I just went to an extended family gathering today. It was the house of my 2nd cousins (a boy 12 years old and his sister 10 years old) who take piano lessons from my mother so I see them each week during the school year. During the party I kept asking him about of how much of the classic games and series he had played. During which it slowly became clear he never played any of them, apart for one or two for like 5-15 minutes if lucky. I asked him about Megaman and he said he saw it on tv and hated it (which turned out to be the .EXE anime) the only Zelda game was Ocarina of Time (which while quizzing him he mistook it for a minute for Windwaker) and the only Mario game was the "SP one" that I had (turned out to be the SMB3 remake) where he said with clarity that Boom-boom never flew, that and Super Mario Galaxy. I had to explain to him that/why Mario collects stars in his 3D games. He also kept on claiming Link has a girly voice in both Smash Bros and Soul Calibur, as well as "Link and Zelda are lovers, right?.... I don't really want any lesbo action in games."
Also early on in the discussion I tried to bring up Okami.
Me: "So how do you feel about the game Okami?"
Him: "Okami? What's that?"
Me: "It mimics old Japanese artwork"
Him: "You mean like Anime?"
Me: "..."
When we were showing each other youtube videos on his computer, all he pretty much showed me was a Lets Play on Oblivion, and said it was funny and the person speaking in the video "has no life and probally lives with his mother" and I was trying to tell him he was only acting stupidly shocked, and cracking jokes towards the game and that many other people do Lets Play for other games. He also quite a few times said "I want to play Oblivion" or "Do you want to watch me play Oblivion." I tried to get him into watching tas speed runs, trying to explain the basic consepts clearly and getting back "so he is hacking" or "cheating." I first started with a SMB3 speedrun which is of course the nes version. He kept on denying that it wasn't the same game he had played on the SP, while I had to argue with him. I showed him the zero star run of Super Mario 64 since it was fast and then tried a Sonic 3&K tas speedrun when a little after act 1 he said...
"This has horrible graphics."
The entire thing I had given him hints about how good these games were for their time. Even his 2 years younger sister was backing me up, trying to defend the classic games. But of course it was shortly time to go and I sat outside with his sister on their swingset/playground/suspendedbench. Seems that all he does his entire days is play only Oblivion, if not that then Runescape, Star Wars games, or even World of Warcraft for a time but mostly Oblivion and she seems fed up with it. She is a "self claimed tomboy" and likes a little both Mario and Sonic, but all she has is Sonic Advance 2 & 3 (which she confusingly said it was Adventure first) It was mere seconds before I had to go and I told her to play the old Genesis games, and she replied "If I find it in stores" in which she was whisked away to her soccer game and I had to leave.
Thoughts?
Your cousin seems quite shallow. Then again he IS 12. Flick his ear and force him to play the orginals.
As I said in the SPA, kids nowadays are spoiled. We had MS Paint graphics and midi BGM's and like it.
Your cousin seems quite shallow. Then again he IS 12. Flick his ear and force him to play the orginals.
That is sooooo ageist! srsly
"Link and Zelda are lovers, right?.... I don't really want any lesbo action in games."
Did he think Marth was a girl, too?
When I was showing him video game hacks, their potential, and how they can be done... he didn't seem that interested. And I showed him both Brutal Mario and Sonic Megamix. I mean this didn't impress him. It only brought up a "who's that?" "I don't know him" "Did they make him?" and had to tell him who Mighty is and show him videos of the 2 games he appeared in, as well as tell him why people have an attraction to obscure characters.
Oh and Okami. When we got on the computer the Okami trailer was the first thing I showed him. When I asked him how beautiful it was and how far in the game I had gotten, he kept on going on about "I see the 2D" when they showed a pan of trees. I tried to tell him that earlier game development shots showed a complete full generic 3D look but instead they finally went with this style.
When I was showing him the AoSTH Robotnik YTPMV song trio, (I'm sure you know the ones) I was telling him of my childhood was with this cartoon, Scratch and Grounder (and his Aquatic Ruin origins) how this Robotnik's voice actor died, and that Sonic was voiced by the actor behind Steve Urkel. He didn't even know who Steve Urkel was despite me describing Family Manners, his looks, his character, and his catchphrase. His only outburst of curiosity was his "TAILS IS BROWN?!?" and giggled whenever the "certain word" came up. Overall he said the songs were "repetitive" and "boring" and didn't even watch halfway through the third one, as he cut to another of the videos 'he' showed me. I did the usual "But don't you appreciate the work that went through making those?" Also during the AoSTH stuff one of my other distant younger relatives (probably like 6-7) she innocently came up and mumbled "Sonic X? I -like- that show..."
He asked if "Strong Bad had updated" so we watched Homestar Runner until it said it was boring him. After that we watched some of the live action Potter Puppet Pals. I was earlier about to type in Ultimate Showdown, but he stopped me and said he had already watched that short 15 times, which was a shock for me because before this party I thought something like that was above his 'allowed to see' meter. Infact, he has been able to play T rated games (no rated M ones unless his mother reads up on it first, because of T games that get shot up to M because of stupid hot coffee-esc conspiracies).
