I don't think it's as big of a concern that my parents know I play pokemon. Telling girls, on the other hand ...
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Serious Mons, Parents, and You
- Thread starter Clone
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When I was 15 I had just finished football training on a friday and so we were all in the lounge of the club, all typical 15 year old welsh boys really, manly men just finished sport all thinking we are hard as F. with our alcohol, and my dad arrives to take me and a friend home. So, for some damn reason, to make conversation with 14 boys who had just finished 2 hours of football, he decides to ask "how many of you are pokemon masters like Ethan", I'll never forget the outburst of laughter directed at me jesus I must have been absolutely purple with embarrassment, and then the silent ride home with my friend in the back of the car. As soon as we dropped him off I went ape on my dad, I wanted to strangle him, what went through his mind to think that was a good idea, he isn't the type to purposely embarrass me that hard, he genuinely thought everyone there also played pokemon but my god why not just ask how was the football? I spent the whole weekend imagining what awaited me on monday in school, turned out it was never spoken of surprisingly. When I saw the title I felt that would be interesting to share but I see you are having a genuine problem, I hope it is not that big of a deal but anyway I think the advice of Badass is absolutely spot on man even though you clearly enjoy this shit a lot don't get too consumed.
I live together with my girlfriend, and she's completely fine with it. She even thinks it's cute when I get excited over Pokémon related stuff. My parents are also completely okay with it. My mom's even interested in the strategies behind it.
Few friends of mine do think it's stupid, but they're quite narrow minded. Most of my friends are in my school though, and I go to an art academy, where almost everyone is pretty open minded. So most of my friends are okay with it. Some even play mons, and a few do competitively. None of them are part of Smogon yet, unfortunately. One of them is hesitating to join.
Few friends of mine do think it's stupid, but they're quite narrow minded. Most of my friends are in my school though, and I go to an art academy, where almost everyone is pretty open minded. So most of my friends are okay with it. Some even play mons, and a few do competitively. None of them are part of Smogon yet, unfortunately. One of them is hesitating to join.
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Cresselia~~
Junichi Masuda likes this!!
My boyfriend and I play Pokemon Showdown frequently. Whether together or not together.
(And we are both equally pissed as neither of us can push our VGC score to 1300.)
(And we are both equally pissed as neither of us can push our VGC score to 1300.)
I agree with bad ass, make sure you are enjoying yourself, but make sure Pokemon isn't the only thing you do. If you're not enjoying what you're doing on smogon, don't do it, and make sure you find a balance.
I was made LC c&c mod last year before I was LC leader, and it just was unnecessary work that I didn't enjoy on the site, which made me not want to bother coming on Smogon. It also meant that when I was on smogon, I had to upload analyses and stuff, and take away from the actual enjoyment. So I quit c&c, and now I don't write analyses any more, so when I do get online I can do other things that I enjoy more.
Also found I became very lazy this semester and found little motivation to do coursework for uni and things. It was always easier to idle on PS/IRC than to actually put the effort in and do coursework, or even other things that I enjoy like playing music/cooking and stuff. This isn't a good habit at all - it's just easy. Make sure mons doesn't consume too much, this is important once you get to college imo, but you say you're probably gonna step away from mons a bit.
It's just all about looking at yourself and thinking whether you enjoy it fully, whether you're really happy with how much time you spend on smogon, and whether you're happy with the balance of smogon / other hobbies / social life / school work / relationships etc. If you think smogon is affecting that balance then take a step back. If it isn't affecting that balance and you are happy with the other aspects in your life, then don't worry about going on smogon every now and then.
My parents/girlfriend/close friends know I play mons, and they don't care, as long as I am happy. Smogon is a nice break from other things in your life, you don't have to always focus on work and stuff, mons is like a bit of relaxation/down time from that. Maybe try to explain to your parents that you are happy with the other aspects of your life, and mons is just a fun thing to do to relax. like bad ass says, you're old enough to make your own decisions regardless, and they can't really change you. just tell them straight that you wanna do it, and you are gonna do it, and they might just end up respecting that.
I was made LC c&c mod last year before I was LC leader, and it just was unnecessary work that I didn't enjoy on the site, which made me not want to bother coming on Smogon. It also meant that when I was on smogon, I had to upload analyses and stuff, and take away from the actual enjoyment. So I quit c&c, and now I don't write analyses any more, so when I do get online I can do other things that I enjoy more.
