Is KSP for Older Users?

[engraverwilliam]

I told a 7 year old how to click things together. Told him if I can fly his creation to the Mun I would give him a dollar. 20 mins later he came and got me. (It fell aaprt on the launchpad before even launching ...I had pitty on him and added about 10 struts but everything else was his creation the thing took off, orbited then to the MUN... no landing gear...landed anyway. Tipped over...survived , crawled out and planted a flag. I gave him 2 dollars.

[regex]

This game requires trial and error, patience, and a willingness to learn. People who have those qualities, regardless of age, will probably enjoy it. Whether they find it is another matter.

[Anton P. Nym]

I think KSP will appeal to any kid who wants to be an astronaut when he/she grows up. In that sense, no, I don't think it's a game for older audiences; if I recall correctly by 14 I was building Estes model rocket kits (badly) and I probably would've played the heck out of KSP had it been available then. Then there's the reviewer(?) whose 8-year-old daughter managed to get into orbit...

KSP may or may not have broad appeal, but I don't think it splits neatly along age lines.

-- Steve

[gmpd2000]

I'm 12 and i have maked missions to Duna,Jool,etc

and without MJ.

but I have isntalled, but i don't use it very much.

My answer: No.

[Sbowyer28]

Short Answer: Yes.

Long Answer: KSP is the kind of game which appeals to a mature fanbase, mainly due to the fact that the ordinary 12 year old would never have the patience to learn to even orbit, even less so interplanetary travel.

I Started playing when I was 12 and I kept trying, It was something I was interested in so I could sit through all the explosions and deaths even though I had about no patience.

[Wheffle]

I've always been interested in nerdy games. I played SimCity 2000 religiously as like an 8-year-old, and other such games. Not that I was super good at it, but I liked it. I would have played KSP definitely.

I wouldn't say this game attracts a certain age group, I'd say it attracts a certain kind of gamer, one that enjoys challenge, building, exploring and more realistic gameplay. Young and old, I'm happy to see anyone of any age playing KSP!

[cesarcurado]

I's for everyone as long as they can read in english and know how to use a computer from my understanding.

It is not like it takes "maturity" to play a game, in a game there are objectives (in KSP you set your own objectives, but still, there are objectives) and you follow them.

By that logic the best "pro gamers" (don't even come saying KSP isn't a game) would be 40+.

[Flixxbeatz]

I've always been interested in nerdy games.

Wait, so you're telling us that Kerbal Space Program is a "nerdy" game?

[Lanfranc]

what, the latest hairdo of lady Gaga (lady who? just happened to notice something on the front page of the newspaper, says a lot such garbage is not front page news for a national paper) isn't vital to the future of mankind?

Change "Lady Gaga" to "The Beatles", and that exact sentence could have been (and probably was) uttered in 1963. Plus ça change…

[TheTriniFlyer]

*ALERT*

Answer: In Progress

The Community is voting here and the answer to this thread is presently being calculated...

[BubbaWilkins]

Not sure what you're talking about. Not surprised if the Flynn Effect is considered by some (if not many) to be controversial. But I've never seen anyone claim an actual _decline_ in IQ over the decades. Unless you are referring only to a specific population, or limited time range?

I was merely referencing this article and the base study which it covers. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/researchers-western-iqs-dropped-14-points-over-last-180634194.html

People certainly seemed to have gotten dumber over the course of my lifetime though.

Edited August 8, 2013 by BubbaWilkins

[annallia]

I agree with those who say its not an age thing, its a personality thing.

I know if it wasn't for my love of all things space, and my love of having a touch of realism (in other words I get more out of KSP than say STO or Wing Commander) I wouldn't have bothered with KSP. However because I have both those, as well as a love of building things, and a love of watching my carefully crafted creations slam into the ground at 1000 kph I play KSP.

[King Arthur]

I didn't read through the entire topic, so pardon me if I'm repeating anything here.

Is KSP for an older audience? Nay, I say KSP is a game for players of all ages. You only required to learn the basics of orbital mechanics and physics (and maybe some math) to be able to play KSP in a meaningful way, and the only skill/trait you are required to have are patience and perseverence.

[Burninate]

A mainstream consensus that "video games are for children" formed sometime in the 1980's. The people who grew up playing games, however, never seem to have stopped, especially computer rather than console gamers. Average MMO age is now late 20's to early 30's.

KSP and Minecraft have a particularly broad appeal not, IMO, in that their userbase is *older* than the average high-quality computer gaming community, but that it's younger.

[itsme86]

I was merely referencing this article and the base study which it covers. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/researchers-western-iqs-dropped-14-points-over-last-180634194.html

People certainly seemed to have gotten dumber over the course of my lifetime though.

The fact that some people are quicker to blindly defend their baseless claims than do a quick web search for actual studies supports your argument.

