# Kids have no sense of history or nostalgia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422 "2005-01-06T18:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/1 "2005-01-06T18:24:13Z")
[Here](http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3109674) and [here](http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3137498) are a couple of hilarious articles where a computer gaming magazine sat eleven-year-old kids down and had them play classic computer games, like Pong, Space Invaders and Defender. With no sense of nostalgia or history, they conclude the games are dumb. My favorite exchange was this (in which they’re talking about Defender): EGM: Before this came out in compilations, we used to put quarters in arcade machines. Parker: You wasted quarters in this? EGM: Yeah. Parker: That’s so sad. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/2 "2005-01-06T19:00:20Z")
Hehe, some great lines in those: About PONG: My line is so beating the heck out of your stupid line. Fear my pink line. You have no chance. I am the undisputed lord of virtual tennis. [Misses ball] Whoops. About E.T. (shouldn’t that count as child abuse?) Maybe another movie company that didn’t want you to like E.T. made this game. In the section about “Adventure”: Dillon: And to think 20 years from now, people are going to think, “Oh, you’re playing [GameCube Zelda game] Wind Waker? That’s boring.” EGM: What are you going to say when your kids say Wind Waker looks boring? Parker: Get out of my house. You’re out of my will. I was debating about getting into a “kids these days don’t know how good they’ve got it”, but it’ll probably be better if I don’t. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/3 "2005-01-06T19:23:05Z")
> [@](#): > > But you can get this game on a cell phone. Why would you want to pay for it in an arcade? I feel so old. So very, very old. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/4 "2005-01-06T19:34:15Z")
These kids crack me up. They should get their own show. MST3K but with videogames. On Pong: > [@](#): > > Andrew: This is a lot like that game. Um, whatchamacallit—air hockey. > > Sheldon: Except worse. On Donkey Kong: > [@](#): > > points. That’s it? All you get is points? That’s lame. Can’t you do something with the umbrella? > > Tim: They just put totally random stuff here for points. Oh, you’ve got an umbrella. You’ve got a purse. > > John: Watch out, Tim—fire. It’s smarter than you think. > > Tim: It’s strange that fire moves in this and has eyes. Oh no, the fire’s coming. It’s going to eat you. Are these barrels alive, too? Everything’s alive. And Donkey Kong’s mouth is made of pluses. Look: Plus, plus, plus, minus. They’re trying to teach you math by brainwashing you. On Space Invaders: > [@](#): > > EGM: This game was so popular in Japan that— > > John: They made it into a TV show? > > EGM: Well, no. It was so popular that they ran out— > > John: Oh, did they make collectible trading cards for it? > > EGM: Um, no. It was so popular that there was a shortage of the coins used to play it. > > John: But you can get this game on a cell phone. Why would you want to pay for it in an arcade? > … > > Kirk: And you can’t pick up an AK-47 and go kill—hey, those aliens on the top row, you use them in EGM for stuff. > > EGM: Yeah, we use them to end our articles. They do kinda look like they’re from Space Invaders, don’t they? > > Tim: They’re going to sue you. > > Kirk: I’m sure everyone who made this game is dead by now. I was laughing so hard at the ET portion of the interview, I was in tears. Literally. That almost never happens to me. I’m lucky nobody’s around at work right now. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/5 "2005-01-06T19:46:36Z")
Years ago, Jay Leno had some kid actor on and was interviewing him. Leno: What’s your favorite film? Kid: Jaws II Leno: Didn’t you like Jaws I? Kid: That was before my time. Yeah…I guess at that age, the time lapse between films/technology seems really far between. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/6 "2005-01-06T20:09:04Z")
That’s great! I am sending this link to every techno-geek I’m still friends with from junior high. 😃 Brian: What’s this supposed to be? EGM: Football. It’s one of the first great portable games. Brian: I thought it was Run Away From the Dots. John: I don’t see how this has anything remotely to do with football. EGM: Which team are you playing? Kirk: The red lines. Tim: They could’ve just as easily called this game anything—Baseball, Bowling, Escape From the Monsters. EGM: Did you score? Kirk: I bumped into a dot. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/7 "2005-01-06T21:01:33Z")
😃 “It’s no Splinter Cell.” The dot is small. I am not." “The ballerina has skills.” 😃 My favorite: **EGM:** When you lose all your lives, you have to start over. You don’t keep going. **Parker:** And you guys back then were OK with this? The exchange during GTAI where they roll their eyes at the notion that the game is a bad influence, and they show they know the difference between actions in a fantasy game and actions in the real world, is also pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/8 "2005-01-06T21:19:11Z")
These kids are definitely funny. The first article is a classic. I got the impression during the recent second article, though, that they _knew_ they were funny and they were going for jabs. Either they got praised to death after the first one, or they were chosen for these attributes in the first place. I thought was a little strange, considering how they acted in the first article, that in the second article they were saying things like “this game is classic” and, “I played this when I was little.” It does make me miss arcades though. I clearly remember when _Gauntlet_ was the killer app and people by no means minded standing in line to play it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/9 "2005-01-06T21:20:36Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I feel so old. > So very, very old. You think that’s bad. A few years ago, a co-worker and I went to the American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York to attend a lecture. We wandered through the exhibits before the lecture started, including _a museum exhibit on the history of the coin-op video game._ Nothing like seeing video games you played as a child in a museum, with little explanatory cards detailing the historical significance of each (e.g., This was the first vector graphics game and was released in 198X.) to make one feel old. