10-year-old playing civ4?

[miwi]

Hi!

Since I (so far) cant get my sisters 10 year old son into death metal, maybe I can lead him into the world of civ?
His computer cant cope Civ5, so I was thinking about buying Civ4 complete for him.
The question is: Is he too young for civ4?

He has a Nintendo DS, so perhaps Civ revolution is better?
(I havnt played Civ revolution myself)

 

[xenex]

Civ rev is more easy to grasps for newcomers, so I would say get him that.
If your feeling really nice or really want him to play the "real" civ then get him both, he could start and learn on rev then you can help him get the grasp of Civ 4.

No I dont think he's too young, todays 10 years old aren't the same as 10 year old of 20 years ago.

 

[Fleme]

I started civ the original when it was released - at that time I was 9 years old. If you can get him interested in the game it will also be a good way to get him interested in history and have him learn English without him even noticing it. Worked for me at least

 

[Lone Wolf]

I've started playing Civ at 12.

 

[babar]

He is not too young to learn, as long as he is deprived of all the new games with shiny graphics (this is the problem I had with my brother of the same age). Civ IV is kind of old. On the bright side, he is sensible enough to disregard death metal, so maybe there is hope... (not that there's anything wrong with death metal of course )

 

[feelfreetodie]

I am 44 yrs old, have 3 children aged 10-15, throw out all video games before they get hooked!!!

I personally love video games, probably spend 8-12hrs/day playing games. When I see my 10yrs old doing the same on a weekend instead of going out to play a sport I cry.
Back to the question at hand, civ games are the hardest for me to play, something easier to start might be Total War series, a great older game is Rise of Nations. Not a turn based game which will keep them interested alot longer, my 10 yr old started RoN when he was 8.

 

[Combat Ingrid]

He's not too young for Civ, but he might need some help with the English language initially.

As for the metal thing, maybe he wasn't ready for it. Seeing you're from Sweden, I would hazard to guess you didn't go straight from Herrey's to Dark Funeral? Find out what music he likes and provide him with similar sounding metal-related music and then go stepwise from there. You need to be cunning

 

[duckstab]

My son, now 11, played a couple games, but didn't really get into it. But 10 is certainly old enough.

 

[theskibum]

My 3.5 yr old son sits on my lap sometimes when I play civ. He helps me end turn and I taught him a little of the combat. He actually has picked up some concepts. Like he understands that "horse guys die lots of times to spears-men" and "My colors (cultural borders) keep getting bigger because of artists".

Oh man, my kid sits with me too much. Good thing he is starting Tae Kwon Do today!!

 

[Sprenk]

My 3.5 yr old son sits on my lap sometimes when I play civ. He helps me end turn and I taught him a little of the combat. He actually has picked up some concepts. Like he understands that "horse guys die lots of times to spears-men" and "My colors (cultural borders) keep getting bigger because of artists".

And my 6 year old daughter has a game going where she does all the clicking but uses me as an "advisor." She left her capital as Cahokia, but changed the other city's names to the names of obscure pokemon (and no, she won't accept my suggestion that one should be named "Psyduck.") She won't use the slavery civic or attack other nations. And she won't chop down trees after she gets to bronze working. It's her civ, after all--more power to her.

Kids are so precocious these days. I bet lots of curious, intellectual kids would love Civ, and learn from it. If 6 year olds can learn chess, why not Civ?

 

[Reduak]

My son also sat with me when he was around 3 to play "the fighting game". He's been playing Civ III since he was 7. Now he's 11 and plays Civ III and Civ IV regularly. He's still scared to face me 1v1 in a hot seat game though and makes me agree not to declare war on him.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Link to video.

 

[xenex]

lol what a jerk

 

[ParadigmShifter]

It's not real you know - it's a joke


Link to video.

 

[theskibum]

No reason to build up your kid's self esteem by letting him win!!

My dad always said its tough when you realize that you can't beat your kid at things you let them win at before.

 

[TheWilltoAct]

I was playing at 4 or 5, age doesn't matter really.
I should also add that Civ is a great 'sandbox' game, where the only goal is fun and all paths are acceptable. Perfect for kids and adults alike!

 

[attackfighter]

I started playing alpha centauri when I was 8, and it is much more complex and less appealing to a kid than civ 4. Think about it, civ 4 has cartoony graphics and lots of the gameplay is about the "sim" elements, ie building improvements/buildings, not so much about grand strategy or anything. It would be perfect for a young child imo.

 

[miwi]

Thanks for your replies!

I bought Civ4 complete and Might & Magic for Nintendo DS for him.
Next year he will get Heroes of might and magic 3 and the complete Marduk collection!

On the bright side, he is sensible enough to disregard death metal, so maybe there is hope... (not that there's anything wrong with death metal of course )

I am 44 yrs old, have 3 children aged 10-15, throw out all video games before they get hooked!!!

I personally love video games, probably spend 8-12hrs/day playing games. When I see my 10yrs old doing the same on a weekend instead of going out to play a sport I cry.

He plays tennis, soccer, floorball and "bandy" (a scandinavian/russian wintersport).
He is not allowed to play videogames all day long.

As for the metal thing, maybe he wasn't ready for it. Seeing you're from Sweden, I would hazard to guess you didn't go straight from Herrey's to Dark Funeral? Find out what music he likes and provide him with similar sounding metal-related music and then go stepwise from there. You need to be cunning

I got my sister and her husband into Iron Maiden.
That is a good start, but the kids seems to igonre my music!
Well, I wont give up yet. Soon they all are worshipping Marduk and Cannibal Corpse!

 

[Karalysia]

I started with Civ 3 when I was about 9 or so.

I got my sister and her husband into Iron Maiden.
That is a good start, but the kids seems to igonre my music!
Well, I wont give up yet. Soon they all are worshipping Marduk and Cannibal Corpse!

I suggest folk metal as a good intermediary before the heavier stuff, something like Eluviete, Turisas, Ensiferum, Finntroll, Korpiklanni and such with a melody or something popular like Rammstein, Drudkh, Opeth, Korn before trying Amon Amarth, Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral, Dissection, Goatwhore or Old Man's Child which are heavier.

Also if he's into history Ex Deo does some Roman stuff.

Rammstein was how I got into it while watching the videos with some friends, Du Hast I think it was a couple years back.