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Inspired by this blog: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=266622
I have decided to create a guide for those wanting to play starcraft under the roofs of dictator like parents.
During my high school years i was absolutely banned from starcraft, my dad actually broke my BW CD in half, and i had to torrent it to get it back. Despite being banned from starcraft, I personally felt i was a well achieved BW player that managed to reach B on iccup when i was active. /brag
Currently, i'm a 2nd year in college, and i do not regret at ALL for the time i've spend on starcraft, if i had the chance to go back in time, i would not of spent that time studying despite thats what my parents wanted.
So without further a due here is how i did it, and i hope it'll help you too, and for those people that were able to play freely whenever they wanted, feel free to laugh/pity the issues i've had to gone through to play BW.
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The only times i played BW was when my parents were out shopping/asleep/cooking/doing yard work.
During the times when they were at home I would watch progamer replays and analyze my own replays, i played a bit too as well but it was tricky...
Since my study spot and gaming spot was the same (Near the computer) it made my gaming a lot easier even though i was restricted.
One of the key indicators my parents looked for was how fast/loud i clicked my mouse when i was on the computer. If i clicked furiously, like i'd had to to keep my monstrous 600apm, they'd for sure knew i was on BW. So how did i go around it?
+ Show Spoiler +-EASY!, I put a clothe over my hand/mouse to reduce clicking noise, try it yourself, put a sweater over your mouse, and try clicking loud/fast, you can barely hear it!
What about when they came to see what you were doing out of the blue?
+ Show Spoiler +-Well for me it was easier to know when they'd come to check me out because i played upstairs, and i can almost always hear their footsteps when they came up. I like playing with sound so i'd keep one headphone in my ear and the other ear to listen for footsteps.
So what happens when they came up and you couldn't respond fast enough to close out BW?
+ Show Spoiler +-Easy!, close your monitor screen so it looks like it was on the screen saver, and then alt f4 whatever you were on. However, becareful because sometimes when you Alt F4 while in a game, a prompt will come up that will ask you "Are you sure you want to exit the game" in that case you'd have to actually click enter, for the game to exit.
So my parents often check the web browser's history to see if i've visited any suspicious gaming/porno sites, what should i do to prevent them from seeing? And i'm tired of deleting the history everytime i visit those sites...
+ Show Spoiler +-Use a different web browser, and make sure you hide that web browser's icon so it does not show up on the desktop. Also hide the new web browser. For example, if your parents use firefox, you should use google chrome instead.
What are some other precautions I should know to play starcraft without my parents knowing?
+ Show Spoiler +-When they are at home, listen close to their conversations, it can often lead to cues as to what they are going to do next and where they are going to go. For example, if your bathroom is close to your computer room, and if you hear them say "I have to take a shower soon" obviously don't start a game because you'll have to exit it....
How can i hide my BW programs/porn stash/other programes from my parents?
+ Show Spoiler +-You can do that by creating a folder and hiding it in some place safe, like your homework folder. Make sure you make your BW folder name sound innocent. "English papers" sounds like a good folder name for it. Also, you'll want to hide that from the search engine, so if they were ever to search "Starcraft" on windows, no starcraft icons will pop up. Here is how you do it http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/394-hidden-files-folders-show-hide.html You can use that technique to hide your secret web browser as well.
Some obvious/other helpful tips
-Always have a word document page or some sort of study program in the back ground, so when you close SC it'll still look like you're studying
-always have a text book nearby your table so it looks like you're doing HW.
-If somehow that you were not able to close your SC out completely AFTER shutting down your monitor screen, act stupid and turn off the computer saying that it was stuck and restart the computer, that way it'll shut everything off automatically. -Use this with caution with parents that are not technology stupid.
-Also, change your screen saver timing down from the default 15mins to 1min. if you ever suspect your parents getting near your computer in that time, DON"T TOUCH ANYTHING for that min, and the screen saver will show and it'll make it look like you weren't on the computer. If they do come near, within that minute, shut off monitor and proceed to do whatever else is necessary.
If anyone comes across anything new that i need to cover, please ask, i will respond.
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i am incredibly sad for you that this was required to indulge in your passion, but incredibly happy that you didn't let barriers like this get in your way! awesome stuff
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Is it really moral to go this far just to play on the computer? Why did your parents ban you from starcraft?
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Hahahahaha. Good guide bro. Luckily, I was able to game whenever the phuuuuck I pleaaaaased (as long as I maintained a 3.8 gpa or plus).
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this is an awesome guide. my parents arent incredibly strict about games (luckily) but some of my friends' are... ill be sure to show them this guide!
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On September 18 2011 14:17 Roe wrote:
Is it really moral to go this far just to play on the computer? Why did your parents ban you from starcraft?
Yes, and i was banned from starcraft because my parents are dictators, and thought they knew what was best for me.
