What do your parents think about your game dev interest/career?

Like... I mentioned to my parents about the new Epic game store vs Steam game store drama.

And like, they kind of got it but at the same time, I don't think they were that interested. And to be fair, it's not as interesting as a lawyer telling their parent's about the latest murder trial they're representing.

Are your parents supportive, and interested or bemused and dismissive?

I guess it's hard for that generation to understand what it's all about.

Do they often tell you to get a "proper job"?

I saw a cartoon in the newspaper a few months ago that had a game developers dad say: "Just because you work all day and make lots of money doesn't mean it's a proper job!" Sums it up nicely I think.

 

My father wasn't. He always looked at computers as waste of time until I showed him Quake 2. Then he became a Q2 fan. But still mocked me that I'm sitting in the front of the computer all day long. (When I brought my first sizable paycheck home he somehow stopped the mocking... )
But he isn't here anymore to mock me, unfortunately.
My mother does not really know anything about computers, she can handle a smart phone to call me or chat or something, but that's it.

My 20 years old daughter isn't a big fan of gaming, but she's supportive of my hobby choices.

 

I'm old enough that neither parent is really fussed about my hobby or career choices. The will give advice if I ask for it (and vice versa). But otherwise we are independent adults.

 

My parents are very supportive and they also help me motivate my less motivated little brother and business partner which is great since he is an expert at doing something else than what he should be doing.

 

My mom hated that I played video games all the time, and confiscated my Nintendo. As I moved on to the computer and computer games, they didn't care that much. They were just concerned that I was at an honest job making a decent living with medical and retirement benefits. They didn't care that I worked at EA. But they did care that EA was a Fortune 500 company. Even though I know my dad feels proud that I am a software engineer (he was a P.E. mechanical engineer), I can't help feel that I am not living up to his expectations as a non-entertainment related engineer. That has been mitigated a bit by the fact that my current job is not game related, and I'm happy doing it, but not as happy as if I was working on my own games and making a living off of that. But that's life, and the pay is good.

My aunts and uncles are lawyers, doctors, social and government workers, so they don't understand the game industry. They try on occasion, to bring up topics with me, like when there's news, especially about overworked labor, but I generally don't bring up topics. On the other hand, my nephews and cousins think I'm a rockstar, which is a good feeling, because they understand the opportunities of the industry a little bit more, so over the years, I've just tried to learn to shut out the bad vibes of the older generation and just be around positive energy and it helps.

I strive to have as much of my free time delegated to my game project(s), and I still hold on to the hope that I can make a living exactly my way.

 

You shouldn't care. it's your life not theirs. let you make your own life decisions.

 

This kind of line does apply to any kind of job that is, apparently, useless: actor, artist, writer, any job in the cinema or television, you name it. The list could be very long. Reading books is till considered by some people as a waste of time.

As for the question, my parents wouldn't even be able to understand anything about computers, if they were still around. And the others, friends, acquaintances and so on, the only question that matters to them is "Does it pay well?".

 

Am I the only one that learnt programming from my parents? (Well my dad, my mom is afraid of technology, doesn't even have a smart phone)

 

I don't have one either...

 

Then you are two people on this earth

 

We are a lot more than that...

 

Not if we exclude third world countries

 

Parents were always supportive, thankfully. Even bought me an used Commodore 64 so I could learn on it. My Dad (bless his heart) even bought a PC XT with a CGA monitor (y'know, the one that's 4 colors max, more colours could be faked using dithering), and ran like a slog. Playing King's Quest at about 4-5FPS was torture. He really didn't know anything about computers so didn't know what to buy. He learned not to buy stuff without my advice at least.

It was still useful for learning basic stuff about PCs and MS-DOS, at least.

They realized that computers were the future even if they themselves didn't understand computers.

 

You are wrong, people in the third world have cell phones; even naked people living in tribes in the middle of jungles use them.

One day or another more people will get rid of their cell phone, like I did years ago, before they became the leash they have become; unfortunately people like their leash...

