Dave What Have You Done?!

[Blu]

http://kotaku.com/father-makes-son-play ... Socialflow

This had to have been you.

I also understand that your son was born way after 2004, so I hope everyone understands this is a joke.

[Ziggy]

All joking aside, if I ever have kids, I've considered doing this or something similar.

[jfrost]

I wouldn't do it because I don't want my kid to be better at games than me.

[dsheinem]

Yeah I didn't do anything so formal, but I did make my son play some Atari 2600 stuff the first few times he picked up a controller - and he's played plenty of 8-bit and 16-bit games (and still does) moreso than anything from the later 1990s on.

That said, when he was about 3 he got my old iPhone4 and has since acquired a ton of games for it, and so he spends most of his gaming time on that. Still, he's been sort of doing the same thing I do - playing both older and newer games all the time. I have seen some similar results - the kid is in kindergarten and has a real appreciation for gameplay and graphics from 30 years ago, but he also is quite savvy at newer titles as well.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Actually I'm sure that very young kids would find older games much more user-friendly and intuitive.

I guess if my daughter wants to play games in a year or two she could start on the ColecoVision or something.

[Frag Mortuus]

My daughter hasn't really gravitated toward games other than a short session with Diablo 3 and some SNES games here and there. My feeling is because the games are too hard for her to play. I wonder if letting her play some basic Atari era games that are more simplistic would be better for her.

[Tanooki]

I'm doing this with my three year old. I'm just not going back into the period before the NES as I don't have that other than the wireless ms-pac man device with a few old arcade games with hi score save on it. She asks for Mario (SMB1) and can kind of do a little within world 1-1.

[marurun]

Actually I'm sure that very young kids would find older games much more user-friendly and intuitive.

I guess if my daughter wants to play games in a year or two she could start on the ColecoVision or something.

Ladybug is addictive as crack. That is the ColecoVision's killer app. Keep it away from the kiddies or they'll be hooked.

[Nemoide]

I heartily approve of this style of mad-scientist parenting.

...the only downside might be if the kid becomes insufferable around his peers. "Oh you like Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures? It's okay but it's no Pac & Pal. If you haven't played THAT don't even pretend to call yourself a gamer."

[J T]

Ladybug is addictive as crack. That is the ColecoVision's killer app. Keep it away from the kiddies or they'll be hooked.

I had a Colecovision when I was young. My mother, who hated videogames, was once found at two in the morning repeating the horseradish stage until she achieved one million points. It was the only game she ever cared for until Minesweeper years later.