Also found I became very lazy this semester and found little motivation to do coursework for uni and things. It was always easier to idle on PS/IRC than to actually put the effort in and do coursework, or even other things that I enjoy like playing music/cooking and stuff. This isn't a good habit at all - it's just easy. Make sure mons doesn't consume too much, this is important once you get to college imo, but you say you're probably gonna step away from mons a bit.
It's just all about looking at yourself and thinking whether you enjoy it fully, whether you're really happy with how much time you spend on smogon, and whether you're happy with the balance of smogon / other hobbies / social life / school work / relationships etc. If you think smogon is affecting that balance then take a step back. If it isn't affecting that balance and you are happy with the other aspects in your life, then don't worry about going on smogon every now and then.
My parents/girlfriend/close friends know I play mons, and they don't care, as long as I am happy. Smogon is a nice break from other things in your life, you don't have to always focus on work and stuff, mons is like a bit of relaxation/down time from that. Maybe try to explain to your parents that you are happy with the other aspects of your life, and mons is just a fun thing to do to relax. like bad ass says, you're old enough to make your own decisions regardless, and they can't really change you. just tell them straight that you wanna do it, and you are gonna do it, and they might just end up respecting that.
My dad doesn't really mind at all, but my mom wanted me to wait until I was about nine or ten until I got into the video games, so I actually listened because I didn't want to be disowned. They didn't care if I got into the anime any earlier, though.
Telling ordinary people, on the other hand...
Telling ordinary people, on the other hand...
I'm currently living with my brother and his wife; I'm 20 and they're 28-27 years old, and they give me hell whenever Pokemon is mentioned, so I just don't play/talk about it with them around.
I don't have a hard time telling other people though, and they don't seem to think its particularly weird, hell I think some of the girls think its sorta cute and cool that I'm so honest about it.
I commonly play it during my hour bus ride to school; I get some weird looks then, but whatever you gotta do what you gotta do eh? :)
I don't have a hard time telling other people though, and they don't seem to think its particularly weird, hell I think some of the girls think its sorta cute and cool that I'm so honest about it.
I commonly play it during my hour bus ride to school; I get some weird looks then, but whatever you gotta do what you gotta do eh? :)
Asek
Banned deucer.
3 years ago I was in the position of having just moved a fair distance away from my previous residence and having to start anew in a different school, football club the lot. For the first 6 months of that period I played Pokemon religiously, was a forum addict, had little to no social life and my grades were slowly slipping to the point where I would no longer be eligible to receive cuts on my fees if they kept going down. During that period my grandparents (whom I
Live with) and my mum told me constantly that spending all my time on the computer wasn't going to get me anywhere. At the time I dismissed it as 'old people talk' amd thought they didn't get 'me' (I was 14/15). Eventually I actually listened to them and culled back on smogon and Internet life in general
within 2 months of reducing Internet time I had made real connections with people who were previously only 'school' friends, my grades kicked back up, and my sporting even improved as well. I found life significantly better with less Internet and more 'real life' in it. Looking back 3 years on ive realised culling out my 'gaming' life has made my perspective on everything a lot nicer and i feel all the better for it. I'm not trying to make this post out as smogon being bad - I gained lots of really cool skills and interests from this site and think rather highly of its impact on my current self.
At the end of the day though your parents are nearly 100% correct when they say that you aren't getting anything out of competitive Pokemon. Your time in reality could be spent much more productively, although I guess the same could be said for any hobby. If there's anything to get out of this post its that your real life should take absolute precedence over anything smogon related; I'd even say that as soon as smogon / Internet related activities start restricting your timetable and other hobbies, it's probably worth revaluating what's more important to you
Maybe it's the culture of my school as well, but people are genuinely interested in those 'nerdy' kind of competitive games. Yu gi oh is the current fad, but when people were bringing in ds's today play each other In Pokemon I got a reputation for being the one to beat lol. People are more curious of how people do those hobbies rather than judge them straight away in my experience. Don't think I've yet to see someone get ragged on for something like that
Live with) and my mum told me constantly that spending all my time on the computer wasn't going to get me anywhere. At the time I dismissed it as 'old people talk' amd thought they didn't get 'me' (I was 14/15). Eventually I actually listened to them and culled back on smogon and Internet life in general
within 2 months of reducing Internet time I had made real connections with people who were previously only 'school' friends, my grades kicked back up, and my sporting even improved as well. I found life significantly better with less Internet and more 'real life' in it. Looking back 3 years on ive realised culling out my 'gaming' life has made my perspective on everything a lot nicer and i feel all the better for it. I'm not trying to make this post out as smogon being bad - I gained lots of really cool skills and interests from this site and think rather highly of its impact on my current self.
