Unexpected hardcore gamer in the family

by Alexander Sliwinski on Sep 1st 2007 11:45AM

It's a long weekend in the States, it's time to take it down a notch. Earlier this week we got an email from reader Herlich Aguiluz, who told us the story of how his wife woke him up Wednesday morning concerned that their seven-year-old son was awake while "it was still dark." When Aguiluz spoke to his son in the morning it turned out the kid woke up at 1AM and was playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption all night until his mother came down to fix breakfast. Aguiluz says, "I realized that while my wife was mad at what happened, I was proud and envious at the same time. Proud because I see my gamer-self in him, and envious because it used to be me who stayed up for a new game."

This blogger can remember waking up more than one time at 3AM as a kid to find his mother playing Final Fantasy II (Final Fantasy IV) in the living room -- later on the same thing happened with Final Fantasy III. It's very strange to wake up to the sound of Final Fantasy battle music, walk into the living room and be asked, "What are you doing up?" When that question was obviously a two-way street.

So, let's open it up. Anybody else have those unexpected gamer moments with a family member?

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Tags: culture, family, gamers, hardcore, unexpected

Reader Comments (74)

On topic though.....I am the only gamer in my family besides my brother. He is more into MMO's and other online games. I am into RPG's, shooters on occasion (I prefer tactical shooters over others), sports, rarely puzzle (It has to be really good), action, and whatever else. RPG's are the best though.

My sisters only like the old games on NES and SNES. They think the new games aren't as good for some reason even though they never played them.

That cat = WIN.

Is itz can be Halos time pleez?

looks like he's doing something other than gaming with that controler ^^'

Ive seen this cat before in the same pose... um? are they both real?
http://media.techeblog.com/images/ds_11.jpg

It needs a Halo helmet!

props to the cat for not taking the sticker off

Everyone in my family plays games, which is kinda odd when I think about it. My dad plays RTS and strategy games mostly whereas my mum prefers more casual games such as the Sims. My younger brother and sister stick to childish games on the Gamecube and PS2, and sometimes play the Sims. Myself and my other brother are the more 'hardcore' gamers of the household, though I prefer more action oriented games than him.

Sounds to me like your father is the hardcore gamer.

RTS games are pretty much the only games he plays, and he doesn't play them very often, whereas my brother and I will indulge in a wide variety of games including RTS. I just happen to prefer more action oriented titles, but my brother plays more RPGs in general. My father used to be a much more active gamer - he owned a Dreamcast, N64 and Sega Megadrive, all of which I enjoyed playing with him.

My dad and I played NES games. Like World Class Track Meet, SMB1, SMB3, Duck Hunt, and Metroid.

Reminds me of waking up in the night around 1990ish to find my parents playing games like paperboy, mario 3, bubble bobble, and duck hunt. I remember thinking just how cool my parents were whenever I'd find them like that, though they were never really gamers. They both just liked simple games. Apparently they met over a Coin-op game of 'Jungle Jane'.

Later I used to get really annoyed to come home when I was in my early teen years to find my dad sitting in my room playing my N64. He really liked GoldenEye, F1 World Grand Prix Racing, MarioKart, and Rainbow 6. Whenever I'd get in trouble he'd take away my 64 and hook it up in his own room. So unfair!

Haha, I can't fault him, though when I have kids in the next few years I won't make the mistake of calling the systems 'the kid's'. They're mom and dad's systems and the kids can play them. That way, I won't be the annoying parent sneaking into my kid's room to play 360 or whatever is out at that point.

I won't say they're the parent's systems. I'll say that it's for the entire family.

My sister and her husband bought their kids a PS2 and a Gamecube, and most everyone plays. They know what games to keep away from them, and they make sure they know what they're playing. I wish more parents were like that, and I want to be like them, at least in that regard.

My dad used to play N64 with me, but has since stopped and it's just me.

Yeah thats how it has been in my family also.

