I’m being hosted on Ralene Burke’s blog today as part of her confessions series!
“Please, please, can we have a Sega Genesis?” my brother wheedled. “I’ll buy it with my birthday money!”
Our parents hemmed and hawed. This was the 1990s. Focus on the Family had been cranking out anti-videogame propaganda for years–anything from it ruining a kid’s grades to being a gateway to porn. But finally our parents said that we could buy a Genesis on one condition: they approve the games we bought.
The light was green! We bought our first video game system (and every single system after that). We played Sonic the Hedgehog and Jurassic Park and the maddeningly difficult Disney games. Batman Forever became a fixture.
Then–horrors–one hot summer day, our parents decreed that we spent too much time on games. “One hour a day,” they admonished. “Go do something else.”
Mutinous, I stalked upstairs to my desk. As a homeschooler, I had a very nice desk … Read More
