Myself, I prefer writing them to playing them. I just don't have time to waste playing video games.

I'm starting to branch out into writing desktop/Android games for a living, so my 2 older kids get to be "beta testers". The game I'm currently writing is for kids anyhow. I'm a child of my time, so I still prefer 2D old school or "retro" type games. (Think: Final Fantasy II or any Super Nintendo game.)

My "older" kids (the ones who have lost at least 1 tooth) also sometimes play browser games on Highlights or Cat in the Hat.

But they have to be somewhat educational and/or completely innocent. But they also have to be considered a treat. Not the default mode of entertainment. They don't get to plop down in front of the screen whenever they want all day long. My kids have to know how to play, how to amuse themselves, how to pray, how to help with household chores, how to exercise, and they can't have their imaginations stunted.

Also, there is a minimum age for "screens". Below a certain age, screens do absolutely no good, and only harm a child's developing brain and imagination.

If you haven't seen this famous video, it's only 1.5 minutes, I IMPLORE you to do so:



The toddler in the video can't work a good-old-fashioned magazine, but he can work an iPad. Imagine the long-term damage to this poor young human being!

More is not always better.

Learning how to use PCs at age 10 or 15 is fine. Learning how at 2 years old won't "give them an edge", it will simply mess them up. Period!

Baby Einstein videos can go rot in hell. (Sure enough, who owns Baby Einstein? Disney! Even the heretic Baptists know that Disney is evil.) Along with all "toddler" games available on tablets/phones. You know, the ones where they teach "colors" and keep it simple, because "what else can a 2 year old handle?" I'll tell you what they can handle -- being offline. Don't ruin the kid's brain.

I have an easy time not playing video games (written by others), for the following reasons:

1. They don't make any games I'm interested in. I got into video games as a 15 year old -- but that was the early 90's. To this day, I prefer 2D.

2. I don't like spending money on video games (I did enough of that when I was 16)

3. If I only play free ones, I have learned that most Android and other "free" games try to coax you to spend real money at some point, in order to fully experience the game. A lot of them are borderline scams, wastes of time, or "virtual slavery" where you do mindless "quests" to get "achievements" but the game isn't actually very fun. They are more like some kind of hamster wheel or toy.

In conclusion, the only thing that would tempt me is an older game like Final Fantasy II, or maybe Final Fantasy V which was only released in Japan. But those games aren't exactly easy to come by.

Don't have kids, but I play them as a "grown up."  

Naturally, the morality of them depends entirely on the content and the amount spent on them.  Video games are naturally more time consuming than board games (well, most board games anyways).  What Matthew said about not letting them become the default form of entertainment is very true.

There are a lot of filthy video games out there, and the amount of them is increasing.  I prefer to play strategy/wargames like Total War (Rome or Medeival) and Company of Heroes.  I also like "fantasy" games provided that they have an end goal-- a game like world of warcraft is just an indefinite alternate reality for people live in-- bad idea.  However, fantasy games with quests pointing your character towards a specific end are entertaining, especially for those of us who enjoy lore and fictional histories.  

Sports games are fun, and you don't have to worry about the religiosity and the commercials that comes with watching sports on TV.

What age should children get introduced to video games and other electronic devices?

Myself, I prefer writing them to playing them. I just don't have time to waste playing video games.

I'm starting to branch out into writing desktop/Android games for a living, so my 2 older kids get to be "beta testers". The game I'm currently writing is for kids anyhow. I'm a child of my time, so I still prefer 2D old school or "retro" type games. (Think: Final Fantasy II or any Super Nintendo game.)

Are you planning to sell these games? if so, how do you m arket them?

I have found it is rather difficult to make a living as an independent game developer or small indie studio, unless you work for a mega corporation like Microsoft or get hired by a successful gaming company.

How can you make any real money making video games / educational simulations from home?

Quote from: Matthew

Myself, I prefer writing them to playing them. I just don't have time to waste playing video games.

I'm starting to branch out into writing desktop/Android games for a living, so my 2 older kids get to be "beta testers". The game I'm currently writing is for kids anyhow. I'm a child of my time, so I still prefer 2D old school or "retro" type games. (Think: Final Fantasy II or any Super Nintendo game.)

Are you planning to sell these games? if so, how do you m arket them?

I have found it is rather difficult to make a living as an independent game developer or small indie studio, unless you work for a mega corporation like Microsoft or get hired by a successful gaming company.

How can you make any real money making video games / educational simulations from home?

I didn't know we had an indie game developer in our midst!
 :pc:

It is still in my future, and thus still a mystery, though I have *plenty* of ideas about how I'm going to get the word out.

I'm not a firstly a gamer, then a programmer. It's the other way around. My enjoyment comes from programming, problem solving, and bringing a game to completion, then my second wave of enjoyment is promoting it and seeing how well it can do. I love creating something, and for me I am most proficient at the art of software development. So that's the best way for me to express my creativity.

Some indie developers seem to be firstly "gamers" -- they really like games to begin with, they manage to write some games, but they quickly move on to the next game for whatever reason without spending much time marketing. Maybe they just don't have a knack for marketing? I've heard several of them admit, "I submitted it to a few app stores, and that was pretty much it."

Well, in short, that doesn't describe me. I'm the businessman and the programmer rolled into one person.

To answer your question --

There's the situation 20 years ago, and then there's today. When I first started writing games (few got finished, I must sadly admit) as a teenager, there wasn't much chance for a little guy to get exposure sufficient to market a game successfully. Unless you got published by one of the big guys, you were invisible. This was in the days before the Internet.

But today, we have app stores where people are accustomed to buy smaller games for $1 or $2, or even free (with embedded ads). Moreover, the modern plague of "3D, full motion video, or it's not a viable, professional game" is put on hold for the world of Tablet/phone games. Perfect for indie developers!  I got very excited about this a couple years ago, and finally dove in last summer.

The game library I'm using makes it easy to target Desktop (windows/mac/linux) and Android at the same time, with no extra programming. So I'll have a Desktop version as a bonus. Though in my case, my game is VERY desktop-centric. It's going to have 2 player split-screen with full joystick support. But even though it's desktop-centric, I have to make sure it plays well on Android, since that's the world of "I'm willing to pay $1 for a small game". On Desktop, who knows.

I played them as a teenager. They no longer interest me at 26 and I'm opposed to them, even the relatively decent ones.