At the end of the day though your parents are nearly 100% correct when they say that you aren't getting anything out of competitive Pokemon. Your time in reality could be spent much more productively, although I guess the same could be said for any hobby. If there's anything to get out of this post its that your real life should take absolute precedence over anything smogon related; I'd even say that as soon as smogon / Internet related activities start restricting your timetable and other hobbies, it's probably worth revaluating what's more important to you
Maybe it's the culture of my school as well, but people are genuinely interested in those 'nerdy' kind of competitive games. Yu gi oh is the current fad, but when people were bringing in ds's today play each other In Pokemon I got a reputation for being the one to beat lol. People are more curious of how people do those hobbies rather than judge them straight away in my experience. Don't think I've yet to see someone get ragged on for something like that
My mom would get mad if I didnt get a Jigglypuff. She watched the show with me and would enjoy the everloving shit out of Jiggs moments. Still does it to this day.
My dad would be supportive of my gaming choices and iunno if he made fun of me, it was only for fun. It was never serious.
My boyfriend and I bonded initially over Pokemon. He was playing White when i met him and I whipped out Black and we traded and nerded out for a few hours.
My best friends would oft ask me random pokemon related shit and then poke fun at me for knowing national dex numbers or specific information about certain pokemon.
Anywho reading over the rest of these, I kind of consider myself a little lucky not to receive backlash for it. Liek i've told regular people that I play competitively and for fun, I've not been made fun of or disrespected for it too much.
My dad would be supportive of my gaming choices and iunno if he made fun of me, it was only for fun. It was never serious.
My boyfriend and I bonded initially over Pokemon. He was playing White when i met him and I whipped out Black and we traded and nerded out for a few hours.
My best friends would oft ask me random pokemon related shit and then poke fun at me for knowing national dex numbers or specific information about certain pokemon.
Anywho reading over the rest of these, I kind of consider myself a little lucky not to receive backlash for it. Liek i've told regular people that I play competitively and for fun, I've not been made fun of or disrespected for it too much.
My whole family knew and were alright, mostly due to my reasons for playing were "for artistic inspiration" and "I love the mathematics of figuring out the game's mechanics" made sense, even though the former didn't come true. My friends irl do not know despite being fans, but that is due to fear they may have not been fond of the competitive scene.
I think I am rather lucky to receive any backlash, but that may have owed itself to my odd reasons for liking mons.
I think I am rather lucky to receive any backlash, but that may have owed itself to my odd reasons for liking mons.
My sister knows about my recent relapse into Pokemon-related competitive battling but my parents nor my friends nor the girls I get involved with don't and I don't really intend on disclosing that fact out anytime soon. I'm personally off and on with the game and haven't really played since ADV all the way since Netbattle and so in my experience I have had to give up time I spent doing Pokemon in lieu of getting great college grades at my living hell of a university, working, and going out with friends.
My advice to you, obviously, would be to weigh your goals realistically and manage yourself. Fail your first college test and wanna go to graduate school? Spend less time on PS. Meet your goals? No reason to change shit up. Your parents probably have the best in mind for you, but I would argue as long as you're happy with yourself and your progress in aspects of your life then just keep doing what you're doing. My personal view is to do everything in the interest of your happiness and enjoyment of life; if Pokemon aligns with it then cool stuff. Maybe surrounding yourself with good friends might be beneficial too, though, so really do think about giving social relationships an open mind when you head into college because the best time to do it is at the beginning.
Good luck in college btw.
My advice to you, obviously, would be to weigh your goals realistically and manage yourself. Fail your first college test and wanna go to graduate school? Spend less time on PS. Meet your goals? No reason to change shit up. Your parents probably have the best in mind for you, but I would argue as long as you're happy with yourself and your progress in aspects of your life then just keep doing what you're doing. My personal view is to do everything in the interest of your happiness and enjoyment of life; if Pokemon aligns with it then cool stuff. Maybe surrounding yourself with good friends might be beneficial too, though, so really do think about giving social relationships an open mind when you head into college because the best time to do it is at the beginning.
