Giantrobo

I was talking to a relative about "Father/Son" stuff the other day and he mentioned that he and his son had really bonded over gaming together. Like it took their relationship to a new positive level. As a Gamer myself who hopes to get my son into gaming I thought that was the coolest thing. He is 3 now so he watches me game and I let him play with the controller when he wants too. I look forward to the day when we can share a console and play co-op or against each other.

1. Do you game with them? How often?
2. What games are the faves?
3. Is it friendly competition or intense rivalry?
4. Co-op? Play against them?
5. What is you fave memory of gaming with your kid(s)
6. Does your significant other also game with them?

funkyryno

No, I rarely play video games with my kids (8 and 12). All my kids want to do is play Roblox and Minecraft, and I've yet to understand the appeal of that game. They've shown little interest in the games I enjoy (RPGs, FPS shooters, strategy). Maybe someday.

I've made an effort to increase the amount of time I play analog games with my children -- board games, D&D, tabletop war games, etc. The time is much better spent interacting face-to-face with each other and using tangible, tactile objects. Days later I'll find them talking about what happened on our weekly Saturday game night, where's with digital games the memories are fleeting and vague.

LorenzoL

My daughter and I usually play the Nintendo games together like Super Mario, Kart, Party and pretty soon, it will be the Smash Brawl on the Switch. We also play Pokemon Go together. She's really good at Mario Kart and cannot beat her at all.

Spider-Man was the first non Nintendo video game that we played together as she completed certain tasks and missions for me.

My wife does not game nor she wishes to game with us.She does play mobile games on her phone like Paradise Bay.

fujishig

Honestly if not for Nintendo I doubt my daughter would have gotten into videogames until much later (not counting early tablet games): I wasn't getting her a PC when she was very young, and she's not a big fan of "dying." But they really do make games for all ages, and so Nintendo will always have a spot in my house. Very early on I'd pretty much have to do everything with her, but as she got older, especially with the 3DS and then the Switch, she just takes it and does it on her own.

She basically took a cue from my wife and raided my entire Animal Crossing village.

My son, who is younger, really, really likes Dragon Ball Z so I just put FighterZ on easy mode and he plays on his own. Both watch me play Spider-man, though there is some language there. In fact, I can't progress with the story unless they're there or they'll complain.

I know it's technically not meant for 12 and under but I'm excited to show them PS VR this Christmas, I think they'll have a blast.

Now I need some tips from parents on how to get kids to watch sports on tv. Right now it's like punishment for them (if you don't behave, we're watching basketball instead of cartoons!)

K&AJones

Yes...but he's not my "Kid" per say. In the past we've played Fortnight, Warframe, COD Black Ops III, Diablo and Halo (he liked those alot) on the 360. But he's got a group of friends he plays with at his new school and they're big on Fortnight and some others. Plus he's getting a PS VR for Christmas so there's that....

davidh777

The Lego games are great for coop play. Stuff like Uncharted my kids will watch me play.

Giantrobo

I'm half-assed wishing I hadn't sold my Wii years ago. I think it would have been a cool thing for him.

foxdvd

Over the years I played a bit with my daughters. My son and I have played a lot. He is an adult now and lives on his own, but we still play from time to time, but not nearly as much as in his teen years. I play with a lot of friends I grew up with, and he has always been that 5th player who steps in when one of my friends is out.

I would say some of my best moments with my son have come when gaming.

mugwump

I started off playing Battlefront on the original Xbox with my kids when they were little. That progressed to sports games, then shooters, then strategy games. One kid is off at college (look at my join date, I'm old) and he and his brother and I still make time to play Sea of Thieves together on occasion. Over the summer we actually got all four of us, including mom, to play together using one Game Pass account.

As for your list:
1. Yes. Not as much as I would like.
2. Battlefront (still play it), Madden, MLB The Show, COD: MW, Civilization
3. Mostly friendly until someone rage quits.
4. Both. Best times are two on one as long as the one isn't always the same person.
5. The little brother waking from a nap and busting me and his older brother for playing Battlefront without him. Last time he ever took a nap.
6. Sometimes.

Koby

Barely.

