Parents who play video games?

Did a search and couldn't quite come up with anything related to this, just wondering if any other people out there have a parent that plays video games still?

My father is 54 years old and got into gaming around 2004 when Half Life 2 was released, after letting him play through it he was hooked and asked me to build him a decent rig to play more games like this. A year later he thought he would go ahead and open an internet cafe as a 'hobby business' on the side I guess, with about 10 decent gaming PC's, at first it was great. Use to hold lock ins on the last Friday of every month which predominantly consisted of 12 hours straight of Battlefield 1942 and Pizza. Couple of years later (Once everyone pretty much had decent internet here in Australia it died down and he was forced to close.

Since then he's pretty much kept up with latest gaming hardware every 2 years or so and playing through most FPS single player campaigns, any tower defence game he can find on steam and Battlefield and Call of Duty online multiplayer. The funny part is he is just 54 year old truck driver that doesn't trust 'the internet' getting his money so he'll give me a call to gift him games on steam and give me cash when ever I catch up with him.

Just wondering if anyone else out there that has parents/parent that still plays video games today? When ever I tell friends about this they find it really weird and I guess growing up with it, it's never really felt all that weird to me.

My parents find video games the most appalling use of time imaginable. However, my girlfriend's father has been playing games for a very long time. He hasn't kept up with new releases since the most recent console revisions, but regularly plays and replays games on his PS3 and 360.

Unless you count games on Facebook, not really. When I was a kid, my mother used to play on my Genesis a whole bunch 'till her thumbs got in bad shape from it and I think that put a permant stop to her gaming career. Dad used to play Tetris on the desktop pc, but he only needs a tablet these days. I don't think they really have an opinion about games these days, for better or worse. Since gaming is only a hobby for me (a very dear one, but still just a hobby) I haven't felt the need to bring it up anymore. I feel like my mother could get a kick out of VR games, though.

My dad who's 57 has like a 1.88 KD ratio in Halo 4. He plays big team exclusively and 8000 of his 23k kills come from the banshee bomb. We always play games when my brothers and I are back home for a weekend. Unfortunately he hasn't been able to play regularly in over a year because my parents have moved and renovating the house. They always have another project over there. Frankly I don't know how they do it.

I'm a parent and I play games.

The only parent I have that still plays games regularly is the internet's own Jeff Green. My dad could be persuaded to a game of Wii Sports Tennis once in a while, but the Wii hasn't been touched for a good long time. It's not that he dislikes games, his were just the MSX Computer era games and he doesn't feel comfortable with anything beyond a Super Nintendo really.

I'm in my 30's and married and still play games. I've actually got my Mom to start playing games too.

My dad just turned 60 and is playing the Witcher 3 and dead rising 4 as we speak. My Moms always enjoyed watching and telling him when he's low on health lol

She doesn't much anymore, but around the PS2 era my mom played a lot of platformers and collectible hunting games. I think her favorites were Ratchet and Spyro, but I remember a fair bit of Jak and Crash Bandicoot as well. She also beat Sonic 2, my only Megadrive game. She gave Mario Galaxy a shot much, much later, but ended up not getting into it because she had lost so much muscle memory and didn't like the unfamiliar controls, since she only really learned how to use a dualshock (Sonic 2 is a one button game, so it barely counts):

My mom works with computers and has been playing games since I was a kid. When I was growing up she introduced me and my bro to Duke Nukem 3D, Warcraft 3, and a couple other games. She's pretty much always been interested in investing in consoles and games as gifts for us, as well.

Nowadays though, all she really plays is World of Warcraft and Bejeweled. She's interested in gaming, but shes gotten into a spot where playing anything outside her comfort zone is prohibitively difficult for her. She has a PS4, but I think all she's ever really used it for is for the TV stuff.

My Mom plays the normal "Mom" games you would expect. I try to play with her whenever possible, but she just dominates every board/level somehow. She denies it, but I'm convinced she spends buttloads of money on power-ups that gives her an edge.

My Father (been deceased for a while) is who originally got me into computer games. One of my first "game" memories was when I was five and my Dad took me to our local AAFES (Military base commissary-like place. Almost like Walmart or Sears) and we saw the original StarCraft on display. He asked me for my opinion on which version to get (there was one with a high Templar, one with a Science Vessel Pilot, and one with a Hydralisk on the front. We ended up getting the one with the high-templar. When we brought it home, he just couldn't get it to click for him. However, I ran away with it. Ever since then, he mostly came to me on which kinds of games to play, and most of the ones he was interested in were simulation/management games. Roller Coaster Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon, Sim City, etc.

