cw (06/06/82)
Jim Collymore's comment about computer games substituting for human playmates is very perceptive. However... 1. In games arcades, I see children come in groups to play and it looks a lot like "Betcha I can throw a rock across the creek!" "Betcha ya can't!" "Oh yeah"...throws a rock and so on from my childhood days. 2. Some of the problems of play-alone would be alleviated if there were good portable multiplayer games and I think there will be. Computers are very good as scorers, referees, and so on, for games that are too complicated to play with pencil and paper, etc. I am waiting for good computer help (in the form of human engineered tools) for the simulation games (mostly war games) that now take so long to play. 3. I spent a lot of time with another kind of play-alone game in my youth--the book. I don't think it warped me beyond human bounds. 4. Kids need to test themselves against hard challenges without interference from others, either adults or other kids. Pocket chess has that attraction. Enough already. Charles
lepreau (06/07/82)
I spent a lot of time with another kind of play-alone game in my youth--the book. I don't think it warped me beyond human bounds. One huge difference though-- characters in books, even toddlers' books, are a whole lot more complex and emotional and human than any munching dot or spaceship is. jay lepreau