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Not Like This

December 31, 2021 by Tim


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Swiftbow
Swiftbow
2 years ago

This is what my tv area looks like! (Well, not exactly… it is: A NES, a SNES, an N64, a WiiU, and, now, a Switch.)

My son is 8 months old… I don’t plan to get him a tablet, so he’d better be happy with all the consoles, lol.

Last edited 2 years ago by Swiftbow
CTOWNS
CTOWNS
2 years ago
Reply to  Swiftbow

Just watch, he’ll end up preferring soccer or something barbaric like that

Swiftbow
Swiftbow
2 years ago
Reply to  CTOWNS

Ha! He does love to kick things off the couch.

I will do my best not to push him. Sports and nerdy activities can both be fun. Though watching soccer IS probably the worst possible future, lol…

Ev0l3r
Ev0l3r
2 years ago
Reply to  Swiftbow

Whatever you push for, your kids will do the opposite.
It is perfectly natural, it is genetic programming in action.

Swordust
Swordust
2 years ago
Reply to  Swiftbow

I wish you luck. I know more and more schools are giving tablets instead of books now so your battle might hit a bump down the line. I hope your son stays on the true path.

Bierfan
Bierfan
2 years ago

I’ve got three boys (12,13,15 years old) a bunsh of old and new consoles and they are playing…Fortnite most of the time. 🙂

But from time to time, they are beating my ass up in some other games and doin’ a better job in roguelike games like Dead Cells and The binding of Isaac. XD

Gonfrask
Gonfrask
2 years ago

When this happen, in Soain (and if you are old enough) we say a phrase that could be “the honey wasn’t made for the donkey’s mouth”.
Still no kids, but I see this a lot too, not only for videogames…maybe the parents would not to try that the childrens live our dream infancy and let them choose.

TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  Gonfrask

Thinking you meant Spain?

Alex
Alex
2 years ago
Reply to  Gonfrask

In Italy we say: pearls for piglets

CTOWNS
CTOWNS
2 years ago
Reply to  Alex

There’s a very similar phrase in English “to cast pearls before swine”

Vampyrr
Vampyrr
2 years ago
Reply to  CTOWNS

Is this a british expression?

Trenzek
Trenzek
2 years ago
Reply to  Vampyrr

It’s from the Bible.

Deaks
Deaks
1 year ago
Reply to  Trenzek

Is that to say, then, that yes, it is British?

Rolando
Rolando
2 years ago
Reply to  Alex

We have several such phrases in Argentina, and a popular one is: Daisies for pigs.

It could easily be derived from yours, seeing as how over half of us have Italian ancestry. Mine’s the Tedeschi, from Notto (Sicily).

Jack0r
Jack0r
2 years ago
Reply to  Rolando

Guys, that phrase is from the bible. You’ll find exactly the same thing in basically every language where the bible had any relevance.

Thraxas
Thraxas
2 years ago

I actually play the old N64 games with my son (4) because I really don’t have that much child friendly games for other consoles. But he loves Mario Party

Imagine
Imagine
2 years ago

Could be worse. He might be wanting to go outside and do sports, or some similar ungodly activity unbecoming of the 21st century homo ludens.

Woodrobin
Woodrobin
2 years ago

You, who drove Rainbow Road
Must have a code
That you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye

Teach your children well
That Mario’s hell
Did slowly scroll by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by

Don’t you ever ask them, “Why?”
If they told you, you would cry
So, just look at them and sigh
And know they love you

Guineapig
Guineapig
2 years ago
Reply to  Woodrobin

Amazing, I even sang it to the original tune (CSNY – Teach your children)…

Beliar
Beliar
2 years ago

So, he is saying that his parents did not let him play the games he wanted… but calls what his child wants to play garbage, just because he likes other games more?

LithiumFox
LithiumFox
2 years ago
Reply to  Beliar

No he’s saying he spent a lot of time just trying to ask for what was, essentially, basics of gaming history in the grand scheme of things, and now that his child is bereft of choice, his child chooses to participate in what could nicely be summarized as a “child manipulation machine beyond anything EA has ever created.” I highly doubt that Tim has said this out loud to his kid. A lot of things you don’t do that with. But I’m sure this comic is a way of Tim venting that feeling out. Not only that, but it’s arguably… Read more »

TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  LithiumFox

I don’t think you meant his kid was bereft of choice. The child in fact has a surfeit of choice – all sorts of choices. He just chooses to not pursue the ones his father would imagine him to have selected. That’s a common thing; My father probably wanted me to be into cars and internal combustion engines. I instead was fascinated by computers, programming, robotics, and lately maker technologies like 3D printers. He had no time for computers. That made it a great space for me to work in because I didn’t have someone looking over my shoulder or… Read more »

DanVzare
DanVzare
2 years ago
Reply to  Beliar

Hey, at least he lets him play what he wants, even if it is garbage.

