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Geek Culture / Is it just me or is there a generation gap?

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 01:41
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Last weekend my son and grandchildren came to visit. My grandson, aged not quite 6, asked if "we could play that game on your computer". The game was "Heroes of Might and Magic 3" which I played with him once before on my laptop when he was just 5.

I've played it many, many times (and its sequel HOMM4) before and thought I knew the game inside out. Five minutes into the first scenario and I get the question: "Grandad, what's that green bar for?". I reply "What green bar?" and, on being shown the green bar, I confess I don't know .

A few minutes later he tells me that the green bar tells you whether that particular hero has finished its turn. He was right. A while later and a similar discussion takes place over the blue bar.

When I was his age I was racing garden snails along a doorstep with my younger brother.

Is it time for me to exit the scene gracefully - or is it already too late?
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Diggsey
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 01:43
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You only need to worry when he starts improving your shaders


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JLMoondog
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 01:55
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Agree with Diggsey. Until such time he points at your code and says, "..shouldn't you clear the back buffer before doing that?", then I think your fine.


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xplosys
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 02:28
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My oldest Grandson, 5 years old, has one of those GameBoy hand held things. He tried to show me how to play, but I couldn't do it and he got irritated with me. LOL

My youngest Grandson (born this morning) doesn't play any games yet.

Brian.

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Strelok
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 02:30 Edited at: 6th Sep 2009 02:30
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nah its cool , I have a friend who's brother is also 6 years old.He plays FEAR 2 , prototype , Godfather 2 , GTA4... etc.
He play it with out any problems.. although he don't play it how you have to , like making quests or missions but he find his way in it.
I find it quite amazing because when I was about his age I couldn't finish the first level of DOOM 1 and I found that game scary .
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 02:40
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Quote: "My oldest Grandson, 5 years old, has one of those GameBoy hand held things. He tried to show me how to play, but I couldn't do it and he got irritated with me. LOL"


Sounds painfully familiar. I can't even read the "screen" let alone understand the rules of play.
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IanM
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 02:40
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Seeing as it's your grandson you're talking about, wouldn't that make it two generation gaps? I bet you feel better now that I've pointed that out

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 02:43
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Quote: "Seeing as it's your grandson you're talking about, wouldn't that make it two generation gaps?"


True - but I decided such excessive precision wasn't called for in a thread title.

Anyway, shouldn't you be in bed by now? It's past the 9pm watershed you know.
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greenlig
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 04:32
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It must really be crazy seeing things develop like that over your lifetime. I grew up in rural Australia, and spent almost all of my free time running around in the bush playing games. Sure, I used computers a lot, and have loved them since an early age, but nothing beat playing outside in the scrub, making cubby houses, bombs, playing guns, camping, swimming in the river etc.

Now I see my nephews and nieces with laptops at the age of 8 or 9, playing consoles and understanding what's happening, getting mobile phones, and generally doing crazy advanced stuff. I think I'm only a third of your age, green gandalf, but it's already evident to me that a lot will change.

Anyone read "Johnny can't code"? Really cool article that looks at something like this.

I miss the scrub

Greenlig

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 14:00
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That's an interesting article - and I probably agree with the author's main point. However, I'm sure the same things could be done more simply using modern technology. I'd guess that present day hand-held calculators could do the job just as well - and more conveniently. Are there any with a suitable spec? No need for a PC or a laptop if you just want simple line by line BASIC programming to implement a few formulae from a maths book.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 14:36
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We have grandfathers on the forums? wow, I suddenly feel very young compared to you grey beards.

I read the article, might sound dumb but it annoyed me how many times the author kept saying "line by line" programming, isn't it just called procedural?

Quote: "but today there's no easy way for kids to get hooked on programming."

Seriously? I think it's easier now more than ever. First, computers are more popular than ever and are no longer the geek/nerd's toy. That alone has kids more willing to play around with them to see what they can do. But I guess the author isn't arguing the interest in programming, only the ease of getting started in it.

I also think DarkBasic is more enticing to a kid than standard BASIC. It still uses the same Basic syntax for the most part and you can start with simple programs just as you would in Basic. When I started programming with QB at around 13yr old, I think Wolf 3D was about the most advanced graphics I had to compare my own stuff too. Looking at today's games, programming in QB would have discouraged me early on. DBP would let me see 3D results very quickly even though I would still barely be passed the basic fundamentals of programming.

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 15:24
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I realised there was a generation gap when I spent an hour explaining MS Excel to my dad...

If I was ever given the opportunity to remove all the bad from the world, I wouldn't, because for there to be heroism, compassion and all that is good, there must also be all that is bad.
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greenlig
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 15:36
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Yeah, but at the time, games were an awesome novelty, and all those early systems came with BASIC installed. A lot of kids from that generation we able to jump in and get coding. These days you need to get the software, set it up, and trawl help manuals. I guess I am saying exactly what the article did, but it is very interesting.