[Lanfranc]

I was merely referencing this article and the base study which it covers. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/researchers-western-iqs-dropped-14-points-over-last-180634194.html

People certainly seemed to have gotten dumber over the course of my lifetime though.

I think that study says more about the uselessness of IQ than it does about anything in the real world.

[jaredkzr]

I think you must be mentally mature and not necessarily older to play KSP. It requires a lot of patience and there is a fairly steep learning curve that deters a lot of potential users. Personally, I am 15 and have always found space flight simulators fun. I began playing Orbiter when I was 12 but I could never actually get anywhere but LEO and random ballistic courses. My older brother makes fun of me a lot for playing stuff like KSP and Orbiter but its just an annoyance like when you forget to set up your staging in the VAB.

[Boris_T_Roach]

KSP for older users???

I would'nt think so,

I would say that KSP is for gamers of all ages, so long as you enjoy doing what you want to do in it.

For example, it allows me (aged 48 and a bit) to plan long complex missions to land a manned mission on the innermost moon of Jool, first sending a communication relay into Jool orbit, followed by a probe carrying multiple mapsats to

determine the best place to land, then a re-fueling tanker into laythe orbit, that also carries a small aircraft that can fly around the selected landing site to do a close in survey, followed by then main landing mission which releases 2 rovers, and the main landing craft to land on Laythe while the ship docks and refuels at the tanker. Then the lander takes off after leaving various flags and stuff on Laythe, re-docks with the ship and returns to kerbin

Then I see what my nephews have built (they're aged 14 and 16) and its some wibbley wobbley mess of a ship that sheds parts almost as fast as it sheds SRBs , but still gets into orbit... or not

All of us have fun, and enjoy the game.... which is the main thing

Boris

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Short Answer: Yes.

Long Answer: KSP is the kind of game which appeals to a mature fanbase, mainly due to the fact that the ordinary 12 year old would never have the patience to learn to even orbit, even less so interplanetary travel.

I must be the exception that proves the rule then

(Then again, I do have a mental disorder the Issac Newton and Albert enstin had, and my IQ is 138+.) anyway, no stereotypes please

[Diche Bach]

I think that study says more about the uselessness of IQ than it does about anything in the real world.

Ah I see. Well I'm glad that work got published cause it is contrary to the prevailing generalizations using cognitive tests. I'm very surprised that there were any studies with reaction time instruments that could be matched going back that far in history. Also, I would very much question the generalizability of such old samples and also the fact that a meta-analysis of 14 studies is not very large. There are literally millions of people in hundreds of societies from virtually all walks of life and at all ages who have taken standardized IQ tests over the last 80 years. Whether they are valid indicators of "Intelligence" or not, I think we can safely conclude that the patterns of results in whatever it is they are measuring are representative of large swaths of humanity. Not something I think would be safe to conclude based on one meta-analytic study of 14 studies over 100 years. The other thing to keep in mind is that, "IQ" is generally based not on reaction time. Depending on what they mean by "reaction time" it might not even have any relation to explicit or 'intentional cognitive process so much as to implicit cognitive ability, which nonetheless is a very interesting index.

Suffice to say, the prevailing generalization in psychology is that there has been an increase in IQ since the 1930s in most parts of the world where reasonable data sets exist to allow such an historical comparison. Because IQ is a culture-bound construct, this might only reflect changes in education and institutionalized knowledge sharing, and not really reflect on changes in innate intelligence or any other innate cognitive ability. If people in 2000 spend their entire lives preparing for things that resemble IQ tests, then it stands to reason that they would do better at such tests than people in 1940 who underwent less intensive educational preparation for such things.

[PwnedDuck]

15 and working on a Laythe base, but I can understand that the patience, understanding and design comprehension needed for this game are a few years yet for many people my age, sadly enough. IIRC, a poll once showed players are evenly spread between 18-45, with a few older and a few younger...

[acealeam]

I'm 13, I can do everything but dock

[regex]

I'm 13, I can do everything but dock

Learn how, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Run some Gemini-esque missions.

E: Here's a good place to start, you might also want to search for some tutorials on Youtube.

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Basic_Maneuvers

[BostLabs]

53. I wish I had more time to work on my missions. Work and adult life get in the way a lot. A couple of hours maybe two evenings out of the week if I'm lucky.

I spend a lot of time just starting over. LOL. I've been to the Mun and Minmus a lot. I think I finally got a ship that can go interplanetary now. I need to bolt on some reusable landers and I will ready to test it.

I've been a geek/nerd for a long time.

Oh and get off my lawn.

[Coneshot]

I was playing Lunar Lander text only on what was at the time a cutting edge 8088 at age 12.. there was no way I could pass this one up now ;-)