I am not the only one who feels this way -- this Slashdot thread asks about users' first gaming experiences. It drew hundreds of comments, including this one:
It was 1976 or '77, and I was six years old. My friend's dad was a comp-sci professor at UNLV. He had a teletype and a dial in account to the university PDP 10. He would dial in and set up a restricted shell for us, basically a menu of games. Colossal Cave Adventures was the best, but we also played Lunar Lander, Hunt the Wumpus, and other simple games, wasting reams of paper. That was what got me into computers. Been hooked ever since.Remember that Slashdot is a community aimed at developers and others interested in computing technologies. Hundreds of the decades-old tales in the thread are actually these Slashdot users' first experiences with computers, before they got into programming, software, and the Internet.
The link between games and an interest in computers seems pretty clear to me, what do you think?
It has been over a month now and my granddaughter's account has yet to be fixed. We have filled out the contact support form you mentioned NUMEROUS times. We even got one email saying if it was not fixed in two business days, reply to the email and provide some information we ask for. We did that over a week ago and have not heard anything. I have begun conversations with a lawyer friend and he feels at a minimum we can sure for breach of contract. We are also exploring a class action lawsuit. If indeed we begin that, I will post here again with more information.
ReplyDeleteAre you making a correlation between games and computers in general, or games and computers as a career? If the former... I can sorta see it. If the latter... I'm not convinced. Slashdot, as you point out, is a community of people who we already know are into IT... sure, maybe they found their way there via games, but to get a true picture, shouldn't we be asking a gaming community how many of them are into (1) computers for other applications, as users and (2) computers as a career?
ReplyDeleteIf I take my 20-year old son and his friends as an example - they love games and they all use computers for university, for Facebook, etc, but not one of them is interested in pursuing that as a career.
i HAVE BEEN WRITING IN FOR THE LAST 4 DAYS, HOPE UPON HOPE THAT IT WILL JOG THESE PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR FOG LONG ENOUGH TO LOOK AROUND AND REALIZE THAT I,ALONG WITH ALOT OF OTHER UNFORTUNATE SUCKER WHO IS TIRED OF THE" I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ" ROUTINE ARE NEARING THE END OF OUR ROPE. I PROPOSE, AS I HAVE ONCE BRIEFLY MENTIONED, IF THE STATUS QUO DOES NOT SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE, WE PLAN A BONFIRE OF THE WEBKINZ AY SOME PREDETERMINED TIME AND PLACE. THEY HAVE ABOUT 600 PEOPLE WORKING FOR THEM, TO TAKE CARE OF MILLIONS OF ACCOUNTS. GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE SAID " TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT". i KNOW mAINE IS NOT THAT HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED AND I KNOW FROM PEOPLE THAT LIVE THERE THAT A GOOD JOB IS HARD TO COME BY. SO MAYBE WEBKINZ ORIGINALLY HAD " SDREEN WATCHERS" WITH SOME COMPUTER SAVY AND SOME CHILD PSYCHOLOGY ORIGINALLY GOT HIRED. IF I HAD THAT MUCH B------T HAPPENING ALL THE TIME ON THE JOB, I WOULD HAVE QUIT TO PRESERVE MY SANITY. i KNOW FROM SOMEONE WHO WORKED THEIR THAT THE QUALITY OF HELP HAS DWINDLED DOWN TO JUST GAMERS WHO REALLY HAVE NO LOVE FOR WEBKINZ. THEY ARE NOW HIDING BEHIND 'WE ARE DOING IMPORTANT MAINTANENCE". THAT USUALLY HAPPENS AT THE END OF THE MONTH AND TAKES ABOUT FROM 6:30 A,M, UNTIL 3:P.M. AND ALL THEY DO IS SWITH THE PET OF THE MONTH OUT AND MAYBE PUT A NEW LINE OF " BEVERLY HILLS" PRICE FURNITURE. wHAT COULD THEY POSSIBLY BE DOING NOW AS IT'S BEEN A DAY AND A HALF WITH THIS MESSAGE. PEOPLE, COME TOGETHER AND FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS. CHILDREN WHO PLAY THIS GANE ARE TERRIFIED TO SAY ANYTHING OR DO ANYTHING FOR FEAR "BIG BROTHER" WILL BAN THEM TO THE OUTER STRATUS SPHERE. I KNOW BECAUSE I PLAY WITH MY NIECE RELIGOUSLY, IT'S ALMOST LIKE WATCHING AN ABUSED CHILD CRINGE WHEN IT'S ABUSER ENTERS THE ROOM. DON'T GEY ME WRONG. THERE ARE SOME" WISE ACRES" IN THERE THAT NEED CONTROL BUT THE FEAR IN THE CHAT ROOMS IS PALPABLE. tHEY NEED MORE HELP AND OF BETTER QUALITY BEDIDES A WHOLE LAUNDRY LIST ELSE. MY NIECE IS FRANTIC BECAUSE SHE WAS KNOCKED OFF BEFORE SHE COULD PUT HER PET TO BED. "THEY'RE KILLING MY KITTY, AUNTIE" IS ALL i'VE BEEN HEARING.i AM AT MY WITS END. aRE YOU SURE THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU ISN'T THE WAY TO GO? HELP!!!! G.J.D.
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