VibrantEvolution
VibrantEvolution
2 years ago
Reply to  Beliar

in Tim’s defence I call what my kids want to play garbage too.

On the other hand, if we were young in this age we might be enjoying roblox too.

M37h3w3
M37h3w3
2 years ago

You can lead a horse to sparkling artisan water. You can’t make him drink it over the “Mountain Dew” in the ditch.

leduk
leduk
2 years ago

let people (especially kids) enjoy things. Not everyone has the same tastes you have.

KingZantair
KingZantair
2 years ago

Isn’t Roblox like one of the world’s biggest games right now? Just cause it’s not what you like doesn’t mean it’s not good. Not that I play Roblox, I just don’t like the hypocrisy of saying “Yes, this is the house where you can play literally any video game! But I don’t want you to play that one.”

DanVzare
DanVzare
2 years ago
Reply to  KingZantair

Except there is no hypocrisy. He’s not saying you can play anything you want, but you can’t play that. He’s saying you can play anything you want, but I’m going to judge you if you choose to play what I consider garbage, because I have a huge collection of what many consider to be gems.
It’s not hypocrisy, it’s called being critical.

Frizbee
Frizbee
2 years ago
Reply to  DanVzare

And teaching that there are consequences to your choices. Though I feel that Tim could put on the scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – “You chose, poorly” and use it to teach consequences from choosing garbage over substance.

ie. Play Roblox, and you will die a horrible death as your skin melts off. I think it’s a good life lesson.

Last edited 2 years ago by Frizbee
TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  Frizbee

The main lessons this sort of strategy will engender are:
1) Dad is critical of my choices
2) Dad wants to pressure me in one way or another into what he wants me to do
3) Dad doesn’t want to let me do what I want to do because he doesn’t like it

Kids don’t necessarily see the intentions that a parent has; They have a simplified version of the world. What you think you are telling them and what they hear are often surprisingly different.

Mattjames
Mattjames
2 years ago
Reply to  KingZantair

Roblox is a website of exploitation and morally bankrupt. People Make Games did a couple video on it, just do a search for “Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.” The short of it is they turn a blind eye toward groups making games in their platform profitting off child labor, their do little to address a pedophile earn money on their platform while taking advantage of kids wanting to make games, and hack kid’s brains to never cash out.

Roblox is objectively garbage and you should not let your kids play it.

Last edited 2 years ago by Mattjames
TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  Mattjames

And yet, know 10 kids (from 5 families) and all of their kids play Roblox. It is popular because the kids enjoy it. Lots of kids are on Instagram in violation of their EULA too. And Snapchat. And a variety of other platforms. Some of the game platforms they get access to are used primarily to chat outside of the view of parents (like a kids only social network). I was appalled when I learned this, but there is almost no way to completely prevent it unless they never hang out with a friend, since once they get into grade… Read more »

Mattjames
Mattjames
2 years ago
Reply to  TomB

It being popular doesn’t make it right to let your kids participate in an exploitative website. As you said, kids have other ways to communicate, so a parent should protect their kid by guiding them elsewhere– who cares if it’s popular if there are known child predators allowed to profit off child labor. It’s criminal.

Logan
Logan
2 years ago
Reply to  KingZantair

Just because a lot of people play it doesn’t mean it’s ‘good’ either. It’s an easily addictive game targeted at young, impressionable people.

Last edited 2 years ago by Logan
Dylan
Dylan
2 years ago
Reply to  Logan

It’s also extremely problematic for a number of other reasons up to and including shutting down official forums, forcing communication between “teams” of child developers working under “corporate structures” to take place off site where they can’t be moderated by the Roblox community and prevent, I donno, child molesters from targeting the primary audience of Roblox. Documented encouraged gambling, a documented black market, numerous violations of what would normally be child labor laws but that they somehow skirt because “it’s a hobby kids can make money off of, and that they choose to do”, etc.

