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The Minecraft Generation

nytimes.com

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Re: The Minecraft Generation

#61

Post by VikingCoder »

jaked89 wrote: post #59
zanny wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of a corporate for-profit proprietary video game being the centerpiece of a generation's learning is horrifying and dystopian to me. It is the same problem the last generation had, in large part, with the public schooling Microsoft monoculture. Kids grew up on Windows 95 and Office and are now indoctrinated into Microsoft tooling, probably for life, as loyal customers. A very valuable investment on Microsoft…

The public education system is for-profit as well, only difference is that they make their profit by collecting funds coercively, instead of advertising their service and getting paid voluntarily. The hatred towards for-profit companies is childish. Why would you expect anyone to build games for you for free?

The hatred towards Microsoft and Apple is childish. Why would you expect anyone to build an operating system for you for free?

Oh, wait...

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#62

Post by DigitalJack »

jcrawfordor wrote: post #49
sjm-lbm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an alternative point of view, I've always heard that HP calculators were killed by TI giving free calculators to schools - which lead to an entire generation that had no desire to learn RPN, even if it has some serious advantages in a lot of areas. The counterexamples you provide (OSX and Chromebooks) follow basically the same UI paradigms as the Windows machines they replaced (even if some of those might have bee…

I don't think HP's RPN calculators were ever in competition with TI. The RPN calculators like the 12C are marketed to finance professionals, and TI has nothing like them. The HP graphing calculators like the 50g are infix (although there is a pretty good RPN app available). Edit: I do see that HP made graphing calculators with native RPN in the late '80s, so perhaps they were pushing these for academic markets, altho…

The 50g is infix? When did HP switch away from RPN? Oh, it's just an option now. I've had my 48g since college in the late 90s, and now use a 48g emulator on my phone.

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#63

Post by unclebucknasty »

_asummers wrote: post #7
wtbob wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that one got me too. I really hope these servers just call them telnet admins and don't actually use telnet in 2016.

I dunno man, the amount of people who say "FTP server" with a straight face, not realizing that credentials are transmitted in plaintext, is alarming.

Yeah, but e-mail. The overwhelming masses of people still use it for transmitting the most important docs in plaintext.

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#64

Post by LoSboccacc »

Filligree wrote: post #24
jshelly wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, my kids (10) gave up on Minecraft a while ago and have been completely focused on Roblox for the past year.

Did you look at the modded Minecraft experience at all, before doing that?

Ah good old tekkit. Now there is test pack please ignore which shows promise but to be honest the modding scene slowed down after the bukkit/forge mess and due to the fatigue of never receiving the promised stable api.

The moment ic2 stopped development I lost interest.

Buildcraft spawned factorio however, so my logistic nerd needs are satisfyed :)

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#65

Post by spdustin »

joezydeco wrote: post #18

These days I'm a bit more intrigued by Roblox. My 11 year-old son and his friends have completely abandoned Minecraft for it. Roblox is designed for MMO play from the start, but worlds (or whatever they're called) are completely open to modification with their free editor. Then you can script things in Lua. Lua! The other night my son was antsy at the dinner table. So I asked him why the rush. He said he "had a fligh…

Parents, watch your kids on this if you haven't already taught them about Internet safety. Many players creatively get around the kid-friendly chat filters and behave in ways you may not want your younger ones to mimic.

Source: my 8 year old daughter who tattled on strangers and said "didn't their parents teach them to keep stuff private?"

That kid. <3

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#66

Post by swiley »

jcrawfordor wrote: post #49
sjm-lbm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an alternative point of view, I've always heard that HP calculators were killed by TI giving free calculators to schools - which lead to an entire generation that had no desire to learn RPN, even if it has some serious advantages in a lot of areas. The counterexamples you provide (OSX and Chromebooks) follow basically the same UI paradigms as the Windows machines they replaced (even if some of those might have bee…

I don't think HP's RPN calculators were ever in competition with TI. The RPN calculators like the 12C are marketed to finance professionals, and TI has nothing like them. The HP graphing calculators like the 50g are infix (although there is a pretty good RPN app available). Edit: I do see that HP made graphing calculators with native RPN in the late '80s, so perhaps they were pushing these for academic markets, altho…

I have an hp50g and it kind of sucks in infix mode compared to RPN mode IMO. Everything is hidden behind layers and layers of menus sort of like the TI calculators (which is the point I guess?)

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#67

Post by jameshart »

_asummers wrote: post #7
wtbob wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that one got me too. I really hope these servers just call them telnet admins and don't actually use telnet in 2016.

I dunno man, the amount of people who say "FTP server" with a straight face, not realizing that credentials are transmitted in plaintext, is alarming.

And people still call TLS SSL. Habits form, technologies change.

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#68

Post by jameshart »

noobie wrote: post #14
vvanders wrote: post #4

It really does feel like Minecraft is the Doom/Quake/Half-Life of this generation. I'd almost thought that modding had disappeared due to the complexity involved in AAA games but nice to see it alive and well in Minecraft.

The Minecraft modding scene is amazing! The Japanese have been doing wonders. You'd be amazed not only by the content but also by the visual effects of some of the mods. Some examples (Not Japanese): ComputerCraft: adds programmable computers in Lua. With in game applications; programmable robots called turtles. Botania and Thaumcraft are two magical mods with stunning visuals. Buildcraft and AE2 are logistics-orient…

The minecraft modding scene is horrific. Forum posts as homepages, adfly for file hosting, closed source mods whose maintainers are hostile to feedback, compatibility issues between everything...

... and yet somehow it WORKS, and probably provides kids with a better introduction to having to hack with computer technology than anything most kids have had to deal with since having to edit HIMEM in your autoexec.bat to get a soundblaster to work with Doom was a thing.

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#69

Post by dabit3 »

joezydeco wrote: post #18

These days I'm a bit more intrigued by Roblox. My 11 year-old son and his friends have completely abandoned Minecraft for it. Roblox is designed for MMO play from the start, but worlds (or whatever they're called) are completely open to modification with their free editor. Then you can script things in Lua. Lua! The other night my son was antsy at the dinner table. So I asked him why the rush. He said he "had a fligh…

Just downloaded it, fyi it tries to get you to buy money with money literally at the very beginning of the first two games I tried, definitely don't recommend this game.

Re: The Minecraft Generation

#70

Post by chezhead »

I'm a bit younger than many of you (talking about your grandchildren and sons playing this game!). I'm 20, and played a lot of Roblox and then Minecraft before they were this popular. I even interviewed Notch on a cute little podcast called "MineCast" I made back then.

Administrating a medieval-themed role-playing server back then taught me a lot about server administration and general diplomacy (handling bans and choosing admins), chatting on the MinecraftForums and its IRC showed me how to function well in online communities, and now children are experiencing this all over again.

I'm a lot older than the majority of fans, but it's a great touching stone when chatting with younger cousins. My haircutter's son was playing Roblox on a computer a few feet away from me last time I got my hair cut there, and she went on and on about how much time he spent on that game. It really brought me back to those days.

It's going to be fun watching these little nerdlings growing up with such a great toy. Minecraft's popularity goes to show that we don't need to worry about a lack of modding-friendly games (Doom/Quake/Garry's Mod), the kids will find them :)

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