Totally ignoring 98% of your blog entry... ;)

You said:
"i've seen some young children pick up video games and absolutely slaughter anyone opposing them...need proof? go youtube for "guitar hero 4 year old" and watch to your heart's content...

kids can grasp things so much easier than adults can...how they do it, who knows...granted this isn't every kid ont he planet, but it's not uncommon at all for a child to be much better at a game than an adult..."

I had already said:
"With a game with as many different levels as BB, including "invisible" tackle zones, wizards, skill combinations, skill choices, player purchasing, modifiers, if I am playing someone under 10, I am either slaughtering them AND bored, since I can't point things out, and explain rules as we go. They lose, and don't know why, OR their parent is basically telling them what to do, in which case.... "

1) Kid's who pick up a game for the first time and are great, have probably played more video games than the adults they are beating (or at least a similar amount)
2) Guitar Hero (which I'm crap at), involves diong the exact same thing every time. Enough repitition will allow anyone to be good at it. BloodBowl involves constantly shifting situations based on both the opponents moves AND dice rolls. A 4 year old cannot simply go "I move the orc up the middle" every time. What worked last time might not this.
3) Fumbbl is really not a video game, it's a board game. Anecdotal evidence for my position includes: playing BattleMasters with a 7 year old forbidden to watch TV. She kicked my butt with a bit of luck and all the right tactics (not that there are a huge number). Playing Heroclix with a 9 year old raised on video game. He kept trying to change the rules when things weren't going great, got bored, and asked about my computer. Finally, watching my 5 year old nephew play Bloons tower defence on his own. He tried different things, realized that the nails popped the balloons most quickly, and proceeded to keep buying them, and topping out at more or less the same level, never catchign on that the towers that did not get "used up" were a better longterm investment.


In Summary: Yes, there are remarkably young people who can beat me at games of various types. They are a minority, in the case of games with shifting circumstances, they are an extreme minority. Or.... ask any parent on this site if they would want you to be the person available when their kid asked a question for the first time, we know your opinion on stupid noobs, what about ignorant noobs who will cry when you are harsh with them?