So yeah, both my parents were (relatively) into games. Nothing like myself, though. I'm a useless font of knowledge to no-one with my elite gaming knowledge of lore, mechanics, etc.

Side note: Since I'm a parent now, of three beautiful children, does that count? I met my wife in World of Warcraft and have gamed with her ever since. She's sort of backed off the medium now that were together since, according to her, gaming was an outlet for her depression. Seeing as she (allegedly, lol) doesn't suffer from that anymore, it's mostly myself as the "dedicated gamer" of the household. I hope to corrupt all three of my kids at some point, but we'll see!

Got off topic there for a second. So, since you're asking about parents, do I count? I have no qualms about my future being filled with games even as my children grow older. It's a great way to spend time with them, help them learn while they play, and help develop motor skills that otherwise might take a longer time, or not at all.

My parents never did, but you'll find a whole lot of gaming parents on this site.

My Dad got me into gaming. We had an Amiga him and my Mum liked to play with. Over time my Mum dropped out, except for Tetris really. My Dad continues to be a gamer, playing more games than I do at the moment overall. He is mostly into narrative experiences, really enjoying Oxenfree and Firewatch last year, he wouldn't stop talking about them. I do love having him to talk to games about.

I don't know any parents who are into video games, but my cousin's husband plays games and theyre about to be parents in a few months so he will be the first.

Huh, I wonder what's that like: having a parent to talk to about video games. I never managed to persuade my mom to play video games; she says they give her a headache. Whereas my dad thinks they're a complete waste of time, especially for an adult. Although, when I had a Genesis, he did play Shove It! on occasion, and I know that he enjoyed playing Arkanoid at some point.

I don't think i am the demographic you are looking for. My dad has never touched a video game, but he is 90 years old and was set in his ways long before video games existed. I, however, am a 40 year old father of three (including a high school student) and play video games as my primary form of entertainment. take from that what you will

My parents were originally a little wary of the whole video games thing back in the day, hesitant even to have a NES in the house. (And considering a lot of the reaaal cringey portrayals of how "COOL AND EXTREME GAMES ARE!!" back then, I almost can't blame them) But they were open-minded, and quickly saw that the vidja games didn't turn us siblings into slack-jawed idiots.

Over the years my parents inevitably played games with us, both in passing and occasionally getting more into certain ones. Today my mom has a 3DS almost solely to play Animal Crossing on. She also has a soft spot for the 3D Mario games, having played all of them since Super Mario 64 at this point.

My dad's been a bit more prevalent in this sphere. Has played a lot of the Mario Kart series, a handful of Zelda games (I think Wind Waker was his first), a couple of Fire Emblems, Civilization (mostly II and III), Resident Evil 4 and 5, Mass Effect, Skyrim, and more. Definitely some common themes there, but it's also a bit all over the place. I can never guess which games'll grab him.

My dad and uncle got me into them. My dad is almost 70 and still plays first person shooters. I just got him a PS4 and he's pretty terrible with the controller but he still plays quite a bit.

The only games I ever got my father to play with me were Rock Band. My favorite memory of him was that I managed to convice him to sing Bohemian Rhapsody with me.

Ugh, fuck cancer. I miss you dad.

My mom got into Animal Crossing and Pokémon in a big way in the 00's.

My dad played a lot of games as a kid. Atari and arcade shit. But he fell off when my parents had my older brother. I sort of reintroduced him to gaming as I got older. Nowadays he doesn't play MANY different games, but when he finds one he likes he'll play the hell out of it. He has like 500 hours in Civ V. Hundreds in Rome Total War. Hundreds in every Battlefield game that comes out. BF1 is his current obsession of course.

My mother, however, wants nothing to do with them. She doesn't hate them or anything, but says they're not her thing.

I have four kids of my own, so I guess I'm a gamer dad. My kids mostly like cool stuff (aka stuff I like and introduce them to) but they get their own obsessions from other places too (Five Nights at Freddy's.....Uggggggggh).

Im 49 and being and been playing video games since 'pong'. Its a great way now to keep my mind and reflexes active. I have owned consoles since the genesis... and Ive bought every xbox.

the average age of gamers is now 35 and keeps rising.

the one thing I dont like is micro transactions, especially when theres a 'pay to win' attached to them.

I actually started a petition about this

http://chn.ge/2y0jbQP

I love to play multiplayer on xbox live and lean towards games like FPS, rpg, and driving games.