 

My mother uses a cell phone, just not a smart phone. Like in the third world.

 

Even people with no shoes have smart phones.

But I don't (i do have shoes)! That makes three. I hate those things. Not because they turn people into anti-social, braindead boobs. I just hate typing on the small screens. It's not like I got huge thumbs or anything, but I just can't do it. Always hitting the wrong stuff and it drives me insane. Also, I like people not being able to contact me directly. Make em jump through some hoops if they really want to bug me. And just for the record, I do run a small business out of my home without a cell phone or landline just fine. You don't need these things.

 

I met this family the other day that was all developing a game together. Their 14 year old son was coding, Mom animating and dad doing the environment. I thought that was really cool

 

I despise them. They burn my ear and screw with my vision. Call me on my landline if ya really gotta speak to me.

 

Mine pushed me aggressively toward computers and supported every delinquent gaming moment that followed. They understood it was the future, or somehow would make me smarter.

Nowadays though it's a different era, computer usage is very commonplace and the most common activity tends to be youtube or gaming, so I don't blame anyone for being dismissive, because by large they're not wrong.

Most people using computers now will not get smarter doing so, unless they're actually using the computer in a regimental and academic manner (not most people) - unlike the past when you practically had to code to even run a program from tape.

So if parents don't support, this would be understandable. Even opening a web browser on a random page will likely bombard you with misinformation, trump-related-hate and more.

How to convince them? For a start you should make some money on a store. Doesn't matter how much, but it's fantastic proof something is coming of it.

It is trivial for anyone of low competency to make *some* money from using Unity, even if it's a case of selling the game via humble store widget, and the game is bought by a friend. The proof that action can create income is all that is needed to quieten anxious parents and is likely the sobering experience kids need to realise skipping a day job is not a great plan.

 

Haven't had a land line for over 10 years. Edit: and that land line was IP telephony, haven't had a real land line since I lived with my parents some 20 years ago

 

Moving away from the conversation shifting to if you do or don't have a cell phone....

I was lucky enough to have my family encourage me to chase whatever dream I wanted. Growing up, I think my dad got me my first games back on the Sega Genesis? So in the end I can always just blame him for getting me into games.

Working at Unity I think now a days they get excited whenever they see a project that has our logo on it. Showing them their first VR experience with Daydream was a trip for them.

 

Ahahahahahaha Sorry I couldn't resist.

 

As someone who has only ever done "real" jobs, please don't pay attention to them. I spent about seven years in agchemicals making sure everybody had enough food to eat. The past two years I have spend my time making paint so buildings don't fall down.

Our system would be totally unsustainable if I couldn't come home at the end of the day and relax playing video games and watching Netflix. Which makes entertainment jobs just as valuable as productive ones.

My father taught me to program. We've both taken the same path as hobbyist programmers. Work a day job, then program on the nights/weekends for play money. My first programming "job" was wiring up buttons in a spreadsheet when I was about ten years old.

 

Cool both me and my dad are professional programmers though he is more a hardware expert creating custom computer aided test systems for military and industry and I'm more into software funny thing I was only around 7 when we did our first software together, still remember it clearly, offcourse since I was a kid we did a game HP basic was a popular language back then because it was the norm for many embedded systems that he used so we did the game in that language, a space invaders clone. Good times. my kid turns 7 in a year so will need to start involving him, maybe a Unity game

 

I learned the basics of programming alongside my dad, but he lost interest shortly after hitting the limitations of his own skills (and the language as a side effect) and rather than become better at it he simply stopped.

 

Yeah. They did when I started making games and they still do if things are not going good.

They both supported me when I got into programming because when I was a kid I was good at "IT" and they knew it was the future. But when I left my well paid and stable job to get into making my own games, that was harder haha. Of course it didn't matter because I had my own life and I was 100% convinced.