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On September 18 2011 14:20 YPang wrote:Show nested quote +On September 18 2011 14:17 Roe wrote:
Is it really moral to go this far just to play on the computer? Why did your parents ban you from starcraft? Yes, and i was banned from starcraft because my parents are dictators, and thought they knew what was best for me.
huh? they must've had a reason...like your grades werent high enough, or video games are the devil, or games will rot your brains...did they come up to you and say "we're dictators, you aren't playing starcraft anymore" and that was it?
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On September 18 2011 14:23 Roe wrote:Show nested quote +On September 18 2011 14:20 YPang wrote:On September 18 2011 14:17 Roe wrote:
Is it really moral to go this far just to play on the computer? Why did your parents ban you from starcraft? Yes, and i was banned from starcraft because my parents are dictators, and thought they knew what was best for me. huh? they must've had a reason...like your grades werent high enough, or video games are the devil, or games will rot your brains...did they come up to you and say "we're dictators, you aren't playing starcraft anymore" and that was it?
Well, pretty much they were never satisfied with my grades. I knew personally how much i needed to study to succeed and it's what I followed, never really wrecked my future, and i'm doing in college just fine now that i got the freedom i yearned for. 
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Reading this brings back so many memories of how I used to play DoTA without my mother knowing.
What I'd commonly do is strike up a conversation while getting water or something. Just a casual one to see what she was doing, what mood she was in (lazy, etc.) or if she preoccupied with something.
THEN IT WAS TIME FOR DOTA
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I know a lot of these all too well  especially the headphones in one ear part haha
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On September 18 2011 14:26 YPang wrote:Show nested quote +On September 18 2011 14:23 Roe wrote:On September 18 2011 14:20 YPang wrote:On September 18 2011 14:17 Roe wrote:
Is it really moral to go this far just to play on the computer? Why did your parents ban you from starcraft? Yes, and i was banned from starcraft because my parents are dictators, and thought they knew what was best for me. huh? they must've had a reason...like your grades werent high enough, or video games are the devil, or games will rot your brains...did they come up to you and say "we're dictators, you aren't playing starcraft anymore" and that was it? Well, pretty much they were never satisfied with my grades. I knew personally how much i needed to study to succeed and it's what I followed, never really wrecked my future, and i'm doing in college just fine now that i got the freedom i yearned for.
ah. i did the same thing with WoW. i just played in windowed mode and whenever someone would walk by i'd switch to mozilla or msn.
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Lol.
I'm 13, and im restricted to 4 hrs a week, can only play on fri, sat sun.
my parents are technologically smart (both it) and are asian.
I have a macbook pro which can't play starcraft without 1 fps and a really good computer which i play games on. and my macbook is facing a public area, so they can see if im watching a vod or something.
so obviously if im on my good computer, im playing games.
the problem is 1. i need to write down when i play games, and wen i'm gonna finish. so that sucks.
2. both computers are downstairs and are close to the kitchen/sitting area. so im basically fucked if their home. they can also tell wat computer im on if their in the garden.
so yeah, i have a harsh life. but now its holidays so yay :D
nice guide though, to people who don't know how to use a computer  .
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On September 18 2011 14:34 zeOllie wrote:Lol. I'm 13, and im restricted to 4 hrs a week, can only play on fri, sat sun. my parents are technologically smart (both it) and are asian. I have a macbook pro which can't play starcraft without 1 fps and a really good computer which i play games on. and my macbook is facing a public area, so they can see if im watching a vod or something. so obviously if im on my good computer, im playing games. the problem is 1. i need to write down when i play games, and wen i'm gonna finish. so that sucks. 2. both computers are downstairs and are close to the kitchen/sitting area. so im basically fucked if their home. they can also tell wat computer im on if their in the garden. so yeah, i have a harsh life. but now its holidays so yay :D nice guide though, to people who don't know how to use a computer .
If you're computer is not in a complete safe place you can still watch VOD's if you minimize that screen, and put it near a bottom corner of your monitor and hide that screen with your torso with a word document on the background. Not sure if it'll work for your situation, but it might come in handy.
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My parents set up a system of mirrors around the house so that they can see my monitor from almost anywhere in the house. I had to be studying 24/7. When I really wanted to game, I snuck on the computer after midnight when my parents were asleep. Needless to say, I had a hard time staying awake in class. Another workaround I found was that my shoulder blocked the bottom left corner of my monitor from the mirror. From this I was able to play on a gba emulator.
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Great guide, our parents generation have zero respect for anything on a screen.
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On September 18 2011 14:52 Afk wrote:
Great guide, our parents generation have zero respect for anything on a screen.
How untrue.
Last generation had it tough in my opinion!
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Here's the thing. If you were complaint, and tried to live up to their expectations, you could then rationally argue that you're doing your best and want to do something for yourself. And if they deny that, you can tell them that they're not allowing you to have a life.
