I started playing video games at an early age with high quality titles (8/16-bit era), and didn't learn to program until my mid-teens. Looking back, my introdu

I started playing video games at an early age with high quality titles (8/16-bit era), and didn't learn to program until my mid-teens. Looking back, my introduction to computers came from (a) having a PC game I couldn't run a game, and (b) a Dad that was technical enough to replace components in said PC. We had a "pop the car hood" moment where he showed me what each component did, how to change a processor, check the BIOS was registering the changes, etc. Leading up to programming I became deeply engrossed with game tools. Modding was all the rage, and I did a bunch of map making with Quake, Unreal, and Starcraft. Startcraft in particular, with it's scripted events system, were some of the first exploration I did in structuring statements to get a desired result. At the same time, my parents had a pretty strict no-videogame policy on school nights, which effectively meant Fri-Sun were my game times. This did not translate in restrictions of general computer use though, so I could still use it as a power user. Game tools were my clever way to subverting that rule, because I wasn't "actually" playing a game. > But when it comes down to spending time making things, he inevitably chooses to play an interesting game rather than learn coding. Let's be very honest with ourselves, the Mean Time To Reward for video games is laughably small and non-competitive. This is powerfully true for beginners of programming. To cross that chasm, you need two things: reduce the MTTR and inspire a thirst for knowledge that video games can't quench. Two birds for one stone, use your own game development experience and build a small game in Unity yourself and ask their advice and bug testing. When they spy you working in Unity, and how quickly you are developing, I bet it will inspire that thirst for something more than video games (and structured content in general) can provide. > he's very curious, he's a super user of the OS's he has access too... He sounds like he's perfectly on track.