Father Forces Son to Play through Video Game History

Have you ever wanted to play through the chronology of video gaming? Well, one child has been able to achieve the goal, but not on his own volition. Beginning with his son’s birth year of 2004, Andy Baio performed a questionable experiment on his son, Eliot, by forcing the boy to play from 1979’s “Galaxian” to 2004’s “Katamary Damacy” and “Shadow of the Colossus.” The goal of the experiment was to give Eliot the opportunity to witness the evolution of games so he could gain an appreciation (or hatred) for the “retro,” older style of gaming.

Eliot received his first video games on his fourth birthday; thus, his journey began with "Galaxian" (1979), "Rally-X" (1980), "Bosconian" (1981), "Dig Dug" (1982), "Pac-Man" (1980), "Super Pac-Man" (1982), "Pac-Man Plus" (1982) and "Pac & Pal" (1983). Following those games were the titles developed for the Atari 2600, then the NES, SNES, and further onward. So what exactly were the results of said experiment?

Eliot gained an affinity for the tough all-in-your face rogue-like genre in gaming, but that wasn’t all. Though this may not have been a direct correlation, Eliot developed an impressive skill set that allows him to excel at most games. He reached level 5 in Pac & Pal on his own in 2008, just a little after he received the game, and he even beat the original "Zelda" in 2010. His father only helped once by showing him a map of Dungeon 9. Not too shabby for a little boy.

One questions stills exists for the public, though the answers will be subjective: Is the experiment even ethical?