Why do my parents HATE video games?

[iKingRPG]

Just because our parents didn't grow up with something means it is bad? My mom sometimes plays like candy crush or something like once a year, but I play a game for 30 minutes and she stops me and makes me read or study. I don't get it. I'm good in school, why are my parents so against games? I get she wants me to spend time with my family but I do and we are far aged apart. I'm not just here to complain about my parents. So I usually don't even play games that long but she recently forbided me from video games. The sad part is I have been using all I have recently to upgrade my PC. She says it ruins our life and only losers play games. She says: "no one I know plays video games. Except (that guy) that eats candy and plays on his phone instead of working." And here I am trying so hard not to be rude so I don't get in trouble. She also hates gaming YouTubers and says they have child minds. RIP me will this have an impact on me? I also mostly play free games because my mom thinks losers spend money on games. I wonder how much she would laugh if she knew espn endorsed Ninja.

[Tristerin]

3 minutes ago, iKingRPG said:

Just because our parents didn't grow up with something means it is bad? My mom sometimes plays like candy crush or something like once a year, but I play a game for 30 minutes and she stops me and makes me read or study. I don't get it. I'm good in school, why are my parents so against games? I get she wants me to spend time with my family but I do and we are far aged apart. I'm not just here to complain about my parents. So I usually don't even play games that long but she recently forbided me from video games. The sad part is I have been using all I have recently to upgrade my PC. She says it ruins our life and only losers play games. She says: "no one I know plays video games. Except (that guy) that eats candy and plays on his phone instead of working." And here I am trying so hard not to be rude so I don't get in trouble. She also hates gaming YouTubers and says they have child minds. RIP me will this have an impact on me? I also mostly play free games because my mom thinks losers spend money on games. I wonder how much she would laugh if she knew espn endorsed Ninja.

Video games are timesinks - they believe you should be spending your time preparing your adult life to be as easy as possible.  That's about it.  

 

EDIT - gamer dad and mom house here...cant wait till my kids want to game LOL

[Arika]

sounds like you're going to have to wait until you finish school and move out.

 

no amount of (attempted) convincing sounds like it's going to change her mind.

 

to answer your question. Different generations, and as above, she believes you should be spending your time preparing for adult life, which isn't that bad of an ideal.

[Andreas Lilja]

Make a PowerPoint presentation based on studies.

[iKingRPG]

14 hours ago, Arika S said:

sounds like you're going to have to wait until you finish school and move out.

 

no amount of (attempted) convincing sounds like it's going to change her mind.

 

to answer your question. Different generations, and as above, she believes you should be spending your time preparing for adult life, which isn't that bad of an ideal.

I get that but I don't see how watching movies with the family is better than playing games where you use your imagination or something. I work hard making games for Roblox in Roblox Studio and my mom doesn't like it. It's not like I only want to play games. Anything I say is considered dis respectful. I know she wants me to be prepared for life but being bored and very unfortunate open minded doesn't really help. I could play in times where I already studied and did chores but even if I can't do anything else I'm still not allowed. Reading can be fun but who wants to do that all day? My parents see the world as anyone who is a gamer is broke. I mean hobbies are good.

 

13 hours ago, Raskolnikov said:

Make a PowerPoint presentation based on studies.

You are a pure genius.

[Cereal5]

Blizzard signed a deal with ESPN, Disney, and ABC to broadcast OWL (Overwatch League) so... apparently it's worth something

[Amazonsucks]

5 hours ago, iKingRPG said:

Just because our parents didn't grow up with something means it is bad? My mom sometimes plays like candy crush or something like once a year, but I play a game for 30 minutes and she stops me and makes me read or study. I don't get it. I'm good in school, why are my parents so against games? I get she wants me to spend time with my family but I do and we are far aged apart. I'm not just here to complain about my parents. So I usually don't even play games that long but she recently forbided me from video games. The sad part is I have been using all I have recently to upgrade my PC. She says it ruins our life and only losers play games. She says: "no one I know plays video games. Except (that guy) that eats candy and plays on his phone instead of working." And here I am trying so hard not to be rude so I don't get in trouble. She also hates gaming YouTubers and says they have child minds. RIP me will this have an impact on me? I also mostly play free games because my mom thinks losers spend money on games. I wonder how much she would laugh if she knew espn endorsed Ninja.

I would personally tell her "Ok ill go run the streets and do drugs, get someone pregnant(if youre male) or get STDs like tons of others do. Thats better than playing games riiiight? Gets me out of the house, riiight?" 

