Involving Kids In Free Software Through Games

SynrG writes "Platinum Arts Sandbox puts into childrens' hands the ability to role play in a 3D world and edit that world using simplified controls. The expressions on the faces of our kids as they played were priceless; both the ups and the downs. I wanted to capture this on video and share it. After having established a rapport with upstream, we took a 20 minute clip of one of our play sessions and gave a copy to them to use to help further their work. Here is the edited result. They were very pleased to have that kind of feedback and found the video valuable for determining where the software still needed improvement and to notice which aspects particularly pleased the children."

Comments

Involve kids in free software?

[bazald]

How is giving kids free software to play with equivalent to involving them in free software? If they aren't working on the software itself, how are they involved? I understand it is a sandbox that they can play with, but what is the importance of its openness as far as the kids are concerned?

I have taught high schoolers to develop video games in their free time using a FOSS game engine I put together. That seems more like involving kids in free software, to me.

This, on the other hand, is a cool way of allowing kids to interact with video game simulations in a way that allows them to be creative. It sounds like it works well for a relatively young age group as well, which is a good thing. However, while the summary of this interesting idea is not bad, the subject line is somewhat insane. I don't think we need to artificially emphasize the openness of our projects to garner a good reception on Slashdot.

Might get them interested in modding

[Moraelin]

It might get them interested in modding, I guess, and then they'll move on to something which actually allow them to write some code too. E.g., see the Oblivion or Fallout 3 or NWN2 scripting.

Most of the basic concepts involved in programming are just as applicable to and learnable from scripting, as from C++ or whatever else. E.g., according to a recent article, apparently one hurdle that half the population can't get over, is the humble "a = b" assignment. If a kid managed to get over it in a script to make their +5 Sword Of Ganking available in a game via a simple quest, or to put in a new uber-spell in NWN2, it's something they can apply later in a real programming job.

And to some extent most such mods involve starting from _some_ sources, and sharing your own source. It's not really F/OSS that would please RMS, but it can serve to drive a point home. Especially when they run into stuff like that they can't import their favourite companion or weapon from Oblivion into Fallout 3, because it's copyrighted by Bethesda and most mod sites have stern worded restrictions on that kind of thing. And they can also see what it's like to be on the other side of the fence, when someone else takes your sources and models, with or without permission, and makes his own mod out of them. It seems to me like you then can make your own informed choice between such stances as "meh, I couldn't care less" (Public Domain), "... as long as he gives credit" (BSD) or "... as long as he shares his changes too" (GPL) or a few others. (Over-simplified view of those licenses, to be sure, but you get the idea.)

Or maybe decide that "mine! all mine!" is what fits their personality the best, I guess.

On the other hand, I see no reason not to start directly from one of those games in the first place. If I were trying to get a kid interested in coding, I'd probably rather start from something like that.