A question / rant about xbox 360, Wii, PS3, Gamers in general!

[DrStranglove]

Ok, a neighbor of mine has a kid they just let drop out o High School. Reason? So he can focus on playing Guitar Hero. It seems that he is some kind of champion at GH and they dont mind him dropping out of school to focus on it. When I asked how much money he had made at it... the answer is zero.

So why do you think this is a good idea?

Well, so he can make contacts and become a game maker. They make a lot of money.

But dont the people that do that have serious computer PROGRAMMING knowledge and often times big college degrees?

Yea but he can be the guy that comes up with the idea! Plus there are money making competitions in GH he could win.

(?!?!)

(I should add that this kid is easily 300 lbs and 5'5".)




So my rant is this, "How the hell do you let your son go like that?"

Are there paid GH contests and could you be the best in the world at it and make a living? What ever happened to the best in the world at say Pack Man? Or Space Invaders? How many of us have kids that play for hours on end and next to never see the outside world? Better yet, how many of you do that?

I always get ticked off at kids I know that spend hours playing Call to duty who could never even lift a rifle they are so out of shape.

[/rant]

[darth550]

Originally Posted by DrStranglove

Ok, a neighbor of mine has a kid they just let drop out o High School. Reason? So he can focus on playing Guitar Hero. It seems that he is some kind of champion at GH and they dont mind him dropping out of school to focus on it. When I asked how much money he had made at it... the answer is zero.

So why do you think this is a good idea?

Well, so he can make contacts and become a game maker. They make a lot of money.

But dont the people that do that have serious computer PROGRAMMING knowledge and often times big college degrees?

Yea but he can be the guy that comes up with the idea! Plus there are money making competitions in GH he could win.

(?!?!)

(I should add that this kid is easily 300 lbs and 5'5".)




So my rant is this, "How the hell do you let your son go like that?"

Are there paid GH contests and could you be the best in the world at it and make a living? What ever happened to the best in the world at say Pack Man? Or Space Invaders? How many of us have kids that play for hours on end and next to never see the outside world? Better yet, how many of you do that?

I always get ticked off at kids I know that spend hours playing Call to duty who could never even lift a rifle they are so out of shape.

[/rant]

I knew a guy who based his entire life schedule around "Leave it to Beaver" reruns so go figure........

[darth550]

Originally Posted by DrStranglove

(I should add that this kid is easily 300 lbs and 5'5".)

....and besides, he's already famous!

[Far Out]

VERY sad... I mean, there are a couple of guys who are so good in Counterstrike or Warcraft that they can make a living out of it, but how many are they? A three digit number, worldwide? And those are games that require 'serious' skills, not like in a party game like Guitar Hero...

"Wants to become a game maker" - yeah, right I love those guys who think that being a game maker is equal to playing the games all day long. When I frequented a computer games forum some years ago, there were LOADS of that kind. Mentioning that making games involves a crazy amount of maths usually only lead to "LOLZ0R dumba**" or something like that. Guess the kid you're talking about is exactly like that...



(btw, I want to see that "GH money making competition" which earns you a living... not only now, but in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years...)

[shahedc]

the kid is conning the parents into letting him quit school, and they're buying it, while ruining his future

if he REALLY wants to make games, the best way is to stay in school, and learn game programming in his spare time

he can download the entire Microsoft XNA Game Studio for free, to make games for Windows and Xbox 360. The latter requires a paid membership to the XNA Developer's club. But that will allow him to sell his games on Xbox Live and share profits with MS.

But it seems like he already chosen his path?

~shahedc

p.s. your thread title suggests that your rant is about ALL gamers in general, yet your post is about a specific individual, which does not apply to all gamers.

[DrStranglove]

The last sentence applies to all gamers who spend hours on end every day on games.

[dsd]

While I am not a hardcore gamer, I do enjoy my XBox 360. IRL, I can lift a rifle, but mostly shoot my Springfield 1911 V12, but if a rifle is a must I have a Winchester 52 and an M1 :-)

I would agree that the OP situation is sad. Game design is hard (I have an MS in CS). Some Universities have added it as a sub-major/major of computer science as the tools and design work is quite unique. A good player does not necessarily make a good designer and vice versa. Also, pay is good but not insane to risk it all on. IMO, go to school, study and if you have gift it will work out.

Honestly, best you can do is shake your head and tel them your feelings.

Best,
dsd

[DrStranglove]

Originally Posted by dsd

...mostly shoot my Springfield 1911 V12, but if a rifle is a must I have a Winchester 52 and an M1 :-)

Honestly, best you can do is shake your head and tel them your feelings.

Best,
dsd

All good choices!!!

( )

[anunakki]

Just another Parental Darwin Award...seem to be racking up a lot of those lately.

Some people do make a living playing games. My employees wife is a game tester at EA. I think it pays $12 hr ? Paltry yes...but for some people making $12 hr for playing games is heaven on earth.