I know DBC saved my coding life! My dad was teaching my brother and I c/++ from when I was about 10. He used to sit us down every Thursday afternoon and take us through it. I had NO idea what was happening, but I knew I loved it. Enter DBC, which I found on a demo CD from some computer mag here in Australia. Changed my life. Completely. Now, I find myself having already worked in the games for 6 months, and on the cusp of moving across the country for another job offer, all because DBC was aimed at making games. My 12 year old brain fried

/endramble

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revenant chaos
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 16:29
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Quote: "I'd guess that present day hand-held calculators could do the job just as well - and more conveniently. Are there any with a suitable spec?"

There sure are, that's how I started programming (though I could never go back to it). I was using a TI-83+ graphing calculator, granted it only ran at something like 16hertz, it taught me many of the fundamental concepts.
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Mahoney
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 17:25
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Quote: "I realised there was a generation gap when I spent an hour explaining MS Excel to my dad... "


I know what you mean. I've had many similar conversations with my parents.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 18:40
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You think that's bad, imagine doing that in my situation where my dad graduated from the same college as me. "blah blah, i got my tech degree from the same place, boy" ..... 30 years ago.

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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 19:32
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I read the article too but the whole time he kept complaining about not being able to run Basic I thought "This guy acts like he's good with computers but doesn't know how to run DOSBOX?". And why doesn't he have Basic on a disk somewhere in his closet if he used it when he was young? If I wanted to use Basic, GWBasic, QBasic, or QuickBasic it would take me all of 5 minutes to find and run any of them. Actually having to buy a whole computer just to run Basic is crazy.

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 6th Sep 2009 20:08
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Quote: "I know what you mean. I've had many similar conversations with my parents."


The best part was, he had a computer training certificate thingy from Tiny Computers, (who, granted, went bust), as well...

His excuse was it was for hardware, not software...

If I was ever given the opportunity to remove all the bad from the world, I wouldn't, because for there to be heroism, compassion and all that is good, there must also be all that is bad.
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Mahoney
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 01:18
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Quote: "His excuse was it was for hardware, not software... "


Haha. I've heard the same excuse from people other than my dad.

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BatVink
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 01:18
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There's 2 positive things here:

1. You can use phrases like "Do you know how many computer games I had when I was your age? None!" to quell any demands. I'm getting good at this with my children - no need to explain why you had no computer games.

2. The greatest era was watching computers grow from Pong to where they are now. Progress is no where near as exciting today.

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Lemonade
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 10:59
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Quote: "nah its cool , I have a friend who's brother is also 6 years old.He plays FEAR 2 , prototype , Godfather 2 , GTA4... etc.
He play it with out any problems.. although he don't play it how you have to , like making quests or missions but he find his way in it."


Wow, gotta love how he's allowed to play M rated games. That's some great parenting right there.

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Mahoney
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 17:49
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Quote: "Wow, gotta love how he's allowed to play M rated games. That's some great parenting right there."


It's pretty common nowadays. Honestly, if I had kids, I'd rather them play M games than watch the garbage on TV.

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Grandma
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 18:33
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Quote: "It's pretty common nowadays. Honestly, if I had kids, I'd rather them play M games than watch the garbage on TV."

A lesser devil for sure, though I would maybe not let them play M games at such an age. Maybe when they're older than 10.

This message was brought to you by Grandma industries.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 22:01
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My brother's kids are 3 and 4, only games they're allowed to play are "First Letters and Words" on the Amiga, same as we did.

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Mahoney
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Posted: 7th Sep 2009 22:14
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Quote: "A lesser devil for sure, though I would maybe not let them play M games at such an age. Maybe when they're older than 10."


Well, no, I wouldn't either at 6. I was just saying it's not as bad as TV.

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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 8th Sep 2009 06:28
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My 2 year old grandson loves to play Ratchet and Clank. Well he moves Ratchet around and dies a lot. He does occasionally jump and attack (just never close to any bad guys). But he does know to hold the controller perfectly.

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heyufool1
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Posted: 8th Sep 2009 18:52
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Quote: "I was just saying it's not as bad as TV."

Well I honestly have to say GTA IV is just as bad or worse then most things on TV. Anyways, just yesterday I had to explain to my mom the difference between a DVD player and an Ipod... don't ask

Games are like life, they should never stand still.
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Mahoney
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Posted: 8th Sep 2009 20:46
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Quote: "Well I honestly have to say GTA IV is just as bad or worse then most things on TV."


I didn't say *that* M-rated game.

Quote: "Anyways, just yesterday I had to explain to my mom the difference between a DVD player and an Ipod... don't ask"


Wow. I can't imagine a situation where that is necessary. . .

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Toasty Fresh
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Posted: 9th Sep 2009 07:19
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Quote: "I realised there was a generation gap when I spent an hour explaining MS Excel to my dad... "


My dad wants to learn to use Blender, I must have told him 1000 times that you have to press the tab button first before you can edit anything...
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 9th Sep 2009 17:25
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Here's another generation gap. Some of you will know what it's about. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

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Phaelax
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 02:46
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lmao, why you posting videos of my mom?!

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Mahoney
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 06:16
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@Gandalf

Nice.

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