VibrantEvolution
VibrantEvolution
2 years ago
Reply to  KingZantair

Hypocrisy would be more like Tim saying “I don’t want you to play that one” and then play it himself. There’s also no indication he’s not letting the kid play Roblox. The subject “videogames” can be easily changed to anything else. I think every parent wants their kid to have the same interests and sometimes it’s hard to find out they don’t share the same interests or enjoy things we don’t understand. My 8 year old likes to run around in roblox worlds My 6 year old likes youtube videos about kids doing challenges or unpacking toys, preferrably involving slime.… Read more »

TomB
TomB
2 years ago

The issue here is the difference between what you’d like him to be doing and what HE wants to do. I wanted many things from and with my daughter but I’ve come to realize accepting her for who she is (and she will do some stuff with her mom and I, but she has her own ideas of what’s fun and they are generationally different). Sadly, all of my SciFi and fantasy stuff probably will get given away to someone else’s kids because she’s more about social warfare, clique spats, and police procedurals and murder TV. That being a bit… Read more »

TomB
TomB
2 years ago

Have a friend having a similar issue with his kids over RPGs and wargames. The kids just don’t seem interested in anything not full of particle effects and 3D objects. They don’t want to paint minis, they don’t want to play PnP RPGs…. Minecraft, Among US, etc. are the rage. We from a generation want to share our joy with our kids. We may have to accept that we need to accept their joy and involve OURSELVES in THEIR worlds rather than waiting them to come to ours. At least until they are older, then sometimes they’ll want to boardgame… Read more »

Hans Jákup Danielsen
Hans Jákup Danielsen
2 years ago

I feel you

Anthony Arndt
Anthony Arndt
2 years ago

I felt this one. We only have a PS4 with PSVR but between our desktops is my son’s desk. He has my old gaming PC and his MicroPC hooked up to a KVM. My old PC can run Star Citizen, and he has his own accounts for that, Steam, and a couple of MMOs. He uses the MicroPC to draw on Krita and play Roblox. The gaming PC is rarely turned on.

David
David
2 years ago

Yeah my kid plays Roblox too, but I have had luck getting him into my private Ark server – nothing pulls a young mind away from low-poly “too crap for the Google play store” “experiences” quite like taming dinosaurs 🙂

Jeff Riechers
Jeff Riechers
2 years ago

Dude, that is so my house.

Daniel Rognan-Wisloeff
Daniel Rognan-Wisloeff
2 years ago

Yep. This is me as well ??

Meatballs21
Meatballs21
2 years ago

At least he’s actually playing, and not watching a streamer playing…

Last edited 2 years ago by Meatballs21
Marcus
Marcus
2 years ago
Reply to  Meatballs21

this… so much this… their own experiences > that of some random internet fad/socialite.

LithiumFox
LithiumFox
2 years ago
Reply to  Marcus

In my own experience as a streamer, many viewers are either adults waiting to play or kids who just don’t have the ability to give their full attention span at the time but still wanna participate in the games they love through someone else.

This mentality is silly and is still silly after 10 years. Grow up.

Lily
Lily
2 years ago
Reply to  Meatballs21

I noticed my nephew typically watches streamers playing a game, then they want to play the game they saw. So they do play other games, it just mostly after they saw someone else play it.

Meatballs21
Meatballs21
2 years ago
Reply to  Lily

Even when I had all the free time (before marriage and kids) I would never watch any stream or let’s plays if I was able to actually play a game myself. It just didn’t make sense.

I should note I am not into televised sports for the same reason, I’d rather be doing some physical activity.

TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  Lily

That’s funny. For me, it’s usually the opposite. Mostly because most of the stuff I’ve seen streamed are either fast-action platformers or massive multi-user FPSes (maybe some RTSes). If find a lot of ‘twitch’ gaming and very visually disruptive particle effects and so on that just make me say ‘not for me’. The kids love it I guess. Might go with the high prevalence of ADD/ADHD…

(Lol… my fingers are so habituated…. I first typed AD&D instead of ADD… your kinesthetic memory shows what you’ve spent too long doing….)

VibrantEvolution
VibrantEvolution
2 years ago
Reply to  Meatballs21

Actually my kids will come and ask me to play a game they find too difficult or can’t get through cuz they actually enjoy seeing the game as much as playing it themselves.
My dad is a gamer too. He will play Tomb Raider and Mass Effect but he will stream Amnesia and Outlast cuz he likes to see them but doesn’t like to play them 😉

I admit tho there are differences in “quality” when it comes to streamers.

