下一代（二）：游戏

游戏。

从小学开始，我们发现他很喜欢玩游戏，而且常常花样翻新。比如他扩展了Uno，设计了很多新的牌张和新的规矩和玩法，用打印机印出来，制成新的Uno set，带到学校去和同学一起玩。那时候周末经常有很多同学来我家玩游戏。学习上，他也相对领先。同时他天然有一种当“老师”的激情，经常和同学交流学习心得。学校老师和同学都很喜欢他。

还有就是电子游戏和电脑游戏，他也玩而且很入迷。我也玩，因为不玩的话就感到和孩子少了共同语言。有时候和他一起玩，边玩边聊天，也蛮开心的。

下面是我以前写的一篇文章

我家男孩很小就开始玩游戏。三岁还是四岁的生日礼物是一台任天堂连带一个游戏盒。不是我买的哈，是朋友送的。

后来慢慢地游戏机，游戏盒／游戏盘就多起来了。最多的时候大约有四五十个游戏盒，游戏盘。三，四年级时他开始玩电脑游戏，比如Diablo，这个是限制级的游戏，不过那时候游戏还没有明确标级，我糊里糊涂地也就放任他玩了。

不仅他玩，我也玩。我觉得两个人一起玩比较有共同语言，而且也便于管理。比如说马上要吃晚饭了，他在玩游戏，妈妈在那边喊话：马上开饭了，别玩了。他回话说，好好好，等我打完这一级，save了game就来。老爸一听觉得有猫腻，就过去了：不行，打完这一级还要好长时间呢，你往右转，那边有一个save box，赶紧save了准备吃饭。内行话，他没有理由拒绝，就停了。

后来电脑游戏玩多了，开始game modding（游戏改编），主要是Diablo和AOW。这就有点编程的意思了。工程浩大啊！大陆海洋，城市道路，一百多个角色，情节。那时我们全家都是他的试验员（主要是我）。

高中学了编程开始学写游戏软件。不过打游戏也一直没停过，基本是自己控制的，所以我也搞不清楚每天花了多少时间。

上大学时刚分配好宿舍就和室友商量好了，游戏机电视机等等，你带什么我带什么。

上大学后、工作后就不知道他在游戏上总共花了多少时间了。只知道他在编程上花了不少功夫，估计打游戏就不会太多了。不过他对游戏的热情一直不减。网上有游戏的event，他会告诉我们一起上网看。有时候我们（各自在不同的地方）看Awesome Games Done Quick，里面有几个游戏，super mario，zelda，final fantasy 等等，都是他和我一起玩过的。那一次游戏活动是为医学和动物保护筹款，他也捐了（听到直播时主办方报出他的名字）。

听说有孩子玩游戏上瘾而误了前程的。我庆幸孩子从游戏中悟到了计算机和创造性（见他的大学申请短文（附件）。或许和我和太座都是学理工有关。我本人学过物理，应用数学，工程理论。第一个工作是在大学CS系。或许潜移默化使他喜欢上了CS。

 

附件：大学申请短文之一：

Computer Games: A Way to Create

            I am a computer game nut. The CD cases of old games such as Diablo II, Age of Wonders, and Morrowind decorate my shelf like a long row of plaques and trophies. Video and computer games are an irreplaceable part of my life now, familiar old companions.

            However, probably not in the way that anyone would expect. It has been years since I have played any of these games. Ironically, I spend very little time playing compared to the time I spend editing and adding features to them.

My first real experience with game editing, or “modding”, as it is called in the online community, was with Diablo II. Even as I battled demonic hordes by flinging shards of fire and ice across the sands of the Horadric Valley, I could imagine a hundred ways to improve the game. I had a deep appreciation for Blizzard’s efforts to balance the game, but I noticed that over eighty percent of the skills available to a character were learned once and then discarded without ever being used. The valley itself was far too easy compared to the preceding locations, and from a game-play perspective, the gold coins that characters collected were absolutely worthless.

Before long, I discovered and quickly became part of the “Phrozen Keep” online modding community. For about a year, I spent hours each week working with spreadsheets and images, altering numbers, rebalancing the game, and adding items, skills, and creatures. I never released my modifications, but my friends clamor for them.

Although Blizzard, the makers of the game, never officially supported the modding community, they unofficially appreciated it for the additional popularity it drew. In fact, their final bug-fixing patch to the game also unlocked a vast portion of the internal code to allow easy editing! Partly as a result of the interest that it drew to the Diablo II community, many of the computer games in the following years shipped with official game editors, when few had done so before.

            I have also edited Age of Wonders, a conquest-based strategy game and I am currently producing a custom dungeon for Deadly Rooms of Death (DROD), an extremely intricate puzzle and logic-oriented game with a wacky sense of humor. Since I learned Java only a year and a half ago, part of my enthusiasm for creation has flown into my Java programming. So far, in Java, I have written a program for playing Go, a basic particle simulator, and usable graphics, geometry, and computational packages.

            The attraction of a new game is anything but the entertainment, action, or fantasy escape that the game might provide. For me, each game is a springboard for inspiration and a potential framework that can be sculpted into something fresh. I don’t play video games… I build upon them.