What games does your Mom play?

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:03 pm

Inspired by <a href="http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtop ... 1565">this thread</a>, I thought it would be interesting to share what games your Mom, Dad, Auntie, Grandfather, or any other close-family-member-of-an-older-generation play.

I know we are not all the same age here, but there is an element of generational divide to games. Sometimes members of older generations are more open to new games, and sometimes they aren't open to anything new at all.

My Dad grew up just a little bit too early for Pac Man and Donkey Kong, and I don't remember him ever showing the slightest interest in games.

My Mom plays Spider Solitaire, and LBreakout, and she loves the "Monkey Island" series (though I couldn't get her interested in other point-and-click adventure games. She wouldn't even sit through the introduction sequence of "Sam & Max")

One time I got my Grandpa Paige to play Tetris for about 10 minutes. He wasn't half bad, but as soon as he finished he couldn't resist reminding me that computers were only tools and that they could never do any more than the programmers programmed them to do, so they could never be alive, which would be blasphemy against God.

My Great Aunt Wanda had a NES and Super Mario 3. The was a great speed-runner. We would play 2-player sometimes, and I always had to be Luigi. When she moved out of state, she and Uncle Al gave me their TV, and I remember that as long as I kept it, it always see the status bar burned into the bottom of the screen, with those three boxes in the bottom right where I could almost still see the stars.

Post by **Mogri** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:08 pm

My mother doesn't play a lot of games. She liked Lemmings for awhile, but she's opposed to video games in general on principle. I think there are a lot of games she'd like if she tried them.

My mother-in-law is a video game fiend, and not very discriminating, either. Ever wonder who buys those crap titles that keep finding their way on the shelves? It's her. She owns a DS and a Wii; my wife and I are to blame for both addictions, but not for her taste in games.

My wife enjoys puzzle games mostly, but also titles like Harvest Moon, Civilization: Revolution, and Viva Piñata (the DS one; she's hardly touched the 360 one because she can't get used to the controls). She also loves the original Zelda and all of the NES Mario titles.

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:30 pm

My Father loves the original Dungeon Keeper, but I've never seen him play any other game.

My Mom on the other hand is addicted to Final Fantasy XI. She's had a love/hate relationship with the series, though she's claimed that VI is her favorite, with X coming in pretty close behind it in regards to the characters. She's also the only person I've ever known who actually beat Paragon in X-2. She's played quite a bit actually, Mario series, Zelda (LttP is her favorite), Startropics, Tetris Attack (she is a FIEND in laying down a 8+ combo), and even tried her hand at some of the Megaman X games. I'm going to try to get her to play SotN eventually, because EVRYONE needs to play SotN.

I think she's also played Vikings of Midgard, but I'm not sure. She follows its progress off and on, I know that at least.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:41 pm

Fenrir-Lunaris wrote:I think she's also played Vikings of Midgard, but I'm not sure. She follows its progress off and on, I know that at least.

I forgot that I had implemented the "Pause on All Battle Menus" bitset specifically on my Mom's request, after showing her Wandering Hamster.

Rue · Post by **Rue** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:06 am

When I was growing up, my mom played the hell out of every NES and SNES mario game -- even the crappy ones (Mario's Missing).

Also, I attribute my initial taste for RPGs to my mom. She was playing Dragon Warrior for quite some time -- to the point where I think I even skipped a day in elementary school to watch.

Other than my Mom, my uncle (who ironically a few years had one of his arms literally ripped off, up to the elbow) is a video game addict. Before the incident, I remember spending the night and watching him play Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and then further into time FFX and FF7. These days, he uses a custom made controller to play Grand Theft Auto games.

[Edit: Oh, my mom just picked up a Wii the other day. She loves the virtual console. She's rockin' out with the Mario games, and is totally having nostalgia attacks playing StarTropics.]

Uncommon · Post by **Uncommon** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:40 am

~ My Dad's never been much for video games. We didn't really have any consoles as kids except for an Atari 2600 that barely worked we inherited from an uncle, and my older brother's Gameboy he got for X-Mas from the same uncle. A friend of mine gave me his Super NES for my 15th birthday, but my dad only let me have it on the condition I give it to another friend for his birthday a few months later.

When I was 17 I bought an NES, which I eventually traded in to get my little brother a GBA, which we eventually traded in for a Playstation. My dad never liked any of them. He thought I was wasting my life away on them, the same way he didn't like me making computer games instead of getting a job. Not a friend to video games, my dad. (i really, sincerely hope this doesn't come off as bitter as it sounds like it might be, it really isn't!)

~ My mom, on the other hand...
When my little brother found Runescape, me and my mom both played, but neither of us as much as her. We were still on dial-up, so nobody else could internet while she played all day long, which probably is what drove me to two things:

1. Being a night owl, since no one's using the internet then.
2. Going to the library for internet (which was also good for Runescape items with mom or my brother), which turned to me going to the library for other things, which pretty much got me back into comic books and widened my musical interests exponentially.

Before that, and after she got the Runescape monkey off her back, she played FreeCell, Spider Solitaire, whatever card games were available, Minesweeper, and some weird Bubble Bobble clone I can't remember the name of. She might've had a wild Tangent subscription.
Last time I visited my family, playing Wii at my older brother's house, I don't recall if she partook of Wii Bowling or Mario Kart, but we rented Wario Ware Smooth Moves and I'm pretty sure she got the controller passed to her at some point.

