[cuttooth]

What is stopping any of these kids from, I don't know, just staying home like a normal person and working on the game in their spare time as a hobby? Nothing indicates any of these children are homeless, fosters, or abused in any way, so one has to assume they're (presumably) regular kids.

Are we (and by we, I partly just mean the tech community, or whatever you wish to call it any more) seriously so introverted as a society any more that we have to encourage 13-year-old boys to sit with their headphones on, near-silent in a house with a bunch of developers potentially ten years their senior instead of going out and acting like a normal person?

There's nothing wrong with wanting to develop something, but come on. Why can't people simply engage like regular human beings any more?

[jvrossb]

We invite cool guest speakers and make sure they all interact with each other. The best games aren't built in isolation, feedback from peers is extremely important.

Here are some pictures from the location covered in the article, as you'll see it's not like everyone is silent and asocial: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.262781033863020.10...

I'm sitting in the middle of the internship as I write and there are at least 3 collaborative discussions going on around me right now.

[yanghan]

I couldn't disagree more. It's very difficult for younger and inexperienced people to know where to start and learn something as difficult as making a game. I know adults who don't even know where to get started with web development.

In fact I would say the opposite is true. Kids should go out and enjoy a collaborate learning environment like this, instead of being isolated in their homes trying to figure things out on their own.

[inafield]

I disagree with the assertions made by cuttooth.

I have two 12 year old cousins who are very interested to get into video game development. They have some great ideas and are thinking of ways to make games like Minecraft more enjoyable at a base level as well as new gaming modes and/or features. Not only that, but they are thinking about monetization and how and why people would be interested in this. Not only that, they aren't just thinking about Minecraft either. They have ideas for their own games, and games they haven't played yet (not old enough by the ESRB and their parents' standards).

On top of this, they play sports. Outside. Not the EA type. It's only after their homework is done and they don't have any sports activities or friends over playing a board game (remember those?) that they are allowed to play video games. These kids are smart and enjoy the outdoors.

I would definitely say that they are regular kids and extremely engaged as a "regular" human being (whatever that means). At the last family BBQ, when they found out that myself and two friends are making our own video game, let's just say I was bombarded with questions about how to start and what to do and learn ;)

Their dad was also especially happy to hear that there are free versions of Blender, Construct2, and Unity3D.