When I was 5 I was beating games on the SNES, but my 5 year old daughter is just grasping the concepts of gaming with a controller. She mostly has played games on a tablet or on a Wii up till now. I guess it's mostly my fault for not trying enough to get her into gaming. Though she does love playing Lego Marvel Superheroes on the PS4 now and she got the hang of it rather quickly. However I have to show her how to solve almost all of the puzzles.

milo bloom

Not as much as I'd hoped when he was born. I'd always been a gamer and I thought it would be great to play with him, but right now he's playing a My Little Pony Roblox game and I'm on DVDTalk with Gershwin playing on Youtube. He also prefers games like Minecraft and Terraria.

Sometimes we'll play Mario Party with the wife, but he's such a griefer it's not always fun. Though that's an asset when he makes Super Mario Maker levels for me to play. He's an absolute sadist when it comes to level design.

Sometimes we all play Uno or Magic The Gathering. Even though he doesn't play Magic with me very often, he's still pretty good at it because he understands game theory.

foxdvd

I guess I was lazy and ignored your questions in my earlier post so..



1. Do you game with them? How often? My son yes...daily when he lived with me...once a week now that he is on his own.

2. What games are the faves? Diablo 3 is probably our most played game..but Rainbow Six, Call of Duty games over the years have been up there...

3. Is it friendly competition or intense rivalry? Friendly..

4. Co-op? Play against them? 99% co-op

5. What is you fave memory of gaming with your kid(s) Staying up till 4 in the morning playing Diablo with my boy and hitting top 10 on the leaderboards.


6. Does your significant other also game with them? when we were still married? A little bit...not anymore though.


No chat audio..but here is a clip of My friend, my son and me playing Rainbow Six...I revive my friend only to have a suicide bomber charge us...run past us... and kill my son who was screaming what the heck the whole time...



Here is a recent clip of us playing Diablo on ps4. There is audio in this clip..and I want to warn you I have an annoying voice...AND I laugh like an idiot at the end...but we were doing two-man rifts..and he kept dying with his build as he was learning it. He made some changes and we started up again, and I asked him if "he felt tankier" and he replied something along the lines of "Hell yeah I feel tanker bitch....these enemies are like OHHH WHY IS THIS GUY SO TANKY" and then something happens...


and finally a clip with 3 of my friends and my son...and my best friend for the last 30 plus years getting mad at me...which to this day we all laugh at..

Giantrobo

Cool answers!

majorjoe23

My daughter and I play Lego games and Super Smash Bros (Wii U version). I'm thinking about trying Splatoon with her.

starseed1981

No. I would but they mainly believe in iPads as consoles. PS4s and whatnot are for "old people".

fumanstan

As a future new parent (due in March!) I guess i'll have to start thinking about these things, especially what's appropriate for me to play when kids are around. Working in gaming, I definitely expect to play games with my kids though.

K&AJones

CONGRADS there "Dad".....and yes, especially the language part. My "Grandson" to this day still reminds me "hey...that's a bad word" if one slips out. And I remind him to hang with cool friends who don't have as we say..A Potty Mouth. And he has said the group he plays with, those are the rules and they've had to kick some for foul language...we're talking 9-11 year olds here.

But when he was 6-7 he had a handle on Diablo and even gave Warframe a try which he still plays occasional. But he does play with friends more now in Fortnight and once-in-awhile he'll send me an invite to chat while we're in separate games. Just live those moments when ya'll play together...because in a snap they're suddenly grown and have friends and you're more of a fill-in. But on the other side, his friends think it's awesome I play with him because they'll say they can't even get their parents to play. And when you start talking some of that "Game Lingo"...they're really impressed

fumanstan

Thanks! It's definitely an interesting time we live in now, especially having to be careful with your kids and the online games that they play.

I had the conversation with one of my employees the other day about whether he could/would play Red Dead Redemption 2 when his kids are awake.

Sonny Corinthos

Yes, all the time. She plays games on her Switch while I play games on my Xbox One and PS4. While we are not playing the same game, we are sitting beside one another laughing and talking the whole time. We enjoy it but it drives my Wife crazy sometimes.

redbill

my 5yo son likes to game. tried getting him into the NES & NES Classic but its usually on ps4/Switch

1. Do you game with them? How often? Usually every other day, sometimes more
2. What games are the faves? Lego City Undercover, Rocket League, Switch MarioCart, Tennis, Party (for xmas), Little Big Planet
3. Is it friendly competition or intense rivalry? friendly
4. Co-op? Play against them? co-op
5. What is you fave memory of gaming with your kid(s) our first game of Mario Tennis at Target when he beat me (I was trying).
6. Does your significant other also game with them? usually, depending on the game

DaveNinja

I never played the first Red Dead Redemption because my kids were young and would watch me play xbox games. When they were still babies I could play GTA in the middle of the night while dealing with them (though I usually would fall asleep while driving in the game, haha).

