Rebuttal to Mistress Nightshadow OR Help, I'm Living With my Parents, and my Mom Won't Stop Playing Final Fantasy

by Usagi Vindaloo

To Mistress Nightshadow: I really feel sorry for you that your parents are so unsupportive of your hobby/addiction. To some extent, I know the feeling; my parents are very supportive of my ties to video games, but they keep telling me that I should "stop writing fanfics and start writing original stuff that you have thought up yourself, not stolen from someone else." I've been over that conversation so many times that I know each part off by heart, and I've given up trying to explain the various reasons why I do what I do. So I do feel your pain, to a large extent. However, I don't agree with your implication that parents "just don't understand" video games and us poor schmucks that like them. Forgive me if I misread your story, but it came over as if you think all parents fear the almighty boxes and do everything in their power to shut them down whenever they can. Even more disconcerting, you are not the only one who projects that image. I've lost count of the numbers of people who feel that their old man/old lady is too out of touch to even dream of trying any video games, let alone an RPG, and that they will always be the enemies of the games.

Well, I'm here to say that it just isn't so.

I ask you to come back with be, back through the mists of time, back to when I was...oh, about 10, I suppose. I had had my Nintendo for about two or three years at that time, and lord, I loved the thing. Day in and day out, I would plop myself down in a chair and play platformers for hours; it would be very sobering to see exactly how many hours I spent on Mario games alone. Not to mention the insane amounts of games I rented. Platformers, primitive racers, the puny excuses for fighting games...I played almost all of them. Yep, almost all. For, you see, I have a confession; I had NO INTEREST IN RPGs. None. Nada. Zip.

Anyway, back to when I was 10...it was around that time that I started getting competition for the Nintendo. "Who?" I hear you ask. Well, it wasn't a sibling, but it was a family member. It was my mother.

*collective gasp from the RPGamer audience*

Have you all caught your breath? Good. Yes, my mother was a gamer, but not just any gamer. In fact, she was a gamer like no other; to this day, I have never seen anyone send Mario into every bottomless pit in the level. No, she was not your average gamer...she had these weird, artsy-fartsy games that I wouldn't be caught dead playing. Games where you had to wander around, whack imps and slimes, build up experience and go slaughter some big monster. Games where you had to go and buy armour and weapons as you went up in strength. Games that didn't involve jumping. Weird, eh? I can still remember the conversations:

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Are you done playing Final Fantasy yet? I wanna play Mario!"

"In a second, dear, I just have to get to the next save area."

"YOU SAID THAT FIVE SAVE AREAS AGO!!!!!!!! And before that, you were playing that dumb Dragon Warrior!"

"It's not dumb, dear... I like going around and killing slimes. It's very therapeutic."

"Thera WHAT? (remember, I was only about 10) If you want to start killing things, why not stomp some goombas?"

"I'd miss them and fall straight into the nearest hole. Besides, I hate games that depend on being fast; it gets me all agitated. Not good for my heart."

At this point, I think I mumbled something nasty about her age, but I'm not sure. ^_^

This went on for ages, of course, with Mom steadily plucking away at her RPG collection. I didn't see the attraction, so I swore to remain aloof. Well, you can guess how well that worked out, eh? After a while, Mom's stubborn pluckiness and her almost fanatic attraction to the RPG genre began to wear off on me. It started with "family games", where Mom would sit and actually play while Dad and I (putting on an air of grumbling and moaning) would check maps and give advice as to battle strategies. Slowly, I became more and more interested, until I was poised on the edge of my seat during pitched battles. It was only a matter of time before I, too, picked up the sacred controller. When Final Fantasy II(IV) was released, I finally did so.

I never looked back.

Now, as I sit here, looking at my FF8 figures adorning my stereo (pretty good, considering I haven't played the game yet), my absolutely INSANE amount of PSX RPGs (admittedly, few of which I've finished...a bad habit of mine), and my wall-to-wall Sephiroth merchandise, I realize that one person, one woman, got me to where I am today. It was my mother who introduced me to the wonderful world of RPGs; she is the master, I am merely the genius student. ^_^ Mom still loves RPGs; the only other type of game she'll play are puzzle games. True, she plays a lot less now, since A) she's very busy these days and B) I was selfish enough to move the PSX downstairs. Also, she did admit to having next to no interest in FF7 ("Why the hell do I have to wait 20 minutes every time I summon something? It's pretty, yes, but I'd rather have more towns in the world than pretty summon monsters!"). Still, the fire burns bright still, even after having been passed on, and it is not uncommon to hear her say, "Hey, I heard Square's coming out with a new game...Vandal Hearts. It's supposed to be good... should we get it?"

So, what is my point in this seemingly pointless rant? Simple: don't assume your parents are anti-RPG just because they're your parents. OK, they may moan and groan a bit, but they do that because they love you; besides, it's not healthy to spend ALL your time in front of a glowing TV screen (can we say EYE STRAIN, boys and girls? I knew you could). Show a little interest in them; invite them to come and watch you play sometime, or abdicate your seat for a while and let them have a turn. Even if they vow to hate it, a first hand experience may soften their opinions a little. Who knows, you might have even made a new convert. Besides, at least you spend some time with your parents, and that is probably the most important thing of all.