You shouldn't go sneaking behind their back. It undermines authority in your own mind to do so, and you will develop this for any authority. Next thing you know you're out on the street because you haven't paid rent because you were hiding somewhere instead of doing your job at whatever job you might be lucky enough to get.
you'll thank your parents that made you study forever. you'll be lucky enough to get a high class high paying job that has rewards.
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On September 18 2011 14:17 Roe wrote:
Is it really moral to go this far just to play on the computer? Why did your parents ban you from starcraft?
Is it really good parenting to prohibit your child from partaking in a safe hobby that millions around the globe enjoy and to make every decision for your child, giving them little to no freedom?
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Awesome write-up man. My parents were never like this luckily, but when it came to the porn stash and whatnot, I was clever enough to do a lot of what you did, but on older versions of Windows as that was the OS at the time.
As I did have to hide stuff sometimes, a few key points were, as you said, always listen to their conversations, and even join in sometimes. They think you are paying attention and growing up when really you are just being a detective. Also though, sometimes hiding things in plain sight work out well if your parents are snoopers.
Always remember areas like behind books on bookshelves, between your mattress and your box spring, over even do like I had done, and cut a hole in the bottom of my box spring and hid stuff there. (No, not drugs, but porn and music that they did not like to hear)
Just remember in the words of Cheap Trick, when it comes to parents, "Surrender, but don't give yourself away." Sooner or later they come around to understand.
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ROFL I remember so many games between us where you would just randomly leave and I'd know EXACTLY why hahaha
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As for the hiding browsed websites and keeping that hidden, I know firefox 4 and chrome both have hidden modes where it doesn't track any history. Just update your browser if you don't have it
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I'm in the same situation. The primary way I hide my stuff is through fake folders and using a virtual desktop program. With a virtual desktop program, you can instantly pause, alt-tab, switch desktops, and act like nothing is going on.
The other stuff I figured out on my own as I kept playing over the course of 8 years T_T
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On September 18 2011 14:53 Torte de Lini wrote:Show nested quote +On September 18 2011 14:52 Afk wrote:
Great guide, our parents generation have zero respect for anything on a screen. How untrue. Last generation had it tough in my opinion!
Yo! Last generation here. I did not have it tough at all! I did not really have Internet access while I was in school other than receiving and sending e-mails. The first dial-up flat-rate offer in Germany started as I was already out of school. There was nothing great to do for hours on end on the computer.
While still in high school, I was on small basement LANs every second weekend or so. We were carpooling to transport all the stuff. After experiencing multiplayer games, single player felt so stale, I did not miss anything by not gaming alone at all. In my free time at home, I dabbled in programming, and my parents were not against that, but I never had the drive to do that daily or as much as I would have played WoW or something, had it existed at that time.
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Similar guide to watching porn.
Awesome.
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this is exactly how i survived with asian parents
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wow sick determination there coach :D
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man this reminds me of my days back in WoW when i was 12. My mother hated computer games in the past so i had to act like studying while playing >.>
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I was a bit different with my parents >.>, I don't recommend you do what I did, as I did a lot around the house and was treated a bit like cinderella the guy version in our house.
Eventually I got fed up with my parents trying to set times on me, so I decided to punish my parents in return, if my mother threatened to take the internet away, I took away the phone from her until she surrendered it, and if she tried to trick me, I'd always think a step ahead and took something else in advance, she eventually tried to punish me more heavily and took the powerplug from the computer away from me, so I took the entire phone from her, mind you I was around 13 years old or older.
This struggle continued for about two weeks, then she finally threatened to cancel the internet, I eventually found out there are free ways to get the internet. She canceled it for a few days and I still had access to the internet so she reactivated it again. Another win for me.
This struggle continued off and on and must have lasted maybe a month or two. Afterwards I was allowed to have 100% internet access.
I know this sounds a bit evil, but my parents were a bit... Evil to me, especially me rather than my sisters. And there are a lot of issues with both my mother and father, and yes I shouldn't have done some of the things I did, but in the end they should've treated me more human since I worked for free for them, cleaned, cooked, etc... while my sisters did whatever they wanted.
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On September 18 2011 15:44 mizU wrote:
Similar guide to watching porn.
Awesome.
Stop playing Brood War, you'll go blind.
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United States15034 Posts
On September 18 2011 14:44 Chairman Ray wrote:
My parents set up a system of mirrors around the house so that they can see my monitor from almost anywhere in the house. I had to be studying 24/7. When I really wanted to game, I snuck on the computer after midnight when my parents were asleep. Needless to say, I had a hard time staying awake in class. Another workaround I found was that my shoulder blocked the bottom left corner of my monitor from the mirror. From this I was able to play on a gba emulator.
im blown away by this having had a very loose "do what you want as long as you get Cs and Bs" upbringing
and other stories about domineering asian parents
its so foreign to me
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On September 18 2011 17:41 GertHeart wrote:
I was a bit different with my parents >.>, I don't recommend you do what I did, as I did a lot around the house and was treated a bit like cinderella the guy version in our house.