~ My mom's youngest brother lived in grandma's basement when I was a kid. He was in his late-teens to early-twenties at the time, so this isn't as bad as it sounds. He had basically every NES game there was, and basically turned us on to video games. He's the one we got the Atari and Gameboy from. He was the first person we knew with a Super NES. I dunno what he has, if anything, these days (having a stepson around my age, i'm sure he had something five years ago if not now), but I remember going to his house and playing NES with him at least once after he was married.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:13 pm

My Mom doesn't do video games. She used to watch me (or my little brother) play a game when it was first bought, and then complain "Why can't the people talk?", and then go upstairs and read a book where she couldn't hear the people talk either.

My Dad played a little bit on Atari. This is when I was like 5 or 6 years old, and he would make fun of me because I couldn't get a higher score than him in River Raid. And he could beat me at Tanks, or whatever it was called. He used to try to help me with some video games in my late single-digits years. I mostly remember he and I sitting down and mapping out the final dungeon of the first Zelda.

My youngest uncle was into video games a bit, and was the first one with a Nintendo; I might have been 4 or so. He and my dad would tell us (my cousins and I) that there was a secret axe that you could get in World 4-1 of the original Mario bros (only game he had, besides Duck Hunt obviously) if we could figure out where and how to jump behind a certain hill. The Golden Axe has become a fabled legend in the Willis/Fusco family.

(+[]::)<GBA · Post by **(+[]::)<GBA** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:18 am

well my moms currently addicted to this online bacgammon game, only because she cant beat me irl. my little brothers are all over the place as far as what they play. one plays the crap out of sports and fps, hes still playing CoD4. the other one is similiar to both me and my brother as far as the games he likes. hes into mmos and sports, not really much he wont play as far as i can tell. my sister hates video games but she doesnt count since shes the youngest of the 5 of us. but thats pretty much everything my family plays. ive been trying to get my girlfriend to play halo or something with me but im too competitive to play with her

JSH357 · Post by **JSH357** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:23 am

My mother likes old Gameboy games (Zelda:LA, Mario/Wario Land, Tetris). She hates everything new that she tries, and now just plays Hearts and Free Cell.

She has told me countless times that all video games are the same and I should stop playing them.

I don't my dad could care less about video games.

the drizzle · Post by **the drizzle** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:53 am

I forgot that I had implemented the "Pause on All Battle Menus" bitset specifically on my Mom's request, after showing her Wandering Hamster.

This anecdote is pretty amusing to me.

As for my parent, I've seen my mom play flash games pretty often but my father won't touch them. He played n64 once when we first got it but quickly gave up and handed it over.

I do have an uncle who was once a video game enthusiast. He used to play madden and Wayne Gretzky hockey on sega and he pretty much got me into video games to begin with.

(+[]::)<GBA · Post by **(+[]::)<GBA** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:36 pm

i remember trying to get my dad to play the n64, we got hang time. hes a pretty avid basketball fan. i got him to play like five games and then he was getting upset because he couldnt beat anyone with the magic. i think it was mostly because he was playing me. i caught him one day playing by himself and he was getting pretty pissed off at the computer for getting "on fire" through the whole game. i watched the mavericks stomp him like 70ish to his 20ish. he broke my 1 and only controller that day. very sad day for me indeed.

camdog · Post by **camdog** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:37 pm

My parents are pretty typical for their age group in that they both like wii sports, but that's about the extent to which they game. They also both like Rock Band (mom sings, dad plays guitar). Oh, and my dad likes to play chess online.

I've tried to get them into more 'hardcore' games, and though they're very nice and attentive when I show them stuff, it's just never caught on.

(+[]::)<GBA · Post by **(+[]::)<GBA** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:08 pm

its very parent like to not get caught into hardcore gaming

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Thu May 28, 2009 1:56 am

My dad sometimes plays Solitair or Tetris. For the most part he simply never interfered with my seven brothers, my mom, one of my two sisters, and myself as we played videogames. About five years ago, he instituted at one-hour-per-person-per-day rule, because my nephew would come over and play non-stop through the weekend. Also, we aren't allowed to play on Sunday. (These rules apply to my OHR game making, too, but not to drawing or scripting).

My mom played lots of Tetris and Doctor Mario through most of my life. She played a lot of Super Mario Bros 3, but never got into the remakes. She would occasionally play a little of Mega Man 3. And she was an absolute addict to Bomberman 64.

I think I'm the first person in my immediate family to play RPGs. I hadn't even heard of the genre until I was halfway finished with Dragon Warrior I & II for the GBC; RPG has been my favorite genre ever since.

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:09 pm

My mom doesn't play anything unfortunately. She has played a few handheld games like Solitare and Yahtzee, but that's it.

On the other hand, my Dad is a huge Call of Duty, Quake III, GTA: Vice City and Twisted Metal 2 fan. He hasn't played them in quite some time, but there for a while he would play them for hours on end.

I loved playing Quake III with him. We would have a deathmatch and a lot of times he would just jump up and down facing a corner and I'd just blow him to bits.