Only PS1 instead of N64. I sort of miss those good old days with my father.

We used to play Gameday 98 and now we play Madden NFL 08 (wow has it been 10 years) and I destroy him so he refuses to play anymore.

thats the only time I wish i wasnt quite so good at video games.

I would pay money to be able to play my dad in starcraft.

i checked my wii playtime msg and discovered my mom spent 6 hours playing columns on VC

SIX HOURS

right next to it was me playing metroid prime 3 for 5 hours, i am ashamed...

I used to play Ocarina of Time for hours on end, I was probably around 9 or so when i almost beat it.

Growing up, there was never been an odd one out, except for maybe my mother, because everyone in the family does gaming of some sort. My dad started me out on Wolfenstien 3D, Commander Keen, & Duke Nukem (I miss DOS), then his friends got me on Tekken & Worms. Even both my siblings did D&D.

My boyfriend is the same way. His parents play/ed everything. From Tomb Raider to Final Fantasy to Tales of Symphonia. They're even slightly interested in DDR, but use the excuse of age.

Well, I'm the gamer that gets the "what are you doing up" question. I'm 37. I sacrifice sleep to play Bioshock or C&C3 or Gears or Crackdown or...or...or...all the time. :)

I used to play, Final fantasy VII for hours on end, clocked up 13-15 hours most nights just building my HP and MP up, me and my dad used to play Point and clicks, day of the tenticle, sam and max, monkey island etc he used to solve puzzles i just liked the humor, we also played a lot of tomb raider together, my Mum used to Play Snes Zelda a lot and we all enjoyed mario kart and mario kart 64, i miss those days, now (@ kelstar) i have the consoles and the kids play them, kind of sad though when my 4 year old can kick SMB3 ass big time and i just die and die again, my age (only 29) is making me really bad at games or maybe its just i dont play as much anymore?

I didn't click reply to HARITORIHANZO.....wtf?

I think maybe we all forget just HOW many times we played those levels back then. Seriously, I would say in the hundreds at LEAST. Sadly, I think it's probably just lack of practice. I sort of pride myself on still remembering where all the warp whistles are and the raccoon suit these days rather than being able to get all the way through 'x' many worlds without losing a life like I used to. I definitely think that young me would think current me SUCKS at NES games, but I could definitely kick young me's ass at 360 or Wii, so I can live with that.

My little sister. One day out of nowhere she became a Soul Caliber pro. It disgusted me and made me proud at the same time. Who would of thunk it?

My mother who never gamed got hooked on Toontown =.='

I had a moment somewhat like that. The year the Super Nintendo came out, in fact. My parents are divorced so I was at my dad's house, and got home sick and wanted to go back to my mom's. So when I get back to my mom's unannounced, there's my mom playing my SNES, Mario Kart to be exact, which I didn't know I even had as the whole system was to be my Christmas gift. =P

I remember one Christmas morning, I got a copy of Zelda II for NES, I go and boot it up and there was a saved game on there called "TEST", it was pretty far in the game, my dad tried to convince me it was the developers that used that file to make sure the game worked (I was like 4-5)

*off topic* Its really weird I used to love playing Final Fantasy 1 as a kid, it was one of the first games we owned, I couldn't read but I learnt with that game, (may have something to do with my poor grammar)

I remember being up at 1am when I was 12, playing final fantasy II on SNES and walking to the kitchen to get something to drink. Passing the living room, I see my father playing Sewer Shark on my Sega CD (one of the hardest games of all time). I walked in and sat down to find he was on the last level and was on the verge of beating it. I sat with him until 2:30 am when he finally beat it after memorizing all of the enemy appearance spots. At the time I was so proud of my dad, beating something I (at the time) thought impossible to beat.

Since then my dad and I have played a lot of games together. Playing co-op legendary in Halo 1 & 2, as well as Gears of War co-op on insane with my father are probably some of the most memorable moments I had spending time with him over holidays while in college/grad school.

Heartwarming!

