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[NewsMuffin]

Dwarf Fortress children... I've seen it all now... and it's utterly awesome.
WHY CAN'T I BE OLD ENOUGH I WANT DWARF FORTRESS CHILDREN GOD DAMN IT.

[Eugenitor]

This thread is starting to remind me of this classic.

[SalmonGod]

This thread is starting to remind me of this classic.

Here's mine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPRgq9tJjvY&feature=related

4 year old video taken with a crappy webcam... but that's me and my kid with an HL2 zombie mod.  I'm raising him to be the John Connor of the zombie apocalypse.

[schussel]

... so 'Rapeanus the Sweltering Lusts' doesn't show up as a goblin tower..

so to reap an old thread but this made me giggel and few hours later found such thing myself

[Broken Bolt]

Holy Cow.  It started because a 4 year old wanted to play and 4.5 years later there are 3 and now 2 year olds wanting to play.  Amazing.
i agree with too many tings to quote them all but especially the learning to read angle.  I had to read parts to him, the longer parts, but he would much rather not have to ask so his brain sucked it up and figured it out, figured the words out, taught itself to read.  Or at least it helped a lot.
He got stuck when the combat changed.  He had the old one figured out and the new one was too much, when he already knew one way, so he plays the older versions. 

His Granddad gave him civilisation: art of conquest and he's hooked on that now.  He makes heaps of priest towers behind walls and tries to convert an army by stealing it.
And Pokemon on the DS.  He really got into Catan as a board game and plays that whenever he can.   He's a member on Runescape also, and we play multi WC3.  I'd draw the line at WoW I think, but I have never played that.
He's still more the gentle and quiet type.  It is just his nature.

What he keeps mentioning is multi player DF.  I tell him the world is waiting for him to code it.

Great to hear of the kids even younger than he was enjoying the challenge now.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Why is this topic still being discussed? It seems that the question was answered some time ago, but everyone has decided that this guy needs our parenting advice as well.<P>[ January 26, 2008: Message edited by: Fenrir ]</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I think it's because we feel that we need to have our opinion heard. We are human, and arguing and correcting is our nature. I only wish BrokenBolt would post "ok".

Same here; I think that BB isn't reading this anymore. It's possible that, having read it, he's made his decision and isn't looking at this thread anymore.


In case I'm wrong, and BB is still looking for advice, my opinion is, wait until the kid's older. I don't know him (or her?), but I can guess that there's not much he could do on his own right now.

Two posts above yours, dude.

...Huh.

Of course now you could just give the kid Minecraft and be done with it.

I have the free mobile version of Minecraft, and let me tell you, it freaks me the heck out when I'm working on something and suddenly I hear a zombie moan. Somehow, DF doesn't affect me like that. I suspect it's because the horror is all in the imagination, and I find it hard for my own imagination to scare me these days. Point is, DF is cheaper and probably less scary for kids.

I don't have kids yet, nor have I even started thinking about a family, but I have a little cousin who just turned three who finds me playing Dwarf Fortress very interesting. I can't imagine letting her play it, though that's as much because I don't want my aunt getting mad at me as because I don't think she'd understand how to play.

[Stronghammer]

wow. That is great to hear BrokenBolt. That for sure is a success story of learning, understanding and beginning to a love of strategy games. Just curious did you ever manage to make DF non- "killing" as much as you wanted. I ask purely out of curiosity, and if so I tip my hat to you sir for sticking to it. Modding is for sure a huge task, and then you go to your complexity. good grief.

Sorry for the blab.
Once again what a great success
Cheers   

[Hurize]

Holy Cow.  It started because a 4 year old wanted to play and 4.5 years later there are 3 and now 2 year olds wanting to play.  Amazing.
i agree with too many tings to quote them all but especially the learning to read angle.  I had to read parts to him, the longer parts, but he would much rather not have to ask so his brain sucked it up and figured it out, figured the words out, taught itself to read.  Or at least it helped a lot.
He got stuck when the combat changed.  He had the old one figured out and the new one was too much, when he already knew one way, so he plays the older versions. 

His Granddad gave him civilisation: art of conquest and he's hooked on that now.  He makes heaps of priest towers behind walls and tries to convert an army by stealing it.
And Pokemon on the DS.  He really got into Catan as a board game and plays that whenever he can.   He's a member on Runescape also, and we play multi WC3.  I'd draw the line at WoW I think, but I have never played that.
He's still more the gentle and quiet type.  It is just his nature.

What he keeps mentioning is multi player DF.  I tell him the world is waiting for him to code it.

Great to hear of the kids even younger than he was enjoying the challenge now.

Why would you Resurrect this thread?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Why not?

[smirk]

I'd draw the line at WoW I think, but I have never played that.

I'd agree with you there; WoW is arguably more of a social space than a game. I'd say it's probably better to let him develop social skills at school/in meatspace before tackling the sock-puppet quagmire that the internet can often be. So that he at least doesn't start life thinking "meatspace" is a normal everyday term, if nothing else 0_O

Glad to see he's getting along so well! This thread is always an uplifting read. If he does put together true multiplayer DF, you let us know.


EDIT: Darnit; forgot that time passes. He'd be around 8 now, right? Social internet learnin' is gonna start happening whether you like it or not, I bet. Still, there's better ways to go than WoW.

[Broken Bolt]

 Just curious did you ever manage to make DF non- "killing" as much as you wanted. I ask purely out of curiosity, and if so I tip my hat to you sir for sticking to it.

Sorry for the blab.
Once again what a great success
Cheers   
[/quote]

I worked on some of the basic stuff in init and  my son wanted to know what I was doing the whole time and wanted to know what suggestions people had and once he understood what I had in mind, that is to make the game less gruesome for him, it sort of served the purpose in itself, because that made him understand better than I could have told him, what I like about the game and what I wanted to de-emphasize.  For a long time we turned invaders off and that took care of most of the issue.  Now he puts it off or on as he chooses.

I'd draw the line at WoW I think, but I have never played that.

This thread is always an uplifting read. If he does put together true multiplayer DF, you let us know.


EDIT: Darnit; forgot that time passes. He'd be around 8 now, right? Social internet learnin' is gonna start happening whether you like it or not, I bet. Still, there's better ways to go than WoW.

He's 9 as of last month, thanks for asking.  I haven't got him interested in coding, he prefers the results.  But I think he will get into it in his own time.

[misko27]

Huh, what a odd thread. You say he asks for multi-player. I wonder what he thinks of us? Has he ever been on these forums? I would seriously like to see what that kid made.

This is like the DF messaih. ALL HAIL THE ARMOK CHILD! BAPTISED IN MAGMA, ANNOITED WITH THE BLOOD OF THE DEMON HORDE! MAY HE NAJE NUCH SCIENCE AND HAVE !!FUN!!.

[MaximumZero]

My daughter is now four, and sometimes watches me play.

Her: "What happened?"
Me: "Well, goblins came and tried to break into the dwarves' fortress."
Her: "Is that red stuff blood?"
Me: "Yep. The dwarves have hammers and swords."
Her: "COOOOOOL!"

Her mother is not pleased. ^_^

[GreatWyrmGold]

What a surprise.

Wait, not pleased with your daughter's enthusiasm, or not pleased with you pandering to it?

[Sutremaine]

He's 9 as of last month, thanks for asking.  I haven't got him interested in coding, he prefers the results.  But I think he will get into it in his own time.

Introduce him to modding. The raws have gotten really complex since the start of this thread, and while it's not coding I would imagine that you'd need a similar mental toolkit for both.