Now my kids are older (16, 13, 10) so we play games like the Jackbox suites. I used to play lots of Super Smash Bros with my kids until the oldest one got good enough where she could beat me every time. Now we occasionally play co-op games like Overwatch or PUBG

beavis69

My son is 5 and really wanted to play my Switch so I give him 15 minutes or so before bed to play around with it.

1. Do you game with them? How often?
Yes, usually every other day for about 15-20 minutes.
2. What games are the faves?
He loves NBA Playgrounds and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze
3. Is it friendly competition or intense rivalry?
Friendly right now
4. Co-op? Play against them?
Mostly just passing the system back and forth and teaching him
5. What is you fave memory of gaming with your kid(s)
Seeing how good he is at DK. Shockingly good.
6. Does your significant other also game with them?
No she doesn't game at all

Giantrobo

Congrats Fumanstan! Wishing your Fam all the best.

fumanstan

Thanks! I'm seriously super excited to play video games with my son, even if it opens up so many parental concerns

story

Great thread, it's been interesting to read what people have to say. I'm not surprised to hear Nintendo is the favorite for younger kids and I'm not surprised to hear team combat games are the favorite for older kids. Not sure if my kids will be into the latter as much when they're older, though. Here's where we're at, with kids at 4 and 7:

1. Do you game with them? How often?
We play console games maybe 1-3 times per month and usually as a family. They watch me play another 1-3 times per month but if they're "watching" they usually are nearby on their tablets. They like games on the PBS Kids app and they like a game on my phone called Trap! a lot, and sometimes like to tap around my Springfield in The Simpsons: Tapped Out. They're both good at Pokemon Go and did well with the similar Pokemon game on the Switch set up at Gamestop.

2. What games are the faves?
PS4: That's You! - Even our 4-year-old can play this, with the occasional help with typing. We played this tonight as a family and really enjoyed it.
PS4: Jackbox Games - A handful of them like Lieswatter work for the 7-year-old, tougher with the 4-year-old.
PS4: Resogun, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Pinball are all fun for them, here and there.
PS4: They watch me play Rocket League, Star Wars Battlefront II, and Battlefield here and there. They really liked watching me play Shadowgate, believe it or not, and helping solve the room puzzles.
Wii: Boom Blox. We play Boom Blox as a family a lot. Well, we did this summer. Something happened this fall and the Wii isn't reading discs anymore, pretty frustrating.
NES Classic: Excitebike is probably the most-popular game on that and they do okay. The oldest has a profile on The Legend of Zelda for messing around and they like to figure out the labyrinths with me when I play.
SNES Classic: They like the Donkey Kong Country game even though they can't do more than one level. They just like doing that one level over and over. A little bit of Super Mario Kart but not a lot.

3. Is it friendly competition or intense rivalry?
Neither, it's always about teamwork. I admit, I have a real aversion to competition, personally, so even when someone is winning a game like That's You!, the winning is so far removed from what is being emphasized during the actual game play.

4. Co-op? Play against them?
Boom Blox is a little more competitive, I suppose, and I do hold back a little as they learn the game. As I say, the Wii is acting up so we haven't played in a while, but with a little practice they'll get good enough we can all play at our actual strength levels.

5. What is you fave memory of gaming with your kid(s)
With my kids, I think the laughter of games that use selfies and drawing like That's You and Jackbox is always fun. Probably my favorite is playing The Simpsons: Tapped Out and having them tap some of their favorite items, which include parachuting fools who hit the ground and the circus bear. That always makes them laugh!

My brother is quit a bit younger than me and when he was a preteen he could stomp everyone in Goldeneye. One time I was running around down in the Temple basement trying to figure out where to go and I hear him say, "Goodbye, Natalya." Then he launches a rocket and blows me to smithereens. It was in front of my college friends and it was hilarious.

6. Does your significant other also game with them?
Yeah, she'll play That's You! or a Jackbox game with us. Boom Blox, too. She's not really into the rest. She is, however, HEAVILY into Pokemon Go and will routinely take the kids with her to stops in the car!