This is an offshoot from the Gamer Parents/Gamer Kids thread. I believe gaming is hereditary. Why? Will, the answer involves my history. I didn't know my fatehr exsisted until I was 5...or 8...5. He bought me my first fantasy books at about 9(R.A. Salvatore's Icewind Dale Trilogy), which I didn't read because I wasn't interested at the time. I only ever saw my father once a year then. I read The Hobbit, got into DnD. Started playing Magic:The Gathering shortly after (got into DnD and Magic about the time Pokemon came out, got into Magic with the Apocolypse series). A couple of years ago I went to visit him in Hawaii and found that he had the biggest collection of Magic cards and DnD material I have ever seen in my life to this day. Do I need to sum it up for anyone?
Well, I am buying my kid her first set of dice for her birthday; will teach her to play if and when she wants to; up to her if she wants to play though; am hoping she becomes a great player and the thought of a few generations of great D&D ers starting with me as Patriarch is kinda cool.
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I can't say either of my parents were supportive of my gaming; in fact it was a matter of contention between us for many years. Looking back, I could see why they may have thought spending too much time on a hobby would interfere with my schoolwork, but I don't think that was the case. If my grades slipped, it was because the work had got harder, especially as I went to a selective school, and was expected to be in the top set for every subject.
Once I passed my A-levels (yes, I'm a Brit), I went to university to do an engineering degree, found myself totally out of my depth, and consoled myself among the other freaks and wierdoes of the RPG club. Needless to say, when I failed to qualify for year 2, even after re-taking the year, my parent's attitude was "I told you so".
I cannot recall receiving a single RPG/wargaming related product from my parents in over 25 years.
I'm now a parent (girl of 27 months, boy of 9 months), and so are several of my gamer friends. My daughter likes to count my dice and make towers of them, and sometimes I have to watch her for a few minutes during a game, while she sits on my knee, rolls dice, points at the pretty/ugly pictures and goes "Wow!" at it all. It would be great if she grew up to think her Dad was the coolest, and wanted to join in, but I don't intend to force it on her.
On a related note, my friend was heard to state that, if any youth wanted to date HIS daughter in years to come, he'd better know the difference between a glaive & a ranseur, or his ass would be out the door (and I think I know where he's coming from!).
Probably there's a D&D gene, or at least a gaming gene, or a fantasy somewhere in the mix. (Or maybe several). My Dad is too old (67) to have gotten into D&D very easily, but he did read the Hobbit to us when we were small, and my family always enjoyed playing games together--cards, boardgames, etc.
I had only played D&D once since high school, and never even mentioned it to my son (that I can think of), when he came to visit me (I was living in China for a year), 3e D&D books in tow (he was 10). I started DMing for him (and nephews/nieces occasionally), and I'm once again totally hooked. So yes, I think that among all those interesting combinations of personality traits that kids inherit and/or pick up from their parents, attraction to FRPG is undoubtedly one of them.
Beats me - my parents and us kids gamed together when we were young, but it was in the more traditional card/board genres. I talked my (then-fiancee) into gaming for herself in college after she'd seen folks in high-school play, but she'd not participated. Well, she got hooked and then we eventually got her daughter hooked and then got our son hooked and now the next daughter in line is hooked and the baby daughter is just too young yet! Along the way, we introduced several of oldest daughter's friends (it took for some, but not for others, but none play in our group any more), then we converted her fiance' from computer games to p&p games. He is now running a Cauldron campaign for a group stationed at Kadena AFB, Okinawa, Japan - and introducing *new* players to gaming in the process!
*snif* I'm a Gamin' Daddy!