Kid's First Dungeon-Crawler

[cahn]

Last week Baby A had a really large burp, and I laughed and called him a purple worm. E wanted to know what the joke was, so I started telling her about NetHack. She was enthralled by everything I told her, especially after I mentioned that you started with a pet, which often was a dog. (Lately she has been obsessed with doggies, mostly along the lines of saying wistfully, "I wish we had a doggie!")

So for the last three evenings D has been playing NetHack with E (maybe fifteen minutes each evening), using the Absurd Tileset (which apparently is no longer really extant? Anyway). E loves it! She especially, of course, loves the pet doggie. But she is also really excited about killing monsters and picking up gold and the different kinds of traps in the Mines!

Mostly I am posting this because last night, when they had their fifteen-minute NetHack time, E said happily, "Maybe tonight I will finish the game!"

D was all, "Umm... probably not tonight."

(It probably took both of us a... couple of months? playing a couple of hours a day, to ascend in NetHack.)

Comments

[ase]

Awwww, this is so cute!

D was all, "Umm... probably not tonight."

I am excessively amused.

[thistleingrey]

heeeeee.

I don't think I've ascended at all--though I regain the potential loss of nerdery points by having begun with actual!Rogue a decade before meeting NetHack. (I haven't done the ascension equivalent in Rogue, either, alas.)

[cahn]

...yeah :)

Last night they were killed by an elf mummy, so they'll be starting over tonight. I was worried E would be upset, but she is mostly excited she vanquished 56 monsters and hoping she gets another doggie pet :)

[cahn]

Ascending... probably put off my graduation from grad school by at least several months, so it's just as well :)

You definitely get the nerd points back! I've never played Rogue, and I haven't even played NetHack with the ascii characters. /is bad geek

[thistleingrey]

Heh. I think it helps that I met both games earlier (Rogue in middle school, NetHack during college), such that other pressures muted them a bit. By grad school it was enough to watch as friends fought the ascension thing.

Aw, there's no competition--otherwise your science degrees wipe out my literary ones re: rl geekery. :)

[ase]

E clearly understands what is really important in gaming. :-)

[cahn]

Ha, yeah -- I played some Warcraft during college, and while it was rather addictive it was never actually possible for me to get to the level of obsession I had with NetHack for a while there. (I never even touched World of Warcraft, knowing that I would probably... really like it.)

Ah, well, I suppose I've always felt a bit defensive about not ever playing with ascii characters :) (In a completely non-serious way, of course! :) But it's the kind of thing D and I will tease each other about; he did play briefly with ascii years before he met me but prefers tiles.)

[cahn]

Yes :) They managed to tame a kitty last night (in addition to her starter pet), so she's pretty excited about that.

[thistleingrey]

I get lost with the tiles--tried only once. :)) Occasionally I noodle around still.