Eventually I got fed up with my parents trying to set times on me, so I decided to punish my parents in return, if my mother threatened to take the internet away, I took away the phone from her until she surrendered it, and if she tried to trick me, I'd always think a step ahead and took something else in advance, she eventually tried to punish me more heavily and took the powerplug from the computer away from me, so I took the entire phone from her, mind you I was around 13 years old or older.
This struggle continued for about two weeks, then she finally threatened to cancel the internet, I eventually found out there are free ways to get the internet. She canceled it for a few days and I still had access to the internet so she reactivated it again. Another win for me.
This struggle continued off and on and must have lasted maybe a month or two. Afterwards I was allowed to have 100% internet access.
I know this sounds a bit evil, but my parents were a bit... Evil to me, especially me rather than my sisters. And there are a lot of issues with both my mother and father, and yes I shouldn't have done some of the things I did, but in the end they should've treated me more human since I worked for free for them, cleaned, cooked, etc... while my sisters did whatever they wanted.
And then the CIA came and offered you to train at Langley, Virginia and sent you to Russia to retrieve secret nuclear files, where your ingenuity and resilience conquered all odds and you obtained your objective and rescued a gorgeous Mossad agent (because Mossad only hires supermodels according to movies) and you left for a vacation to Barbados.
Now that would be an awesome ending. But even without, yours is a pretty inspirational (though not emulateable for all) tale.
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On September 18 2011 17:47 Mobius_1 wrote:Show nested quote +On September 18 2011 17:41 GertHeart wrote:
I was a bit different with my parents >.>, I don't recommend you do what I did, as I did a lot around the house and was treated a bit like cinderella the guy version in our house.
Eventually I got fed up with my parents trying to set times on me, so I decided to punish my parents in return, if my mother threatened to take the internet away, I took away the phone from her until she surrendered it, and if she tried to trick me, I'd always think a step ahead and took something else in advance, she eventually tried to punish me more heavily and took the powerplug from the computer away from me, so I took the entire phone from her, mind you I was around 13 years old or older.
This struggle continued for about two weeks, then she finally threatened to cancel the internet, I eventually found out there are free ways to get the internet. She canceled it for a few days and I still had access to the internet so she reactivated it again. Another win for me.
This struggle continued off and on and must have lasted maybe a month or two. Afterwards I was allowed to have 100% internet access.
I know this sounds a bit evil, but my parents were a bit... Evil to me, especially me rather than my sisters. And there are a lot of issues with both my mother and father, and yes I shouldn't have done some of the things I did, but in the end they should've treated me more human since I worked for free for them, cleaned, cooked, etc... while my sisters did whatever they wanted. And then the CIA came and offered you to train at Langley, Virginia and sent you to Russia to retrieve secret nuclear files, where your ingenuity and resilience conquered all odds and you obtained your objective and rescued a gorgeous Mossad agent (because Mossad only hires supermodels according to movies) and you left for a vacation to Barbados. Now that would be an awesome ending. But even without, yours is a pretty inspirational (though not emulateable for all) tale.
Did you check to see if I was Russian or something? o.O; Privet, ya ruski. But the sister wanted to become a FBI agent. I just wanted to learn more about computers =/
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Some parents are really nasty. I mean come on Porn is quite alright and everybody needs to learn it somehow. Also restricting or completely forbidding games out of a house i unhuman. God I'm glad my mom was always cool about that kind of stuff. She wouldn't care about how much i wank it's just healthy and we never even had to talk about it ;D
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haha similar experience here. I didn't have to do it to THAT extreme. I just had to keep one earphone in and one out, and try to listen for their entrance.
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Ohhhh so this is how asians hone their multitask skills...
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They should turn this into a movie. Such a classic 'love over the barriers' kind of story, overcoming the odds and doing what you are passionate about no matter what.
Well, kind of..
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Fuck, now I can't dodge Wala with my parent excuse. 
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Ah, this makes me sad. Parents who give no freedom for their kids, thinking they know the best. There are far worse things the kid could do, than to play an intelligent game of StarCraft. Being a parent myself, I really won't ever force that on my kid, so he would have to resort to something like that.
Parents who restrict kids like that, they really should be more reasonable...and learn trusting their kids more. That way, I'm sure, the kids would be more inclined to do all the studies and every day chores. o.O Sure, I know there are individuals who'd throw away school and everything away if they had no control over them, but there's that thing called moderation and compromise. Should be used more instead of just pure restriction.
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On September 18 2011 19:58 Sablar wrote:
They should turn this into a movie. Such a classic 'love over the barriers' kind of story, overcoming the odds and doing what you are passionate about no matter what.
Well, kind of..
