Steam deck for 11 & 9 year old thoughts?

[Stame]

They want gaming pcs but that’s more money than steam decks and they like mine and want one. They enjoy playing counterstrike (bots for now lol) and plenty of other games I have on mine. My question is… is it a good idea right now? They would keep it at home. I was thinking the cheapest model for now.

[WarnerCK]

Oof. Having to buy two is a chunk of change, but also learning sharing well could be a big step. Tricky either way.

My 8-year-old is fine using mine, and is good about when he's allowed to play it, and when he needs to stop, and what he's allowed to play. I haven't got him his own, though.

I expect they would love it, and get a lot out of it. It is, of course, an Internet-connected PC, so you'd want to use whatever safeguards and judgement you'd normally use for that kind of device.

I wouldn't get the 64 GB model unless you were planning to upgrade its storage pretty much immediately. That model was to hit a price point and isn't terribly practical in actual usage.

You'll probably also want to set up Family Sharing, since Valve relatively recently changed that to be non-terrible.

[sabrons]

My 9 year old often wanted to play my deck when I did, so I bought another ... which the 5 year old has now mostly adopted. So now I'm considering buying a third. fml.

The new family sharing makes possible and even easy. Without it, we'd be spending all our time on game management.

Cheapest available now is 256, which should be ok.

[Stame]

Originally posted by WarnerCK:

Oof. Having to buy two is a chunk of change, but also learning sharing well could be a big step. Tricky either way.

My 8-year-old is fine using mine, and is good about when he's allowed to play it, and when he needs to stop, and what he's allowed to play. I haven't got him his own, though.

I expect they would love it, and get a lot out of it. It is, of course, an Internet-connected PC, so you'd want to use whatever safeguards and judgement you'd normally use for that kind of device.

I wouldn't get the 64 GB model unless you were planning to upgrade its storage pretty much immediately. That model was to hit a price point and isn't terribly practical in actual usage.

You'll probably also want to set up Family Sharing, since Valve relatively recently changed that to be non-terrible.

I probably will just let them use mine to make sure they really will use it. I have the 1tb oled.

[Stame]

Originally posted by sabrons:

My 9 year old often wanted to play my deck when I did, so I bought another ... which the 5 year old has now mostly adopted. So now I'm considering buying a third. fml.

The new family sharing makes possible and even easy. Without it, we'd be spending all our time on game management.

Cheapest available now is 256, which should be ok.

That’s awesome that your 5 year old plays on it lol I remember playing Nintendo 64 and gameboy color

[nicoper]

I'd be worried about the size and weight of the thing. It's like 700 grams or something and doesn't even work for all adult-sized hands. Docked with a controller or KB+M should be fine for all ages though.

[Haruspex]

It really, really depends on the kid, and I think it also depends on the parent.

If the kid is smarter than average, mature for their age, and patient beyond their years, maybe. Regardless, a tech-savvy parent who can help the kid when something goes wrong or some troubleshooting needs to happen would go a long way. If the parent is clueless and the kid is too, a Steam Deck would probably be a bad idea.

My wife really enjoys her Steam Deck, and that's coming from a lifetime of gaming only on Nintendo handhelds. She's not particularly tech-savvy and if I weren't here to set certain things up for her or assist when she hits a snag, she probably wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much.

If you could count on the kid to treat it like a console and stick to just the Steam Deck verified titles, they'll probably be fine even if they're clueless. I wouldn't count on any kid to stick to that though. Ultimately they're going to do something not necessarily supported, and if they lack the patience to figure that out they're going to end up frustrated.

Also it should be important to do a reality check first. If the kid wants a gaming PC so they can play Fortnite with their friends, they're going to be very disappointed with a Steam Deck which cannot play Fortnite due to the anti-cheat not working under Linux. They should be well aware of the limitations of the device before the money is spent, otherwise it's like buying a Super Nintendo when the kid wants to play Sonic 2.

[Stame]

Originally posted by Haruspex:

It really, really depends on the kid, and I think it also depends on the parent.

If the kid is smarter than average, mature for their age, and patient beyond their years, maybe. Regardless, a tech-savvy parent who can help the kid when something goes wrong or some troubleshooting needs to happen would go a long way. If the parent is clueless and the kid is too, a Steam Deck would probably be a bad idea.

My wife really enjoys her Steam Deck, and that's coming from a lifetime of gaming only on Nintendo handhelds. She's not particularly tech-savvy and if I weren't here to set certain things up for her or assist when she hits a snag, she probably wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much.

If you could count on the kid to treat it like a console and stick to just the Steam Deck verified titles, they'll probably be fine even if they're clueless. I wouldn't count on any kid to stick to that though. Ultimately they're going to do something not necessarily supported, and if they lack the patience to figure that out they're going to end up frustrated.

Also it should be important to do a reality check first. If the kid wants a gaming PC so they can play Fortnite with their friends, they're going to be very disappointed with a Steam Deck which cannot play Fortnite due to the anti-cheat not working under Linux. They should be well aware of the limitations of the device before the money is spent, otherwise it's like buying a Super Nintendo when the kid wants to play Sonic 2.

Thanks for the information! I have a steam deck so I know my way around it for them. Also they have Nintendo switches and they know I can’t play Fortnite on my steam deck and why.

[cybersteve547]

Originally posted by Haruspex:

Super Nintendo when the kid wants to play Sonic 2.

yk sonic 2 is actually on switch online expansion pack.

[Mr Jt (Gog is king)]

Deck is Perfect for Kids but not a Legion for example because This is more a Gaming Pc where you have to tinker. Deck is way more consolized

[DigGumPig]

I don't know if you care but Counter Strike 2 does not run particularly great on Steam Deck.
It does not have good frame pacing and there's not much that can be done about it at the moment. This is when playing both in handheld mode and desktop mode.
It is very much a software issue but Valve do not seem to care much about fixing it right now.

I know they are kids who probably will not even know what frame pacing is let alone notice it but worth mentioning i believe.

[Stame]

Originally posted by DigGumPig:

I don't know if you care but Counter Strike 2 does not run particularly great on Steam Deck.
It does not have good frame pacing and there's not much that can be done about it at the moment. This is when playing both in handheld mode and desktop mode.
It is very much a software issue but Valve do not seem to care much about fixing it right now.

I know they are kids who probably will not even know what frame pacing is let alone notice it but worth mentioning i believe.

Tbh right now they on play against bots and it would be more for them to get into something that would require troubleshooting. I already own one and I have an idea of most of the things. Counter strike is the game i play most so they are loving it as well even though they only play against bots