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/10 "2005-01-06T21:27:51Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > These kids are definitely funny. The first article is a classic. I got the impression during the recent second article, though, that they _knew_ they were funny and they were going for jabs. Either they got praised to death after the first one, or they were chosen for these attributes in the first place. Well, it’s a different set of kids and a different set of video games in the second article. I don’t think it’s that hard to imagine that the kids would be familiar with the original Legend of Zelda or Street Fighter II since they re-release those games in packs all the time. Plus, older siblings may have old systems lying around that they play. I think the first article went so well that EGM tried to get the exact same thing by screening the kids a bit more. That never works out the way people intend. ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/11 "2005-01-06T21:28:40Z")
EGM: Are they scary? Anthony: No. It feels like they’re trying to give me flowers. Dillon: But flowers that you’re allergic to, so you’re trying to blow them up. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/12 "2005-01-06T21:36:15Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I thought was a little strange, considering how they acted in the first article, that in the second article they were saying things like “this game is classic” and, “I played this when I was little.” IIRC, the games in the second article were relatively new compared to the games in the first. The entire Tetris block is hysterical. “Nothing blows up” _snerk_ ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/13 "2005-01-06T21:37:20Z")
I hate both of these articles because these kids are a little _too funny_. Methinks the editors at EGM made it up. Or they sat those little bastards down there for days until delirium kicked in and they started saying funny stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/14 "2005-01-06T21:42:52Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Well, it’s a different set of kids and a different set of video games in the second article. Ah, I remember the games being slightly newer but I thought they whole hook of the article was that they were the same kids (they certainly act the same :dubious:.) Looking back, I see that you’re right; they are different kids. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/15 "2005-01-06T21:46:30Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I feel so old. > So very, very old. :rolleyes: No kidding. I think I was 11 or 12 when Pong came out and we thought it was just amazing. When my own kids comment on the supposed lameness of graphics in today’s games, I always bring up Pong. “It was just a white dot and and a two white lines! That’s it! And we LIKED IT!” ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/16 "2005-01-06T21:54:15Z")
I remember walking to the bank, withdrawing $5 from my savings account, riding the bus across town to the mall where the arcade was, zipping through 20 quarters in about 10 minutes, and then riding the bus home. I wonder what those kids would say about that. I know what MY kids would say. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/17 "2005-01-06T21:54:37Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I hate both of these articles because these kids are a little _too funny_. > > Methinks the editors at EGM made it up. > > Or they sat those little bastards down there for days until delirium kicked in and they started saying funny stuff. Yeah. While I like the articles and think they’re funny, there is no way in hell that I believe they’re spontaneous or that the kids are actually saying that without coaching. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/18 "2005-01-06T23:08:21Z")
I also wonder if these articles are made up. One of the kids refers to the film _Gleaming the Cube_, and the whole “Zangief’s a Nazi!” conversation, though funny, makes me wonder if kids really don’t know the difference between a swastika and a hammer-and-sickle. I’ve heard of Pac-Man champ Billy Mitchell, but I don’t know how many kids could identify him by name. That said, some highlights (comments from EGM staffers are in bold) _Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!_ > [@](#): > > “Why is Mario in this game? What does he have to do with anything? But it’d be cool if you can become Mario and jump on the guy’s head and he dies.”[Mario was a referee in this game, in case you don’t know.] > … > “[Von Kaiser’s] not Mike Tyson. Are you kidding me? Mike Tyson does not have a handlebar moustache, and he’s not white.” > **"So those are the two things that make you think that’s not Mike Tyson?"** > “Yeah, plus this guy’s wearing pants.” _Star Wars (arcade)_ > [@](#): > > “This looks like a game out of Willy Wonka or something.” > “It’s like, ‘I’m Willy Wonka. I’ve created a new Star Wars.’” > … > “They should make a Matrix game in the theme of Star Wars. So then you take out your sword and run up to a guy and go, “Chiiing!” And after you saw though his head, you fly inside your X-wing.” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/19 "2005-01-06T23:18:27Z")
_Street Fighter II_ > [@](#): > > “Why did [Zangief] get thrown up [in the air] when he got jumped upon[?]” > “It’s probably because the Nazis felt bad having a cement fighting place, so they put little trampolines under-” > “Wait. What do Nazis have to do with it?” > “Because Zangief is a Nazi.” > “He’s a communist.” > “Then why is Zangief’s place a Nazi place?..It had a Nazi sign on the cement.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422/20 "2005-01-06T23:31:39Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > These kids crack me up. They should get their own show. MST3K but with videogames. [It’s been done. By the professionals.](http://www.mst3kinfo.com/ward_e/bitplay.html) Mike, Tom, and Crow were in the Feb 1998 edition of the Sony’s Playstation Underground magazine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-have-no-sense-of-history-or-nostalgia/283422.md?page=2)