A question a child might ask, but not a childish question.
Sometimes my students ask me stuff I’d rather they didn’t. They’ll come up with weird questions, or ask stuff that’s way too personal, and sometimes they’re even asking me to break their hearts. (Without realizing it at the time.)
On of my kids asked me the above question this week. If you’re not familiar with it, Starcraft is a real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment. (They’re also responsible for the Warcraft and Diablo series.) It was quite popular in the US for several years after it came out, and is still something of a national pastime in Korea, six years after its release. Very few games ever have that kind of staying power.
I guess the kid who asked about it might have thought it was developed in Korea, since it’s been so popular here for so long. I told him it came from America. He frowned at that.
Then he went and asked about Warcraft. I told him that was also developed by Blizzard, and was also from America.
Then he just had to ask about Diablo.
At this point, another student joined the discussion, telling the first kid that all Blizzard games are from America.
The first one (who’s a kid I really do like, and wouldn’t have selected for this kind of heartbreak) looked up at me with the saddest little “somebody just kicked my dog” look and asked (in a very hurt tone), “why?”
Like I said, he’s a good kid, and I could tell the other boy was about ready to pounce on him with something to the effect of, “because they’re all from the same company, stupid!” I told him that’s just the way it was, and that it didn’t really matter where the company was from. The important thing was that he liked the game and enjoyed playing it.
I think he accepted that, but still wasn’t very happy. I felt bad for him, having an idea crushed like that, but not all learning experiences are enjoyable. He’s a tough little kid, and I’m sure he’s pretty much over it already.
Heck, he’s probably home playing a round right now. ^.^