Re: [kidsgames] a Mom's eye view

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

cwaddell@mail.orion.org wrote:
> 
> Hi Everybody,
> 
> I want to let you know a few things.  I only understand
> about 5% of what is on this list (and that is ok by me.)
> I am very interested in kids games, education and licensing
> issues.
> ****************
> Windows=easy
> 
> Why do my kids play windows games?  We hate windows and
> strongly dislike most of the games.  However, my 3 year old
> can click on something and start a game.  My 6 year old can
> put in her own cd and run a game even if it is not installed
> on the machine.
> 
> The linux games are much much harder. 

This isn't fair...although Microsoft would love for everyone
to believe it.

The practical truth is:

* If you go out and spend $50 to buy a Loki game for Linux,
  it'll install and run just as easily as the corresponding
  game under Windoze.

* If you want to run OpenSource games under Windoze, it's at
  least as painful as under Linux - probably more so because
  you have MSVC, Borland C, Cygwin and others - no two of
  which share the same 'Makefile' type system.

So, what it boils down to is that commercial games bundled
on a CD-ROM and costing big bucks are easy to run and freeware
games that you have to download are not.  You get what you
pay for!

That's a fair criticism - but there doesn't seem to be a whole
lot we can do about it.

What makes it *seem* like Windoze games are easier is that
most of them are commercial whilst most Linux games are not.

> My husband (Jeff
> Waddell) spends hours trying to download and set-up these
> games for us.  It is a royal pain.  Many times we don't have
> the right library or we need to upgrade.  Some have even
> crashed our system.  We only have a slow old copper phone
> line and all of this takes forever.

Commercial games would have this problem too if they didn't
have 600Mbytes of CD-ROM onto which to place copies of all
the libraries that the program needs.  You could do this
with OpenSource games too - but then your poor old modem
would be struggling for the next week downloading all those
libraries that you probably already have anyway.

Getting OpenSource games onto CD-ROM inherently means they
won't be free anymore....that happens though.  If you buy
a copy of SuSE Linux 6.3, then you can install my Tux_AQFH
game with a single mouse-click (well, maybe a couple) - the
very same game that you can download for free yet have to
figure out how to install with the right libraries and such.

> All of this and my husband is an expert.  You will not make
> it to the main stream this way.  I don't know how it can be
> easier.  I would like to be able to go to a web site and
> play a game (without downloading anything) at least long
> enough to see if it is of interest to our family.

The only way to play anything on any OS without downloading
it is to purchase physical media or run the game on the
remote computer - somehow viewing the results locally.

Unfortunately, the graphical output from most programs
would consume so much bandwidth that the latter approach
is essentially impossible for all but the simplest games.

Once again, it's not fair to level this criticism at
Linux specifically...all OS's are stuck with the same
physical constraints.

>  Clare and I would love to have people who are interested in
> working on our Rolpher the Gopher Grocery game.  It is just an idea
> now.  If you might be able to help, let me know and I will
> send you more details.

The problem for me (as a programmer) is not in getting the basic
ideas.  Writing the code is a huge investment in time and effort,
producing artwork, audio, etc, etc is still more.  Contributing
suggestions for games doesn't really help me all *that* much.

I think I could come up with a reasonable idea for a kids game
in a few evenings of thinking - but it could easily take a whole
year of three or four people's hard work to turn that into a
finished game.

The idea that you could come to this list with an idea for a
game and somehow talk a group of people into writing it for
you is somewhat naive.  It would have to be a truly, awesomely
amazing idea to catch people's attention I think.  Other people's
views may differ - but that's how I see it.

You should also be aware that the attrition rate amongst new
OpenSource games projects is high.  After an initial rush of
enthusiasm and perhaps a very simple first pass at an implementation,
probably 80 or 90% of projects fold from lack of interest,
internal conflicts or something like that.

>  Not only that, but we
> only have one phone line so our friends are getting busy
> signals all the time.

BTW: In most countries - and certainly here in the US, you can
get the computer to automatically hang up and allow incoming
calls to go through by dialling a special code before the
phone number.  Call your local phone company's operator to
find out what the code is for your area.  For SouthWestern
Bell (my local phone company down here in Texas), the default
is for incoming calls to cut in and hang the modem up - but
you can override it with *79 dialled at the start of the
call.  There is also a way to change the default somehow.

--
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1@airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker@hti.com      (work)
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