A question for all gaming parents

[pook99]

Good news: My wife is pregnant! It has been an absolutely insane couple of months and the pregnancy has been extremely difficult, but the due date is the first week of January which means the baby is almost here and I could not be more excited.

I think about how I grew up, I was born with an atari 2600, got a NES a few years later, and just naturally progressed through the generations. It's crazy to think about when I was born there was no video game history, and me growing up and living out the history of gaming is so much different than my unborn child who will have literally countless games and nearly 10 generations of console gaming behind them.

So how did all of you introduce your kids to games? What was the first system that they played? What kind of gaming habits do they have now?

Tell me everything I need to know to make sure my kid does not mistake iphone games for real games.

[Anapan]

Congrats!
Not a parent, but I remember reading about a father that only allowed his child to play video games chronologically. This introduced basic game mechanics through the Atari 2600, and kept it mostly two-player with score based reward, and proceeded to dole out a new generation every birthday or something like that as the child grew. I don't know where I read it, and this article is I think the wrong one, but it is a pretty neat idea...

[marurun]

You can introduce your kids to whatever you want, but at some point they are going to form their own opinions about games and you may not like the opinions they settle on.

[prfsnl_gmr]

First...congratulations! Being a dad is great. It is easily the most rewarding experience in my life.

Second, this:

You can introduce your kids to whatever you want, but at some point they are going to form their own opinions about games and you may not like the opinions they settle on.

It is best to temper your expectations here. My kids just don’t like video games that much, and I am fine with that. My daughter would rather draw and play around with art and photo editing software, and my son would rather build things with Legos or take apart machines. When they do play video games, they play Among Us, Goat Simulator, Just Dance, or Super Smash Bros. (My daughter is working her way, very slowly, through Fire Emblem Three Houses, however, and my son and I do play the occasional beat ‘me up together.) They really don’t like it when their dad plays games with “old” graphics, but they do like sitting with me when I play a more modern game like Super Mario Odyssey or BOTW.

[stickem]

I have two girls. Their first system was a wii that barely got touched, was basically a Netflix box. My 15 year old wanted a ps4 a few years back, doesnt play enough to justify having it. My 10 year old got a switch last year and actually does play it every once in a while. I usually just inherit the stuff after awhile lol. They just aren't as interested in video games as other kid.

[BoneSnapDeez]

You can introduce your kids to whatever you want, but at some point they are going to form their own opinions about games and you may not like the opinions they settle on.

Pretty much this.

For the past two months my kids have been playing Freedom Planet and nothing else.

[pook99]

I definitely won't be disappointed in my kid, no matter what games they like, or if they don't like games at all. I am great at learning what not to do from watching others, growing up I am very much like my dad (for better or worse) and my brother is the total opposite, he was always made fun of for being into "pussy" things like music and the arts and I was always propped up for being into "man" things like weightlifting and MMA. I would never have any expectation for my kids interest and the only thing that I care about is that they grow up to be an independent and happy human being, who is self-confident, and leaves a positive impact on those around them ( I still don't know the gender, in 2020 its nice to have at least one good surprise to look forward to).

I am interested to hear from gamer parents though, I watch my nieces and nephews and they are very much into bad games like roblox and whatever other micro transaction garbage the kids these days play, but when I come over and slap on an emulator it is great watching them get completely engrossed in some MAME classics like TMNT and the x-men arcade game.

Similarly, I have been in education my entire adult life. My students are always into whatever is hip and we bond over our shared love of gaming, but as much as these kids love the latest call of duty, I have seen them absolutely fall in love with Contra, Mario and other old franchises. Once they get passed the bad graphics, they get hooked pretty quick.

One thing I hear from parents is that they love reliving things for the first time through their kids eyes, and while I don't know what they will be into, I am very much looking forward to them reacting to these games, even if the reaction is to laugh at how bad they look.

@anapan: I love that idea and was thinking of doing something similar, on the other hand I have a huge wii collection and handing them a wii mote and letting them waggle around aimlessly might be a lot of fun as well...so many choices.

@marurun: I won't dislike it no matter what they settle on, the only thing I will do is keep them away from excessively violent stuff (like GTA) while they are too young.

@prfsnl_gamer: it sounds like your kids have pretty solid taste in games. Beat em ups are definitely a great genre to play with kids, so many great choices out there as well.

@stickem: sounds like another benefit, I could buy my kid games I know they wont like as an excuse to buy myself more games : )

@Bone: Freedom planet is great so no shame there, makes me think of how when I was young I would come home from school and play through final fight on SNES literally every single day. Its funny how kids will want to replay the same game/rewatch the same movie nearly endlessly, as opposed to adults which always want to move on to the next thing.

[stickem]

^ in defense they pick out all their games and have asked for the systems, I just buy a few games, here and there, in the meantime for when the day comes their done with it lol.