I (32f) have an older sister (37f) with two kids, my neice (14) and nephew (11).
Now this last year I was doing well financially, and so I decided to go all out for Christmas gifts.
My nephew was easy enough with his fortnite and Roblox stuff, but my niece really got my hopes up for a really special Christmas this year when I asked about some ideas for her gift. She stated, "I’ve been really into older games lately like ‘parappa the rapper,’ and ‘super Mario Sunshine.’
I immediately started the think about how my sister and I used play the Dreamcast together.
I looked into buying a Dreamcast and they cost for more than what I thought. Like anywhere from $100 to up to $600. I was doing well, but I wasn’t rolling in cash. I ended up buying a second hand one that looked decent on eBay. However, there just was only enough left over to buy a single game.
Due to some unfortunate timing with too many members of the family being sick, we ended up calling off a Christmas get together. I shipped the gifts to my niece and nephew, and though I wasn’t there, I heard they both loved the gifts.
About of week ago, I found some time to go see my sister and her family. My sister ended up picking me up from the airport along with her husband and kids. I sat in the back with the kids.
My nephew had a steam deck with his fortnite and Roblox on it. He showed me all the things he got. I just nodded my head and said "cool" every now and then. I was just happy he was happy. Eventually, I asked my niece about her Dreamcast.
She said she was having a lot of fun with it and recorded some videos with it for her private YouTube channel. She then showed me her videos.
My heart sank when I saw her newest video titled "upgrading my Dreamcast" with a thumbnail showing her Dreamcast in a hundred pieces and a handsaw cutting some of the plastic. I immediately started to tear up, and blurted out, "why did you do that!?"
The car went silent and my niece started crying. She said, "I just didn’t have anything to play on it."
I snapped back with, "but that was my gift to you! I should’ve never gotten you that!"
My sister pulls over the car and tries talking to me about what’s going on, but I’m a full mess by this point. I end up telling them to go on and I order an Uber for myself.
When I get there, my sister is already at the front door waiting for me. We talk on the porch. It turns out that the console wasn’t actually destroyed but my niece had replaced some hardware in the console so that she could play more games on it that she could get from the internet.
I was still angry about my niece doing this to such a sentimental gift. I try telling my sister, the gift was good enough as it was and what my neice did was insulting.
She ended up making me stay in a hotel for the first couple of nights (which I had to pay for out of my own pocket) and now I’m writing this while waiting in the terminal for my plane back.
So she modded her Dreamcast to play more games and in fact did not break it? YTA? I guess she could have explained what she did to it better, but it is not broken.
Yup YTA.
YTA – How is this in any way or form a sentimental gift.
Once you gave it to her, she could do whatever she wanted with it.
I’d say YTA. 1st of all when you give a gift it now belongs to the recipient. They can do what they want with it. Second of all, how is it sentimental? Was that the exact same console you and your sister played on as kids? No? Then it’s just a random console you found online and are making more drama out of the situation than necessary.
YTA, if the kid was interested in it enough to break it down, mod it, and be able to play ROMs on it that is amazing. They enhanced the gift you gave.
How is that worse than the kid just tossing it or leaving it in the closest collecting dust as it had 1 game.
I would have been stoked if I gave a retro console and my nephew or nieace cared enough to want to enhance it with mods.
YTA. It was her gift. She didnt destroy it, she upgraded it to make it work better for her. Id get being upset if she just smashed it for fun but thats not what happened.
YTA
She didn’t destroy it. She replaced some internal components to play other games, that’s actually pretty damn impressive.
You had an emotional reaction based on seeing it in a bunch of pieces but instead of reacting with curiosity you got upset and made assumptions that it was destroyed. Instead of sharing a cool experience you destroyed the opportunity to develop that relationship.
Additionally, this was a gift. Once you give a gift it is no longer your property and you have no say on what happens to it. Even if she HAD destroyed it, she’s a kid, and kids break stuff. If you’re not prepared for a kid to destroy a gift you get them, then don’t get them an expensive gift.
YTA. You freaked out immediately without waiting for any explanation at all. It was apparently so bad you left the car and took an Uber.
People mod this old systems all the time. Your niece made the console more usable for her. You know, the person the gift was for. Just because you remember playing Dreamcast games with your sister doesn’t mean this was a “sentimental” gift for your niece. It was a gaming console. She moded it to play more games.
Title is misleading, she didn’t break it, she upgraded it. And it wasn’t a sentimental gift for her, just for you. Once you gave it to her, it was her’s to do what she wants with it. YTA
A 32 yr old had a crying fit and wouldn’t even stay in the car because the 14 yr old did not enshrine some gaming system you bought off eBay? YTA and see a therapist. WTH is wrong with you?
….you melted down
over a child
upgrading her games system.
Jesus fuck you are a grown adult. Act like it.
So she successfully modded her Dreamcast and you yelled at her and cried over it? Wtf? I’m impressed that she’s only 14 and doing something so cool. You should be proud of her. You made her cry! What’s your problem? YTA
Wow. Nothing like dumping YOUR expectations and sentimentality on a 14-year-old.
You gave her a gift. It was HERS then — to do with whatever she wanted. You went full tantrum and meltdown because she did some things to it so she could play more games. Don’t you feel so proud that you made her cry? That’ll teach her, right.
YTA. Maybe spend a few bucks on therapy to find out why you acted so poorly. It sounds like you’ve blown up your relationship with your sister and her family, so I hope it was all worth it for you.
So she enjoyed your gift so much she spent hours into overclocking it (crazy at her age!) so she could play it more. She still uses it. It’s a great gift and a very sweet story.
And you, the grown-up, are throwing a fit because she modified it? YTA, no doubt about it.
It would have been rude if she gave it away, destroyed it or sold it, but upgrading it is well within her rights and absolutely not something that warrants your reaction. If anything, it should be flattering that she invested so much time and effort into it.