What were your family videogaming rules?

ccovell · 09/17/2017, 10:13 PM

Hi, folks. I'm doing a simple bit of research for one of my classes.

When you were a child, what family rules did you have in your household regarding videogaming? Eg: time limits, sharing with siblings, punishment, timeout periods because of tantrums, etc?

Feel free to share your answers.

CrackTiger · 09/17/2017, 10:27 PM

Only rule I can think of during our Intellivision days was our parents got to play as long as they wanted first and when they were ready for a break, I got a shot. My Brother played less because he was pretty young during most of that period and the 8-bit gen was his equivalent. My parents weren't interested in video games after Intellivision.

OldMan · 09/17/2017, 10:41 PM

QuoteWhen you were a child, what family rules did you have in your household regarding videogaming?

"No fighting over the T.V."

Of course, it was pong. (A Coleco Telstar, iirc.)

Dicer · 09/17/2017, 11:03 PM

I was an only child so when I go time it was all mine...between the beatings and stuff of course.

HuMan · 09/17/2017, 11:08 PM

Homework and chores first, then games.

turboswimbz · 09/17/2017, 11:12 PM

Hmmm so I think I fall a bit later than the guys before me. this woulda been during the SNES / Gensis up to Gamecube/PS2/xbox ish stage for me and my brother. these were not hard fast rules but in general:

1) homework first

2) We could play as much as we wanted on weekends etc. or when we weren't busy, however during the summer months were frequently told to go outside.

3) Whatever sports/other activity we had we couldn't miss playing video games (this one was for my brother)

4) No trading games with friends/borrowing from friends. for argument's sake.

5) We had to play 2 player games if both people wanted to play.

6) If we raged we got yelled at, if it happened again we had to put the game down for the day. I think this happened maybe once though.

A) This one may make people happy. Although not really applicable probably. The turbografx was kept in storage in the attic. If I brought it down when I was done I had to repack it in the box and make sure it was stored properly.

Michirin9801 · 09/17/2017, 11:17 PM

Unfortunately my childhood gaming rules were rather strict... "Gaming only on weekends, only after homework, and only one for one hour"

That said though, I've spent a lot of time at my grandma's house playing on my cousin's Super Nintendo, away from my mom's judgemental sight, but even at home I found ways to break those rules constantly, and my mom knew, thankfully she got more lenient over time...

As for the whole "fighting over the TV with your siblings", even with the very limited play time, me and my sister fought over both the TV and the PC a lot, and those fights have only stopped once we got our own 'screens' if you will... I tried to compromise and play 2P games with her, but she preferred to play alone, and generally wasn't into the same games that I was... Our bickering only got punished when it went too far (or too loud) said punishments were often physical...

Thinking back now, it was quite miserable, I'm so glad that those times are over...

retro junkie · 09/17/2017, 11:18 PM

Ummmmm...................there were no video games when I was a kid. About in my teens there was one guy in the whole neighborhood that got a "Pong" game system when they came out. That was all it would play, Pong. We were fascinated by it. His parents would not allow it to be played over the main TV. We had to use the spare B&W 13" TV, tube of course. I don't remember much else about it except you had to have someone to play with you. It was not a single player game.

o.pwuaioc · 09/17/2017, 11:36 PM

None, really. By the time my younger siblings were old enough to really play, we had two TVs, a TV in my room and a TV in the living room. When I was very little, of course there were time restrictions, but they were mostly limited to after-hours. So no gaming late at night, etc. I was mostly raised by my siblings after my mother's death, and I don't think my dad really cared too much, so I was spared the strict rules other kids had.

Psycho Punch · 09/17/2017, 11:49 PM

My mom usually got angry at me for playing games all day long on the only TV we had but since she didn't watch much she didn't make me any kind of rule. Since my dad worked during the day he would use the TV only during night and weekends, so I could usually play after school every day.

On our PC however there were tons of restrictions, my dad didn't trust me with it so I would play games only when he wasn't doing anything on the PC and when he was around. Of course rules got looser with time to the point where the only rule was "don't overwrite my Half-Life/SWAT 3 save game or you're not playing them again"

esteban · 09/18/2017, 12:23 AM

(1) No TV at all, except on special occasions (black and white TV from basement temporarily relocated upstairs for watching Dr. Who a few times a year). Video games at friends/family is OK.

