Subject:
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Re: Millennium Falcon Opinion
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.starwars
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Date:
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Wed, 24 May 2000 18:40:36 GMT
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Viewed:
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626 times
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In lugnet.starwars, Steve Bliss writes:
> ...[snip]...
> Also, you said (more-or-less) "having to do X makes you a better Y". To
> me, that sounds like a rationalization for enforced character building.
> Which goes back around to 'suffering', because character-building is
> supposed to be unpleasant, not fun.
Well, I don't think I agree with the 'supposed to' part. I think OFTEN,
character building is unpleasant, but I think it can be fun as well...
ESPECIALLY when you can see the results.
As someone else pointed out (James S. I think) he was teaching a younger child
to build who had "Can you do this for me?" syndrome. The child may not have had
as much fun putting together the set as if it were a mostly pre-assembled set
that he could have done himself from the beginning, but after a short while, he
was very proud of his work (or so I assume... If I weren't quoting someone
else's story, I could provide my own of the same genre).
But even then, I don't think character building excersizes are required to be
unpleasant, and even when they are (as in this case 'struggling' to get
pieces), the downsides are barely noticeable, especially in comparison to the
good that comes out of them.
> Building with LEGO is an *optional* activity. There's no way to *make*
> someone play with LEGO. If LEGO sets are designed with a higher
> requirement for learning to differentiate parts, then people who find that
> activity unpleasant are less likely to enjoy building from LEGO sets. And
> it's likely that they'll generalize from "I didn't like building that set"
> to "I don't like playing with LEGO". And they'll play with LEGO less
> often. Which could lead to them being a poorer builder, rather than a
> better builder.
And of course, herein is the problem. In my opinion, TLC is doing something
phenomenally dangerous to their well-being. Heretofore, TLC catered mainly to
the market of children that DON'T mind thinking a little more. TLC produced a
more educational toy, and only children who WANTED to take on that extra bit of
learning played with Lego extensively. Other children could go play with the
pre-built Kenner SW toys, or whatever else they could find that didn't require
that extra step of thought. And during this time, Lego essentially dominated
the building-toy market. They built up a name for themselves, a great product,
and a good share of profit.
But TLC has decided (apparently) that they want to make their toy appealing to
MORE of the market of children, and get a bit more business from the
traditionally non-building-toy market. So they dumb down their sets. The idea
being that the kids that didn't want to take that extra learning step are now
not frustrated with building with Lego. But now, all the kids that DO want to
take the extra learning step are in danger of being turned off by Lego, and
being turned on to things like K'nex, Mega Blocks, etc. that previously didn't
exist. And these toys aren't dumbed down, they're less expensive, and the kids
don't know the difference because they've never played with quality Lego sets.
And what's more, the kids that like other more pre-assembled toys already have
toys that they like. That market's been cornered by a lot of other companies,
so there's less room for Lego... Not to mention that a lot of it is incredibly
fad-driven, whereas the building-toy genre is pretty steady.
In short, they're making worse sets for the existing fans, and worse builders
from the new fans; they're loosing a lot of "good" builders to other companies,
and starting to veer towards a market that's already dominated by other
companies (Playmobile, anyone?). I don't think it's too late for them-- they
still have quite a ways to go, but I think they're going in the wrong
directions...
Just 2 more cents to the pile...
DaveE
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Millennium Falcon Opinion
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| (...) Dave, I think that you have written the most concise and articulate statement regarding what is wrong with Lego today. I don't have a perfect analogy offhand, but being a fan of Lego these days is like watching an accident about to happen, or (...) (24 years ago, 24-May-00, to lugnet.starwars)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Millennium Falcon Opinion
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| (...) It all depends on your definitions. 'Suffering' to one person is 'enjoying' to another.[1] Some kids would be highly frustrated by having to backtrack a couple of steps. Some won't. In your earlier post, you said: (...) (BTW, I generally agree (...) (24 years ago, 24-May-00, to lugnet.starwars)
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