From Childhood Dreams to Adult Reality
As a child, I spent countless hours immersed in computer games and learning BASIC, experimenting with simple programs on my Commodore 64 system. The allure wasn’t just the entertainment, but also the glimpse into the realm of programming. As I grew older, my fascination with technology deepened, and I started building PCs from second-hand scrap hardware I found in flea markets and thrift stores, using money from chores and birthday cards.
As I grew older, I moved from BASIC to Turbo Pascal, and to more complex games like Rogue, NetHack, Doom, and the first Dune game. Nights would often find me engrossed in these digital landscapes, lost in the corridors of Doom or terraforming Arrakis. A dream during those years was to own a SNES, later a PlayStation — dreams that were financially out of reach at the time. I spent hours reading magazines about Zelda or Metal Gear Solid, imagining how it would be to explore those critically acclaimed games. I wanted to one day, as an adult, be able to purchase whatever hardware and games I desired, whenever I wanted, and to have the luxury of time to fully appreciate it.
Fast-forward nearly three decades, and I find myself fortunate enough to have realized this childhood dream. Now, as a parent myself, I’ve also come to understand that part of this longed-for adulthood is when I buy an 8-core CPU and a GPU capable of achieving 50 TFLOPS, only for it to primarily be used by my kid for playing Minecraft. And it’s a funny realization because you can run Minecraft just fine on a 12-year-old CPU with integrated graphics. Of course, it’s not only Minecraft. I still use this hardware for other tasks such as training models and compiling code. After all, one must maintain the appearances of being a responsible adult!
Another important realization of the parent-gamer’s life is that figuring out things like how to use stair-blocks and floor panels for building roofs, how to craft Golden Apples, or how to save a house after flooding it with a single bucket of water is much more important than discovering the true nature of Melina1. And that you quickly need to certificate yourself with additional crucial dad titles and skills, like the Principal Redstone2 Engineer, Senior Block Operator or Lead Mob Repeller. And to be able to rebuild virtually anything blown up by a creeper. Fun times.
In the Elden Ring game, Melina is a mysterious figure who serves as a guide to the player. Her true nature is gradually revealed throughout the game. ↩︎
Redstone is essentially Minecraft’s version of electrical circuitry, allowing players to create various contraptions and automated systems within the game. It adds a layer of engineering and problem-solving to Minecraft, allowing players to create everything from simple switches to complex automated machines. ↩︎