My dad was the reason I started playing video games. He even recorded a flawless playthrough of Strider for the Genesis and Megaman 2 on Betamax.

Command & Conquer, Wild Arms, Wing Commander, Final Fantasy 7, Ultima, Tomb Raider, Mario World... he all played it first, I watched. This is all his fault. THIS. IS. ALL. HIS. FAULT.

(He also watched anime. He once told me: he was watching Macross on TV, then toddler me sauntered in, stared at the screen for a few minutes before turning away, then he says "LOOK! Transforming jet planes!". Convinced me ever since. Great influence.)

P.S. No longer with us, though. He wouldn't want us to be dour when talking about 'im, too goofy for that. Better remember him for the silly guy who played games. Oh, and raised me too.

My parents never cared about video games/PC games and never tried to even understand how they worked. I think they still equate them with gambling games like poker and other card games. That's how clueless they are. When I was around 8 I would mention the most violent games that I wanted for my birthday/christmas and they would go and buy them because they didn't even care to check the labels.

My parents could never get into games. When we got teh 2600 in 1979 I had my parents play a once or twice, but they never really go into it. Losing can be a bit intimidating especially if you are not sure if you lost for some reason you did not know.

My sister when she was in her 20 got into some games, but just very lightly - she played Sim Heath, Theme Hospital and Life&Death. She was a good sport and would play video games with her nieces and nephews who were small.

I'm a 37 year old parent who is heavily into gaming. My dad bought doom and doom 2 for himself on their release dates and played them heavily and it was my first intro into that type of gaming at around age 11.

My son is now 12 and is working on getting 100 % on breath of the wild. He loves indie titles like undertale and binding of Isaac. Most of his friends parents don't play games and as a kid myself my dad was the only dad who had a pc that was used mainly for gaming. He's not much into it anymore.

J

My parents do not. I thought about trying to get them into some aspects of games (like me playing an adventure game like Life is Strange and having them make the dialogue choices), but they have never showed any interest. Actually, the closest thing is my dad would walk in while I'm playing something like San Andreas, ask, "Can you run those people over?", and then laugh wholeheartedly after I did so. He seems fascinated by some of the stuff you can "do" in a videogame, but again that's about it.

My brother who is now a parent, still plays games here and there. He played through Persona 5 earlier this year, and was messing around with Overwatch last year. Granted, he's in his 30s, so not really a reference point for this thread, but that's the closest I got.

Not really. My mom and dad like games like Mario Kart, games that deal with flying (my dad's more into the flying part, my moms more into the crashing part), so Pilotwings, Star Wars games like Rogue Squadron, Star Fox. My mom likes Super Mario World, sometimes saying 'I should hook up the Super Nintendo and play Super Mario.' My dad says his favorite system is the N64. As for games today though, they both say they can't grasp the controls and don't care to figure it out. My dad liked what he saw and heard from the first Halo. They're both in their early 50's. Overall, they know my brothers and I love playing games, but they don't care for the majority of them, and I don't think they understand games now.

They often bring up how when my brothers were little, they'd play Super Mario World all night, having a hard time getting to and past the first castle, and then my brothers played it and got through the entire game in half the time. I once tried to play Halo with my dad, but he just kept looking in circles. My dad, however, did read two Halo novels. It's safe to say that if my parents didn't have at least a small interest in video games, I probably wouldn't be as into them as I am today, I don't know. They were the ones that bought the Atari, SNES and the N64 (as well as Wii). My dad also got himself a PS3, but that was mainly to watch Blu Ray's, but he did get games like Motocross and some flight simulator.

Me and my husband are parents who play games.

His parents don’t. They are very academic people and think it’s a bit of a waste of time unless it’s one of those educational games we had at school on the BBC Micro.

I haven’t seen my dad since I was a kid, so he could be a big gamer for all I know. He taught himself C when I was a kid and introduced me to Monkey Island and Sierra games.

My mum wasn’t a gamer, but she was addicted to Tetris on my gameboy. She was the first person in the family to get the rocket to go off and she was still playing Tetris up until her death in 2005.

She also loved a very old CGA game called Captain Blood which we had on the PC and was a sort of space exploration/puzzle/flight sim thing.

I'm a parent that plays games and so is my dad.

My mother liked playing Mario Kart 64 but never improved in skill regardless of how much time she put into it, that's pretty much it for her, rapid camera movements make my father feel strange so he's always pretty much avoided me whenever i play video games... which is all the time.
I occasionally invite my mother to look at something i find special about certain games, be it story or graphics or some interesting mechanic, i remember showing her the beginning of The Walking Dead by Telltale, she's not into zombies or horror stuff but the shock of the car crash, the tense struggle to escape to the house and the finding of Clementine and her sad circumstances really had her hooked.

