Gaming, an activity people do to get away from their parents and show how they express themselves to people beyond a screen that might just live a few states away. But what if your own parent/guardian played the game alongside you? Well my mother does, she plays Valorant (“A 5v5 character-based tactical shooter”-Riot Games) and it would be a little light to say she has an addiction to the game. I play with her and from personal experience I’ll give some ‘advice’ about your advantages and disadvantages (pros/cons) about playing with a parent(s). 

Pros:

• You get a free duo/someone to play with.

If you always solo q and have no one else to play with because you don’t have anyone you know to play with or you don´t friend anyone online, you can rely on your parent(s), if they are not busy, to play with you so you’re not lonely.

•  They know you can’t pause during an online game.

Imagine you’re playing a game like Fortnite and then you hear “Come down stairs, it’s time to eat!” But you’re in the middle of a match and about to get your Victory Royale and you can’t pause or leave because you’ll de-rank. You say that you’re in a round but they don’t care “It’s just a game.” But if they know from experience or I guess common knowledge, they would let you finish the game. (From experience it works for me, but  it might not work for everyone).

•  Bragging rights

When you outfrag someone you know, it can always be used against them “Oh, but remember that one time…” but now instead of doing it with your friends you can do it with your parents as well. Just don’t over use this because it can (and will) get annoying.

• You have something to bond with.

Bonding with family members can be difficult sometimes, most people just don’t click. But, if you can game or get your parents to game it is one thing you have something to talk about or in common.

Cons:

• You don’t do that well during a game.

Imagine you’re playing with your parent(s) and you are just having the worst game of your whole life. Your KDA (Kill/Death/Assist) is 1-19-3 and you just feel so mad and embarrassed that in 20 rounds you’ve only managed to get one kill and your parent is over here popping off with an amazing KDA of 22-9-1.

• You have to be careful with what you say.

Parents, always stickler about your use of ‘foul language’ so imagine the terrors that you must have to go through to try and not say any foul language during a rage session of a “hacker” one tapping you. (Just make sure you don’t punch a hole in your monitor instead of swearing because they will be even more mad)

•  Bragging rights Pt2.

 Well lets flip the pro “Bragging rights” and say your parent is popping off. They now can brag to you and say “Oh, but remember that one time…” but since its your parent they can make you do the dishes for playing bad and if you’re like me you probably don’t want to do that.

• They get more addicted to the game then you

I say this can be a pro and a con, but I say it’s mostly a con. So imagine that your quite busy and you don´t want to play right now, but your parent wants to play and asks you because they equally hate solo q’ing. Well you can’t say no because you will feel bad and then they will ‘complain’ if when you get out of your room that they had to solo q.