Doom for Kids

[schwerpunk]

I can't remember when my parents first allowed me to play Doom, but it was at some point in my teens. There were scarier sidescrollers (SNES Aliens 3, I'm looking at you) out at the time. But looking back, I'm mostly just touched that they cared enough about what I was playing to make an effort to restrict my consumptions of media. Even if their judgement of new media was somewhat quaint.

Nomad: Don't hesitate to use your best judgement to restrict your spawns' viewing, even if they complain, then just go to their friends' and play all the things you don't let them. At the worst, they'll know you love them.

[Nomad]

You guys are misinterpreting me. I have no problem with my kid seeing the "violence" or anything, I just want to make something fun for her to play. She is 2. She isn't interested in anything in Doom beyond the fact that Caco's look like "PUHTAY" (tomatoes). I just want something that either she can play or I can play to keep her entertained. :)

[schwerpunk]

Well, at that age, they're more entertained by the act of key presses having an impact on on-screen effects. A first person shooter is probably a little too complex (unless you 'drive' with WASD and she controls the aim, or something). But you know her best - do you think an easier version of Doom would actually interest her?

You might want to look at something like Commander Keen or Jazz Jackrabbit. Though even those are challenging, so you might want to go more basic. I can't think of a game that doesn't involve failstates such a dying and having to restart the level... But something like that is probably what I'd keep an eye out for.

Printz had some good suggestions regarding MSPaint.

[printz]

schwerpunk said:

Printz had some good suggestions regarding MSPaint.

... Except that I wasn't 2 when I started. I don't remember anything in my life before I was 3 and a half.

[Acid]

When my father first introduced me to Doom, I sat on his lap and pressed spacebar/ctrl while he did all the moving with the arrow keys. To avoid the dying thing, we played in Godmode with constant IDKFA'ing to make sure I had all the BFG fun I wanted. He often supplied these random sound effects with his mouth which made it all the mort enjoyable.

[hex11]

http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?dir=themes/barney/

[Dr. Durr]

ella guro said:

Brenda Brathwaite posted this on twitter: John Romero's five-year old step-daughter's review of Doom

That's so cute. I kind of want to know the teachers response to reading that.

[Gez]

ella guro said:

Brenda Brathwaite posted this on twitter: John Romero's five-year old step-daughter's review of Doom

Poor Romero, still pretty much a has-been. "Yeah, he's the guy who made Doom. And Quake, I guess. And that's it. No, no, we don't talk about that other thing. Shut up."

[Dr. Durr]

Gez said:

Poor Romero, still pretty much a has-been. "Yeah, he's the guy who made Doom. And Quake, I guess. And that's it. No, no, we don't talk about that other thing. Shut up."

I thought in an interview Romero apologized for Daikatana and the ad that accompanied it. That's a lot more than denying it ever happened.

EDIT: "That guy who made Doom and Quake" is just id in general these days.

[hex11]

Suck down yer Daikatana GBC ROM right here folks...
http://rome.ro/games_daikatana.htm

[Retog]

I played hexen at the age of six months and played doom soon after. It never corrupted me, I've only been the cause of 7 sadistic murder cases.

[Maes]

Someone needs to make a Doom mod based on this:

It looks "childish" enough, but chances are it will sodomize some poor kid's childhood. The sequel is even worse.