, for the friendships through the Clan I am in. My wife understands also that this is "my" time and doesn't bug me about it - too often. :)

Both my older kids are into gaming and my younger one likes to play movies on hers. I have setup a rather robust network at home, being an IT professional, and some evenings if the kids are playing a game I enjoy as well, I will jump in and play with them. This is a lot of fun and they are still just young enough they don't mind having dad play with them. But gone for me are the 5-10 hour plus gaming sessions. I get a few rounds of this and that in most nights and am happy with that. Things change and you adjust...

I think you and I have a somewhat similar routine. I get by with 5-6 hrs of sleep as well, the only difference is that my gaming hours are after I wake up around 5 am and yours is before you go to bed at night. My son is the type of kid that jumps around on his crib, requires a story to be read to him, talks about his day, all right before going to sleep. That's the time that we feel most connected as a family. We leave all of our electronic devices at the door so that we can chat ourselves to sleep. My wife is also ok with me getting out of bed earlier because lack of sleep is something I am willing to put myself through just so that I can get some "my time."

If you look back on the timeline, mass gaming is relatively a new thing. Once these people have their own families and the majority of the gamer population are gamer parents, perhaps they will change the format of the games themselves? Longer campaigns with shorter levels? A single game would then last parents a long time so that they don't have to worry about breaking the bank all the time and the shorter levels will mean that they can play games in brief bursts throughout the day. Is this the reason why some parents transition from FPS to RTS? I have always loved RTS games but now they appeal to me for a completely different reason.

[gasho]

I cant tell it from a dads perspective because I don't have children of my own yet. But my father is a IT fanatic and since I can remember there were always computers all around me. And he did game as well. So far he told me with the time management between work, kids and wife he could only game when everybody was asleep. Just like few of you. He introduced me passively into computers. By passively I mean he didn't call me to him and started to lecture me about PC's he just did his thing and I started to come after him with million questions. Maybe that could be advice maybe not but I'm very glad that he did it passively because I till this day passionate about PC's.

[alif49]

I cant tell it from a dads perspective because I don't have children of my own yet. But my father is a IT fanatic and since I can remember there were always computers all around me. And he did game as well. So far he told me with the time management between work, kids and wife he could only game when everybody was asleep. Just like few of you. He introduced me passively into computers. By passively I mean he didn't call me to him and started to lecture me about PC's he just did his thing and I started to come after him with million questions. Maybe that could be advice maybe not but I'm very glad that he did it passively because I till this day passionate about PC's.

Your father was a very wise man. Kids are rebellious in nature. If you pressure them too much to do a certain thing or be a certain way they usually do the opposite. That's what I learned when I grew up. I want my kid to experience everything but to only do the things that he enjoys. If that means he will be a console boy then so be it.

Regardless, I think the next 5-10 years will be interesting to see what happens in the gaming industry. For example, I think your father will say the same but right now I don't have time for cut scenes. I love the storyline in games and I love the gameplay but when my son is taking a nap and I am in the middle of a game and suddenly there is a cut scene I am praying "please don't wake up, please don't wake up!" For this reason, I would never be able to play Metal Gear Solid now even though I have always been a fan.

[Whaler_99]

I have three kids - and as you say, balancing all this is hard. Most evenings I focus on the family and kids till they go to bed, time with wife, etc. I am somewhat lucky (maybe) in that for the past 25 years or so I have been getting by with about 5 hours of sleep a night. My body is pretty much trained on that. So, most nights after 11 find me at my computer till 1 or 2 am. It is a bit hard on me now that I am getting older. I don't play as many games anymore. I have a handpicked few I play. Like you, I am more for the story and in one case, for the friendships through the Clan I am in. My wife understands also that this is "my" time and doesn't bug me about it - too often. :)

Both my older kids are into gaming and my younger one likes to play movies on hers. I have setup a rather robust network at home, being an IT professional, and some evenings if the kids are playing a game I enjoy as well, I will jump in and play with them. This is a lot of fun and they are still just young enough they don't mind having dad play with them. But gone for me are the 5-10 hour plus gaming sessions. I get a few rounds of this and that in most nights and am happy with that. Things change and you adjust...

Yep - RTS is where it is at. My personal favorites right now are World of Tanks and Neptune's Planet. :) Funny - I remember my dad all those years ago - his thing was reading. Would sit and read each night for hours. And other buddies dad's, would tinker at hobbies, watch TV, etc. I don't think gaming is a new phenomemon. I think what we do period has just changed. I don't watch any TV. Some nights I choose to read instead of game... but all parents throught he ages have had their distractions. :)

[gliliumho]

Am I the only one that finds it weird that you play games that involve killing people with your 2 year old on your lap? Just saying :p

I don't think there's much difference between our parents and us. They used to play card games and games outside back in the day and with us, now we basically do the same with our kids, only on a computer :p

I've been watching action and violent movies with my parents since I was a kid. I'd say as long as the kid knows how to differentiate between good and bad, what's real and what's fiction, then it's all good. Nothing to worry about. Just make sure he doesn't bring the violent part to real life.