As a kid, there was never enough time to play games, and I had so much fun with them. Of course, all my best times and memories playing games were with friends growing up. I was an only child but had a few friends that were basically brothers to me, lived close by, and I saw them constantly. This is partly why as a father, I maintain a rule about playing games together and not alone in my household. As a kid, it was pretty rare that I had both the opportunity and desire to play games in huge sessions by myself. When I did, it usually involved sneaking up past my bedtime after a big release, or in the days after Christmas.
But working my first job after college, living alone, I was suddenly alone a LOT. And games just became a draining time-suck that brought me no joy or happiness or fun. I think this is partly about getting older, but also partly about the underappreciated factor of playing games around other people.
Of course, I tend to think games these days are less conducive to that as well. No one wants to watch hour 15 of your Mass Effect playthrough unless they're a hardcore Mass Effect fan. 8-bit and 16-bit games were easier to jump into as a spectator. We would play JRPGs around and with each other back in the day, which in theory might be harder to spectate, but it helped that we were all fans of the same limited pool of Square RPGs and didn't play any non-Square RPGs. We also used the oft-forgotten 2-player mode in FF6 a lot. One of my friends was a dedicated Sabin player because he never messed up the Blitzes.
That's a good rule about playing games together! Not only does it ensure your kids have tons of great memories, but hopefully they won't play an exorbitant amount either.
Playing games around other people you enjoy being around - whether you play together or separately - is just an awesome thing, super underrated and underappreciated in today's online gaming landscape.
Wow, I... didn't know there was a two-player mode in FF6?! It doesn't sound like it takes up that much of the game, but still, wild!
Yes, 2-player FF6 was awesome for a kid in my exact situation (i.e., hanging out a lot with other kids who also love the game).
IIRC, in FF4, either controller could control any character. Which we messed with a little, trying to verbally enforce a division of the party. But in FF6, you could assign dedicated members of the party to each controller in the options menu. This made it much more fun. I don't know if any other classic RPGs (NOT action RPGs) had/have this feature, but I'd be curious to learn of any.
That is definitely a brilliant idea having everyone play together… I normally play games by myself since no one I know is really interested in them. But last year I was at a convention and I played someone in Boxing for the Atari 2600, I hadn’t had that fun playing a game in a very long time!
I enjoy the game, it has a certain cheesy appeal to it. The plot is definitely bad though, but so unintentionally funny in spots. There are multiple endings (even one that teases a sequel) but none of them very satisfying.
Nice story! I had to give up video games in my first semester of college as I found they were becoming too addictive and blocking me from connecting with new people. Your attitude toward them is healthy and positive. I still find them a fascinating medium and appreciate commentary on them.
My parents let me play an hour a day when I was younger. Now I'm older and don't get supervised as much, and I recently found that I'd lost the self-control to stop after the hour (assuming I ever had it?). So, I switched to only playing on weekends, but as much as I feel like playing. Usually it's with friends, and it's been great. It also helps that I've got other events and responsibilities on those days, so I have to get up at some point.
Oh boy, can I relate.
As a kid, there was never enough time to play games, and I had so much fun with them. Of course, all my best times and memories playing games were with friends growing up. I was an only child but had a few friends that were basically brothers to me, lived close by, and I saw them constantly. This is partly why as a father, I maintain a rule about playing games together and not alone in my household. As a kid, it was pretty rare that I had both the opportunity and desire to play games in huge sessions by myself. When I did, it usually involved sneaking up past my bedtime after a big release, or in the days after Christmas.
But working my first job after college, living alone, I was suddenly alone a LOT. And games just became a draining time-suck that brought me no joy or happiness or fun. I think this is partly about getting older, but also partly about the underappreciated factor of playing games around other people.
Of course, I tend to think games these days are less conducive to that as well. No one wants to watch hour 15 of your Mass Effect playthrough unless they're a hardcore Mass Effect fan. 8-bit and 16-bit games were easier to jump into as a spectator. We would play JRPGs around and with each other back in the day, which in theory might be harder to spectate, but it helped that we were all fans of the same limited pool of Square RPGs and didn't play any non-Square RPGs. We also used the oft-forgotten 2-player mode in FF6 a lot. One of my friends was a dedicated Sabin player because he never messed up the Blitzes.
That's a good rule about playing games together! Not only does it ensure your kids have tons of great memories, but hopefully they won't play an exorbitant amount either.
Playing games around other people you enjoy being around - whether you play together or separately - is just an awesome thing, super underrated and underappreciated in today's online gaming landscape.
Wow, I... didn't know there was a two-player mode in FF6?! It doesn't sound like it takes up that much of the game, but still, wild!
Yes, 2-player FF6 was awesome for a kid in my exact situation (i.e., hanging out a lot with other kids who also love the game).
IIRC, in FF4, either controller could control any character. Which we messed with a little, trying to verbally enforce a division of the party. But in FF6, you could assign dedicated members of the party to each controller in the options menu. This made it much more fun. I don't know if any other classic RPGs (NOT action RPGs) had/have this feature, but I'd be curious to learn of any.
That is definitely a brilliant idea having everyone play together… I normally play games by myself since no one I know is really interested in them. But last year I was at a convention and I played someone in Boxing for the Atari 2600, I hadn’t had that fun playing a game in a very long time!
“Jason! Jason!”
I've only played the game through once, but I can still hear him say it...
I enjoy the game, it has a certain cheesy appeal to it. The plot is definitely bad though, but so unintentionally funny in spots. There are multiple endings (even one that teases a sequel) but none of them very satisfying.
In the ending I got, the one character I liked in the game turns out to be the villain. Ugh.
I know it's supposed to be a big "BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING" but it just annoyed me.
Mass Effect was a good palate cleanser until I realized I was wasting my life.
I only played the demo, and maybe it's cheesy, but that scenario still haunts me when I lose track of one of my kids for a second in a public place.
Yeah, I think I'd dislike Heavy Rain even more if I was a father.
Nice story! I had to give up video games in my first semester of college as I found they were becoming too addictive and blocking me from connecting with new people. Your attitude toward them is healthy and positive. I still find them a fascinating medium and appreciate commentary on them.
Thank you, I appreciate you reading! Kudos to you for knowing when to say when.
Interesting. I also had a moment of personal crisis in Phoenix, which is indelibly linked to video games in my memory.
Ah, Phoenix. What an abyssal nightmare of a city.
A place of growth, and once the growth was over, time to leave!
My parents let me play an hour a day when I was younger. Now I'm older and don't get supervised as much, and I recently found that I'd lost the self-control to stop after the hour (assuming I ever had it?). So, I switched to only playing on weekends, but as much as I feel like playing. Usually it's with friends, and it's been great. It also helps that I've got other events and responsibilities on those days, so I have to get up at some point.
We all have to find our own stopping point, for sure. As long as we're not consumed and we have some sort of balance, we're probably doing ok!