 

That shuts them right up every time.

 

And i wouldnt insult children by saying that gaming youtubers have child minds. I would rather watch spongebob youtube poops than 99% of gaming youtubers. The ytps are more intellectually stimulating and informative.

[LinusTech]

As a parent I limit my kids' gaming time far more than you'd probably think. 

 

That said, my kids are 2, 4 and 6. I don't know how old you are. 

[TiresomeToe933]

1 minute ago, LinusTech said:

As a parent I limit my kids' gaming time far more than you'd probably think. 

 

That said, my kids are 2, 4 and 6. I don't know how old you are. 

This may not be my business....

 

but how long?

[LinusTech]

Just now, TiresomeToe933 said:

This may not be my business....

 

but how long?

My son probably spends 2-5 hours a week playing games during the winter. Closer to 1-2 in the summer. 

 

When I'm hooked on something he ends up watching me play sometimes, but I'm finally done BotW so it hasn't been an issue for the last couple weeks haha.... 

 

Still haven't figured out what will be considered acceptable once he's older. The weird thing is that I parlayed my love of gaming and PCs into a successful career, but I still see it largely as a spectacular waste of time given that the odds of becoming me (or Ninja or whatever else) are pretty slim without also investing significant time into something else - STEM, business skills, etc.. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

Still haven't figured out what will be considered acceptable once he's older. The weird thing is that I parlayed my love of gaming and PCs into a successful career, but I still see it largely as a spectacular waste of time given that the odds of becoming me (or Ninja or whatever else) are pretty slim without also investing significant time into something else - STEM, business skills, etc.. 

That's really interesting, more so because of your position and career in the industry. I often wonder about the access too and the time constraints CEO's from some of the biggest tech firms put on their children relating to technology developed as part of the business..sort of like "do as I say, not as I do"

 

Do you think this attitude of limiting you're children's time gaming will also be applied to their access to technology such as the internet and mobile phones? This question could be diving down the rabbit hole abit I know, so I understand if it's something that you choose not to respond too.

[Froody129]

They're trying to protect you. When I was younger I played a shit ton of games for like 6 months. I started not focusing on homework and didn't put much effort into socialising. My parents have always been fairly lenient so they let me do it. One day I suddenly thought, "why am I doing this?" and drastically reduced my time playing. 

 

Their concerns are valid, overuse of technology is a massive problem with today's generation with consequences that will only show later. Make a mature argument as to why you should hold more free will over your gaming time but remember that they do it with good reason.

 

[RejZoR]

Because of typical misconception that 2 hours kicking a ball outside is good, but playing a game for 2 hours is bad because reasons. And yes, it's mostly by people who never played games. To my luck my parents never cared. My mom even played games when I had Commodore C-128 back in mid 90's (yeah, that late). She played Tetris and Sokoban. I don't think she ever played Alley Cat tho, that was my sister

 

People praise someone who spends hundreds of hours playing football, look down upon gamers who spend hundreds of hours perfecting their skills in FPS games. People just think games are so easy you don't need any training or skill. Well, wanna bet and go against me in Quake Champions or CSGO?

[3ncrypt10n]

41 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Because of typical misconception that 2 hours kicking a ball outside is good, but playing a game for 2 hours is bad because reasons

At a young age and even further into life, your fitness and physical health are extremely important. Kicking a ball around for 2 hours is significantly better than playing a game for 2 hours because it gets their cardiovascular exercise in when they are at an age where going to the gym isn't really the usual thing to do.

[Mooshi]

There are gamers that make more than killing yourself with ridiculous hours at a real job.

[iKingRPG]

9 hours ago, Amazonsucks said:

I would personally tell her "Ok ill go run the streets and do drugs, get someone pregnant(if youre male) or get STDs like tons of others do. Thats better than playing games riiiight? Gets me out of the house, riiight?" 

 

That shuts them right up every time.

 

And i wouldnt insult children by saying that gaming youtubers have child minds. I would rather watch spongebob youtube poops than 99% of gaming youtubers. The ytps are more intellectually stimulating and informative.

Lol. But I would get in trouble. 

[iKingRPG]

8 hours ago, LinusTech said:

My son probably spends 2-5 hours a week playing games during the winter. Closer to 1-2 in the summer. 

 

When I'm hooked on something he ends up watching me play sometimes, but I'm finally done BotW so it hasn't been an issue for the last couple weeks haha.... 

