Kids computers

From: John Wilson <wilson_at_dbit.dbit.com>
Date: Thu Mar 9 20:37:13 2000

On Thu, Mar 09, 2000 at 04:41:21PM -0800, Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
> I grew up on Asteroids, Pac Man, Kangaroo, Popeye, Tron, Zaxxon,
> Tempest...I mowed lawns so I'd have enough money to go the arcade with my
> friends. Somewhere in there was Pong, Oddysey, Intellivision, and Atari
> 2600.

OK me too (only a little earlier I guess), but I think real arcade games are
a little different, since they don't distract you from the other uses the
machine could have -- they're the *only* use for that machine. My point is,
if you give an average kid a choice between using their home computer for
boring nerd projects or using it to shoot bad guys, forget it! It's as bad
as drugs or cigarettes, if you try to stop them they'll sneak down at night
to play with the thing behind your back.

Playing games at an arcade but not at home might actually be a *positive*
thing, since it gives the kid some motivation to try to learn how to program
the home computer to do the same fun stuff as the arcade games, w/o costing
the kid so much money. Which is a good way to get them going, unless they've
been spoiled to the point that they don't appreciate the value of money and
they're perfectly happy blowing their huge allowances at the arcade.

John Wilson
D Bit
Received on Thu Mar 09 2000 - 20:37:13 GMT