Video gaming as a kid and dealing with religious parents....

[ceti alpha]

My parents stopped going to church when we were old enough to realize it was a bunch of BS - I was nine and my brother would have been 15. Apparently, my parents were only going to church to be part of a community, but that wasn't enough for them and they never looked back. I never really had issues playing music or video games.

But I did have one experience when I was visiting a friend (Joe) at his house - keep in mind I was at least 17, if not 18. While my friend was in the shower getting ready, I was in his room going through some of his cassette tapes. I came across NWA and popped it in. Well holy hell. Joe's mother came barging in the room yelling and screaming at me about the music, as if it was mine. I didn't even like NWA that much. At the time, I actually thought NWA was the beginning of the end for hip hop, at least good hip hop, though a couple of the tunes were a guilty pleasure. Anyway, Joe's mom always held that against me. From that moment on I was a bad influence on her innocent little Joe. I think only in the past few years she's really gotten over that. Pretty unbelievable.

[Arkhan]

Are we talkin bout JOE REDIFIEFER?



I was ok with playing outside, but when the weather was too sticky or windy, id rather be inside playing games.  The only thing I enjoyed more than games growing up was riding my bike in the creek, submerged up to my chin, trying to pedal the f*cker.

[ceti alpha]

Are we talkin bout JOE REDIFIEFER?

haha. No. Not teh redman.

[bartre]

my family went to church, though not every week, so i got a bit of balance on that end.
my mom always just stuck with the ratings on the box, my dad didn't care.
also, there was no real regulation on the friend side of things, my parents were smart enough to realize that they can't control everything.
though, i still remember the first day i had zelda ocarina of time, i described the first boss fight and my mom said "what's this game rated again?" "E" "oh, okay, just so you know, if it was T or something, you would've just wasted your money."

[MotherGunner]

What no one has said it yet?

"Hey Mom, got this new game called DEVIL'S crush!"   *ducks*

[shabba]

My parents were pretty cool with the games mostly, but music was their target. Both of them were fairly agnostic, but they held some religious principles tightly against my sister and I. When I brought License to Ill home by the Beastie Boys, it was on. They confiscated it from me. Finding it, I made a copy in my bad-ass dual cassette boombox and whenever there was a bad word said, I would stop recording for a split second and then start again, a primitive 80's way to censor stuff out. I had to do the same when Appetite for Destruction came out because it was arguably harsher in it's language. With that, my parents rolled their eyes at my music, but they didn't try to take it from me anymore.

I think that, because my father bought me a 2600 back in '78, they felt like they had introduced me to games and left me alone about it. Nowadays, when they visit, my mother laments the fact that my basement is covered with my video games, arcades stuff and computers. Thinks I need to "grow up" despite the fact I'm part of the original video game generation. Like I'll ever stop playing.