 

Still haven't figured out what will be considered acceptable once he's older. The weird thing is that I parlayed my love of gaming and PCs into a successful career, but I still see it largely as a spectacular waste of time given that the odds of becoming me (or Ninja or whatever else) are pretty slim without also investing significant time into something else - STEM, business skills, etc.. 

This all makes sense and I totally agree to the last part. I know I can survive without games. But the thing is I am trying to get the word to my parents that "just because something may be new doesn't mean it is bad" without being rude. I do not intend to play so much that I become Ninja or something. I just like it as a hobby and I simply just don't like how much my parents are against it. I don't even mind not playing games that much even though I have loved them since I was like 3 or 4. I'm sure there are some other kids that exist who can relate.

[iKingRPG]

32 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

There are gamers that make more than killing yourself with ridiculous hours at a real job.

Yeah but of all gamers that is the .000001%

[iKingRPG]

34 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

There are gamers that make more than killing yourself with ridiculous hours at a real job.

Yeah like Apple employees people who you would think make tons of money are killing themselves daily.

[pipnina]

8 hours ago, LinusTech said:

My son probably spends 2-5 hours a week playing games during the winter. Closer to 1-2 in the summer. 

 

When I'm hooked on something he ends up watching me play sometimes, but I'm finally done BotW so it hasn't been an issue for the last couple weeks haha.... 

 

Still haven't figured out what will be considered acceptable once he's older. The weird thing is that I parlayed my love of gaming and PCs into a successful career, but I still see it largely as a spectacular waste of time given that the odds of becoming me (or Ninja or whatever else) are pretty slim without also investing significant time into something else - STEM, business skills, etc.. 

When I was growing up I had as much game time as I wanted so long as my chores and homework were done (homework had to be done first). I probably had 10 hours of gaming a week on average before secondary school, maybe more on holiday weeks?

 

During the 6 weeks of study leave for my GCSEs I played non-stop DotA2 (I did like 5 games a day on average, so much so my average to this day 4 years later is still more than 3 hours daily on the game), I still got a B in maths, an A* in Physics, A in Chemistry and a B in Biology. I have played more video games than most would consider healthy, but yet I seem to have done fine. I managed to get a 2.1 in Software Development as a foundation degree and am now working on my bachelors in Computing. Hardly a failure or an addict.

 

I think the main reason I am able to be productive is because my mother had the drive and knowledge to teach me science and mathematics from an early age, I became interested in it as a natural course of being introduced to those topics in an organic way (as opposed to "turn to page 394 of your text book and read paragraph 2" like in school). And my dad is an engineer and could teach me things about cars and boats and some electronics.

 

I think if you just let your kids sit in front of the TV all day with no input their life will shrink to it, but even if you impose no limits (besides a reasonable bed time) just being there to introduce your kids to topics like maths, engineering and science can be enough to make them curious and want to pursue it by themselves. Well rounded education from parents and not school goes a long way, and I think it's why I am studying computing, reading a book on electronics while having a side interest in automotive engineering.

 

And... part of the reason I'm here in a computing course is because, playing games on my Win98 machine, I decided I wanted to make games of my own one day. That dream might be gone, but I think 'better' ones have taken their place

 

</rant>

[iKingRPG]

5 hours ago, Froody129 said:

They're trying to protect you. When I was younger I played a shit ton of games for like 6 months. I started not focusing on homework and didn't put much effort into socialising. My parents have always been fairly lenient so they let me do it. One day I suddenly thought, "why am I doing this?" and drastically reduced my time playing. 

 

Their concerns are valid, overuse of technology is a massive problem with today's generation with consequences that will only show later. Make a mature argument as to why you should hold more free will over your gaming time but remember that they do it with good reason.

 

I know I am just upset that they think it is worse than watching a movie that makes no effort.

[paddy-stone]

Well I for one am proud of my "child mind", OK I don't have a massive income, but neither do I have crippling debt...  and even at the ripe old age of 46 I can still sympathize with the younger generation and remember what it was like. Yes I am a man-child, lol. I like to game, and TBH I find that it frees my mind up and I sometimes have eureka" moments about a problem I was trying to think of a solution to while playing games.

