alt Hacker NewsWe humans are story telling species. RPG in Box is what got my 12 year old son interested in programing. Not python. Not AI. My son wants to tell stories and let others experience his stories. Programing is just a means to an end.
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When I give short talks at schools about game dev I try to make it super clear that we are all born game designers. We all make up games as children and a large part of that is story telling.
Every child has seen a face in a cloud and 'designed' something outside of themselves. This is where teachers are amazing. Teachers know how to nurture that against the pressure of society crushing it.
It was python+pygame that got one of my kids to learn to program and minecraft modding that got another to learn. Neither code now but that wasn't the point.
I think humans can have different motivations. For your son, it seems to be this.
When I was 12, I originally wanted to make video games, but found that I just loved building things and felt like programming was a magical toolbox. For me, it's not a means to an end, but the journey I actually like - I'm a builder, not a storyteller.