(2) 1987. Color TV finally arrives in living room. NES shortly thereafter. Homework/chores must be completed before TV/video games.

(3) Obviously, I would sneak downstairs to play video games and watch TV all night. VCR records late night movies whilst I played NES.

(4) My brothers had their own scams.

(5) My dad cuts the power cord to prevent three kids from watching TV without permission (thanks to my younger brothers, who watched Nightmare on Elm Street, against my advice, and were so frightened they kept my parents up all night).

(6) My dad makes "the plug" (male to male AC cord). "The plug" attaches to TV (he installed a female AC receptacle on TV cord) first, and then the AC outlet. Yes, the plug is very dangerous if misused.

(7) TV/video game withdrawal is WORSE THAN ALCOHOL/HEROIN WITHDRAWAL.

( 8 ) My brothers and I scour house to find hiding spot for "the plug". We play video games covertly.

(9) In a dream, I have a revelation: I can make my own plug by wiring up my own (an old fan plug is sacrificed because it is old-skool and has screw terminals for wiring AC). Yes, electricity is dangerous. 1930's Bakelite AC plugs are all I had available in home...I didn't know supermarkets sold modern equivalents. I thought my dad made his "plug" from speciality items only available from hardware store. My ignorance evaporates one day when I wander down a formerly "boring" aisle of the grocery store.

(10) Parents are SUPER pissed-off when they discover my brothers and I cut various lamp cords around house to make extra "plugs" for our video game addiction. Why didn't we just sacrifice extension cords? Because we were stupid.

(11) My own kids have to finish homeowrk/chores before they watch TV/play video games. I have been tempted to make a "plug" when they break this rule, but, then again, I don't want them to be electrocuted.

TR0N · 09/18/2017, 02:03 AM

Didn't really have any when i was a kid.Long as it didn't get in the way of school i could play it at a any time.I was the one that played them,my sister was never interested at all.Any console i had was mine i didn't have to share or any thing.

LostFlunky · 09/18/2017, 09:38 AM

I started on the 2600 circa 1982 - Grade 8.

One rule - I had to make money and pay for the system and games. My parents only ever bought me one game - Defender.

They did get annoyed with having the system in the living room, though, and eventually we moved the TV down to the unfinished basement, which was were my "first video game all nighter" occurred.

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13089.msg258420#msg258420

(Freaky - that post was 5 years ago to the day...)

One rule I remember a lot of my friends having to abide by - they weren't allowed to play games for more than a couple of hours at a time because their parents were afraid of screen burn-in.

NecroPhile · 09/18/2017, 09:58 AM

I don't remember any specific rules, but we'd get told to quiet down if we got too loud and rambunctious or if we started started fighting over someone "cheating" or not sharing the system.

If I was naughty in some way, I'd also get grounded from playing games for a week or two. It was a good deterrent, more painful than not being able to watch TV or having to go to bed early.

Digi.k · 09/18/2017, 10:45 AM

no rules. I was left to my own devices

xcrement5x · 09/18/2017, 02:31 PM

We had the main TV in the family room which had the VCR hooked up to it so no gaming was normally done on it, but if you had a RF adapter you could sneak something into the A/B switch my Dad used to watch one show and record another.

For gaming there was a second smaller TV in my parent's room which had the NES hooked up to it and would play on that. That worked fine until an unfortunate incident when I entered my parents room to play one evening, and then it was eventually moved into the room with the Commodore 64 and hooked up on that. Eventually I scrimped and saved my monies until I could buy a TV for my own room and got a rocking 19" which looking back on was kind of lame since there was only RF, but it was all I needed. Did the same thing and bought my own Genesis eventually and lived the dream.

Main rules for my house were that you would only get 1-2 hours of TV, a day and that included video games if you wanted them. From about 4th grade to 9th grade we would have someone who came over and kept an eye on us for the most part while my parents worked and to enforce the TV rules.

Weekends were a bit more open but if there were things we needed to do that took priority and needed to be complete first. Normally wasn't a big deal, but once I started to get into RPGs that were time sinks it became a lot more important.

