Portal Playing Dad Frustrates to No End
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Maybe the lesson here isn't that people who don't play video games are stupid, but that people who do play them need to learn patience. Maybe it's all the people getting frustrated and calling him mentally challenged who need to take a step back, take a humble pill, and try to see something from another perspective than their own, hmm?
Is it really that frustrating to watch? It's someone genuinely interested in trying out and learning about something completely alien to them, that means a lot to us, and learning quite quickly. It's understanding where the intuitive flaws lie in the games we play, about what assumptions we make, and it's also a tribute to Valve for creating something that can be enjoyed even by people who doesn't already know all this.
I didn't find it frustrating at all, I found it inspirational, but if it really is that frustrating, maybe we still need to learn to stick it out. I know you all think you're the most brilliant people on the planet, but put yourself in his shoes. Something completely alien to you, the ur-example being a father figure explaining the intricacies of sports. Most of you would give up after less than five minutes, calling the whole hobby stupid, the rules stupid, and arrogantly think you're "above" such things.
Think of the news of this article as the lesson about humility he can teach us all. That might be nice, and if we take it to heart, it might make the gaming community much more pleasant, not only to newcomers and outsiders, but between gamers as well.
Is it really that frustrating to watch? It's someone genuinely interested in trying out and learning about something completely alien to them, that means a lot to us, and learning quite quickly. It's understanding where the intuitive flaws lie in the games we play, about what assumptions we make, and it's also a tribute to Valve for creating something that can be enjoyed even by people who doesn't already know all this.
I didn't find it frustrating at all, I found it inspirational, but if it really is that frustrating, maybe we still need to learn to stick it out. I know you all think you're the most brilliant people on the planet, but put yourself in his shoes. Something completely alien to you, the ur-example being a father figure explaining the intricacies of sports. Most of you would give up after less than five minutes, calling the whole hobby stupid, the rules stupid, and arrogantly think you're "above" such things.
Think of the news of this article as the lesson about humility he can teach us all. That might be nice, and if we take it to heart, it might make the gaming community much more pleasant, not only to newcomers and outsiders, but between gamers as well.
I was laughing at the fourth video. When Clubbed to Death started playing when he got the Cube through, only for it to stop every single time he put it back down.
Good find, and nice job on the dad's part.
Good find, and nice job on the dad's part.
oh god, this was so similar to me trying to get my grandpa setup with his new wii, good god..i never thought someone could be so..illogical at something. especially when he is a chief programmer at his company..
Heh reminds me of this:
It's kinda frustrating watching this sort of thing but eh that's just because we take things for granted.
I'm sure I would give plenty of mathematicians aneurysms trying to figure out advanced mathmatics.
I'm sure I would give plenty of mathematicians aneurysms trying to figure out advanced mathmatics.
I'm actually quite impressed - he did a lot better than I thought he would from the description of the video. For starters, the basic controls didn't seem to confuse him at all, even if he hadn't quite mastered them yet, so I guess he's had some experience at player first person games before.
As said above, it seemed the main problem he had was figuring out how to use the portals, and once he got that he was able to solve the problems pretty well.
It's interesting viewing, especially since I'm trying to get my girlfriend to broaden her gaming experience past Freecell >_> I'm going to try her out on Portal soon in the hope that we will be able to play Portal 2 together ^_^
As said above, it seemed the main problem he had was figuring out how to use the portals, and once he got that he was able to solve the problems pretty well.
It's interesting viewing, especially since I'm trying to get my girlfriend to broaden her gaming experience past Freecell >_> I'm going to try her out on Portal soon in the hope that we will be able to play Portal 2 together ^_^
My mom tried playing WoW once when I first got it... Her experience was about the same, trying to figure out what the hell was going on
My father has similar problems with concepts like "the Start button" and "double-clicking." This kid has my utmost respect.
Wo0t. that was fun. Remind me of my mom and aunt Paige trying to beat The Legend Of Zelda. It wasn't a problem with methodology- they were surprisingly forthright adventurers and and thorough explorers. But if I hear the question "which one's the B button?" in my life ever again in reference to a NES controller, my head will explode.
it was kinda frustrating to watch a even though i have yet to played portal. but have played a flash game version of portal so i under stood the basic concepts and i could easily figure out the puzzles way before that guy could even solve it
I love it when people- literate, educated people cannot even VISUALLY read a controller.Metal Brother said:
My dad looked at xbox controllers and said, how do you know what button IS what? Not DOES what, is what.
After patiently showing him how they were not only alphabetical, but COLOUR CODED, and came with a manual clearly delineating their said in game function, he satisfactorily turned B button and hung his head in shame.
Though in his defense, screwdrivers confuse him.
Who cares, it's entertaining. Plus if you're looking at it from a news point of view, it's probably just trying to show how easy we find gaming, because we're conditioned to it. Whereas people completly new to it find the simplest things hard.Frozen Donkey Wheel2 said:
We live in the goddamn information age, the dawn of the Internet. Whatever in the world can be news, nothing doesn't have to be important for it to be newsworthy any more.Frozen Donkey Wheel2 said:
OT: Very funny. Prolly will get around to watching the rest later.
What do you mean this has no revelance to anything. Here we have a father who is not a gamer playing a video game and having fun. A triple AAA retail game at that. For all the hating and whining that goes on when a news story calls GTA "ultra violent" and never mentions it again this is quite newsworthy. This is what we want to see. This is what we need to see. Sure the Escapist may not be as big as Faux News (or as anti gaming) but you know what who cares? Does the news always have to be doom and gloom? Does the news stations you watch only report the facts? Do they not throw in a feel good story here and there that only really matters to the people involved? Don't the newspapers you read? Or have they cut out things like comics and the sunday funnies? Try climbing down from your ivory tower every once in a while and walk with us mere mortals. Might give you a little perspective.Sutter Cane said: