A Dad And His Kids Happily Play Video Games Together. They Have To.

[Lady Lilith]

http://kotaku.com/a-dad-and-his-kids-happily-play-video-games-together-t-1565128219

 

 

 

SEXPAND

This is an image of a happy family; a father and his two adorable children bonding over a video game. It's a stock photo, of course. Their excitement is fake, their game controllers disconnected. It's cheap theater, but I have to believe that somewhere in the country a genuine version of this scene is playing out — I am tired of tales of domestic gaming tragedy. 

I'll call them the Andersons. The dad's name is Derrick. He works a third level support job at a prominent tech company. It's Saturday afternoon, the day before Easter, and he's watching the children while his wife — Stephanie — fills straw baskets with colored plastic grass and fanciful things containing marshmallow and chocolate. 

Nicholas and Audrey — those are his children — are engaged in one of Nintendo's Mario Partygames. The PlayStation controllers aren't plugged into anything, so they might as well not be plugged into a Gamecube. Derrick would rather be getting in some Battlefield 4 on the imaginary Xbox with his slim, attractive coworkers, but Nick and Drey's laughter is too infectious. Grabbing a third PlayStation controller, he scoots in between the two and starts to play. 

Such a well-adjusted, loving family, sharing and fostering each other's interests. That kind of behavior will likely never score them a prominent story on the evening news, but they don't care about such things. They've got Derrick and Nicholas and Audrey and Stephanie. 

And I've got them — at least this perfectly posed portrait of them — to inspire me. My children are too young (and male) to be Nicholas and Audrey, but one day we'll get there. Our room won't be pure white, and our game controllers won't be fake, but we'll laugh and play and revel in our own company. We're a family. 

So when my young children fight or scream, interrupting whatever I might be working on, I'll think of the Andersons, working out their problems peacefully in their crisp, spring-fresh outfits. And when the stress of work and finances and society in general drive me to the point where I just want to hide away from the world, I'll follow the example of Derrick, embracing the fact that his life was no longer about only him the moment Nicholas (he's older by a year) was born. 

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And when I read the umpteenth story about a father allegedly murdering his infant childbecause he was busy playing video games, I'll remember the countless Anderson households around the world, finding comfort in their inconspicuous ideal.

 

 

 

Even if this is just a stock photo, I have a legitimate respect for people who use gaming as a way to bond with their kids (and turn them into gamers too  ).  Certainly way better then the alternative.  

Edited April 20, 2014 by Lilith

[NashXXIII]

My Dad used to play PS1/PS2 with me quite regularly when I was young. We would always give each other banter over who's the best on Need for Speed, or take turns at playing Spyro. I'm an only child so I was very grateful my Dad was there to play with, even more so knowing that not many of my friends parents would take time out to play a video game.

 

Good memories

Edited April 20, 2014 by Animated_JoeJoe

[Wdjat Prinny Doods]

My dad was never really into gaming but he did like playing Star Fox on SNES back when I was a kid. I remember we spent one weekend playing and beating Star Fox. One of those special bonding moments I had with my dad that I will never forget.

[Starrk_01]

I remember when I was younger my dad playing 007:  Goldeneye on the N64.  He would always try to tell us (my brother and I) strategies about certain missions.  Of course my brother and I had no idea what he was talking about (we were preoccupied with Mario 64), but it is those moments that you don't forget (and of course watching him play Goldeneye for the first time and getting killed immediately since he didn't know the controls...classic )

[xVolloxx]

My dad played Video games with me all the time when i was younger , brought me up on them 

we used to really have some good times

[Death]

All the psycho's seem to live in Florida. Seriously every crazy story is from there... the face eating bath salts guy is the only other one I remember from Florida. 

[TheVader66]

If I hopefully have kids one day, I am going to try to teach how to play video games, I will introduce my kids first to my Atari 2600 (The Atari Empire will live on even though I was born when it died) and then i will introduce them to my other consoles and handsets like Gameboy, Nintendo DS, PS2 and PS3.

Edited April 20, 2014 by TheVader66

[Revvie]

I remember the time my dad and I play NBA Live 04 on our PS2. We always battle and team up each other. Good times, good times.

[savageamusement]

My dad used to play Street fighter 2 on my Mega Drive quite a bit, most of my game playing probably came from my older brother(s) though rather than playing with / against my dad.

[DEMON]

My dad got me into fighters Had me playing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter with him.
And then my mom was a Pac-man master.. she hogged the games system when playing that.. I still suck at that game >.< I watched though.. was pretty cool watching my mom break the score count though

[Parker]

 

Even if this is just a stock photo, I have a legitimate respect for people who use gaming as a way to bond with their kids (and turn them into gamers too  ).  Certainly way better then the alternative.  

