Is KSP for Older Users?

[FrostFenex]

It has come to my attention that most

of the users of KDP are older then most other games fan base. I'm 13 and I've docked and landed on the 2 moons of Kerbin. And do you think that KSP is for older more mature users?

[RocketPilot573]

I'd say it's for everyone 13 and up due to difficulty.

[Bigcheecho]

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.

[OrbitusII]

The fact that you have to put some significant (compared to other games) effort to get anything cool or useful done in KSP is what makes it such a game. People who play games just to troll other people or get free stuff with minimal input are put off by the fact that it takes so much effort to get fulfillment out of the game. For those of us who can put in that effort, the fulfillment the game provides is that much sweeter.

That's my understanding of it, anyway.

[littlebattler]

Not that 10 year olds can't play the game, as evidenced by a certain teacher whose students do play it. I'd say it's more of a personality thing rather than age or maturity. I for one still enjoy playing shooters and Kirby games, I just happen to like space. To assume that anyone, or indeed most people below 13 has not enough patience to play the game is rather silly, they might just not be interested in space or (gasp) explosions.

[Diche Bach]

IQ has been steadily going up for decades. If not for all the sound-bite distractions and impulse facilitators that teens and pre-teens cope with in their typical environments, I'm guessing the average 10 year old could do much better at this game than the average 20 year old. I tend to think that 10 year olds today are in fact "smarter" than 10 year olds of 20 years ago, despite any superficial appearances otherwise.

That said, yes, I think with the options that most juveniles and teens who might be in KSP's target market have at their disposal, KSP is not likely to be sufficiently alluring to compete with the other options.

[jwenting]

no guns, no half nekkid fems, no guns, no ganking other players, did I mention no guns?

All makes it less interesting for your average teenage boy

[Opusupo]

KSP is a game for geeks and nerds of all ages, well maybe not all but I've been a geek for nearly 50 years now and the game appeals to detailed oriented sciencey part of me that has been a major part of my personality all that time.

[Deejay2000]

I would say it requires you to be relatively smarter/more creative, have an interest in space, have patience, and to not get mad when you fail at something. People like that are usually older and more mature.

-Deejay

[jwenting]

IQ has been steadily going up for decades. If not for all the sound-bite distractions and impulse facilitators that teens and pre-teens cope with in their typical environments, I'm guessing the average 10 year old could do much better at this game than the average 20 year old. I tend to think that 10 year olds today are in fact "smarter" than 10 year olds of 20 years ago, despite any superficial appearances otherwise.

I seriously doubt that assertion. Smart yes, intelligent, no.

From my experience elsewhere, I can attest there's a lot of teenagers out there who are barely literate even with a real time spell checker, extremely lazy, and have a massively inflated sense of entitlement.

None of which is a good background for something like KSP.

Of course those characteristics are not limited to teenagers, but they seem on the rise at an alarming rate among them.

[TMS]

Games that don't involve shooting things in the face will naturally lack appeal to parts of the population.

[BubbaWilkins]

IQ has been steadily going up for decades. If not for all the sound-bite distractions and impulse facilitators that teens and pre-teens cope with in their typical environments, I'm guessing the average 10 year old could do much better at this game than the average 20 year old. I tend to think that 10 year olds today are in fact "smarter" than 10 year olds of 20 years ago, despite any superficial appearances otherwise.

That said, yes, I think with the options that most juveniles and teens who might be in KSP's target market have at their disposal, KSP is not likely to be sufficiently alluring to compete with the other options.

Actually, the average IQ has been in decline at a rate of 1.23 points per decade. I'd say that kids in general have a broader knowledge base, but most of that knowledge is of a superfluous nature. None of this has anything to do with KSP though. The game appeals to those who like to build and construct things as well as just general problem solving. If you don't enjoy either of those activities, you're probably not going to enjoy the KSP experience.

[dave4002000]

I believe that games like KSP are the modern equivalent of erector sets. They both require imagination and creativity. If someone doesn't have any interest in building things, then they won't have any interest in these types of 'sandbox' games, regardless of age.

[Lanfranc]

I'd say KSP is for anyone who thinks it's a fun game. But of course different things appeal to different people. Some might like building rockets, others like meticulously planning manoeuvre nodes and trajectories, whilst yet others just like blowing things up. It's all fine.

And by the way, any statement about how "kids in general" are is completely useless. Just like everyone else, kids differ enormously between countries, socio-economic classes, even different neighbourhoods. There's no such thing as an "average kid".

[DChurchill]

It has come to my attention that most

of the users of KDP are older then most other games fan base. I'm 13 and I've docked and landed on the 2 moons of Kerbin. And do you think that KSP is for older more mature users?

I'm not sure "older" is necessarily the word, but maybe you're right to use "mature." Mature and older are not necessarily synonyms. The game is by it's nature "sciency" so it's not going to attract your average gamer.

That being said, the other game I'm actively playing right now is Saints Row the Third, and I'm 47.