 

My dad was a tech guru back when nobody was so he is very supportive. Maybe he thinks I wasted all that money spent on two science degrees! But he has never said so. He likes talk techie to my husband and I. My mom simply does not understand other than she likes her Candy Crush games.

On the other side, I have encouraged my adult son who is a talented programmer to continue making games. Unfortunately, a girlfriend and playing games is much more fun so he works a minimum wage job that has nothing to with programming. Sad. I hope he someday picks it up again.

After doing some reading, I have accepted that his generation has different goals than mine. However, it is his life.

 

Interesting to here about these families of programmers! I got my dad to teach me the basics of programming BASIC on an old P200C word processor back in the day... Just because of my innate curiosity about how things work. My brother and sister were not at all interested.

I think if I'd have children though, I don't think I'd encourage them into computing unless I wanted them to have a life of frustration at technology. I'd prefer them to do something like sports for a living. But genes being genes I'd expect they might be drawn to it naturally.

Today I think it'd be harder to teach someone programming. BASIC on a Spectrum or suchlike was very simple compared to something like Javascript. I suppose Scratch would be the best starting point.

 

The ROI is likely to be higher if they get into IT than sports

 

My parents were agnostic, at the time PC's were not in every house. My father picked up technology quickly, my mother who is retired never learned to use a computer for the most part.

My wife thinks games are generally bad although she also works in the industry. She grew up as a professional athlete and has vowed that our kids will be involved in sports one way or another and not sitting home playing games.

 

While visiting my local Barnes & Noble earlier this week I stumbled upon this book in the programming section. I only spent a few minutes looking at random sections of the book but it struck me as a very good way for someone to start coding.

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Program-Minecraft-Transform-Python/dp/1593276702/

 

Athletes also tend to come from families of athletes. Many of these things run in family dynasties.

 

Well, maybe I will marry an athlete.

 

My wife is a ex elite sportswoman, pretty amazing since I don't sport at all except some cycling. I even had to lie a bit about my gym visit frequencies when we dated, she went every day back then and it felt like I couldn't say that I didn't went at all

 

Since I have proven to them that I can hold a job in software, they consider me the success of the litter and don't bother me.

 

But did she find out the truth?

 

What is the "truth", really?

 

I conveniently cut down on my workout right after we got together

I think it's good she got a normal person I mean two workout addicts can't be good

 

Most of my family think I draw doodles for a living

 

I mean, video it and put it on YouTube. You probably could make a living from doodling!

 

She likely knew the whole time.

You're a programmer, a game developer, and a VR enthusiast. Are you positive you're the normal one?

 

My parents have never been overly supportive of my video game obsession in particular. They have always encouraged my interest in technology, and have no problems with my current job as a web developer. But neither of them has ever shared my passion for video games, or understood why they are so appealing to me. Their lack of interest is something I've grown to accept. Everyone has their own interests, you can't force others to share your passions.

I often find it difficult to find other people who are as into game development and the game industry as much as I am. I suppose that's part of why I post on on-line message boards related to the subjects.

 

Well when it comes to physical activities, don't get me wrong, I'm very self aware, luckily I'm also lucky with my DNA so I don't need to move that much to be fit. Though I love wine, champagne and fine dining so as I grow older I need to keep track of that. She wouldn't be ok with a fat husband

edit. Here is my current look

 

I've been doing this for 24 years and I still don't think my father has the slightest clue about what I do. He thought it was cool when I was 12 and we had an Atari, but anything past about 1986 is out of his league.

 

Haha sounds like my mother. Though she actually enjoyed VR. That says alot about the medium, shes a tech illiterate that needs help with anything computer related have never played a computer game in her entire life but within minutes she was a pro at hitting targets with bow and arrow.

 

Bought a Lego Mindstorm for my son, time to learn programming

 

That's adorable how old is your son? He actually looks really young for Mindstorm. Admit it - you actually wanted it for yourself finally a reason to buy all that cool Lego stuff!

 

I got rid of my smartphone 2 years ago and I love life without it.