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from the up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-start dept

Fri, Jan 27th 2006 1:42am — Dennis Yang
Think that the guy that just fragged you in Halo is some cherubic-faced pre-teen? Think again, it could be a 37-year old mother of two. A recent study reports that thirty-five percent of parents say they play video games. Gen-Xer's, who grew up with video games, are now reaching parental age, and enjoy playing video games along with their kids. So, does this mean that Jack Thompson would have us believe that soon we'll have roving bands of violent families picking fights at the local mall? Well at least that family is spending some quality time together.
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36 Comments

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  • identicon
    Jared, 27 Jan 2006 @ 3:30am

    Fuck JT

    Fucking Jack Thompson I hate that guy.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Frankie, 27 Jan 2006 @ 9:52am

      Re: Fuck JT

      Wow, way to show off your marvalous intelect, put his stupidity down to sexuality.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    thecaptain, 27 Jan 2006 @ 5:16am

    No Subject Given

    That number will keep increasing as gamers continue to age.

    I'm close to being a parent..lets just say all the necessary pieces are in place for it to happen in the next year or two..and I'm a gamer.

    I don't agree with legislation and Jack Thompson (what an ass). I do wish they have accurate ratings on games and that stores made an effort not to sell to kids, but I also know that 1) even if my kids buy an R rated game, they won't be able to come home and play it, 2) it only takes a little effort to evaluate whether a game is suitable for my kids (and note...*I* want that decision and responsibility...NOT the government and not a bunch of self-righteous, self-appointed no-lifes).

    My friends are gamers, they have kids, and they feel the same way...
    Guess what? The kids sometimes play violent games , but they set limits, and they spend time TOGETHER with their kids rather than getting an X-Box babysitter...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Ed, 27 Jan 2006 @ 5:29am

      Re: No Subject Given

      I agree with you 100% bud. I have a 6 year old son. We play Halo 2 on X-Box live nearly every weekend. ( I do have to mute the game due to some of the idiots who can't control their mouths.) But as for other games such as GTA, I wont let my son touch them.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Asher Schweigart, 27 Jan 2006 @ 8:36am

        Re: No Subject Given

        Hey, i may be telling you something you already know, but from your wording i get the idea that you're muting the whole game's sound. You don't have to do that, you can actually go into you xbox live settings from the dashboard and turn voice off. It's under parental controls i believe. THat way, you still have the game's sound. I hate playing halo with no sound!

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      SMG, 27 Jan 2006 @ 9:42am

      Re: No Subject Given

      im 38, i play CS:S regularly.
      punk kids dont like getting pwned by old farts
      :)

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mike, 27 Jan 2006 @ 5:45am

    Games, Parents and Kids

    I'm 38, I play games, but am not an owner of a console system, just Internet and PC based stuff. I have been fortunate to get cast-off PC's from friends so that both of my children have their own PC's (ages 8 and 5). Rule #1 is no playing unless either my wife or myself is present. As for the Internet, no surfing unless I am in the room working/playing on my PC. Period. No arguments, no exceptions, that's the rule - if you don't like it, tough.

    While we had a few disagreements initially and some chastising for random click behavior, they have learned that *I* have the final word on what is acceptable or not. I do not need the government being a third parent and do not believe they should be.

    These people that keep blaming the games/music/whatever for the bad behavior of youth today need to grow up and stop being absentee parents. Get involved with your children, teach them the basic rules of life, teach them to care about others, teach them to respect other people and property. If you don't, just exactly how do you expect them to learn?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Mark, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:22am

      Re: Games, Parents and Kids

      Yea!! I agree fully! Well Said Mike!

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Keith, 27 Jan 2006 @ 8:46am

      Re: Games, Parents and Kids

      ABSOLUTELY. The problem with most of the people screaming that the games/music/videos is destroying our childeren, is that they don't have childeren. And they are looking for something to blame so they can say that they have a voice in the fight.

