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This is not the typical behavior of a teenager.

thriftwy 9y ago
Actually it is. All the wonders we did when we could put our hands on some calcium carbide...
devereaux 9y ago
Behavior is influenced by environments. Kids have a natural proclivity to experiment with things -- innovate, regardless of the circumstances. Have you never noticed? However, they are not very often left free to innovate. Someone mentioned their kid spent too much time playing videogames. I did too. After I finally got a computer, someday I found this old game called Doom 2. I spent months with it, as it was so smooth on my low end computer. Then I got bored, but I discovered I could create my own levels! I had nothing to model, so I created a level based on my school. I didn't have maps of anything, but my school was easy to remember as I went there every day. Now imagine any of this is a modern context - a teenager doing nothing, mixing and burning random chemicals to see what happens, and finally not just playing "violent" videogames, but making one replicating the school floor plan!! I would be certainly labelled a menace to society!! The environment influences behavior of kids and most of the time, I think it exerts a negative influence. I believe in free time, and being non judgemental. Everyone has to figure out their own path in life.
- Nition 9y ago
  As you probably know, the Columbine shooters had ostensibly made a Doom map of their school and indeed a big deal was made about it by people who didn't know anything about Doom or map editors or videogames. Of course just about everyone who's made maps for any sort of game has tried to make their house or their school. It's just fun to put the real-life places you know into a game.
  - devereaux 9y ago
    I know that in retrospect. I didn't know it back then, or I wouldn't have done the level. Kids do things just randomly, to experiment in various domains. We project our fears onto them. In doing so, we influence them. I am very surprised by most of the reactions to this article, on HN of all places.
dragonwriter 9y ago
It may not be the most typical, but it's certainly within the range of common behavior patterns.

Actually it is. All the wonders we did when we could put our hands on some calcium carbide...

Behavior is influenced by environments. Kids have a natural proclivity to experiment with things -- innovate, regardless of the circumstances. Have you never noticed? However, they are not very often left free to innovate. Someone mentioned their kid spent too much time playing videogames. I did too. After I finally got a computer, someday I found this old game called Doom 2. I spent months with it, as it was so smooth on my low end computer. Then I got bored, but I discovered I could create my own levels! I had nothing to model, so I created a level based on my school. I didn't have maps of anything, but my school was easy to remember as I went there every day. Now imagine any of this is a modern context - a teenager doing nothing, mixing and burning random chemicals to see what happens, and finally not just playing "violent" videogames, but making one replicating the school floor plan!! I would be certainly labelled a menace to society!! The environment influences behavior of kids and most of the time, I think it exerts a negative influence. I believe in free time, and being non judgemental. Everyone has to figure out their own path in life.

Nition 9y ago
As you probably know, the Columbine shooters had ostensibly made a Doom map of their school and indeed a big deal was made about it by people who didn't know anything about Doom or map editors or videogames. Of course just about everyone who's made maps for any sort of game has tried to make their house or their school. It's just fun to put the real-life places you know into a game.
- devereaux 9y ago
  I know that in retrospect. I didn't know it back then, or I wouldn't have done the level. Kids do things just randomly, to experiment in various domains. We project our fears onto them. In doing so, we influence them. I am very surprised by most of the reactions to this article, on HN of all places.

dragonwriter 9y ago

It may not be the most typical, but it's certainly within the range of common behavior patterns.