Curmudgeon GamerI'm a little concerned that removing that rule will prevent him from learning how the game is played. Sure, right now he just needs to learn the buttons and figure out how to bounce on stationary targets, but at some point he's going to tackle the game as it was intended. The trade off is that he gets to see more of the game's world while picking up some coordination. And occasionally he'll get to see me play, and hopefully learn by imitation.
It's probably not a big deal. After all, he spent five minutes today giggling like mad while he smacked a toy plane with Woody's pull-cord.
That's an interesting question. As an "older" gamer, I'm constantly mystified by the prevalence of hacks and cheats, and how the kids that use them still feel satisfaction when they "win". It seems it's a side effect of the "winning is all that matters" mindset. I've never used an aimbot or the like (though back in the Quake days was often accused of being one, to which I politely replied "Thank you!") and don't think I would feel any satisfaction if I did.
I don't think it bodes well for society in general.
By 
, at
01 May, 2006 07:50
without adjustable difficulty levels in games, which would take time to develop and test, I think utilizing cheats to teach kids the basics of games is fine. The trick is finding a cheat that preserves some semblance of gameplay and only removes some of the difficulty.
By , at
01 May, 2006 08:36
Playing Toy Story with cheats is potentially bad only if he later learns -- but not too much later -- how the game is supposed to be played without. If that were the game, what's the harm? He can learn about unfair rules in Contra.
And to think that conventional gameplay these days doesn't involve cheating by default is to be hopelessly idealistic and nostalgic. How did you find Adventure's magic dot? The initials in Indiana Jones? The way to beat the boss in [Game X]? People who figure out the answers by themselves without going to cheat sites are in the growingly smaller minority these days.
By 
rufbo, at
01 May, 2006 16:28
Wow, I think the point of this is being missed. Games are suppose to be fun. If he's having fun with the game, who really cares if he gets the "true" experience. Hate to say it, but I rarely hear people explaining how beating the SNES Toy Story really put them on their road to gaming. So, if your kid has more fun with the cheats, let him cheat. As he gets older, he may want to play games without the cheats, but right now, its better for him to have fun than anything else (and the fact that he laughed for 5 minutes crashing the plaine into Woody makes me think that he's on the young side).
Overall, gaming is suppose to be fun. You should have him doing other stuff to make him feel good about himself, so gaming is just a break from the day, or a new sand box to play in.
On a side note, what are good games for 3 year olds? My nephew loves gaming, but he doesn't pay enough attention yet to make certain jumps. Honestly, his favorite game right now is Ninja Gaiden Black. I let him play the mission against the Red Samauri. He likes the horses. He can last 2 or so minutes before dying, then he hits continue. He'll do this 15 times or so, then get bored. I tried Ape Escape 2, but he can't quite get the monkey in the net yet. He has the Menacer gun too, he likes the bug game on there where he shoots the bugs getting the pizza (he is actually pretty good at that, watched him get to level 4 the other day all by himself.
By lordxixor101, at
02 May, 2006 10:51
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