I did have games and stuff taken away before because I wasn't focusing on school work, though. My mom knew that she didn't have to take away the system, just the games, and I didn't have very many of them.

NecroPhile · 09/18/2017, 03:08 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/18/2017, 02:31 PMFor gaming there was a second smaller TV in my parent's room which had the NES hooked up to it and would play on that. That worked fine until an unfortunate incident when I entered my parents room to play one evening...

Oh, my. I guess they couldn't get off to Mario?

johnnykonami · 09/18/2017, 04:02 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/18/2017, 03:08 PM
Quote from: guest on 09/18/2017, 02:31 PMFor gaming there was a second smaller TV in my parent's room which had the NES hooked up to it and would play on that. That worked fine until an unfortunate incident when I entered my parents room to play one evening...
Oh, my. I guess they couldn't get off to Mario?

I guess I should probably wait until I get home from work to click on this...

NecroPhile · 09/18/2017, 04:40 PM

Nah, it's perfectly safe.

johnnykonami · 09/18/2017, 04:58 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/18/2017, 04:40 PMNah, it's perfectly safe.

Hmm, well you've always seemed like a trustworthy robot from hell...

MisterCrash · 09/18/2017, 06:54 PM

No rules per se at my house. I had the NES on the downstairs TV for a while until my dad brought home a surplus monitor from work with composite inputs, and set that up in my room. The TurboGrafx was hooked up to the downstairs TV as well, but I had to put it away when I was done playing. My parents generally watched TV upstairs in their room. No limits on play time, and when I started playing RPGs, I could sink 10+ hours in a row during the weekend or summer time.

crazydean · 09/18/2017, 11:55 PM

My parents made me go play outside when it was daylight/nice. Otherwise, I was mostly allowed to play video games as much as I wanted. As I got older, this rule became less strict. I always got my homework done so there was no rule there.

Once, my mom asked me to do some chores. I kept telling her that I would do them in a few minutes. I was waiting to get to a save point (probably Final Fantasy on PS1). Anyway, she came into my room and turned it off! Well, the TV, at least. She didn't realize that the system would stay on. I pretended to be upset and did the chores, only to come back later and continue playing.

majors · 09/19/2017, 10:15 AM

During the 80's, my parent would not buy a video game system (birthday, xmas) so I'd goto friends house that had Pong, VCS, Colleco, C64, etc to play. I sold my GI Joes to help raise funds to buy a NES, then later a SMS. We had the TV in the living room, but watching TV was never that big at my house. I cannot recall rules limiting my gaming, but I also never went directly home after school so I always had homework finished before getting back to the games at home. Eventually I got a TV in my room, about the time of TG/Genny, but never any restrictions. I think my parent had given trying to control my gaming...and 30 years later, I'm still playing and it's my job now!

xcrement5x · 09/19/2017, 12:42 PM

Quote from: crazydean on 09/18/2017, 11:55 PMOnce, my mom asked me to do some chores. I kept telling her that I would do them in a few minutes. I was waiting to get to a save point (probably Final Fantasy on PS1). Anyway, she came into my room and turned it off! Well, the TV, at least. She didn't realize that the system would stay on. I pretended to be upset and did the chores, only to come back later and continue playing.

At least you reacted better than this kid:

crazydean · 09/19/2017, 01:48 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/19/2017, 12:42 PMAt least you reacted better than this kid:

Lol. My mom wouldn't have put up with that shit. After ten seconds of that, I would have gotten, "Wait until your father gets home."

turboswimbz · 09/19/2017, 06:50 PM

get me some Mother ****ing CHOC O LOT milk

seieienbu · 09/21/2017, 11:44 PM

During the school year my parents would let me play video games before dinner but not after. I had to share the TV with my sister. As my sister wasn't a big fan of video games that generally meant we could either alternate who got the TV every half hour. If my sister wanted to play video games then we'd play something for two players.

in99flames · 09/22/2017, 12:40 AM

No restrictions on TV time allotment. We were monitored on which tv programs we could watch.