Good luck in college btw.
pkmn has never been a subject i like to bring up in front of most ppl i know. i do know a few people who are /sorta/ into pkmn but aren't interested in smogon/competitive pkmn. it's honestly perceived as a children's game and it's sorta embarrassing to bring it up in front of ppl, which is why i usually try to hide my smogon activities from people irl. my parents don't really care but when they do bring it up it's easy to tell it has a negative connotation associated with it. i mean it's not like mons is that great of a game anyway but like 99% of the people i know don't "get" me being on smogon despite having played the cartridge games. i've also thought a lot of times about mons and why i do this stuff (b/c there's a significant divide b/w this and irl)...
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Well my situation is kind of like Kingler12345's. Pokemon was never something I was comfortable bringing up with my friends. Like honestly speaking they probably wouldn't care too much since it's not really that big of a deal but it's more of a self-conscious kind of thing. Most people that I know play more casually like on the cartridge, in fact, quite a lot of people at my school play on emulators but playing competitively is, honestly, kind of embarrassing to admit especially since I'm a 16 year old in high school. I love this game, I really do, but admitting that I play it competitively is p much sending a death flag when you're in high school. Most of my friends are from my XC/Track team so they're pretty popular, I guess you could say, which is one of the primary reasons why I can't admit that I play this game competitively. My parents though think of Pokemon, and video games in general, as having a negative impact on my life. I would be lying if I said I didn't spend a lot of my time on Smogon/PS; there are even times where I would push off homework/studying just to get in some laddering time but Pokemon is my outlet for relieving stress which, no matter how many times I tell my parents, they don't get at all. My parents are Asian too so they pretty much want me to study like 24/7. They would constantly come into my room and tell me to get off my computer and go study which kind of makes me even more stressed out since I just want to relax after a stressful day of school. Everything that I do wrong, they would blame it on me spending all my time on "that game." What makes me mad though is that they would still tell me to stop playing video games despite me showing positive results in school. I get As in my classes, I'm super close to making Varsity, and I'm in my school's top orchestra but nothing I do pleases them as long as I'm playing this game. Really the only one I can comfortably talk mons with is my second older sister as, while she doesn't really play competitively, she is interested in Pokemon. I really don't know what I'll do when she goes off to college next year lol. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to death for caring so much about me but I wish sometimes they would just back off a little.
I guess I was wrong.
Wow! I thought I was alone in this perdicament. I used to sneak around the house from lamp to lamp playing Pokemon crystal on my gameboy color because my dad thought it was satanic. His reasoning for this was because Pokemon have powers and only god can have powers. Yeah I know it sounds ignorant and slightly idiotic, but that was his reasoning behind it. My brother and I were crazy in love with Pokemon though so we did whatever we could to play the games. We would never say any names of popular pokes, and we always referred to them as "guys". Eventually my dad realized that there was no way to stop us and he more or less quit caring. Although I think a lot of that had to do with him starting his own business. Ironically I work for him now as an administrative assistant, and he'll occasionally walk in while I'm in the middle of a ladder match on PS.
I never had any problems with Pokémon with & friends or family. My parents were always ok with it and even bought me pokemon games and pokemon toys when I was younger. My friends were all (most of them) into Pokémon at some point in their life as well, so they've played with me here and there every so often. A close friend of mine even often plays on PS.
My ex girlfriends either thought it was really cute that I loved Pokemon so much or didn't think anything of it, other than that it was one of my hobbies. My current girlfriend actually casually plays Pokémon.
So I suppose I can say Pokemon was well accepted as a part of me by everyone I care about, which is great. For my birthday my girlfriend even got me a Greninja plush doll : ]
My ex girlfriends either thought it was really cute that I loved Pokemon so much or didn't think anything of it, other than that it was one of my hobbies. My current girlfriend actually casually plays Pokémon.
