My Father Wants Me to Sell My Xbox ? Help Dudes !?

All through my school life I played consoles. I never failed a grade in school and ended up with good GCSE's. I never skipped doing homework and would always play the console afterwards. Then in college I passed with DMM and a year later I passed an AutoCAD training course. So therefore, gaming has never had an impact on my education and I have always put that first.

Now I work for my fathers business, so I work at home answering the telephone, pricing up drawings, etc. After work at 4.30-5.00 I then go on the xbox for a few hours and in between im doing other stuff. I play about 3-4 hours a day but some days I dont play at all because I cant be bothered.

He moans because sometimes I find it hard to get out of bed. I know this is because at 18 I was diagnosed with Psoriasis Arthritis and fatigue and trying to sleep are one of the main problems related to this illness, but he still blames the xbox saying its ruining my life.

I go on the xbox to relieve stress and chill out and If he takes it away then im going to flip eventually because of the stress building up. I hardly go out because everyone I grew up with in school either commits crimes, smokes marijuana or wastes all the money they worked for all week going out and drinking it all up. I dont want to be like that. I want to save my money and put it towards something when I have enough of it.

He thinks gaming is anti social but how can it be? Im always talking to people I know over my headset and having a laugh about things. I do go out on the weekends so I can talk about these things with them during the week but I dont want to go out with these types of people all the time because of the peer pressure. They constantly say " try this or just have one puff". I know what it can do as my sister went of the rails with drugs and still hasn't got her life back on track.

He also thinks im priveledged for having an xbox and most children dont have one which is absolute rubbish. Everyone I know either has a PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii and I know people who have more than one console. 8/10 british households have a console so im with the majority.

Whenever I try to explain anything to him he doesn't want to hear it and I am seriously contemplating walking out and not speaking to him again as he clearly doesn't value my opinion or the reasons for why I would rather spend my free time on the xbox.

Yet he and my mother both sit and watch the television which in my opinion is far worse. They don't do anything and hardly talk to each other, at least im talking to people and having a laugh. Sometimes I feel as if they want me to go out and cause problems and smoke, I really dont understand we're they are coming from.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Suggestion:

You could try taking an Xbox break. Two weeks with no Xbox at all. If things are the same, it'll be proof that your Xbox isn't the problem. If things improve, then you're dad is right. If things get worse, such as stress like you mentioned, you may be able to use that to convince your dad to back off.