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Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

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Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#61

Post by reificator »

stagbeetle wrote: post #36
reificator wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't like that the developer ripped off the idea Minecraft and Infiniminer are two very different games, similar in superficial visuals and technological implementation but completely different in terms of gameplay. Besides, if you enjoy a game and then development of that game stops, what's wrong with making your own?

I believe the OG is referring to "CastleMiner Z," the other, not-so oft mentioned, precursor to Minecraft. The investigative should also take note, that Infiniminer is also based off of CastleMiner Z. And that CastleMiner Z itself, was based off of another game.

I was playing Minecraft in 2009. CastleMiner came in in 2011 and the sequel CastleMiner Z came out four months later.

I don't believe that your timeline is correct here.

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#62

Post by reificator »

pasabagi wrote: post #32
reificator wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't like that the developer ripped off the idea Minecraft and Infiniminer are two very different games, similar in superficial visuals and technological implementation but completely different in terms of gameplay. Besides, if you enjoy a game and then development of that game stops, what's wrong with making your own?

I guess I think it's a bit of a tragedy that the most successful game since Doom was a copycat. It's also a shame that really creative game-makers, like ToadyOne or Zach, tend to not do that well - while Notch, who basically copied an entire game, presumably having even read the source code, is now made out of money. I've no idea about the exact mechanics of the copying - whether he just copied the idea, or copied th…

Again, that both games are made of blocks (not voxels, for the record) is a sidenote. They are completely different styles of game.

When a game comes out with a 2D tilemap it's not thought of as a clone of the games that came before it. Why does extending the concept to 3D and making it user-editable make it a clone?

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#63

Post by AlphaWeaver »

gqg wrote: post #20
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #4

Touring the worlds that my son has settled over the last couple of years, I find a lot of the imagery one might expect from a kid his age. Throughout are standard fantasies like living in a treehouse or on a boat. The dominant themes vary as I pass through time: trains in his earliest worlds, then robots, a long streak of pyramids. Pirate ships, particularly half-sunken ones with treasure chests, remain a constant. I…

Are you aware of any currently active multiplayer games which require that level of commitment to character?

I'd absolutely point to Space Station 13. A old game built on a terrible engine, but with an active development community because the source is open. Each server runs a slightly different variant of the game, and a fair number of servers enforce "heavy role play."

I'd recommend a server like Baystation 12 if you're looking to get involved in an RP server. A small bit of googling can point you in the right direction.

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#64

Post by tootie »

ctoestreich wrote: post #27

On the Switch playing Mario Kart 8 with a 5 and 3 year old is everything I wanted. It can both be cooperative and competitive. We have also ventured coop through Mario Odyssey. I think Minecraft is fun, but you definitely have whole bunch of games you should explore with the kids.

Mario Kart is now banned in my house. My youngest never wins and he never takes it well. Mario Odyssey is everyone's jam. They kinda like Minecraft on and off.

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#65

Post by bringtheaction »

diamondo25 wrote: post #8
proaralyst wrote: post #2

This points out a possibility I never thought of: archiving your children's play! I suppose we already keep art that our children produce but something so complexly imagined & constructed over hours was previously fairly ephemeral. I recently had the pleasure of reviving a game world my brother & I had built three years ago. Wandering around that was a nice trip through nostalgia. These kids will be able to do that f…

I also have visited old minecraft worlds i made with my friends, but I must say that bitrot is a serious issue. Once the world is corrupt or lost, you cannot look back at it like you did. This save and restore is what I have grown up with. I remember the day my Pokemon Silver savegame got erased, due to a depleting battery, for example. People should not forget to take pictures and movies and make them physical, inst…

My Pokémon games still hold their saves, about 20 years after I got them. I turned on my GBC and checked a few months ago and the saves were amazingly still there then.

I want to dump the save files but I haven’t quite found the right equipment at the right price. Does anyone know of some electronics that are not too expensive and that can be used to dump the save games onto a Linux computer?

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#66

Post by ramblerman »

jsemrau wrote: post #13

There should be more collaborative games rather than competitive games. One of my fondest memories is playing Quake 2 in COOP mode at a LAN Party back in the 90s getting stuck in a mineshaft with the group way past midnight. Extremely immersive and bonding experience. We still talk about this moment years later.

My fondest memories are playing duke Nukem 3d with my best friend, modem to modem. 1v1 deathmatch.

I don't think there is anything wrong with competition. I think it's the company that makes the experience.

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#67

Post by icelancer »

gowld wrote: post #33
sdfin wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Resource management in video games is a skill that I'm sure transfers to real world resource management. Apart from the simulators you mention strategy games like age of empires and red alert also teach about it. Some weeks ago a co-worker told me something similar to what you share, how he learned about resources while playing SimCity. He also said his younger sister asked him "If people doesn't have money, why does…

It's not a naive question. She was on the verge of re-inventing Keynesian Economics, which ended the Great Depression. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/keynesianeconomics.asp

>> Keynesian Economics, which ended the Great Depression

This is a pretty bold claim and not one that should be stated as fact.

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#68

Post by [deleted] »

RandomInteger4 wrote: post #51
graedus wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If people doesn't have money, why doesn't the government print money and gives it to people?" Because people are not systemically important financial institutions :)

They sort of are though. It's just that a person's importance isn't individually obvious, and only becomes obvious in aggregate.

[deleted]

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#69

Post by itronitron »

tootie wrote: post #64
ctoestreich wrote: post #27

On the Switch playing Mario Kart 8 with a 5 and 3 year old is everything I wanted. It can both be cooperative and competitive. We have also ventured coop through Mario Odyssey. I think Minecraft is fun, but you definitely have whole bunch of games you should explore with the kids.

Mario Kart is now banned in my house. My youngest never wins and he never takes it well. Mario Odyssey is everyone's jam. They kinda like Minecraft on and off.

on the wall in our living room, about 2 feet up from the floor an indentation was made by a Mario Kart steering wheel that was hurled across the room with great passion

Re: Playing Video Games with My Son Isn’t What I Thought It Would Be

#70

Post by ebcode »

gdubs wrote: post #49
skookumchuck wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be very careful about applying lessons from a game to the real world. Lots of games designed by economists, for example, tend to validate the pet theories of the economists, despite not working in the real world. Real world economics is infinitely more complex than the handful of rules in a game.

I don’t have a source — lazy Saturday here — but I recall something about city planners using Sim City back in the day as part of their education, which horrified Will Wright since in his words (paraphrasing) “sim city is just cellular automata with some differential equations sprinkled on top.”

Yeah, but who's to say that real cities aren't just cellular automata? They kind of look that way from space.
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