I have another friend that quit high school to focus on game playing in the 80s...during the big arcade boom. By the time he was 15 he was making a little bit of cash travelling the country winning contests...many arcade records...lots of media... but he also had his head on straight and was very smart. He parlayed his recognition in the arcade world to becoming a consultant for Atari which led to him starting a video game magazine (before there was a glut of them). he was in the right place at the right time...and smart...and ambitious...and now is worth 8 figures and lives a very nice life.

of course he is the very very rare exception and most end up exactly where you think they would.

PS Im friends with many of those fomer arcade record holders...as i was one I would say they turned out representative of the general populace...some are quite successful...some are still living at home.

[tjacoby]

bah - there are some ways to make a living playing games; but I'd of thought it was only harvesting/farming on the World of Warcraft varieties (building up characters and collecting special gear to sell for real $'s). Rumour is there're shops overseas doing just that, in volume. Had a cousin-in-law who made a go of it for a year or so.

Playing GH will never make him a game coder - the programming side of games is as much of a sweat shop as any 18th century factory imo. low to medium level salaries, crazy stupid long hours, with no room for sleep, eating, or any social activities.

[vipermann123]

The parents need a kick in the head to knock them back to their senses.

The kid just needs a kick in the AZZ to get him back to school and get real about life.

Thanks
UZY

[PAP 348]

I have a friend who married a computer game "tester". He plays games all day, everyday and gets paid for it.

His DREAM job, even if it pays $18 p/h.

They are married and live with his parents. They cannot afford to move out and buy their own house because they both earn a low wage. He has been doing this job since he finished High School, over 12 years ago.

[tervuren]

I got a year pass at a local go kart track, and with a 24hr kart race looming ahead have been putting in 2-3 hours of track time a day 2-3 days a week. There are times I think I'm insane for doing it. With bad eyesight, and being 6' 2", I'm physically disadvantaged for it. That height in open bodied karts takes some speed off the straights. No way I'm quitting my job to concentrate more on learning to race.

I was an addicted gamer at age 15, thank God that habit was broken at sixteen. Guitar Hero's a pretty poor choice as a career, there are other games that if someone was truly good at, and lived in south east Asia, you could rake in the dough, but you'd be stuck playing the game, sleeping, and eating, and doing nothing else with no spare time to spend the money in. Hopefully its saved well so you can retire younger.

[lukabratzi]

Originally Posted by DrStranglove

Ok, a neighbor of mine has a kid they just let drop out o High School. Reason? So he can focus on playing Guitar Hero. It seems that he is some kind of champion at GH and they dont mind him dropping out of school to focus on it. When I asked how much money he had made at it... the answer is zero.

So why do you think this is a good idea?

Well, so he can make contacts and become a game maker. They make a lot of money.

But dont the people that do that have serious computer PROGRAMMING knowledge and often times big college degrees?

Yea but he can be the guy that comes up with the idea! Plus there are money making competitions in GH he could win.

(?!?!)

(I should add that this kid is easily 300 lbs and 5'5".)




So my rant is this, "How the hell do you let your son go like that?"

Are there paid GH contests and could you be the best in the world at it and make a living? What ever happened to the best in the world at say Pack Man? Or Space Invaders? How many of us have kids that play for hours on end and next to never see the outside world? Better yet, how many of you do that?

I always get ticked off at kids I know that spend hours playing Call to duty who could never even lift a rifle they are so out of shape.

[/rant]

I'm in school for game design right now, and this kid will not ever be a game designer. I have to get a 4 year degree in computer science and then go to a 2 year graduate school specializing in game design. I think I had like 20 thousand lines of code from this semester. If i printed it out it'd be like a phone book.

[dsd]

Anyone see the South Park where they play GH? And when they hit a million:

[yoda]

This kid makes some money, but I still don't think it's a good idea: http://lilpoison.com/

[jmlinmn]

As mentioned elsewhere, it is possible to make a decent living playing video games, but Guitar Hero isn't one of those games. He is absolutely kidding himself and fooling his parents if he believes game-playing seamlessly segues into game creation and money-making.

I know a few folks that work for some of the larger game shops (EA and Blizzard, specifically). The guy at Blizzard loves his job, but the EA guy hates it. Neither of them make what I consider to be a great living doing it either.

[Janzen]

Dropping out of school to play video games is about the dumbest damned thing I've ever heard of- and I love my Wii

[CMY]

When I first heard of Rock Band/Guitar Hero, I thought it was a great idea for a game.. until I learned that you don't play a real guitar, just a guitar-looking controller. Huh?

There *might* be the possibility of this kid going on to some national contest and doing fairly well, but like the others have said, it's not going to get him into game-making (something which I think is about 180 degrees from what he's currently doing). My parents would have expected me to make straight A's before they'd even consent to letting me pursue something like that over the summer.

By the way, I actually did do a summer of game testing quite a few years ago and it's tedious, even if you like gaming. If you're really good at it, you get to lead the other testers in your own group.. but there's really no vertical movement from there.

[wax]

Ah, but you guys are clearly missing out on the family's Plan B; Professional Eating.