For those of you who started as a child, did a parent or other adult relative who was already a gamer introduce you or was it from a peer or older sibling?
My parents never played and I didn't know any adults who played. I remember a guy at McDonald's who heard me and some friends talk about it mentioning that he used to play and he asked us about our characters and I remember finding that rather weird.
In hindsight, I'm glad that I learned it with friends. I'm glad that I'm able to introduce my boys to the game but I really hope they can find some friends to play with. I think that getting together with friends and running your own games without adult supervision is a powerful thing.
It is not just gaming of course. It seems that the "need" for adult supervision is pervading all aspects of our kids lives these days (at least in the suburban USA). It is not all bad. Parental involvement has many benefits over neglectful parenting. But there is also benign neglect. Kids need not just alone time, but unstructured time with peers to socialize and experiment with who they are.