![[image loading]](http://cdn2.mixrmedia.com/wp-uploads/ningin/blog/2010/04/lovestarcraft.png)
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I've always found it funny that restrictive parents almost never works, it just makes the kids thriftier. My parents would just hide the disc and only let me have it on weekends, through that I learned how to pick all the locks in my house, remove that window barrier thing that keeps out bugs, and climb around my house from the outside.
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About the browser thing, use Ctrl+shift+n (at least in chrome). Helps you a lot and no need to use different browsers..
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Parents that are smart but technologically challenged usually just put the computer in the kitchen/living room. If you want to restrict the time your children spend on something, it's not the best idea to put that thing in their room...
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Nice guide GS! Way to defy the power.
On September 18 2011 15:13 GoShox wrote:
ROFL I remember so many games between us where you would just randomly leave and I'd know EXACTLY why hahaha
Yeah, parents so OP back in SCC bw.
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This blog brings back fond childhood memories.My parents would take it one step further by taking away my cable modem so I had no internet. Dark times
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LOL I feel lucky that my family didn't give a "sh*t" for my education... Anyway, I'm a Pre-med 4.0 gpa :D
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In firefox, if you press ctrl, shift P, it'll go to private mode in which it won't leave any history.
Nice guide! I did exactly what you did back in grade 6 or 7 (skipped soccer practice and played like 8-9 hours a day) when I was addicted to SC and my dad hid my SC cd.
Something that worked for me was alt tabbing to a word document with random garbage on it and hiding my task bar. and of course having the textbook nearby :D
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thank you for the guide, this has helped quite a bit, as my parents are quite against starcraft, but i just love the game T_T
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maybe if you spent more time studying in high school, you would know how to spell "further ado"
lol jk
nice blog
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That's pretty sad that you didn't and don't respect your parents enough to let them ban gaming while you're studying. They gave birth to you, feed you, clothe you, and protect you and you can't even take a few limits on you like no gaming, curfew of 10pm, max 2 hours tv a day, stuff like that. And once you're out of school they'll most likely remove your restictions or lessen them a lot, and you'll hopefully be mature enough to know when it's game time and when it's work time. Instead you have to deceive them because they're "dictators"???? Not to mention how little they'd trust you when they find out what you're up to. Starcraft isn't worth broken relationships with your parents.
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LOL back in the days (with mainly MMORPGs), rents used to set up a BIO password on my PC and then day after day, I would glance over them typing the password one digits/letters at time so that I could piece those puzzle together and get the final password. During the middle of the night, I would set up a lock on my door (didn't have a lock before), then play some StarCraft for 3 to 4 hours a day and just do whatever. Those were the days when my senses were 100% active even when playing, to make sure that there is no suspicious noise at my door. I was kinda like Xellos in keeping my keyboard typing to a minimum noise.
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On September 22 2011 19:53 zany_001 wrote:
That's pretty sad that you didn't and don't respect your parents enough to let them ban gaming while you're studying. They gave birth to you, feed you, clothe you, and protect you and you can't even take a few limits on you like no gaming, curfew of 10pm, max 2 hours tv a day, stuff like that. And once you're out of school they'll most likely remove your restictions or lessen them a lot, and you'll hopefully be mature enough to know when it's game time and when it's work time. Instead you have to deceive them because they're "dictators"???? Not to mention how little they'd trust you when they find out what you're up to. Starcraft isn't worth broken relationships with your parents.
HAHAHA
Really?
I've actually met some draconian parents that want their kid to do NOTHING but study even though they make straight A's. There are actually people out there that put such ridiculous restrictions on their children and then fully expect them to never rebel against it.
Let's be honest here. Most parents are fairly certain their teenager disobeys them on a routine basis. It's a fact of life you know? Not all parents are shining examples of parenting and while I know that teenagers can be incredibly whiny, don't take just one side of the story.
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ALLEYCAT BLUES50107 Posts
XellOs would approve of this blog :p.
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On September 22 2011 19:53 zany_001 wrote:
That's pretty sad that you didn't and don't respect your parents enough to let them ban gaming while you're studying. They gave birth to you, feed you, clothe you, and protect you and you can't even take a few limits on you like no gaming, curfew of 10pm, max 2 hours tv a day, stuff like that. And once you're out of school they'll most likely remove your restictions or lessen them a lot, and you'll hopefully be mature enough to know when it's game time and when it's work time. Instead you have to deceive them because they're "dictators"???? Not to mention how little they'd trust you when they find out what you're up to. Starcraft isn't worth broken relationships with your parents.
my parents and i have a "decent" relationship up to my point, i've always done what i wanted because i know my limits, and whats best for myself. Never have i done anything that I can recall on the top of my head that i've regretted. I believe parents are there to give you suggestions on what you should do or not, its up to you to make the decision to listen to them or not, and for my case, i did not and i'm doing just fine.
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I can understand why some people who approve of this blog but for those that do, you have your priorities and values messed up. 2 very important values in life are integrity and discipline and the fact that the OP lied to his parents and is apparently proud of it is very wrong.