I was always very active when growing up, I spent way more time outside playing football (soccer), tennis, cycling etc and also some hours playing video games.. I think I managed my time constructively between all that was available to do. I don't game excessively nowadays, but that's probably more to do with my disability than being more "grown up". I have always been very self-sufficient, I clean and love to cook, I just have many interests, and I won't apologize for it. Maybe your parents just want you to have more interests? but I find it insulting to denigrate others that do like to game and have fun like they have, and TBH it's more childish of them to put people down like they have. I won't  respond in kind to that kind of behaviour and call them closed-minded or worse, they;re your parents and I can just hope that they either don't know what they're talking about, or are trying to undermine that pastime to try and help you... I really hope it's the latter.

 

Anyway, good luck with this... they don't sound like they're willing to listen to reason, which is sad... you could have a good career gaming or computing, but if your parents are against it it's unlikely you can continue in that regard until you're older. I am lucky in that regard as I am the youngest of 7 siblings, and so I was given way more freedom than they were as my parents had seen it all before.... and they supported me in what I wanted to study and so on, not that they had much choice though to be honest, I have always been free-willed and will do my own thing no matter what someone else says or does.

I wouldn't know how to try and get your point across to them, there are some people that just won't listen no matter what logic is used. All I can suggest is to try and find some other pastime to do to try and prove to your parents that you're not "wasting" your life.

[iKingRPG]

2 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Well I for one am proud of my "child mind", OK I don't have a massive income, but neither do I have crippling debt...  and even at the ripe old age of 46 I can still sympathize with the younger generation and remember what it was like. Yes I am a man-child, lol. I like to game, and TBH I find that it frees my mind up and I sometimes have eureka" moments about a problem I was trying to think of a solution to while playing games.

I was always very active when growing up, I spent way more time outside playing football (soccer), tennis, cycling etc and also some hours playing video games.. I think I managed my time constructively between all that was available to do. I don't game excessively nowadays, but that's probably more to do with my disability than being more "grown up". I have always been very self-sufficient, I clean and love to cook, I just have many interests, and I won't apologize for it. Maybe your parents just want you to have more interests? but I find it insulting to denigrate others that do like to game and have fun like they have, and TBH it's more childish of them to put people down like they have. I won't  respond in kind to that kind of behaviour and call them closed-minded or worse, they;re your parents and I can just hope that they either don't know what they're talking about, or are trying to undermine that pastime to try and help you... I really hope it's the latter.

 

Anyway, good luck with this... they don't sound like they're willing to listen to reason, which is sad... you could have a good career gaming or computing, but if your parents are against it it's unlikely you can continue in that regard until you're older. I am lucky in that regard as I am the youngest of 7 siblings, and so I was given way more freedom than they were as my parents had seen it all before.... and they supported me in what I wanted to study and so on, not that they had much choice though to be honest, I have always been free-willed and will do my own thing no matter what someone else says or does.

I wouldn't know how to try and get your point across to them, there are some people that just won't listen no matter what logic is used. All I can suggest is to try and find some other pastime to do to try and prove to your parents that you're not "wasting" your life.

Yeah my parents always let us do whatever career we want but they are so against gaming. They are the kind of people that get bothered when they see someone playing on their phone in public.

[iKingRPG]

8 hours ago, LinusTech said:

My son probably spends 2-5 hours a week playing games during the winter. Closer to 1-2 in the summer. 

 

When I'm hooked on something he ends up watching me play sometimes, but I'm finally done BotW so it hasn't been an issue for the last couple weeks haha.... 

 

Still haven't figured out what will be considered acceptable once he's older. The weird thing is that I parlayed my love of gaming and PCs into a successful career, but I still see it largely as a spectacular waste of time given that the odds of becoming me (or Ninja or whatever else) are pretty slim without also investing significant time into something else - STEM, business skills, etc.. 

I know this may sound like a dumb, but don't you think playing games with a 1080ti for 1 minute is about equal to playing 10 minutes on integrated graphics?

[Guest]

9 hours ago, LinusTech said:

As a parent I limit my kids' gaming time far more than you'd probably think. 

 

That said, my kids are 2, 4 and 6. I don't know how old you are. 

Steve Jobs supposedly didn’t let his kids have iPhones and stuff either. 

 

I don’t see the harm in 1 day a week playing games if there’s significant study occurring the remainder. 

 

To OP, you could try to say bargain “what if I only play video games in the afternoon on Saturdays but the rest of the week I read a book & exercise? It’s as productive as a movie except that I can socialize with other people by typing.” 

This way, you can record large amounts of study & then you may perhaps be left alone for a single large chunk of time gaming as opposed to 30 minutes here and there. Unless you just listen to your parents moan & just hop back on gaming as if nothing happened.