And he couldn't have picked a better game.

My brother and I are definitely the "hardcore" gamers in my household, though my sister does play the Sims 2 and Roller Coaster tycoon here and there. My mom also plays some casual games such as Snood, Zuma and Bookworm frequently. I've only seen my dad play a video game once, and that was when we had an NES, my dad would play Capitan Skyhawk all the time with my brother and I. Hell, hes never even played the Wii yet.

Also, I'm in medical school and one of the professors went to school with my father was an unexpectedly hardcore gamer. Just as an example, he came up to me yesterday in clinic to tell me he was still playing Twilight Princess and had gotten every heart container, done all of the trials, etc except for the last two Poes. One he knew the location of, the other he did not. It was funny seeing my classmates line up behind him waiting for chart signatures while he ignored them talking to me about Zelda.

Man, I wish my family were all gamers. Only once have I ever walked in on my dad playing a game of something, and I'm pretty sure it was Mario Golf for the Gamecube, like, 4 years ago, right after I got it. I've never walked in on my mom playing anything, because she probably doesn't even know how to turn the systems on. She's smart in a lot of areas...technology isn't on of them.

The only people who do game in my family are me and my older brother.

It still makes me proud that my sister's WASD keys are missing :)

When I first got my wii on Black Friday, I stayed up all night in line, and played all day, until I fell asleep 4am the next day.

When C&C Generals came out, my dad asked me to show him how to play. People at his law firm had been talking about games like Civ and it had made him curious. It was a pretty frustrating experience. I'd start to explain to him the concepts of moving your viewpoint around the map to see whats going on, and he kind of switched off... And he simply didn't react when his troops started getting into a fight. Basically, it was too much of a conceptual leap for someone who barely knows how to use the internet.

My mother isn't interested but likes the concept of games in general, and usually if I'm talking with friends about games she listens and will laugh about things amusing that happen in CS or whatever.

My brother is really into games. My 15 year old younger sister only likes sandbox games like GTA or the Sims, but whenever me and my bro are talking about games she gets motivated to want to get more into gaming.

So I guess my family is pretty typical...

i've got 3 brothers, and they all play games. my little bro just screws around and never beats anything, my older bro plays a little of everything, like myself, and my oldest bro just plays medieval II: total war and UEFA soccer. my mom used to get pissed at my dad because he would stay up til 3 AM playing this Civil War RTS (he always played as the South). and recently he's gotten into call of duty. i've spent many a day on my computer listening to him yell, "YOU F***KERS" at the germans on screen whenever he dies. my mom doesn't like that either

Well, one would be my mother, the other my wife.

Back in the early 80s, when I was in grade school, I would come home to find my mother (post-divorce and back in college) playing Pac-Man on the Atari 2600.

Nowadays, I've hooked my wife on Final Fantasy. It started with FFXI (she would stay up until 3 or 4am) and then, when FFIII came out for the DS I found her playing that all night, too!

Both of my parents game sort of. They were gamers back in the day and have a Coleco Vision stashed in the attic. When I first got an SNES and Zelda my mom got hooked and played that with me. Her save file was always right behind mine for the longest time then she got bored with it after a month or so. She stopped for a while but like 10 years later when wind waker came out she heisted my gamecube and beat it once I was through with it. Now she tries to take my wii just about every day and I was fine with that until MP3 came out so I took it back. Now she just plays silly online games and wins cheap prizes that she likes to rub in my face for winning more at video games than me. My dad likes the Heroes of might and Magic series and other similar games but has really gotten in shape and lost like 80 pounds and has stopped gaming for the most part. I just hope I never need to lose 80 pounds and stop gaming.

I heart my parents it's like they try to sneak in games when I'm not around. They know they're the reason I game now!