Also it is thanks to me that their family now watches the Simpsons, as their mother had the exact same opinion as my mother back then and forbid me to see it, as it took my classmates to make me watch an episode during the big DC field trip to make me see it was not as bad as I told and with that reasoning I convinced my mother. When this came up during a piano lesson wait time (30 minutes with me, 30 minutes on the piano for each sibling) and I told the sister my story when we were setting up the PS2, she came a little while later a week afterwards and told me that it worked for their family as well. I was shocked. But hey, that's a long winded off topic story, right?
Not to mention that I could get a possible car from them that is in the works.
GT... please answer the question. 
Did he think Marth was a girl when he first saw him?
And I have'nt played Okami due to not having a PS2, same reason I had to miss out on Soul Calibur 3 and The Kingdom Hearts series. D=<
I mean what's wrong with the GameCube, huh?
Actually, I was waiting for someone else to post so I could not lazily edit.
Ironically, he said he loves the Fire Emblem series and knows more about it than I do, although at first he thought the game he got was the first one until he heard there were Japanese only games before it. So yeah. He told me about protagonists for the games linage and everything. This fact is the TMNT of the lineup, so to speak.
...woah... I totally, absolutely, positively, resolutely did not expect that.
He thought link is a girl but he knew who Marth was!?
That sounds like something from Bizarro world... O_______o
*goes back to cursing PS2 Exclusives*
DAMN YOU!
DAMN YOU AND YOUR PS2 ONLY-NESS! ; _ ;
*goes back to cursing PS2 Exclusives*
DAMN YOU!
DAMN YOU AND YOUR PS2 ONLY-NESS! ; _ ;
. . .
I WANT IT!!! >_<
Your cousin seems quite shallow. Then again he IS 12. Flick his ear and force him to play the orginals.
That is sooooo ageist! srsly
lots of kids are shallow at 12, though. they don't tend to be very cultured, open-minded, or insightful at that age because they haven't had enough time to develop that kind of maturity. hell, you're 15 and you haven't quite gotten there yet.
the stuff that your 2nd cousin has said is certainly maddeningly ignorant, gt (the graphics comments were the worst), but he is still a child. i'm sure some of us thought quite similarly about times past when we were around his age. still, it would be a crime not to attempt to educate him at this point. hopefully he can be molded into a more open-minded creature that has respect for classics and understands what made them special. oh, and this might sound crazy to some, but it shouldn't be limited to video games, either.
This entire topic's initial subject can be summed up in two sentences.
1) Your cousin just thinks that you're old.
2) I feel your pain.
Deck and Crimmy pretty much hit the hammer on the nail. 12 year olds, for the most part, are not open-minded or insightful. At that point in their life, their minds are still centered around themselves and are still intolerant around views that don't fit their own. What they know is absolute, anything outside of their field of time is antiquated and obselete, and anything that doesn't match up with their beliefs is dead wrong, end of story.
Hell, you had to put up this kind of crap from me at one point in time. Yeah, remember back in Dec 2002 when we both joined this place, back in the days when moving to Eliteboard was imminent (LAWL). Remember how much I said I hated Pokemon back then and it got to the point that you had to create a sanctuary for them in the SPA to prevent me from killing them? The days of deep-frying Hamtaro and the epic battle that ensued? And how we would argue against many other stupid things that we clashed on and how I would just not concede to your viewpoint in many of them? Man, those were the days...
Anyway, before I get too nostalgic, can you see the similarity? And guess what? I was 12/13 back then, and posessed a near-identical mentalitiy. Thankfully, with age, things will change, even if it's a very small change. Now, I'm into games and shows that my 12 year old self would simply scoff at. Once, I was an impulsive decisionmaker, shunning any viewpoints that did not agree with mine and didn't respect me as being supreme. Nowadays, I'm extremely pragmatic, meticulously researching every angle for even the simplest of problems, making sure the approach I choose benefits everyone around me as a whole not just in the short term but in the long run. Before, I though that old stuff was outdated for a reason and should be junked accordingly. Now, I view the things from the past as treasure, and tend not to throw things away unless it absolutely does not work, period.
tl;dr version: It's a stage, he'll probably grow out of it, just as I and many others have.
...damn, I feel old. The fact that I have a major job interview coming up in 2 days doesn't help matters, either. o.o
My summary of this thread:
"YOU DANG KIDS GET OFFA MY LAWN!"
You know what? You are perfectly right Nega. What you said pretty much mirrored me back then, and now I'm all "I want to try all the series I have been missing out on" and have a more open mind.
I was never like that at 12!
...and I think I was banned at the time so I do'nt have any proof to prove otherwise, lol. 
Good luck educating your cousin! I'm trying with my brother, who is almost 11.. Trying to get him hooked to Zelda. D< He wants to play Phantom Hourglass without playing through Wind Waker first!
lol The reverse is true for me.
I loved Wind Waker but do'nt really want to play Phantom Hourglass...
