I’m a single father to my son, who’s 14 years old. Now, before you ask, no, I haven’t been living under a rock for 45 years—he’s just a very mature 14-year-old. Anyway, my son recently decided to dive into the world of Red Dead Redemption 2—and in less than a week, he’s already racked up 30+ hours of gameplay.

To be honest, this was a bit of a problem for me. See, it’s already tough to get some quality time with my son, what with him spending all his time with his friends or watching YouTube videos. So I did what any desperate dad would do: I made a Steam account. Yup, that’s right—I decided to jump into the gaming world... for the first time since the 90s. Spoiler alert: I was lost.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be the best time I’ve had with my son in a long while. There I was, in the middle of a wild west adventure with a digital cowboy, realizing I hadn't felt this connected to my son since my wife passed. Gaming is like a weird, beautiful time machine that makes you forget the stress of everyday life and reminds you that fun actually exists.

And what do you know? After a few days, we were spending more time together outside of the house too! It’s amazing what can happen when you both agree to sit down and shoot things in a video game for a few hours.

So yeah, turns out gaming isn't just for kids—it's for parents too. Sure, I may have been a total noob and had no clue what I was doing, but it was totally worth it for the laughs, the bonding, and the fact that I got to spend some much-needed time with my son.

Who knew that a little cowboy action could bring a family closer? Now if only I could stop getting run over by random horses in the game...

Originally posted by Sp0okyNab:

P.S. This is 100% fiction—no dads were harmed in the making of this story.