My life:
-
Play video games despite my father’s immense disapproval.
-
Learn to program so I can make my own video games.
-
Get a job where I’m paid to program.
-
Never actually finish any of my own games.
I do still play video games and he does still disapprove but I’m older now than he was when I started playing and he started disapproving so that’s probably not going to change.
Are you me?
I actually learned so I could make a website about music, and then later wanted to make games. I’m still at step 4. :)
Are you two me, then? Only difference is that my dad actually enabled my gaming addiction and was an enjoyer back then, I vividly recall him playing Red Alert, Age of Empires and Civilization 2.
I’m on step 4 mostly thanks to godot, tho. Might give Ebitengine (Go) a try in some months. That or DragonRuby, as I qualified for a free license and Amir very quickly replied to my email.
-
1990: “Our comic readers have only heard of one video game ever, but we need to stretch this to look like an entire newspaper page.”
I think it’s a nested joke, where that one game totally dominates the kid’s free time, with the clueless parents thinking that’s the only relevant game in existence.
Also, at the time every game was “the Nintendo” to parents, and still was for a couple decades after. Mario had an enormous impact.
I didn’t understand that as a kid and I still don’t understand it. Why would you take so little interest in what your kids like? I don’t even have kids and I still know who Mr Beast is. I can’t imagine having people I love, living in my house, who are into this stuff and not knowing all about it. The only way this kind of parental apathy can possibly make sense to me is if those parents just don’t love their kids. It doesn’t make sense to me.
Video games are pretty new. Most parents of those kids perfectly related tp their kids watching TV and movies. They could bond over Star Wars and have no concept of ‘gaming’ and remain completely ignorant beyond them Mario Twins and the Pokemans.
If experiencing the world through fresh eyes isn’t one of the main points of having a kid, what are we even doing as a species? How can you not be infected by a little one’s curiosity about a changing world and learn along with them? I’m childfree and I still understand that much. How can someone choose to have kids and not want to share their kid’s eagerness to learn?
To be honest it is extremely wonderful and infectious.
It is also exhausting.
And relentless.
There is no amount of exhaustion that could persuade me not to learn the name of my loved one’s favourite toy for years on end.
Now the mother is addicted to games on her phone.
And dad achieves most of his self esteem by posting poorly-done, sexist or racist memes to a cloistered Facebook group of similarly brave folks.
Dammit. That’s on point.
Twitch Streamer / YouTuber
I think I was in the top 10% of streamers when I made about $200/month. I’m not sure people should stream for a living. Although, some people get a huge fanbase for the dumbest shit.
Visibility bias. Someone might be able to make it living, but it won’t be you. If you want to make streaming a job, you need something else to set you apart.
This aged well
This has aged poorly
Sunday, March 31, 2024
This hasn’t aged at all because it was literally released today.
Gary Larson is not making new Far Side cartoons.
The asshole who’s posting these refuses to use the original publication date.
deleted by creator
He did make some new ones recently. He has a website now.
my parents had this one cut out on the fridge
Wow, Larson was a visionary.
To be fair, I ended up being paid $300-400/hr consulting on the future of technology with a particular focus on video games not that long after the date of the paper in the comic, so job opportunities dependent on knowing games really well did end up existing, even if not filling up the entire newspaper listings.
They were right!
Yup, kid became a top tier speed runner on Twitch.
Are ya winning, son?
Must be the parents of Sethbling.