When I grew up I watched the Adam West Batman series with my Dad and old cartoons and loved it. Because my Dad was showing me things he loved when he was a kid rather than the new stuff, I grew up loving it too, the same for the Superman movie.
Sonic was the thing I grew up loving, so I have a feeling that my future kids will get to see that a lot when they're young, while letting them play more modern stuff too. This works for my 9 year old brother, I get him to play Super Mario Bros., Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as well as Tony Hawk and Ultimate Spiderman.
This doesn't work for my 12 year old brother who lives in Ireland though...
lol The reverse is true for me.
I loved Wind Waker but do'nt really want to play Phantom Hourglass...
*Raises an eyebrow @ CTS* For the record, I loved Phantom Hourglass...and never bothered to finish WindWaker >.<
Nega X wrote:
Yeah, remember back in Dec 2002 when we both joined this place, back in the days when moving to Eliteboard was imminent (LAWL). Remember how much I said I hated Pokemon back then and it got to the point that you had to create a sanctuary for them in the SPA to prevent me from killing them? The days of deep-frying Hamtaro and the epic battle that ensued? And how we would argue against many other stupid things that we clashed on and how I would just not concede to your viewpoint in many of them? Man, those were the days...
LOL! Yeah, I remember those days *holds up the remains of the KFH sign & grins*
Anyway, before I get too nostalgic, can you see the similarity? And guess what? I was 12/13 back then, and posessed a near-identical mentalitiy. Thankfully, with age, things will change, even if it's a very small change.
Nega has a good point.
It's a stage, he'll probably grow out of it, just as I and many others have.
I agree.
...damn, I feel old. The fact that I have a major job interview coming up in 2 days doesn't help matters, either. o.o
Good luck ^.^
I'm currently working a crappy temp. job myself. Heh; at least the pay is good. Hope I can find something better when it ends tho'. 
This is something I occasionally worry about: kids who grew up even a few years after me have no idea what it was like to grow up during the exciting console wars between Sega and Nintendo, or even know what an Atari is. Some of them don't realize that Samus Aran's identity was, at one time, a secret (the first game manual actually referred to Samus as a male, which made it more interesting to get the secret ending). Link had 4 major adventures on multiple systems before Ocarina of Time - perhaps more that I can't think of right now. Kirby's first game didn't even have copy powers. Games like Super Smash Bros. are helping to preserve the past by noting when and from what games characters originally appeared. Also, many gaming sites have historical pages or quizzes. But it's still not the same.
I guess "worry" may not be the right word - some people older than me probably remember when the Atari was THE system to play (although I did have one at one point, it was never as engaging to me as the NES was). But when you have video game characters with these long histories, you have to start wondering what it's like to discover them in this day and age, and compare them directly to more contemporary characters from more recent games. It isn't like these things are as important as politics or making sure the world is a better place, but gamers have become a growing population with more and more influence on popular culture, just as we have been influenced by it in the past.
lol The reverse is true for me.
I loved Wind Waker but do'nt really want to play Phantom Hourglass...
*Raises an eyebrow @ CTS* For the record, I loved Phantom Hourglass...and never bothered to finish WindWaker >.<
When'd you stop? During the tedious triforce collecting part?
The tedious triforce bit of WW is worth it just for the glorious ending...
I dunno, the whole "use treasure maps to find, well treasure" aspect grew on me. All the islands have unique geometry, so it just becomes a matter of figuring out what island is being pictured and heading out to that island... easy. Not to mention that it's miles better than what Japan got; we found Triforce maps which led to Triforce pieces, whereas they got Triforce maps which led to Triforce maps which led to Triforce maps which led to Triforce pieces... or so I've heard.
Miles better than that timed dungeon in PH. Which I hate. HATE.
When'd you stop? During the tedious triforce collecting part?
I don't recall offhand. I'll have to bring up my last save later & see.
*attempts to get back on topic*
Ultra Sonic pointed out the obvious when he said...
This entire topic's initial subject can be summed up in two sentences.
1) Your cousin just thinks that you're old.
2) I feel your pain.
I feel your pain too...
*wonders how many current MoFo'ers remember seeing Dragon's Lair in the video arcades*
...
*then she wonders how many current MoFo'ers remember video arcades* 
I pretty much gave up trying to teach 12-years-old the wonders that I enjoy, but as been stated a few comments ago, it's an age thing. He'll grow out of it eventually; unfortunately by that point, we'll be old fogies. It's cool, I plan to make up for my senility by threatening those durn teenagers to get off my lawn via a shotgun.
also, you realize he's going to go through the same frustrating experience you did when he grows up, right?
There's a bowling alley video arcade I go to all the time to play DDR. 😀
Mario will be a great popular game 10 years from now when oblivion is living up to its name.
As for those people whose tastes evolved, not me! I was raised with awesome taste, had it when I was 12, and have it now. I rarely cringe at, say, a cartoon I saw, because generally if it was stupid I just watched because I was bored, and knew it was stupid anyway, and often it's actually high quality. I'm critical enough to analyze and open minded enough not to care. Showing up teachers at 7.
