Getting Others into KSP

[Birdco_Space]

This is an answer to this, posted on a different forum thread, but warranting of a broad discussion on its own.  I'm interested in other's tips and tricks of spreading the goodness that is Kerbal Space Program: 

23 hours ago, xendelaar said:

@Birdco_SpaceYou got your 6 year old to get interested in KSP? That's amazing?  I'm not even able to get my own friends enthusiastic about the greatest game ever created.. so i didn't ever bother to show the game to my little nephew (also 6).

Next time he visits, i will to teach him the kerbal way.

Do you have any tips getting him enthusiastic?  He loves games like minecraft (although he's not really that good at it yet)

My tips in getting youth interested in Kerbal Space program:

1) Build the foundation by getting them interested in Science, Engineering and Space generally.

  - There are a lot of ways to start this (TV shows like Mythbusters, How its made, How the earth was made, Classic Bill Nye the Science Guy, ect), but the most effective tool I have found recently is Space-X Hosted web casts of their launches (and landing attempts).  Something about these, and how they are presented really lights the fire of imagination in my kids and has them focus on space and science for weeks afterwards.

2)  You play KSP with them watching (with live commentary).

  -  In this, I really need to emphasize the Kerbal part of Kerbal Space Program.  Squad did a great job of making this game approachable to children with their little green men.  Taking Jebidiah, Valentina, and Bob to interesting places gets my kids interesting in what is going on, far more so then just sending a probe.  All the while, talk about what you are doing, and why.  Role play a bit with the Orange suits, make in interesting and compelling.  There are many Youtube series that use KSP to tell stories while exploring concepts of the game that do a good job of giving children a story they want to play out on their own in the game

3)  Have them plan out a mission goal, and you make it happen, while explaining what you are doing, and why you are doing it. 

  -  This is where the technical terms and physics concepts come in.  In the beginning, its an explanation of what you are building, and why you are choosing one part vice another part.  Mods like KER are great tools for this because you can have numbers to back up why you are doing something.  When you are flying the mission, take time to sightsee on the way to the goal, as this keeps their interest in what is going on.  Bring Bob, and do something to make him panic

4)  Give them a goal, and a craft to meet the goal, and help them get there.

-  The flight controls are one of the harder things to get youth accustomed to, and as the flight controls are important to the vehicle editing process, its an important place to start.  A great progression I have found is rovers around KSC (basic control and camera lay out.  Then flying atmospheric aircraft (more complex control, but movement is intuitive because of the constant aero forces).  Finally, launching rockets, as while the controls are easier, the results of control inputs is not immediately intuitive, especially in orbital maneuvers.  Landing on airless bodies is something best left for later, once the other skills are mastered.

5) Let them build with mild guidance

-  Let them figure it out, help them when they have challenges with the U/I, and when they compete their design, go over it with them, and adjust it (with explanation)  to make it functional (but not necessarily optimal), then do the Kerbal thing, hit space bar, and see what happens, and talk about what went wrong (or right) and help them figure out how to fix it.  Rinse and repeat until desired results obtained.

This is time consuming, but I have a 6 year old who is reasonably proficient in building rovers and airplanes, and uses terms like TWR, ISP, Gravity Turn, Momentum, and Delta V appropriately, while understanding what exactly it means.

What has worked for you all? 

 

Edited January 18, 2017 by Birdco_Space
Spelling errors :(

[Johnny Wishbone]

I have been playing the game for several years and have had many opportunities to get others into it. My experience has been that people either really dive into it and play it heavily for 6 months to a year before burning out, or they play around with it for an hour or so and say "meh. not for me."

The interesting part is that most of the people that I figured would be the ones to really get into the game (ie: people really into spaceflight, astronomy, physics, etc) are the ones that usually show little interest in the game. The ones that do get into the game seem to do so because they just like building stuff and then blowing it up.

[Spacetraindriver]

Nice advice, but what about Bill?

[Kyrt Malthorn]

A tidbit of my own story coming to KSP: a friend tried to get me into it a good while back.  They were describing to me their challenges building and learning to fly spaceplanes, and I was curious about it from a technical standpoint (I love science) but thought it sounded like way too much work to be fun.  Moreover as soon as I saw a screenshot, the little green men thing was very offputting to me.  I forgot such a game existed for at least a year.  I found it again when I ran across a website with an author who won my respect with science, and then used KSP as demonstration tool of orbit mechanics.  I was curious enough then to try the demo.

I feel like KSP has this weird mix you don't really find in many games: it has a huge learning curve, it's very technical, it lends itself to enormously dedicated realists.  On the other hand, when your rocket flies apart over the launch pad, you sit back and laugh it off, because it has a silly sort of over-tone that helps out gloss over the places it fudges realism.  Some people go super serious and get all the realism mods...  some people just do silly things or pay less attention to realism and just do whatever feels fun. KSP walks a fine line of having aspects that could easily irritate both extremes of the spectrum.

And it does it very well.  It's engaging enough for those of us who learn the essential skills (or choose mechjeb) and get the enormous sense of accomplishment that we can all learn to love the parts we thought we'd hate.  That or mod it away.

Or at least, that's how it seems to me In my nnarrow little view.

 

P.s. got my brother into it because I kept talking about it in an excited fashion.

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by Kyrt Malthorn

[Birdco_Space]

17 hours ago, Spacetraindriver said:

Nice advice, but what about Bill?

I dunno, Bill just doesn't connect with the kids.  Bill really doesn't react to much (his stupidity trait prevents him from realizing the danger he is in whenever he flies with me).  Jeb is the default Kerbal loaded into ships, Bob intelligence and lack of bravery make him entertaining to watch his reactions during flight, and Val is Val (and my daughter's favorite Kerbal).