Marcus
Marcus
2 years ago

AHHH PERSPECTIVE. its ok tim. perhaps one day they will be forced to say, oh, i could have known what this is before you, but i passed on it for what was in vogue at the time.

Cyrad
Cyrad
2 years ago

Now I know how my mother felt. She grew up in poverty, and crayons were a rare luxury she treasured. When I was a little, she gave me all of the crayons a kid could ever want. But I didn’t want crayons. I wanted crappy markers because cartoons were drawn with markers.

KungfuMonkey
KungfuMonkey
2 years ago

This is so true, I have all these different gaming options and my kids more often than not choose a crap game on the tablet. OR they will opt to play a game like Minecraft on the tablet instead of with a controller on the xbox/switch and they claim the controls are better and don’t try using logic/proof by joining there game and running circles around them. It’s like me on a controller thinking it’s more precise than mouse and keyboard…when any old PC gamer will know they can typically trounce a controller player.

TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  KungfuMonkey

I was pretty good at my chosen FPSes some decades back. One day, someone brought in a game console (Wii) and I think the game was Red Steel or some such. An FPS with multi-level buildings with controller bits from the Wii in each hand. And I was getting killed…. … until I realized my problem was areas open between floors (so you could have to engage up or down along with right/left simultaneously). I was a mouse player so normally didn’t have that practice of using two sticks at the same time or a stick and a D-Pad. Once… Read more »

Guest
Guest
2 years ago

This happens with my nephews as well. One of them will at least play Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey before going back to rocket league. After thinking about it though if stuff like rocket league and minecraft existed when I was a kid I would have been into it too so I can’t really blame them.

Digi
Digi
2 years ago

Kids today don’t know real games. They rather play garbage like Minecraft, Roblox, and other crappy mobile games. It is extremely sad to see this. Tye Golden Age of games ( 1980-2008 ) is here and gone. ?

Mattjames
Mattjames
2 years ago
Reply to  Digi

I don’t play it, but Minecraft is leagues better than roblox simply for the fact it’s not an exploitative hell hole.

Kaitensatsuma
Kaitensatsuma
2 years ago

Ah I myself had the issue of being spoiled for choice and then, like I mentioned on the previous post, saying to myself.

“Know what I Really feel like playing now? That game from 20 years ago I’ve beaten 5 times”

Last edited 2 years ago by Kaitensatsuma
Number51x
Number51x
2 years ago
Reply to  Kaitensatsuma

Deus Ex and Half-Life or infinite loop…when not playing Minecraft. Oh and with a dash of Portal.

Last edited 2 years ago by Number51x
MusicManD
MusicManD
2 years ago

If I’m being real, if 8-year-old me could choose between Roblox and 8-bit Double Dragon, I’d almost certainly take Roblox. ARCADE Double Dragon, on the other hand… lol…

Lily
Lily
2 years ago
Reply to  MusicManD

What gets me is when I see my nephew play roblox versions of games, that he actually owns.

Benjamin
Benjamin
2 years ago

Same here. My kids have a whole library of steam games, but nooo! Roblox! Movie star planet! Wormate.io! Gacha life! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Last edited 2 years ago by Benjamin
EthernetGuru
EthernetGuru
2 years ago

My girls are the exact same way. Roblox and Genshin Impact on the ipads are the favored games by my spawn. It kills me a little bit inside but at least we play animal crossing together sometimes.

Ian
Ian
2 years ago

At least he doesn’t suffer from decision paralysis.

Sometimes I miss those days of having just a couple NES games.

Federico
Federico
2 years ago

I can relate to that….

LithiumFox
LithiumFox
2 years ago

Liked the comic until I saw all the stuff the boomers in the comments said.

Still like the comic but man, ya’ll need to chill. Maybe engage the kids more, or just even engage in what they’re playing a bit. They do notice if you try, ya know.

Lily
Lily
2 years ago
Reply to  LithiumFox

I wouldn’t take it too seriously. A lot of it is probably just trash talking and I suspect most of the people have actually played roblox too. I know I have played roblox, and even enjoyed some of the games on it. Though I do generally agree with the comic.

TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  LithiumFox

You really think there’s a whack of people here born between 1946 and 1964? Most of them would have touched their first PC likely at age 20 to 40 if you really mean Boomers. It’s more like Gen X, Gen Y types.

I would engage with my daughter more in games except she wants to play NES and we got her one, but my hands are too big and the screen is too small for me to see. We do play board games together with my wife.

Daffy Le Canard
Daffy Le Canard
2 years ago

How possible? Today’s comic is MY reality 😉

GlitcherGirl
GlitcherGirl
2 years ago

Heh, this is my house too. From my original Atari 2600 to my PS5, and many things in between. At least my husband plays games with me.

Filipe
Filipe
2 years ago

And that is exactly why I just sold my entire collection. A pair of Xbox/PS4 controllers and a few TB of space to all the games and emulators can make the same job with less space and more options to improve graphics. For me. Because my girl is playing the EXACT same game of your boy, on the same media… 😀

CTOWNS
CTOWNS
2 years ago

Tim, my friend you got all your discs in the wrong places 😀
PS2 games by the PS1, with no PS2 in sight, Xbox games next to PS1 and N64, The PS1 games sitting on top of the Xbox-something-or-other (I legit have lost track of the xbox names, that’s not a joke). Doesn’t that xbox have a glossy top? You Monster.

Digi
Digi
2 years ago
Reply to  CTOWNS

Not to mention that you should NEVER have consoles standing on the ends.

Last edited 2 years ago by Digi
Chiclet
Chiclet
2 years ago

Geometry Dash is my child’s game of choice now. -.- I’m slowly working him over to Switch games.

atlachan
atlachan
2 years ago

Did our parents think like this, when we played on our consoles, instead of living what was their childhood dreams?

DanVzare
DanVzare
2 years ago

People often say that kids these days have short attention spans. If that was true, why is it that most of them are still playing the same three games for nearly a decade! Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite!

Clearly the problem is that kids these days have attention spans that are way too long!

Lily
Lily
2 years ago
Reply to  DanVzare

Most of the kids I know stopped playing fortnite, and roblox isn’t one game, so they just switch from game to game on the plateform. In the case of minecraft, they seem to lose interest in it for long periods an come back when they see a popular youtuber or something play it.

The Pink Spartan
The Pink Spartan
2 years ago

Roblox specifically is pretty heinous. There’s some reports out there about their incredibly predatory business practices, targeted at kids no less, that continue to surprise me that the company still exists and hasn’t been sued and fined into oblivion.

Karrde
Karrde
2 years ago

Roblox, not even minecraft? Truly, garbage eaten from the sewer.

Frizbee
Frizbee
2 years ago

My 3yr old would look at the consoles and dismiss them because she’s part of the PC master race. 😛

Merendel
Merendel
2 years ago

I’m either showing my age or need to hand over my gamer card. I had to google Roblox to find out what you were talking about. I weep for this generation that knows little but low quality mobile games.

Another Tim
Another Tim
2 years ago

This is the way.

Anshin
Anshin
2 years ago

This’ll be me in a few years. My daughter is 2 and my son is 7mo.

FITCamaro
FITCamaro
2 years ago

Simple solution. Remove the tablet from the equation.

TomB
TomB
2 years ago
Reply to  FITCamaro

Teach your kid that their interests don’t matter, only yours do… that’s your plan?

Maazak
Maazak
2 years ago

On the one hand, I feel this. On the other hand, while I was playing NES and Sega games, my dad was trying to get me interested in his ham radio set and gigantic model train setup. I bet he felt the same about my choices.

Rolando
Rolando
2 years ago

It doesn’t seem that different from how many of us often focus on just 1-2 older, lower-budget games for a long while. Even when we could be playing allegedly “way cooler” and newer games.

Especially when we’re gaming on PC, and our hardware is comically overpowered for such games. Or when consoling, and having bought those other games already.

Thus looking like we wasted our money.

Anon200
Anon200
2 years ago

My nieces are the same way or they prefer to watch a YouTuber play the games.
I fear for this generation.

KBABZ
KBABZ
2 years ago

No kids but I have a row of vertical-standing PS2, PS3 and PS4 Pro with stands and it looks real real pretty under my PS5 and PS1 Classic (my real PSone is on my desk with the LCD).

Max
Max
2 years ago

Schmorgasborg? Close enough?

Dodgy
Dodgy
2 years ago

“I never could be a cheerleader, but I’ll be damned if my daughter won’t be one!”