7 ms·

Gaming pays off for two teenagers

18 points by tpatke 11y ago

fixxer 11y ago
So they have a profitable biz... Why bother with college? What are they going to learn there that they haven't already demonstrated enough savvy to acquire on their own? Seems like a waste of scholarship.
- breitling 11y ago
  If not knowledge, perhaps it's worth it for the people one would meet at Stanford?
- levesque 11y ago
  Well, for the sake of the argument, there are some topics that you would never master on your own because you would never get around to it. Some highly theoretical stuff (which you could also argue is useless for a very down to earth startup, but can be important to understand more complex topics down the road). To take a wide example, you're not going to master mathematics without investing some serious time. You won't be as effective if you keep getting interrupted by tasks that might seem more worthwhile.
- sopooneo 11y ago
  They might find out about topics that will help them live happier and richer lives. They will have the chance to learn from great people about a wide range of topics.
igvadaimon 11y ago
I thought this article would be about people streaming on twitch and receiving donates. Because let's be honest, it wasn't really gaming that paid off in this case, but programming and hard work.
- baby 11y ago
  yup. The title is irrelevant. And the story is... well another teenager success stories that people adore.
Kiro 11y ago
I don't understand this headline.
lifeisstillgood 11y ago
Impressive - getting Siri to learn Portuguese, coding gaming servers, creating a PayPal like payment system ... All as teenagers. Nothing to do with "lucky and gamers" but interesting nonetheless. Kudos to them.
ponyous 11y ago
> Pedro wanted to use Apple's new personal assistant, Siri, but she only spoke English. By the age of 15, he had managed to make Siri speak Portuguese. How could one teach Siri to speak new language? Sorry but I am clueless...
- andrewmcwatters 11y ago
  Translation services and hooking input to Siri.
ckozlowski 11y ago
I think the intent of this article was to show that PC gaming can sometimes introduce young kids to the world of IT. In trying to figure out how to make their games work, they learn concepts along the way. I agree, the headline was really misleading. But the title was something that I've heard my own parents tell me, looking in retrospect at the hours I spent on Descent or X-Wing, figuring it was all for naught then, and seeing how it lead to a job later on. Flying an X-Wing of course, didn't teach me anything. But it was at an age when I had to get my father (not-computer savvy) to install my games. After he couldn't, the game sat, for most of a year, until one day I opened it up once more to read the manual, and noticed that there were instructions I understood: DOS memory needed to be configured to allocate more to EMS (or something along those lines) and I successfully made the configuration change. I was 10. It was all in the name of being able to play a game, sure. But it was a good motivator to developing a set of skills. If you're lucky enough to love computers, getting games to work is a good place to start when you're little. =)

18 points by tpatke 11y ago

So they have a profitable biz... Why bother with college? What are they going to learn there that they haven't already demonstrated enough savvy to acquire on their own? Seems like a waste of scholarship.

breitling 11y ago
If not knowledge, perhaps it's worth it for the people one would meet at Stanford?
levesque 11y ago
Well, for the sake of the argument, there are some topics that you would never master on your own because you would never get around to it. Some highly theoretical stuff (which you could also argue is useless for a very down to earth startup, but can be important to understand more complex topics down the road). To take a wide example, you're not going to master mathematics without investing some serious time. You won't be as effective if you keep getting interrupted by tasks that might seem more worthwhile.
sopooneo 11y ago
They might find out about topics that will help them live happier and richer lives. They will have the chance to learn from great people about a wide range of topics.

igvadaimon 11y ago

I thought this article would be about people streaming on twitch and receiving donates. Because let's be honest, it wasn't really gaming that paid off in this case, but programming and hard work.

baby 11y ago
yup. The title is irrelevant. And the story is... well another teenager success stories that people adore.

Kiro 11y ago

I don't understand this headline.

lifeisstillgood 11y ago

Impressive - getting Siri to learn Portuguese, coding gaming servers, creating a PayPal like payment system ... All as teenagers. Nothing to do with "lucky and gamers" but interesting nonetheless. Kudos to them.

ponyous 11y ago

> Pedro wanted to use Apple's new personal assistant, Siri, but she only spoke English. By the age of 15, he had managed to make Siri speak Portuguese. How could one teach Siri to speak new language? Sorry but I am clueless...

andrewmcwatters 11y ago
Translation services and hooking input to Siri.

ckozlowski 11y ago

I think the intent of this article was to show that PC gaming can sometimes introduce young kids to the world of IT. In trying to figure out how to make their games work, they learn concepts along the way. I agree, the headline was really misleading. But the title was something that I've heard my own parents tell me, looking in retrospect at the hours I spent on Descent or X-Wing, figuring it was all for naught then, and seeing how it lead to a job later on. Flying an X-Wing of course, didn't teach me anything. But it was at an age when I had to get my father (not-computer savvy) to install my games. After he couldn't, the game sat, for most of a year, until one day I opened it up once more to read the manual, and noticed that there were instructions I understood: DOS memory needed to be configured to allocate more to EMS (or something along those lines) and I successfully made the configuration change. I was 10. It was all in the name of being able to play a game, sure. But it was a good motivator to developing a set of skills. If you're lucky enough to love computers, getting games to work is a good place to start when you're little. =)