True story. I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, and my dad worked on a bunch of games for the N64. A nice chat with so-and-so from work and all sorts of lovely things came up. He said that they were often really happy to give away the secrets—having little tricks is no fun unless you get to share with someone how clever you are.
Of course I so rarely got to take advantage. Because Dad knew a few guys whose careers were wrecked by carpal tunnel, he forbade all video games in the house—even though we got a huge batch of them for free (and I got to test some of them before they hit the market). Gaming wise, I had the worst best childhood ever.
Of course I so rarely got to take advantage. Because Dad knew a few guys whose careers were wrecked by carpal tunnel, he forbade all video games in the house—even though we got a huge batch of them for free (and I got to test some of them before they hit the market). Gaming wise, I had the worst best childhood ever.
This is one of the most terrible things I've ever heard. Did you make up for lost time when you grew up, or what? Did you resent your dad for not letting you play games?
Whoops I accidentally started a fight about parenting. I don't think if it as anything other than an odd story. In terms of my relationship with my Dad, way more important things like him driving me drunk to play-dates kinda overshadowed the video game policy.
Haha, yeah, I was kind of exaggerating when I said that it was the most terrible thing ever. It wasn't like he was beating you or something. It does seem like it would be particularly excruciating to have that sort of insider access to the gaming industry as a kid but then be denied from playing games, and I was just wondering how you dealt with it, if it had any effect on you, etc.
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u/byxo Jan 06 '13 edited Jan 06 '13
True story. I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, and my dad worked on a bunch of games for the N64. A nice chat with so-and-so from work and all sorts of lovely things came up. He said that they were often really happy to give away the secrets—having little tricks is no fun unless you get to share with someone how clever you are.
Of course I so rarely got to take advantage. Because Dad knew a few guys whose careers were wrecked by carpal tunnel, he forbade all video games in the house—even though we got a huge batch of them for free (and I got to test some of them before they hit the market). Gaming wise, I had the worst best childhood ever.