When my sister and I returned from taking out dog out for a walk, we came back in the house to realize our parents had suddenly disappeared from the living room. For some reason they had the sudden urge to play Killer Instinct for the SNES. We could her our mom yelling at my dad that she wasn't "cheating". Though when we walked into the back room she was mashing the same button over and over (Her reasoning is that her dad told her once you start punching someone you don't stop. We have repeatedly told her that doesn't apply to videogames).

A fond memory I have is every Saturday when I was around 5 we used to watch our mom play SMB and we would chant at her that she was "greedy" when she went for the whirlpool coins in the water levels.

Can't wait for Christmas with the folks!

When I first bought it, I played Castlevania SOTN for about 18 hours straight. When my cousin woke up in the morning he came in and said "Hmm... Alucard. That's Dracula spelled backwards."

I said "No it isn't... uh... wait, yeah it is." He didn't understand how I could have been so into the game and not known that pretty important fact.

My dad used to play Super Mario Bros constantly until he beat it. I still remember him getting megas-pissed about the that first Buzzy Beetle in 8-1 (or maybe it's 8-2? Can't remember..) because he had a tendency to just want to get through the level so fast he'd just run right into it without thinking.

But he still beat the game before me and my brother. We came home from my grandparents one night with my mom and he had left the game sitting there with Mario and the Princess.

He literally hasn't played anything since that night, except for Wii Sports bowling (one time), but even today we never hear the end of how he's the greatest player in our family and we'll never beat his record!

I'm pretty much the only one who truly plays games in my family, but not always.

My dad really likes to play Mario Kart 64 and Soul Calibur, especially if we play 4-player or I have a couple friends over. I remember when I had my sega Genesis I had this boxing game that was pretty hard and my dad stayed up all night once and mastered it and I couldn't beat him at it afterward, he became too good.

My mom will try puzzle games if I show her. She used to be hooked on tetris and then columns on Genesis.

Parents and family of that generation aren't into games :-(

Growing up (80's) me, my lil sis and cousins all played games: SMBs, excite bike, street fighter, metroid etc.

My cousins around my age; 20's (the males at least), are all heavy gamers (me the most probably). One cousin is (or was) completely unbeatable at street fighter. I mean he had skills that would make you retarted if you tried to understand them. But I digress. We all love fighting games. Shoot em ups as well. But you'll find all sorts of games in our collections.
We try to meet up as often as possible to shoot each other, then relax with some Wii golf.

My lil sis likes simulation strategies like the sims and theme hospital, and Wii Play type casual games.
I love shoot'em ups, fighting and racing, especially Burnout and Halo.

My fiancee and her kids like games as well, so that's cool.

Best part is im expecting a son in November and I'm already planning on what games we're going to play together :-D

I forgot, my mom pwns Nintendogs and brain age.
A DS for christmas would be perfect for her.

"[H]e had skills that would make you retarted if you tried to understand them."

Hilarious way of putting it :)

My sister also *loved* Theme Hospital. I remember her playing the demo forever.

My dad still likes to play Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007, and Super Mario 64

He's also in love with Wii Sports: Baseball

Horray for lolcats!!!

Anyone happen to notice how ergonomic the 360's controller is to a cats belly? LOL

My parents were on again off again gamers.

My mother got hooked on the Sims, but like that's a stretch, and it doesn't take long if I leave my DS around for her to ask me where my Puzzle Quest game is.

My Dad was the interesting case. Both me and my brother spent hours gaming, it was even used to bribe us (We got our Super Nintendo by never once asking for money on a 6 month trip. It worked. Sadly very well.) Well, there was a point once where we somehow got Dr. Mario. And instead of me and my Bro excusing ourselves to fight over who played Bases Loaded, Megaman etc, our dad would sit down, start at level 99 in Dr. Mario, and play until about level 150, well, highest I saw him was 166. Until we complained and my mom hid the game from him.

My unexpected gamer moment was when i was testing out my wavebird for the first time. i just kept walking backward to see how far the wireless would reach and i fell down a flight of stairs. brain damage ahoy

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Unexpected hardcore gamer in the family

Reader Comments (74)

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