      I, myself have two children (15, 5). My son is NOT ALLOWED to download anything or go to any site without my (and/or wife) approval. If he wants to "surf" the internet, fine, as long as one of us is in the room with him so he can't "accidentally" go to the porn sites. As for our 5 yr old, she plays internet based games, but only after we go the site where the game is based at. She doesn't know what surfing is (yet) and could care less, as long as gets to play sometimes.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Dave, 27 Jan 2006 @ 8:57am

      Re: Games, Parents and Kids

      I totally agree with you there. Too many people are blaming violent video games on children's behavior, yet, the majority of violent video games (the really bad ones anyway) are M rated, meaning that a PARENT is buying it for them and thus it is ultimately the parent's responsibility to have some sort of role in their child's life.

      On a different note, I think it's quite awesome that many people, whom I would consider older, are still into a games. I get on a gaming forum quite frequently and the co-owners are both in their mid thirties, married and have kids.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    JD {TAC}Outlaw, 27 Jan 2006 @ 5:54am

    Gaming Parent

    Im a 31 year old parent myself and my son PC games right across the room from me....I compete with TAC in FPS games and WoW....Im also no where near the oldest in our group and we range from 19-50....You never know these days who is on the other end of that frag....

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Big Time Gamer, 27 Jan 2006 @ 6:40am

      Re: Gaming Parent

      I'm NOT a gaming parent but an uncle. All three of my bros. are gaming parent though. We range from 24yrs - 35 yrs. I grew up on the 6-switch atari.

      We still get together and play game tournaments. Playing with the kids only enhances the fun, but I agree, Parents are smarter than the gov't is giving credit for.

      I really liked the games before the ratings. I mean, com o! What idiot parent would buy a game for their kid without lloking on the back cover or reading reviews. Even those of us that ARE gamers do that still.

      I don't know where I'm going with this.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bryan, 27 Jan 2006 @ 6:39am

    Government's Role

    Hey - When it comes to something as contentious as video games, there's no way the government could find an acceptable solutions for the "general public".

    I'm 35, I have 3 kids (1, 5 & 8) and let me tell you: it's pretty hard to come to an agreement with my wife concerning what computer use is acceptable or not. How in the heck could anyone possibly come to agreement with the whole population?

    I love video games, with PC, Mac, Console-based and hand-held games for the whole family.

    My wife is not a big fan, but is willing to tollerate very limited and well supervised usage for our two oldest children (about an hour a week on average).

    Having read a few other comments out there, other people have come to very different conclusions as to what's acceptable. How could the government seriously entertain the notion that they could find true concesus for the general public?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Brian, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:38am

      Re: Government's Role

      :: How could the government seriously entertain the notion that they could find true concesus for the general public?

      They don't even begin to entertain that notion. They entertain one even worse: that they think they know what's best for the general public, more than they themselves do.

      What's worse is, edicts come from not the largest mentality in the nation, but usually the loudest and most influential. A group of moms banded together to complain about the "evils of xbox" are going to get far more consideration than a bunch of geeks who are too busy monitoring what their kids are actually doing with their free time.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wyvern, 27 Jan 2006 @ 6:45am

    Old People Rock

    I am 39, been gaming for years, Xbox, Playstation 2, PCs(multiple as in 8+). Now if that surprises you, imagine the true fact that my retired father is an avid gamer, and UT2004 mapper. He is up until 2AM at least 3 days a week like any other avid gamer.

    One of his buddies online is a Motorcyle Shop & Gun store owner who did at least one tour in Nam.

    Gaming is for children and psychopaths of all ages!!!

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    wolff000, 27 Jan 2006 @ 6:45am

    Parents Pay Attention

    Absolutely right, as gamers age there are going to be more and more parents playing games. What better way to know if you think a game is suitable for your kid than to play the game. When I have kids I don't plan on stopping them from playing anything but X rated. Just like my parents did with me I will simply tell my kids not to copy the game or face the consequences. In my house consequences were often the removal of the game system, which made me act right instantly.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anzaron, The Forgotten, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:16am

    Old Gamers

    I am a 49 year old father and play World of Warcraft with my 25 year old son and 14 year old step-son every chance I get. We have a great time, and every once in a while, I get to teach THEM something about the game. And before WoW, we all played Ultima Online together, which my 42 year old wife still plays. The gaming universe doesn't belong strictly to the young.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      M. Craig Weaver, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:32am

      Yup, I'm Old


      I'm 47, and I play Halo on the PC, that's the original Halo, as Halo 2 isn't on the PC.