Edited August 8, 2013 by DChurchill

[Djsnowboy267]

I'm 14, and to be honest, I really can't see many people of my age group finding a game like this interesting (to them). While many of them may be smarter than those 5 to 10 years ago, they lack the ability to apply this knowledge, ignoring the fact that they don't really even want to learn any of it. If you or I were to go around and ask people of the age group what their future career or goals are, most would say something involving sports or some improbable choice similar to it. I don't think I've ever heard a 14 year old (not including myself) say "I want to be an astrophysicist or a rocket scientist or biologist etc. etc. I don't want to sound like I am just ranting and applying these labels to everybody though, because I also know a fair number of people my age who are quite intelligent and have promising futures.

[Flixxbeatz]

I would say it's for everyone, since IMO there are two possible ways that KSP can be played:

-FOR SCIENCE AND THE KERBALKIND! (aka. "Serious Play"): Launching payloads into orbit, building things up there (space stations and interplanetary vessels), going to other planets and landing, and building extraordinary stuff with a mission to fulfill in mind, etc.

-FOR EXPLOSIONS! (aka. "For the Lulz") Intentionally failing launches and building WTF things that has no guarantee to space just to watch it fall back to the ground and/or explode; inciting a colision in orbit or crashing self on a planet or moon just for the sake of it, etc.

Both ways are fun, depending on how you perceive it. Yes the main aim of the game is the former, right? But since this is a wholly sandbox game (for now before the Career Mode will be introduced, which will surely leave you without room for errors and goofing around), no one holds (and can hold) anyone back to play just for the latter.

Oh - and the way you play KSP it will not automatically tell how old you are. There are teenage/younger people primarily* playing For Science and The Kerbalkind (CIP: Me, and some other people here, you know yourselves...) and there are adult/old people primarily* playing For Explosions (CIP: Danny2462, by at least what his videos tell us. I don't know how old he is, though...).

*Anyone playing For Science and Kerbalkind will still sometimes choose to have time to goof around. Anyone playing For Explosions still has a tendency to try out doing a serious mission.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Flixxbeatz

[Diche Bach]

Actually, the average IQ has been in decline at a rate of 1.23 points per decade. I'd say that kids in general have a broader knowledge base, but most of that knowledge is of a superfluous nature. None of this has anything to do with KSP though. The game appeals to those who like to build and construct things as well as just general problem solving. If you don't enjoy either of those activities, you're probably not going to enjoy the KSP experience.

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?

[FrostFenex]

Thanks for all the comments! And

Djsnowboy267 I do want to be a

Aeronautical Engineer.

[TheTriniFlyer]

Well, when I began playing KSP I was 12 years old (now 13) I can understand and apply astrophysics in this game, I actually enjoy this game very much. To truth, I actually hate gory and bloody games. I prefer Simulations and Large Scale Strategy games.

[crparris]

my 12-year old, loves the game watched me play (i'm 40). he asked if he could play and tried for about an hour, then gave up and went to his xbox when he couldn't get anything he made to fly

He declared that the game was "too realistic"and he didn't have time to learn rocket science. He still loves it and watches me play.

[air805ronin]

I'll be honest, at 13 and 14 I was much more interested in kissing and or rounding metaphorical bases with girls than a game like KSP. The games I did play were things like Doom 2 and Heretic (maybe Quake?) at that age, and those required almost no thinking whatsoever. Just reflexes.

I guess I was just seeking a different type of maturity, and lacking in another.

edit: Compare my game selection then to now, and you see that I play simulations and strategy games much more than I play the shooters and the stress relief games. I think my interest in more cerebral games started when I first played Myth the Fallen Lords.

Edited August 8, 2013 by air805ronin

[astropapi1]

Well, my 7yo sister watched my entire rover mission to Duna, she even "helped" me a little in the design phase.

I have a separate stock install for her i which she is rapidly learning stuff from the game, so I must say: No.

It just takes a different kind of mentality to play KSP, it's not your usual click-and-win game, and it has a (quite steep) learning curve.

Edited August 8, 2013 by astropapi1
Dem teepos. :)

[jwenting]

Actually, the average IQ has been in decline at a rate of 1.23 points per decade. I'd say that kids in general have a broader knowledge base, but most of that knowledge is of a superfluous nature. None of this has anything to do with KSP though. The game appeals to those who like to build and construct things as well as just general problem solving. If you don't enjoy either of those activities, you're probably not going to enjoy the KSP experience.

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?

[Ralathon]

I think the more mature player base has more to do with exposure than any kind of inherent disposition against simulators from young people.

Think about it; where did you hear about KSP? In my case it was the mouseover text in an XKCD comic. I do not think the XKCD audience is all that young, simply because a lot of the jokes rely on pretty broad knowledge about science. This is not a slight against the humor of kids, but they simply didn't have the time to build up such knowledge and it would thus be a lot less funny. I suspect the same goes for the origin stories of other players.