Kate Hackett
It’s pretty weird that a grown adult feels the need to absolutely throttle a child at a game, but u/bigred0603 is that grown adult.
I’m going to warn you in advance that Reddit will be full of “this is how kids learn!” and like, maybe? But this guy is still such an ass. The whole thing just makes me want to yell WHYYYY at him.
At a small get-together with some work friends, OP met some of his colleagues’ children.
So this happened at a small Halloween get together I went to with a few work friends. A lot of them are older than me (28) and are at the point that they have kids like the person whose house we were. They are somewhere in their 50’s I don’t know the exact age but they have a few kids the youngest of which was like 8 or 9 and was at the party.
One of the kids was bored and his dad offered that OP also plays games — they both play Smash Bros! The kid asks OP to play.
The kid is just bored and trying to do something, his dad mentions that I might play some of the same games he does and yeah sure enough we both play smash brothers. Kids asks if I want to play a game and I’m bored so I agree.
And instead of THE NORMAL THING, maybe winning a little, but letting the kid win most of the time, OP just dominates him.
This is where I totally wipe the floor with the kid. Like no contest at all. He trys several different game modes and rules to try and get a win in and he takes the l every time. After a few losses he’s getting visibly frustrated, his teenaged sibling tries to keep him calm to no avail.
The kid, who is maybe 8 or 9, gets frustrated and cannot seem to eke out a win. OP keeps doing it.
I just keep letting the kid play me as long as he wanted to, I wasnt particularly egging him on or anything either I would usually just ask if he wanted to go again.
OP did this for so long the kid lost it and had to get sent to bed.
Eventually the kid has a mini tantrum and his dad has to stop what he’s doing to scold him and send him to bed. It was a little awkward for everyone.
Like all other reasonable adults, people at the party were a tad huffy that OP was such a jerk to this child.
No one ever directly put blame on me for it but I could kinda tell from the vibe in the room that they low key blamed me for the outburst as well. And there were lots of small Comments saying things like I was a little harsh or asking why I couldn’t just let him win one, or why I didn’t stop playing with him after he started getting mad. I just told them I was having fun and left it at that.
OP admits he’s not the best at social reads, but feels he did nothing wrong.
I’ll admit to not being the best read on social situations but I feel like none of the blame should be put on me at all. I don’t feel particularly obligated to go easy on him just because he’s a kid. I’m not like a go to tournaments smash player but I’m at least decent at it and I didn’t hold back at all when playing him. Which I didn’t see an issue with but reading the room afterwards it seems like maybe I should have. AITA?
I absolutely think he did. The judgments on Reddit were a little kinder.
“NAH – I’m the father of a 9 year old who does not like to lose and I’d say that it’s not your responsibility to “go easy” on him or teach him lessons about losing with grace. That’s the responsibility of the people who have skin in the game of making him a functioning adult. It’s good to get your ass kicked at things every once in a while. Especially something low-stakes, like video games. It keeps you humble,” said one parent.
Another wrote, “I remember I was playing with a woman online and she let her kid take over. I chased the kid around but tried to avoid him. She ended up thanking me for taking it easy on him. I fail to see the enjoyment in beating a kid that does not stand a chance against you.”