You also need to read between the lines a little. No one gets to B on iccup without playing and analysing alot. I have a feeling that the OP plays too much for his parents liking and that's why they impose all the restrictions. Instead, of the OP had been more moderate in the amount of gaming (e.g. playing only on weekends or holidays), none of it would've happened.
I would've had a moderate amount of respect if the OP stuck to his principles but was willing to work for it. Instead, he lived under his parents roof and deceived them. If he moved out and supported himself - then he can do the things he want because he is standing on his on two feet.
In the end of the day, everyone makes their own choices in life. It's very easy to say "i'm fine" when experiencing a very sheltered and trouble free life.
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On September 22 2011 21:16 Jayme wrote:Show nested quote +On September 22 2011 19:53 zany_001 wrote:
That's pretty sad that you didn't and don't respect your parents enough to let them ban gaming while you're studying. They gave birth to you, feed you, clothe you, and protect you and you can't even take a few limits on you like no gaming, curfew of 10pm, max 2 hours tv a day, stuff like that. And once you're out of school they'll most likely remove your restictions or lessen them a lot, and you'll hopefully be mature enough to know when it's game time and when it's work time. Instead you have to deceive them because they're "dictators"???? Not to mention how little they'd trust you when they find out what you're up to. Starcraft isn't worth broken relationships with your parents. HAHAHA Really? I've actually met some draconian parents that want their kid to do NOTHING but study even though they make straight A's. There are actually people out there that put such ridiculous restrictions on their children and then fully expect them to never rebel against it. Let's be honest here. Most parents are fairly certain their teenager disobeys them on a routine basis. It's a fact of life you know? Not all parents are shining examples of parenting and while I know that teenagers can be incredibly whiny, don't take just one side of the story.
Draconian parents or whatnot, deceiving your parents is very poor. No parent is perfect but unless you are supporting yourself, you should abide by your parents rules. If you don't like it, you should move out and stand on your own two feet. It's very easy to be critical while living a sheltered life.
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Meh sad to see that there are parents that are so close minded not to let you play a game :/
Happily for me my dad was the one that kinda got me into "gaming" when i was like 6 or 7... tho he kinda sucks now and he doesn't play anymore due to... idk its like "old" ppl kinda forget what its nice to do in life, he used to go to LAN with his friends ( when internet was 1/4 a salary expensive here and non could afford it ) to play CS AOE...etc. It felt really good to beat him at AOE and mortal kimbat when i was 8 or 9 after 2 years of "practice".
Also sneaking is something that you can do if you know your parents wouldn't allow you otherwise but you can try comforting them if they are reasonable ppl imo.I managed to do so 4 years ago when i was playing wow ( when the game was actually good ) to convince them to let me stay up til 1-2 to raid.
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On September 23 2011 02:46 Aterons_toss wrote:
Meh sad to see that there are parents that are so close minded not to let you play a game :/
Happily for me my dad was the one that kinda got me into "gaming" when i was like 6 or 7... tho he kinda sucks now and he doesn't play anymore due to... idk its like "old" ppl kinda forget what its nice to do in life, he used to go to LAN with his friends ( when internet was 1/4 a salary expensive here and non could afford it ) to play CS AOE...etc. It felt really good to beat him at AOE and mortal kimbat when i was 8 or 9 after 2 years of "practice".
Also sneaking is something that you can do if you know your parents wouldn't allow you otherwise but you can try comforting them if they are reasonable ppl imo.I managed to do so 4 years ago when i was playing wow ( when the game was actually good ) to convince them to let me stay up til 1-2 to raid.
Believe it or not parents generally have legit reasons for limiting or preventing gaming. You seem to forget that gaming is not a right, it's a priveledge. I know my parents limited my gaming time because if they didn't I'd play way too much and my life now would be much worse. If you have the self control to moderate your own gaming then it's not a problem but most kids don't have that self control, hence parental limitations.
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On September 23 2011 02:20 Azzur wrote:
I can understand why some people who approve of this blog but for those that do, you have your priorities and values messed up. 2 very important values in life are integrity and discipline and the fact that the OP lied to his parents and is apparently proud of it is very wrong.
You also need to read between the lines a little. No one gets to B on iccup without playing and analysing alot. I have a feeling that the OP plays too much for his parents liking and that's why they impose all the restrictions. Instead, of the OP had been more moderate in the amount of gaming (e.g. playing only on weekends or holidays), none of it would've happened.
I would've had a moderate amount of respect if the OP stuck to his principles but was willing to work for it. Instead, he lived under his parents roof and deceived them. If he moved out and supported himself - then he can do the things he want because he is standing on his on two feet.
In the end of the day, everyone makes their own choices in life. It's very easy to say "i'm fine" when experiencing a very sheltered and trouble free life.