So I suppose I can say Pokemon was well accepted as a part of me by everyone I care about, which is great. For my birthday my girlfriend even got me a Greninja plush doll : ]
My parents have never had any problems with me playing pokemon. My dad does not like pokemon that much, which is probably the reason why they never bought any pokemon games for me when I got my Gameboy Advance and my first DS Lite. I had to by it mysellf, which I did when I was 10, and everyone in my class were hyped about HG SS. When BW came out, I only had a few friends playing pokemon left. Now I havethose few friends left playing pokemon, and none of them are into competitive. One of them has started not caring that much about it, and the other, no offense, I see it being a pain to teach competitive (Not the brightest of all on Earth). I don't really like bringing up pokemon with my friends, only a few in my class know I still play pokemon. But my brother also plays competitive pokemon and we often battle against each other, which is nice. I don't know if I will keep on playing pokemon after high school, but I'm in middle school now and I will keep on playing it at least through high school. The problem in Norway is that finding someone else in your area playing competitive if you don't live in like one of the top 10 biggest cities (which I don't), is really hard. There are someone at my school playing pokemon during lunch and stuff, but I got quite a few other friends now, and over here, playing pokemon during lunch is social suicide. But if I come in class with someone playing pokemon in high school, my soul will be sold to Pikachu :P. Anyways, pokemon is the game I love most at the moment, and I will keep on playing it for many years ahead, and try not to give a shit about what anyone thinks about it.
My genetic father hated the fact I played Pokemon. He also hated the fact I didn't do "teenager stuff" (teens in my area are mostly spoiled, rich, and obsessed over pot/alcohol) and I didn't actively try to waste my time on some sports team.
I'm 21 now, and I still play Pokemon. I've been playing the game since I was 5, and don't plan to give it up anytime soon. I'm a thinker, and I refuse to partake in the self-destructive behavior my father tried to force on me.
Addition to the post:
I even played Pokemon before and after school when I attended high school. I earned a good bit of respect after people crowded around the lunch table to watch me beat a frontier brain in SoulSilver.
I'm 21 now, and I still play Pokemon. I've been playing the game since I was 5, and don't plan to give it up anytime soon. I'm a thinker, and I refuse to partake in the self-destructive behavior my father tried to force on me.
Addition to the post:
I even played Pokemon before and after school when I attended high school. I earned a good bit of respect after people crowded around the lunch table to watch me beat a frontier brain in SoulSilver.
I wouldn't worry: I'm 23 and still play Pokemon. I'm also married, with a job that pays really well and we rent a nice house in a suburban village! My wife knows I play Pokemon, as do my colleagues - at the end of the day, everyone enjoys different things! If you find the right girl, she won't mind what you do for fun - it's not like it's going to ruin your relationship. Besides, what's the difference between Pokemon and Sport, ultimately? Both are non-essential aspects of life, it's just that one exercises the body and the other, the mind.
Basically, do what makes you happy. People won't always approve, but you're not hurting anyone, so don't worry about it :)
I currently am on vacation. For the first few days all I did was spend time on my laptop. This obviously bugged my parents and as I had not done well in my exams, it irked them further. They said I was gonna have to reduce time I spend on the laptop. It was hard but I've managed to strike a balance which is very important imo, I want to be a football(soccer) player so I go to the gym and play football in the morning, come back have lunch and then study and then I'm free. My parents were pleased as I was doing something other than mons and I was taking things seriously.
TL;DR: it's all about striking a balance. It's not really hard
TL;DR: it's all about striking a balance. It's not really hard
I was kind of a problem child when it came to gifts (don't really play with toys, don't play video games, not into fashion, ext), so my parents appreciated that if they couldn't find anything they could grab something that has a pokemon label on it and call it good. They were really too busy trying to stop my little brother from playing GTA to worry about me playing something so innocent.
Socially, it never really caused any problems. I was a drummer at a pretty hardcore band school district, so I didn't have enough time for pokemon games usually and just played Shoddy Battle/Showdown. Because I was up there on the social ladder (I was also in honors/Ap classes and sports/clubs), when people learned I played pokemon they were shocked long enough for me to explain that I do it for the unique chess-like mind games and strategy. They actually get interested more often than not when I mentioned that pokemon have DNA (IVs) and there is a free program that lets you skip all the training and breeding and just try it.
Socially, it never really caused any problems. I was a drummer at a pretty hardcore band school district, so I didn't have enough time for pokemon games usually and just played Shoddy Battle/Showdown. Because I was up there on the social ladder (I was also in honors/Ap classes and sports/clubs), when people learned I played pokemon they were shocked long enough for me to explain that I do it for the unique chess-like mind games and strategy. They actually get interested more often than not when I mentioned that pokemon have DNA (IVs) and there is a free program that lets you skip all the training and breeding and just try it.
