Our grandparents had model trains. We have Kerbal Space Program!

[inigma]

I just figured out why KSP is so addicting.

We make our own fun in our own little universe. And we don't pay $1000s to do it.

[gmpd2000]

And what did our parents ​have?

[inigma]

And what did our parents ​have?

Atari. Pong.

[gmpd2000]

Atari. Pong.

So our parents had it worse than everyone?

[inigma]

So our parents had it worse than everyone?

Who said anything about worse?

Though life Before KSP (BKSP) at best could offer Orbiter, or that moon landing game.

[Thomas988]

Who said anything about worse?

Though life Before KSP (BKSP) at best could offer Orbiter, or that moon landing game.

Video games are getting crazy! No longer are they just "games," they are entire communities and fan bases. KSP demonstrates this beautifully because we are obviously here right now. Even as we speak controversial threads are exploding with debate. Our generation is lucky to have all this, in my opinion.

[Janos1986]

SPACE SHUTTLE SPACE SHUTTLE CHOO CHOO!

I can see the similarities anyway. KSP's planet orbits are on rails too.

[Thomas988]

I can see the similarities anyway. KSP's planet orbits are on rails too.

You win the thread.

[Mipe]

And what did our parents ​have?

[Renegrade]

Our grandparents had model trains. We have Kerbal Space Program!

Um, excuse me? I had an HO-scale train set, thank you very much. And if I had grandchildren, they'd be at most 5-8.

We make our own fun in our own little universe. And we don't pay $1000s to do it.

Actually my rig is probably north of $2000 at this point with incremental upgrades and new screens etc~

[LordFerret]

Ya'll miss out on the really great toys though... being outside every day, all day, playing with friends, enjoying nature. Like now, it's winter... we'd be out building massive snow forts and having EPIC snowball battles! Not to mention: sledding/tubing, skiing, ice skating/hockey, ice fishing, trail hiking & camp fires - all out in the cold and snow.

- - - Updated - - -

And yes, I too had trains (in the basement). Lionel & HO.

[Lhathron the Elf]

Ya'll miss out on the really great toys though... being outside every day, all day, playing with friends, enjoying nature. Like now, it's winter... we'd be out building massive snow forts and having EPIC snowball battles! Not to mention: sledding/tubing, skiing, ice skating/hockey, ice fishing, trail hiking & camp fires - all out in the cold and snow.

I wish. I wouldn't have friends.

[Tex]

Pft, our parents had LEGOs. Heck, even I had LEGOs for the first half of my life, and still use 'em when I can get my hands on them. I like building spaceships, of course. LEGO Movie, anyone?

SPACESHIP!!1!

[FishInferno]

Ya'll miss out on the really great toys though... being outside every day, all day, playing with friends, enjoying nature. Like now, it's winter... we'd be out building massive snow forts and having EPIC snowball battles! Not to mention: sledding/tubing, skiing, ice skating/hockey, ice fishing, trail hiking & camp fires - all out in the cold and snow. .

Sadly most people (like me) live in subdivisions where you can't really build forts or make rocket engines

[Cydonian Monk]

I still have model trains. And I still play KSP. (Then again I'm of an age where I could be both your grandparent and grandchild, so....) Sometimes it's nice to spend 2 days in deep concentration trying to get that last little detail bit applied in just the right place. Both tweak on the same parts of my brain, though Model Railroading is far more of a social hobby for me, whereas KSP is a solitary study.

All I know is that three, four, ten years from now when KSP stops working, I'll still have my trains.

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Our *parents* had Atari? WTH are you talking about?! I'm not that old. These diaper-wearing youngsters.

Plus, everybody knows that the best generation was the 80's. We enjoyed video games and walkman (then MP3 players), but yet we also had Thundercats action figures and those plastic stiff soliders with which we could build entires battles, with little hills and "rivers", and we could go play football around the corner without fear of being kidnapped or molested.

Now that I think about it. Those Kinder Surprise eggs and their construction machines series with bulldozers and cranes... it was like KSP in a way: you had this little pieces and you assembled the things to build a kickass bulldozer or race car.

Yeah... I'm out to buy a Kinder egg. See ya.

[LordFerret]

Sadly most people (like me) live in subdivisions where you can't really build forts or make rocket engines

I hear ya. I had many friends living in NYC, quite crowded and not always a fun place to grow up ... but they were very creative, and any time I visited the fun ensued. If you live in an apartment complex with a big parking lot, and they plow the lot into big piles - half your snow fort work is done.

I guess what I'm trying to point out is: Where's there's a will... there's a way.

[Leszek]

I think Kinder Surprise is banned in the states. That is what I heard. (Let me know if I am wrong Americans.)

I am a Gen X'er and I had and still have a model railroad. HO when I was little, N scale now. I still have an ATARI 2600 in the attic and about 40 games.

I remember having to look up books in the library using an index card system! If I wanted to know the mass of the Earth or Venus or anything else, it was to an encyclopedia, and I don't mean a wiki, I mean a bunch of freaking books. And if we wanted to take those books to the class room, it was an uphill walk! BOTH WAYS! Young whippersnapper! Now get off my lawn!

[inigma]

Heh. I've seem to have dated myself. I'm in my 30s. I remember Thundercats, He-Man...and Challenger. My uncle had an Atari with pong. Kids played outside more then.

I wish I had KSP back then though...

...and I have an N scale RR picked out when my kids grow older.

[Ikaneko]

You guys may say model trains are for grandparents, but that's unfair; lots of P̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶l̶i̶f̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶ normal people like me have model trains.

Still, I struggle to see the difference between replica mods in KSP and replica trains.

[Motokid600]

HO Trains and Kinex made up my childhood.

[StrandedonEarth]

My cousin ( my age) had Atari, I had Colecovision. I did have a small train set, along with Lego and something called Capsela. I also notice that plastic model kits are nowhere near as common these days.

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I think Kinder Surprise is banned in the states. That is what I heard. (Let me know if I am wrong Americans.)

Yeah, I heard that too. Darn shame because they were great.

Also, speaking of old vs. new. The other I was walking to work and happened to come across a couple of boys. There they were sitting against a wall in the morning sun, with the rascal dog and the football, just like in the days of yore or out of an idealized movie, but they also had a laptop and were watching some video. I wanted to snap a picture but I couldn't without being noticed. Could have been a pretty good picture.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Red Iron Crown

[problemecium]

I used to be able to go outside and build snowmen in the winter. Then it seems global warming happened, because where I live it hasn't snowed a single flake in the last two years, and when I went up north to visit my grandparents, where it normally snows six months of the year, it was warm and green.

I miss winter :C

[Alshain]

Well... I had model trains and Kerbal Space Program