I was not allowed to play video games growing up. They would make us "violent." Once, my aunt gave the three of us a Sega. My mom hid it for two weeks and then got rid of it. Nowadays, as a result, I don't game much. I don't own any consoles besides a beat laptop that could barely run anything. I greatly enjoy arcade games especially FPS like Area 51. I also like Tetris and Pac-Man. Uhm, in my teenage years, we were allowed to play Doom. Original Doom. I cheat-coded my way through that shit and enjoyed myself. But beyond that I have practically no familiarity and at this point in my life little interest. I've played Smash, etc, at parties and video game club meetings in college, it's fun, it's cool, but it never was a way for me to spend my time so now I don't generally consider it in my day-to-day. Lord knows I don't need another expensive hobby to keep me away from writing, natch.
Were you upset your parents didn't allow you to play video games when you were young? Do you now think it was a good decision?
I didn't much care at the time, I was always a big reader. I guess I didn't have friends that clearly played a lot of video games. I did think it was kind of stupid especially when my aunt gave us the Sega and then my mom got rid of it. I understood not wanting to spend the money but since the system was already there, I didn't really understand the objection. Frankly I think her actions, while protective, were mostly silly. We also weren't allowed to watch popular shows like Power Rangers because they too would make us violent. I was much more unhappy about Power Rangers. But Dad would let me watch Xena Warrior Princess weekend afternoons when mom wasn't home, so that was okay. It evened out a little. Even at the tender age of 10 and 12ish I think my brother and I were pretty convinced that video games didn't cause youth to become violent and that her reasoning was crap. However, I do value the ability to be entertained without a console. I value how much reading I did and do. Would video games have changed my passion for reading? Probably not. But the lack of them certainly made it easier to devote all my time to books and writing and 'art.' In general I am not a fan of overly controlling parenting.