1st time ever: Mom talks to me about games

I've been playing and loving and talking about games non-stop since I was fetus+ but neither of my parents have ever touched a game in their lives. It may help the story to add that we are immigrants, and my mother's English is fine for a third language but her ability to understand program UI is slight, at best.

One year ago my mom got an iPad for Christmas. Periodically I had to help her with network settings or convince her it's not dangerous to install an app update but that was the extent of our tech interactions.

Then: today. Ten minutes ago.

We're on the phone making sure I'm coming for super on Sunday when BANG! she starts dropping bombs, telling me she downloaded Temple of Doom (Temple Run) and The Sims but that she literally can get past the first seconds of either game. I do some basic explaining but literally the whole time I've got this huge dumb smile on my face - my mom has never, ever asked me anything about games or expressed interest in playing them. I tell her stuff I like, she says "interesting!" and that's that.

Anyways I think I just experienced one of those "wide reach of technology creates new gamers" thing and I wanted to share my experience with the duders. Sorry for getting so corny on y'all.

I'm sure many others have experienced this recently (or not so recently) so yeah...share! Also, any recommendations of simple games for 1st-time gamers would be great.

ha. Yeah, many of us have that experience these days. Parents you never thought would get into games finding themselves enjoying them on their phones and iPads.

Great! I'm glad to hear of other people trying to play games that didn't the moment they could hold a controller.

The last time one of my parents actually tried to play a game was Crash 3, when my father and I alternated playing it some. He and I also used to play Gran Turismo 2. And that's about it.

Hey duder congrats on the 7100th post! Nice round number.

Funny enough Crash 3 was the game me and my friend (not much of a gamer yet) bonded over. I partly think it was because it was so easy and we just ripped through it.

Gran Turismo on the other hand... never got more than a B license.

pshah!

my mom played streets of rage with me when I was 6. also UMK3.

(neither of us were very good mind you)

and she was a beast at columns.

now she plays facebook games and my dad plays sports games.

Honestly like Tetris or even something like Bejeweled are great games for 1st-time gamers. We always had gaming systems in our house but my parents never really played, except for Tetris, my dad ALWAYS would join in when my cousin and I would pass the Gameboy back and forth. My mom NEVER played games, but since she got an iPad, whenever I go over, she is forever playing Bejeweled or some other match 3 game. They are simple and still really fun!

Good luck!

Thanks! Though now it's 7101...

I was expecting a thread about an addiction and how you now hate your parents because they just don't understand. Then seeing a bunch of Fresh Prince of Bel Air photos.

I enjoyed the post, but saddened there were not Fresh Prince photos. =P

I tried to show my mom how to play Tiny Wings and it was disaster. Physics are so confusing sometimes.

Now buy her a PS3 and Dark Souls, she is ready for some hardcore shit.

My mom used to play Crash Bandicoot 2 when it came out and my dad starts playing Super Mario Bros. 3 seemingly every time I boot it up on my old snes.

I'm constantly reminded about how my enjoyment in video games and interest in the stuff going on in the video game industry is a waste of time by my parents, even though it's what made me want to learn how to be a programmer.

Then five minutes later I'll be asked to beat a level for them in Angry Birds or Plants vs Zombies.

My Dad just recently started to play Angry Birds. He has played a few games over the years though like Doom, Duke Nukem and Sonic.

I can always here the bird sounds when I go past his room, it's funny.

They usually say they don't like them simply because they haven't tried enough games to find one they've been interested in, so they just automatically dislike video games. A lot of people should like video games, especially if they like movies and you know, experiencing stuff.

I remember in the mid 90s dad taught my mom how to play solitaire, and then about 6 months later how to play minesweeper. She would play for hours. Eventually FreeCell came along. Me and dad played thousands of games and had around an 80% win rate. Then one day mom wanted to learn. She managed to get the win rate down to 46% in an afternoon and still not know a thing about how to play. I gave up playing after that. She still playing it for hours a day. It's the only reason she can't complain about how much time I spend playing games.

She once tried to play Rock Band. Unfortunately she doesn't understand that listening to the patterns in the music will help recognising the pattern that you are trying to play. Her hand eye coordination wasn't good either. I think she might have hit 5 notes before giving up after one song.

Dad used to play Deer Hunter games on PC. Once I started playing more complex games like Red Alert and GTA2 he stopped playing PC games. I don't know why.

My dad sometimes will want to play Call of Duty but never gets to it. My mom, however, when I was young, she would play Crash Bandicoot and I would watch her play. She always did better than me too. We didn't have a memory card for my PS1 so she would pretty much play half of the game all the way through. One of my fondest gaming/childhood memories.

Kind of a side-note, but I like talking about video games with non-gaming people (Usually adults). I'm not quite sure why either.

My mom would play a lot of Doctor Mario on the NES, but that's it. Good to hear you might have something new to discuss with your mother.

My parents don't really play games. My dad used to play Super Mario Bros. up until 3 or 2 (memory is foggy considering I was little more than a toddler), then stopped.

The last time I remember him playing a game was when he, my mom (as a backseat player), and his 2 work buddies spontaneously (as I remember it) sat down and basically "endurance run-ed" The Lost Levels when I got my SNES for Christmas with All-Stars as a pack-in. Probably one of the greatest memories I have of my parents.

I was very impressed. And still kind of am, really.

@believer258: The best things never last long

@lord_xp: ditto on the talking to non-gaming adults. Sometimes their short, blunt observations are really spot on or just interesting.

My mom will occasionally watch me play a game and comment on how good graphics have become, but all she really plays is Mahjong (funny side note when she loses she gets cranky and sometimes even rage quits)