Has it occurred to you that just because you may have had reasonable parents not everyone else does? There are some situations where there is simply nothing you can do. No one grows up doing clandestine shit like this for kicks, it happens for a reason. Sure, I love my parents, I'll support them when they're old, and I understand why they are the way they are, but the simple truth is that every time I've tried to have a heart-to-heart conversation with them over the last decade I have regretted it. Every time. We simply do not speak the same language.
I was about to rant a bit more but I decided against it. Let's just say that the single most important thing (I might even say the only thing) that I have learned in my household is when to give up and leave it at that. I can not recall a single time that I have regretted breaking my parents' rules, either for my sake or theirs. Being sheltered has nothing to do with it.
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Jesus, I suddenly love my mother a lot more.
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They used to set a password to prevent me from playing. Also, mom would check if the screen was hot (from being on).
I figured out the password was short when they typed it, then I just had to figure it out. I assumed that they used a password that they thought I was never going to figure out. I was a kid back then, so it was probably something I wouldn't think about, and it was probably related to my brother, as he was 10 years older and was the person that primarily used the computer. So every day I would turn it on and try various passwords. It took me I think 1-2 weeks, but I figured it out. It was "girlfriend" ("cura" in my languages). bwahahaha I busted them and could play the computer any time I wanted, as long as I finished in time so the screen could cool off (ie. before they came home from work). And then I could ask them to let me play again if I wanted rofl. I felt like a mastermind. >
My grades were good at any time, without me even studying much, they just thought I was spending too much time on it and that I was addicted. I was a very good kid otherwise, 0 trouble for them, and they didn't have me on their mind too much, as they were preoccupied with some other things.
Later when I was older, I'd stay awake longer and use it during the night. (I was playing Utopia so I had to check in from time to time and make attacks, etc.). They were sleeping upstairs so I could hear when they got up. xD The only problem were the internet bills. heh
Even now they don't like to see me on the computer at all when I come there during the vacation; I don't live there anymore because of college. So I sometimes hide the VOD window in a part of the screen I can hide with my torso lolol.
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The other thing is.. you don't have to close the game. You can just pause and "hide" it.
http://www.window-hide.com/ (Note: Experiment with this program be4 you actually execute it with your parents)
http://www.elgorithms.com/downloads/chaoscrystal.php (Same deal here, may make it harder for you to actually play games though)
http://www.dekisoft.com/mou.php (You can set up so when you press a hotkey, the screensaver will instantly show up)
Sorry for the necro, but I also have a request since my parents recently dropped the ban hammer on video games. I have used the most advanced stealth technology I could use of my tools, but apparently they still caught me playing league of legends.
It's hard to scout my parents because I can't always hear their footsteps. I live in a middle class house, and this means that the stairs don't creak at all when they come upstairs. I have always relied on them stepping on the hard wood floor be4 the actual stairs, which is made up of carpet. My computer room is visible as soon as the person goes upstairs. My parents want the computer room's door to be opened and the monitor facing the hallway.
And with the part that says "I couldn't respond fast enough to close out BW", well the problem is if they saw you playing, there is no point in hiding it from then? Oh I see what you mean. You're trying to say they're almost right at your room when you noticed, but they didn't see quite yet. The problem with my situation is that they instantly see my room right when they come upstairs. When they're sneaking it's nearly impossible to tell that they went upstairs...
What do you recommend? The sole problem right now is the fact that it's hard to predict when my parents might come upstairs. I had no sound system, nothing but my father mysteriously came upstairs and caught me playing for like 5 seconds (He sneaked on purpose though). I had no choice but to admit i was taking a break, which they accepted until they recently dropped the banhammer. The problem now is, if I get caught even once, they're going to chopsaw my computer and make it a dust full of silicon and plastic particles, and force me to do homework at the library.
How can I not get caught at all? I really do miss video games. I am a straight A student who is in junior year taking 5 AP Classes (Including APUSH and AP Chem), but I'm still doing pretty well in school and all my activities. My parents are actually more heartbroken that I broke their trust rather than me playing video games. The sad truth is, it's going to take until college to rebuild their stubborn trust and my mother is like "U shud find a hobby, something that's not video games". They're not going to get convinced.
Thanks if you can help. It is very appreciated.
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I suggest you give up video games for the next few months. Over time if you stick to it they should let you have a few hours a week or an hour a week or something, and you can build up your game time from then. It's not worth losing your PC, and there's plenty of other stuff you can do on your PC other than gaming. I suggest you learn some art skills or programming skills while you wait for them to let you game again. You get some useful skills which might get you a job one day, you become more elite due to knowing how to make either awesome art or cool programs, and make your parents happy all at the same time. You can not lose ;o
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Maaaaaaaaaaan... I remember this. Originally my folks didn't care, sure my dad would find me at the computer at 4 in the morning but he'd be like "Go to sleep" so I would but it'd be cool. After we moved and I played more games it got more complicated, especially gaming during day time.