Reading some of these comments have saddened me, but others have put a smile on my face. I think that maybe people are critical of people playing supposedly 'childish' games, until you try and explain the in depth mechanics of IV's and EV's but the point of the matter is: Those who mind, don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
I have similar experiences to those posted above, although less severe. My ex boyfriend often laughed at my fascination with Pokemon, saying I should devote my time to something 'worthwhile': In fact, I was amused too...by the blatant hypocrisy. Yes, I enjoy playing Pokemon but I have graduated from Univeristy, have a full time job and manage to maintain a pretty full social schedule and attend dance classes. He on the other hand did nothing but watch football and scream at the TV with his 'Neanderthal' friends (not that I'm implying people who enjoy sports are Neanderthals, I'm not one to cast sweeping generalisations)
I have similar experiences to those posted above, although less severe. My ex boyfriend often laughed at my fascination with Pokemon, saying I should devote my time to something 'worthwhile': In fact, I was amused too...by the blatant hypocrisy. Yes, I enjoy playing Pokemon but I have graduated from Univeristy, have a full time job and manage to maintain a pretty full social schedule and attend dance classes. He on the other hand did nothing but watch football and scream at the TV with his 'Neanderthal' friends (not that I'm implying people who enjoy sports are Neanderthals, I'm not one to cast sweeping generalisations)
I'm in a terrible situation, anybody who I used to speak to a lot in the PS staff will know that this time last year my life was literally hell, all because I played mons. Basically my dad discovered I was playing simply because I didn't try to hide it, I figured he'd just be cool with it and at first he was and just made jokes about "that kids game", I knew there were some truth to his jokes though.
Next as I started to care less about what he knew about about, he would come home to find me in Skype calls with internet friends and that's when it kicked off. My dad thought playing mons and chatting to online people was like creepy and weird and because he's like some fitness freak he decided to take it upon himself to deny me access completely. So around a year ago my dad blocked the access to smogon and PS on our home internet.
Now, I was better at computers than him so found numerous ways around it, and figured he'd eventually just give up with his punishment. Problem was, he would always do things like check my closed tabs when I was working and sneak into my room to catch me playing and it'd always end in a huge row.
There's something weird about your father checking your search history to bust you for playing mons and not other stuff!
So yeah basically a year on, dad did eventually unblock the internet and for about say six months, I've done everything pretty much undetected although I'm sure that won't last forever. I think he's laid off since I've had a girlfriend he probably thinks I won't want to play as much which is wrong. The way I've always seen it is that I get my work done, I have a life outside of the internet, who cares if when I'm relaxing at home I enjoy having a few battles or chatting to some friends (I mean, I'd be talking to irl friends online anyway so what's the difference).
Basically I've been through hell and back with my dad for about a year and a half and all because he disapproves of me playing mons and he's got my mother on his side too. I've been really interested to read everyone's stories as I'm comforted it isn't just me with disapproving parents :)
Next as I started to care less about what he knew about about, he would come home to find me in Skype calls with internet friends and that's when it kicked off. My dad thought playing mons and chatting to online people was like creepy and weird and because he's like some fitness freak he decided to take it upon himself to deny me access completely. So around a year ago my dad blocked the access to smogon and PS on our home internet.
Now, I was better at computers than him so found numerous ways around it, and figured he'd eventually just give up with his punishment. Problem was, he would always do things like check my closed tabs when I was working and sneak into my room to catch me playing and it'd always end in a huge row.
There's something weird about your father checking your search history to bust you for playing mons and not other stuff!
So yeah basically a year on, dad did eventually unblock the internet and for about say six months, I've done everything pretty much undetected although I'm sure that won't last forever. I think he's laid off since I've had a girlfriend he probably thinks I won't want to play as much which is wrong. The way I've always seen it is that I get my work done, I have a life outside of the internet, who cares if when I'm relaxing at home I enjoy having a few battles or chatting to some friends (I mean, I'd be talking to irl friends online anyway so what's the difference).
Basically I've been through hell and back with my dad for about a year and a half and all because he disapproves of me playing mons and he's got my mother on his side too. I've been really interested to read everyone's stories as I'm comforted it isn't just me with disapproving parents :)