My mom (57) played a few games when I was growing up: Zelda, King's Quest, Mist. Then she stopped playing them for about 20 years until I got her into Skyrim.

Then I bought her a PS4 for Christmas last year and now she plays them all the time. She's been playing Horizon: Zero Dawn lately.

My Dad has been playing Warhawk on the PS3 a couple times a week since 2009. I can't believe he's able to find a server still. Crazy stuff.

Warms my heart to see so many others like me posting here. I'm 53, love video games, and use our PS4 and Switch *far* more than my kids (aged 11, 13, 16, and 20) do.

I'm not a parent myself, but my brother-in-law (with one pre-school daughter) plays a ton of COD and Skyrim (Skyrim has been our main bonding point). He's about 39. My dad loved the original Zelda (and still wants to play it, but I failed to snag him an NES Classic), but finds 3D games too difficult to navigate - he tried the original Halo at its original release and got so frustrated he hasn't tried modern games since. Hates the idea/practice of camera control. My mom plays a ton of mobile games - match 3, hidden puzzle, etc. But she thinks she's a technology jinx so she won't even try pc or console games. My parents are one of the main reasons I love games though - even though money was tight they bought us an Atari 5200 and original NES. And then an Xbox when I was in college (and money less tight). And they bought me a DSi when most parents would have thought their grown, professional daughter should be past video games (I think I was around 30 then!)

That said, I'm going to be the best game-playing aunt to my niece and nephew ever! :] They can come over to use my gaming pc, PS4, and 3DS whenever they want.

I am a parent 31 years old and has been playing games since I was a kid. My parents though grew up in the 50s and 60s and cant play even Candy crush.

My mom plays a bunch of mobile games, which I would assume most folks in their 50s-60s get up to a lot of. She's also a fan of wearing my PSVR while I hold the controller.

My dad helped me get into games. Apparently he spent hours a day on his SNES before I was born. I remember playing a bunch of Spyro and CTR with him when I was a kid. Now I think he pretty much only plays Tetris and Ms. Pac Man.

Thankfully, I am having a true gamer family. We all come together and play games and spent time every weekend with the family. The most favorite games list goes like Pokemon sun, Assassin's creed, Dark souls, etc. We have got a collection of all the gaming consoles from some useful resource like https://www.press-start.com/de/ over the Internet and I personally like to play online with all the friends using my Xbox live gold subscription.

My uncle used to live with my Dad and I for a few years right around when the PS2 came out and we spent hundreds of hours playing Triple Play Baseball, Medal of Honor Frontline, and our go to - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001. I would routinely leave for school as they were playing and walk back to find them still going strong. I was also in charge of distributing potions for my Dad when they played through Diablo II together. Such a small thing, but one of my best memories playing video games is hammering the potion key as my Dad yelled "POTION, POTION, POTION!" as his amazonian warrior was being rocked by the Prince of Evil.

My dad is 72 and we currently play Destiny 2 together. He's been buying video games pretty much since they were created. His purchase of our C64 is pretty much accounts for my entire career as a software developer. He wasn't a hard core gamer most of his life but he got more into it when he retired.

My mom wasn't too much of a gamer but I have fond memories of playing Wii with her when I'd come home to visit.

If I'm lucky I'll be jacked into a video game when I die.

I'm a parent that plays video games and my two children also play.

So yeah!

Shake it, parents.

Both my parents are well into there 60's (my father is 69) and I don't think they know what videogames are.

I am a gamer, thanks to my parents. As a kid, they'd put me on the bed and huddle around the computer to play Rocketeer and Myst. We got our start on PC games like Orly's Draw a Story, Disney platformers, and Curse of Monkey Island, until we got our first console: The Xbox (JSRF is life, to this day. If not for them, my brother, sister and I would not be the gamers we are today.

I got into games early, when my dad brought home an intellivision, for reasons I'm not clear on. I suspect someone owed him money and gave him the game system to cover it. I was in and out of games over the years, but after a friend of mine gave me a spare PS2 around 2002, I've had a console in the house ever since. My daughter plays occasionally, mostly Skyrim and Diablo 3. My wife mostly watches; she gets a kick out of how good the graphics are, but that's about it.

My dad introduced me to gaming and still plays games to this day albeit mostly sports games on PS4