      When I get home from work, I need to shoot stuff, I figure doing it on the PC is probably best.

      I also enjoy winning against players that are my children's ages.

      I find there are some servers that are populated by old guys, like the one called "Spawn Killing Tank Whores", a heavy weapons server.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        family affair, 12 Jul 2006 @ 4:52pm

        Re: Yup, I'm Old

        im a 35 year old mother of 1, wife of a pycho gamer of many
        years. i used to complain about his time on his pc game, then
        he introduced me to halo, took just 1 month and i was hooked
        i used to consider pc games for kids, lol, now im a kik butt halo
        freak, hurray !!!!. husband plays WOW, my daughter plays
        Runes...its a family thing..:) Love the tank whores server.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Max, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:37am

    Well, then...

    I have to put in my two cents agreeing. It is the parents' responsibility to control the games their kids play. I'm 41 and a gamer when I have time. My wife is not really into the games, but we both take the time to play with our kids (20,17,11 and 8 years old) on video games or otherwise. We do limit how much time they get to play and if they break the rules, they get time off from video games, no if and or buts about it. I do like the fact that since the rating system exists, we can quickly check the games for content and if our kids seem really interested in a game, we do more research. Yeah, raising kids does take work and sacrifice, but it's a very small price to pay for the amount of joy we get from spending time with our kids. By the way, my 70 year old dad, totally pwned me on Unreal Tournament last year.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Aija, 27 Jan 2006 @ 8:57am

      Re: Well, then...

      I, too, agree. It is always ultimately the responsibility of the parent(s) to decide what is best for their children. Furthermore, anything less is irresponsible on the part of the parent, and unConstitutional on the part of the government. I am a 26 yr. old mother of two (3 and 5). My husband and I have been gaming all our lives. My husband (25) and I play NeverWinter Nights, Quake, and WarCraft with my oldest daughter and my youngest enjoys simple arcade games (PacMan, etc.) and "educational" games (letters, numbers, etc.). I think video games are good for entertainment, learning, and one of the many ways to spend time with your kids.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    MissingFrame, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:50am

    My grandfather never owned a TV

    TVs were a crap invention according to my grandfather, he never owned one but instead listened to an old oak radio in his living room.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    DVD Dude, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:52am

    No Subject Given

    It seems very obvious to me, but since more of the main stream gamers are 'getting up there' in age. Why don't 'we' form some sort of coalition or group that expresses our views and concerns about what is going on in the arena that we all love to delve into. I myself am 33 years old, and still contine to play video games, and most likely will continue to play them until I am laid to rest. Also, if you want to continue this timeline into the future, more and more of us will be playing, and more of us will be in the 'Jack Thompson' positions. And then we will be able to control/mold what we want. That is how the world evolves. What is the corny phrase that most people use. "And the children will inherit the earth." or something to that effect.
    Just as in any other scenario, Our children will be controlling or setting the standards in the near future and most of this will all be a distant memory. But as for now, we need a united voice to speak for us, So hop to it and just do it!

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    seuaniu, 27 Jan 2006 @ 9:02am

    let the parents parent

    I agree with everybody that has the opinion that they should be able to parent their own kids, gov't assistance not needed. I censor my own kids with respect to tv/movies/games, and while I don't need or want help from the government, I could use some from console manufacturers. I want to password protect consoles, and have user logins just like my computer has. That would make it much easier to keep my kids from playing for 5 hours straight when they get old enough to stay home alone, and keep them from borrowing friends' games that I wont let them play. My cable box lets me shut them out of any type of content that I deem inappropriate; my gaming console should too! That would, IMHO, make parents' jobs much easier, and possibly help Mr. Thompson keep his mouth shut.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rikko, 27 Jan 2006 @ 9:11am

    No Subject Given

    What a coincidence. I just found this URL on Google Video last night, entitled
    "9 year old argues with his mother on a Xbox Live Clan Match over Chocolate Milk."