Videogames were allowed Friday's after school and the rest of the weekend.
If it was a holiday and school was off we were allowed. For example, Like Christmas vacation all week we could play games.
If I went to my cousin's house or a friends house, videogames were ok. I spent a lot of time going to see my cousin where we would play 2 player coop games like TMNT.

td741 · 09/22/2017, 06:49 AM

No set rules. If using the main TV, only able to use it when it was free (which was often enough). Alternative TVs were available around the house and eventually became primary gaming TV.

Granted, I had good grades, would typically have homework done and whatever chores was asked, so rules wasn't really imposed. During Atari days (and early 8 bit computer days), most games could be played for short burst so interrupting play to go do something else like chores or give up the tv was easier.

The closest to playing a long-form game at the time would be when trying to program my own games on the computer which was more or less encouraged. But at that point the computer had a small B&W TV.

Winniez · 09/23/2017, 05:17 PM

No specific limitation here either since generally speaking I managed to keep my gaming under control. I had fairly few games and knew them all well so no reason to pose limits. Rentals, I played them religiously during the weekend but that was it. However when loaning games from friends the limitations got imposed. Brand new game (for me) during the school week, I just couldn't stop playing since I knew I would have to return it in few days.

TDIRunner · 09/25/2017, 10:46 AM

The only rule we had was with the original NES which was no games on school nights. My parents enforced that rule to the point of packing the NES back into its original box during the week and we got it back out on Friday after school.

SignOfZeta · 09/25/2017, 07:58 PM

None. I mainly played in arcades so as long as I could supply the quarters I was good. We had 2600, Coleco, and various computers at home over the years but I didn't get mad into consoles until I was old enough to buy them myself.

I had no time restrictions but then when all you have is 2600 you end up watching a lot of MTV anyway...

Nowadays kids do fucktons of homework from very early ages and games seem like they are designed to consume as much of their lives as possible...it's crazy. No wonder so many are neurotic fatsos.

SuperGrafx · 09/25/2017, 09:04 PM

Quote from: TDIRunner on 09/25/2017, 10:46 AMThe only rule we had was with the original NES which was no games on school nights. My parents enforced that rule to the point of packing the NES back into its original box during the week and we got it back out on Friday after school.

Sounds like how things went in my household.
Gaming privileges were golden...as long as you behaved and did well in school, we were allowed to play the NES on weekends and occasionally during the week.

nopepper · 09/27/2017, 05:09 PM

Quote from: guest on 09/17/2017, 10:27 PMOnly rule I can think of during our Intellivision days was our parents got to play as long as they wanted first and when they were ready for a break, I got a shot. My Brother played less because he was pretty young during most of that period and the 8-bit gen was his equivalent. My parents weren't interested in video games after Intellivision.

Holy shit, my story is eerily similar, except I was the younger brother (but I played more than my older brother, which means you are not my brother).

My parents were absolutely hooked on Burger Time and Lock n Chase, which they bought for $1 each at, I believe, Kmart, during the great video game crash. I remember my dad had a shopping cart almost filled to the top with Intellivision games, a new console (to replace the old one with the shot controllers) and the Intellivoice ("Mattel Electronics presents - SPACE SPARTANS!!").

Once we got older, there were no real restrictions for the Master System and later, Genesis. We all had really good grades, did a lot of extra curricular activities, active in sports, etc., so there was no need for rules.

Arkhan Asylum · 09/30/2017, 02:08 PM

My parents didn't care since I got good grades and didn't run around smoking crack and breaking stuff.

The only real rules were things like:

1) pause the damn game and go to school
2) pause the damn game and take out the trash (or rake leaves, shovel snow, etc.)
3) pause the damn game we're going to grandmas (bring your gameboy)

I left the consoles running and paused a lot. They understood this after I explained how RPGs don't let you save anywhere and it would be stupid to turn it off and have to play stuff again.

Sometimes they would tell me like "hey why don't you go outside for a little bit" when it was nice out.

Sometimes I'd do that on my own.

They didn't really care either way.

They always told me that if my grades sucked or I was in trouble a lot, things would change. But, I never had that happen. Occasionally I'd get grounded and they'd take the controllers away.

They realized that wasn't really that useful of a punishment, though. Smacking me and turning off my AOL screenname was better.