 

I have the utmost respect for those who are actually parents to their children nowadays, regardless of the ways they decide to bond with them. It is sickening to see the amount of people who don't give a shit about being a good parent, they give their kids whatever they want, don't punish them in any way and allow them to act like little turds. Maybe I should thank those types of "parents" though, they're the reason I have a job...

 

Also, to this day my father is better at E-Swat than I am. I don't understand how he still does it, he doesn't even have a Genesis anymore so I don't see how he can not play it for years and still kick my ass. 

 

 

Parker

[BlueFireReaper]

Wii Tennis, Wii Bowling, and Mrs. Pac-Man. That's all I need to say.

[Bucknerd]

I remember asking my Dad to play video games with me.  He tried a level of Mario for the NES... I forget which level but whatever it was it had a pit right after the start.  Dad didn't jump, fell into it, and promptly handed the controller back.  That was that.  I recall the Cruisin' USA N64 port really tempting him to try again but he decided against it.

 

Funny enough my Grandma played more games and is responsible for getting me into gaming.  I recall playing Pac-Man on her Atari 2600 and her playing Bubsy and Super Mario World on a SNES.  I think she is the only person alive who loves Bubsy. 

 

Edited April 21, 2014 by Bucknerd

[antithesis]

I play video games with two of my kids - a 4 y/o boy and an almost 3 y/o girl. My 1 y/o daughter has a bit of fun on the iPad, but is too young to understand what's going on in a 'real' game. I've platted the 3 Skylanders games doing co-op with my son, we've just started on Lego Marvel Heroes and I have a back-catalogue of hundreds of age-appropriate games for them to play as they mature.

 

Bonding and shared interests is an obvious ulterior motive and I plan to continue on that basis alone, but I also do it to train fine motor control, improve hand / eye coordination and to develop problem solving skills. Many a surgeon these days can put their steady hand down to gaming as a kid. They also likely attribute their drug addiction to an overbearing or absent parent, but that's a story for another day...

Edited April 21, 2014 by ant1th3s1s

[Dr_Mayus]

All the psycho's seem to live in Florida. Seriously every crazy story is from there... the face eating bath salts guy is the only other one I remember from Florida. 

 

 

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/blogs/latest/entry/radio-dead-air-what-the-f-is-wrong-with-you-the-wang-of-america

[brainfrozeno00o]

My dad and I up until now play Tekken if he has spare time. He still defeats me.... a lot..... even if I do a 10-hit combo with my favorite, Yoshimitsu..

[Mr Incredible]

I dont think my father has ever touched a controller in his life. My grandpa on the other hand would play NBA Jam with me on the genesis all the time when I was younger.

 

I play all the Lego titles with my son, and hes also found of skylanders/ Disney Infinity although the later can get quite expensive.

[Naoto Shirogane]

My dad got me into fighters Had me playing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter with him.

And then my mom was a Pac-man master.. she hogged the games system when playing that.. I still suck at that game >.< I watched though.. was pretty cool watching my mom break the score count though

 

Your post reminded me of the good old times when I used to play fighting games all the time with my dad and with my sister on the PS2. Unfortunately Facebook came along and now my dad plays Facebook games. Even then, I would play Facebook games with him back then. Those were some awesome times playing Farmville  

 

I don't plan on having kids but at least I can get some of the other kids in my family into video games. 

[Beyondthegrave07]

 and of course watching him play Goldeneye for the first time and getting killed immediately since he didn't know the controls...classic

 

Though, let's not forget brother, that he DID end up beating every single level on the hardest difficulty multiple times. I'm pretty sure I couldn't beat half the levels on the hardest difficulty today.

 

Really, that was the only game dad really got "in to." Yeah, he did wii bowling with us a few times when we were older, but it wasn't the same as when we were kids!

Edited April 23, 2014 by Beyondthegrave07

[Yaegur]

Back during the Xbox days my Dad and I used to play the original Halo (Halo: Combat Evolved). Once I started throwing Lan Parties every weekend our back deck began getting lined with TV's, back yard littered with 2-4 person tents, and stacks of pizza boxes on the dining room table. Wasn't a bad way to spend a Friday evening. Especially when you are calling out enemy positions to the father whom is driving the Scorpion Tank (He was actually pretty good at the game. Not sure why he played on inverted controls though. Was never fun picking up and playing when he had to run to do something). 

Also forgot to mention that we often played the Halo campaign daily. For some reason he always seemed to want to play Assault On The Control Room (The 5th Level) on Legendary difficulty. It's the giant snow level that starts off with a cutscene that has become famous in the Halo Universe. It's a grunt running away while you land via Pelican Dropship. Followed by the text "I Would Have Been Your Daddy". 

[TFA_XxNinjaxX]

Well my dad got me into gaming when we would play on the ps2 and we really connected when we would play Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 together... fun times

 

Can't anymore since he has a lot more work now :/ but he does play once in a while

 

He also got me into Anime but that's another story