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7153152098207965240

    It was pretty funny.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rhodes Davis, 27 Jan 2006 @ 9:26am

    Family Bonds

    "The family that slays together stays together!"

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    princessfrozen, 27 Jan 2006 @ 10:49am

    No Subject Given

    I used to go practice with some of the PMS girls and there was a lady there that was about 40 ish that used to play. She pwned too, lucky she was on my team because her no scoping abilities were second to none. Gaming is for everybody these days, sex and generation no longer are a factor.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Taylor Moore, 27 Jan 2006 @ 11:02am

      Re: No Subject Given

      I'm 46 and play a few PC and Console games, "The Movies" and also Guitar Hero for PS2 which is a totally awesome game for a hack guitar player. Harmonix also make a hoverboard game called Antigrav that uses the eyetoy camera technology.
      It is great to see some developer expand the landscape by integrating physical activity into the game controllers...awesome for kids activity and co-ordination versus "blisters on my fingers".


      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chrome, 27 Jan 2006 @ 11:06am

    No Subject Given

    I'm 42 and my two boys used to get so pissed off at me 'cause I would kick their butts on the Playstation. Wouldn't matter what we played.
    They thought it wasn't fair, that kids were supposed to kick their parents butts... LOL
    They are both grown and gone, but I still play EQ, Battlefield 2, Counterstrike, etc...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    some tech guy, 27 Jan 2006 @ 1:47pm

    No Subject Given

    I don't think the government seriously thinks it can tell parents is acceptable for their children. I do think there are a lot of irresponsible parents out there that don't bother to take the time to make sure their children aren't doing anything inappropriate. These same people don't want to be held accountable for their in/action/s and want someone else to tell them what to do so they can lay the blame at someone elses foot when things go wrong.

    Funny how this used to be the role of the religious institutes...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dan Neuman, 27 Jan 2006 @ 7:12pm

    Gen-X Definition... and yes, I'm being pedantic.

    While most of the posters above are indeed Gen-Xers, many people think Gen-Xers are relatively young. Douglas Coupland labelled Generation X as people born at the end of the Baby Boom. Even though they are Boomers, the ones born in the early and mid boom years got all the cheap real estate, all the good stocks and all the good management jobs. And then didn't die. So us Gen-Xers are stuck in McJobs for many years waiting for them to move on. (Not that I can personally complain.)
    The post-boomers (Gen-Y?) don't (didn't) have competition for all the entry-level jobs left by the many Gen-Xers (not as many Gen-Y as Gen-X), and now the children of the Boomers (Echo generation) are getting the benefits their parents got as they define a whole new market.
    So if you were born around 1958-64, you're a Gen-Xer. Otherwise, you're just a wannabe. Ok, done whining.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Richard Jones, 29 Jan 2006 @ 2:54pm

    Not news to me

    The community I play in (http://www.slak.com.au/) has a very high proportion of parents active, some of whom have kids who are active gamers themselves.

    A couple of LAN parties ago it was one of the player's birthdays. So his mum, another player, turned up with a birthday cake in the shape of one of the props from the game (explosives IIRC).

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    joey, 23 Dec 2006 @ 3:20pm

    come on you can do better

    my parents will not let me download off the internet and they dont play video games so i want to download world of warcraft but they wont let and i typed all that and i came up with one stupid paragraph about Halo i dont even have a x-box that did not help at all this sucks

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      drizzit, 17 Jan 2007 @ 5:14pm

      wow, i never knew

      omg, i never knew that so many parents played vg, I always thought it was just us. Thats crazy, I need to show this to my mother, maybe her opinion will change.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2007 @ 11:49pm

    me wish..

    me wish that my parents would play too.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    sadie, 14 Jan 2008 @ 6:15pm

    maen

    meanyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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