My daughter accidentally gave away her kitten today. Normally this would mean finding out where it got to, and arranging for the return the errant feline. In this case, however, my daughter managed to "donate" her kitten on her Nintendo DS game, and so far we have not been able to effectuate its return. We can "buy" a new kitten, but we cannot get the old one back. The game does not have an 'undo' feature.
Computer games are impressive these days, but every so often you find a point where Real Life cannot be properly synthesized. I wonder how many of the "new" generation in charge of things, understand that simulations always have such flaws, or will they only find out when their projections fail badly.
Permalink | Linking Blogs | Sphere: Related Content | Digg this! | FARK It!
Filed under:
General
Comments (9)
Sort of like the Obamalala ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by MPR | January 1, 2009 8:13 PM | Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Sort of like the Obamalala administration.
1. Posted by MPR | January 1, 2009 8:13 PM |
Score: 3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on January 1, 2009 20:13
2. Posted by Imhotep | January 1, 2009 8:55 PM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Precisely what I was going to say MPR!
2. Posted by Imhotep | January 1, 2009 8:55 PM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 1, 2009 20:55
3. Posted by MPR | January 1, 2009 9:00 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
The trolls will probably be here soon. They are predictable I'll say that much.
3. Posted by MPR | January 1, 2009 9:00 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 1, 2009 21:00
4. Posted by GarandFan | January 1, 2009 9:21 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Computers are great! They can make more mistakes in one second than a human can make in a thousand years. And their like my little brother, easy to blame!
4. Posted by GarandFan | January 1, 2009 9:21 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 1, 2009 21:21
5. Posted by epador | January 1, 2009 9:50 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
If only I could have given away my ex so easily...
5. Posted by epador | January 1, 2009 9:50 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on January 1, 2009 21:50
6. Posted by Arthur | January 2, 2009 12:31 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
That game doesn't seem flawed. If your daughter gave me her pet kitten I wouldn't give it back!
6. Posted by Arthur | January 2, 2009 12:31 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 2, 2009 00:31
7. Posted by Steve Skubinna | January 2, 2009 3:02 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Nearly two decades ago, in observing a friend's two sons, I realized that they were residents of a VCR universe. They had exceptionally short attention spans, and I finally, watching them in front of the TV, realized they looked at the rest of the world as they did a VCR - it could be paused, and fast forwarded, and replayed at will. Once I saw where they were coming from it was amusing seeing their discomfort when real life continued to move on while they were preoccupied. I was transferred before they learned, as I'm certain they eventually did, that life can't be paused and replayed at your own convenience.
Sometimes I wonder if the current apparent "epidemic" of ADD children is due to the same cause. It takes a while for children to figure out what is real, let alone what the ground rules are. Ferris Bueller's observation - life moves pretty fast, if you don't pay attention you might miss something - is less flip than it appears on the surface.
7. Posted by Steve Skubinna | January 2, 2009 3:02 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 2, 2009 03:02
8. Posted by Synova | January 3, 2009 2:49 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
My sympathies.
Been there, done that.
As for computers and games and our kids... other than the need to get physical exercise, those things are far more interactive than they've been before (and like blogs, often involve interaction with other people) and while I don't know what the future will look like, it's likely that the "playing" done now, as games through-out centuries have done, is going to be essential training.
I'm not sure which end of that is cart and which is horse; if skills learned while young determine the approach to adult problem solving or if the skills needed by adults influence the games.
I do know that my kids try things with computers that never occur to me ought to work. They seem to operate on a "I want this to do what I want, so I'll see if it will" and often enough they're right, while I tend to struggle to remember what I've learned it does and never think outside of that.
8. Posted by Synova | January 3, 2009 2:49 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 3, 2009 14:49
9. Posted by Jamie | January 3, 2009 10:38 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
That's obviously a program flaw. In real life it's NEVER that easy to get rid of a cat...
9. Posted by Jamie | January 3, 2009 10:38 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 3, 2009 22:38