Particularly homeschooling, after I got my laptop, when the thing I type my schoolwork on and the thing I'd play games were on the same computer, away in my room on the second floor past the squeaky stairs... except when they (actually just my mom, my dad was laid back), except when she'd try and surprise me and come through the other door (weird old house, 2 sets of stairs, 2 doors to my room, 1 to front stairs and 1 to bathroom and my sister's room).
Really it was this weird arms technology thing going on. "You did this to stop my gaming habits? How about this?" "You figured about how to do that? How about this?"
Funny that every round my parents and I would get more perceptive and more computer-literate. Though I was always on top, but it didn't always work. One time they took away computers and gaming for several months... I just caught up on work and gradually got everything back. It was always ironic because prior to my habits of staying up real late gaming I had habits of staying up late reading and they never had problems with that.
I think in my case the turning point was when they stopped forcing me to go to sleep at a certain hour. Left to myself I'd get all the time I'd ever need at night, pretty much what I'd been doing but now legit.
Good times lol; for anyone currently in this situation you've gotta find your own course, depending on your relationship with your parents. If it's such that you can just confront them, do as one dude did and take their stuff hostage, then go ahead. Most parents will probably take it personal though and you'll feel terrible for doing it. On the other hand, you could just stop gaming but that's just giving up :D
So I like to chart a middle course, figure out how it's possible to work the system, cooperate when possible and work around em when it isn't. Learn that arguing rarely gets you anywhere (for example, even if you get straight A's and everyone else plays WoW for hours that's probably not going to work).
Final piece of advice: If all else fails, if you have a handheld (DS, PSP, GBA, whatever), or can get one, milk that thing for all it's worth. BW is probably out of the question, but find whatever emulators you can on them, find ways of getting games from isos or whatever. On my PSP I had emulators for NES, SNES, GBA, PSX and actual PSP games. On my DS I had DS games (on an R4 thing).
Why? With a good pair of ear buds you can often play at night in bed, and if that doesn't work play in the bathroom. Sounds weird but it works. In the day it doesn't always work because they'll realise that you take far too long on the toilet, but at night when everyone else is asleep they'll never notice how long you're in there. It's pretty safe and fool-proof, after years of everything else being sometimes found out by my folks that never was (till I told them after I entered college, we laughed about it). Theoretically you could hid a laptop in there too but that's pretty risky.
To anyone who's arguing about the morality of it, chances are you either got into gaming in college or later, or grew up with very laid-back parents. There are many parents (many Asian who like to stress academics, but also my Caucasian parents) who really believe that video games are of the devil and will either not tolerate it at all or only to a little degree. No one ever starts out doing all these strategies, you work up to that point. I'm in college now, I can do what I want a good amount of the time and when I'm home my folks are pretty cool. It's perfectly possible to get into a good college and play games but parents sometimes don't recognise that and so you have to work around them.
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I can attest that if anyone is qualified to make a guide like this, it's YPang / Gladstone. Good thing you don't have to do this shit anymore Yang lol.
Also, to people saying 'shouldn't you do what your parents want?' There's a limit. Some parents are ridiculous extreme and are only happy with studying every waking hour, and then eating/sleeping.
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It's hilarious because I had this problem too.
Now I just play and when they start yelling I just don't give a fuck. Eventually they gave up because I can still pull in decent marks in school.
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On September 22 2011 19:53 zany_001 wrote:
That's pretty sad that you didn't and don't respect your parents enough to let them ban gaming while you're studying. They gave birth to you, feed you, clothe you, and protect you and you can't even take a few limits on you like no gaming, curfew of 10pm, max 2 hours tv a day, stuff like that. And once you're out of school they'll most likely remove your restictions or lessen them a lot, and you'll hopefully be mature enough to know when it's game time and when it's work time. Instead you have to deceive them because they're "dictators"???? Not to mention how little they'd trust you when they find out what you're up to. Starcraft isn't worth broken relationships with your parents.
Some parents actually restrict absolutely everything except study, food, and sleep.
Some parents beat their kids when their angry. Like mine did 8 years ago before I moved out. So yes, when they put restrictions on my only escape from having to interact with them, I said fuck you behind their backs and went underground in plain sight. I STILL made good grades, and they didn't let up. I remember doing everything the OP mentioned and more, and remember it with pleasant feelings. I remember a kid whose parents were actually tech savvy and checked his laptop for Diablo 2 and BW, so he would uninstall it everyday and reinstall it when he got to school just to get around them.
Never regretted it. Am an adult with a job and going to night school for MA degree. I know how to prioritize. My parents NEVER helped that with their restrictions or their beatings.
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I remember when I first got Pokemon Blue when I was a kid playing that in bed at midnight with the bed covers over my head. I only ever got caught once! Parents just don't have that (sorry can't think of a gender neutral saying) boys will be boys attitude when it comes to games. Yet, we always find ways to do what we love don't we?
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EPT
