@flargh It’s such a terrific movie (and a bit odd).

@flargh Kids these days would never believe you could blow up the world at 2400 baud.

@flargh @zebpalmer absolutely a huge cultural landmark, but oh, IF ONLY more people had ALSO taken away “Do NOT use $NAME_OF_LOVED_ONE as your password. Do you want global thermonuclear war, because that’s how you get global thermonuclear wars”

@flargh That, and I'd add the Kobayashi Maru simulation in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan released the previous year.

Some will have taken away that winning means ignoring the rules. Some will have taken away winning means not playing. Some will have managed to meld the two films' lessons, ie. if the rules said you must be present to win, they weren't.

@flargh Not just Gen X and not just their view of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames#Influence

@flargh we watched this for the nth time only the other day. Probably a better Broderick movie than Ferris.

@flargh But it also taught us Gen-Xers that even an almost sentient computer can be defeated with logic. Too bad we can’t defeat narcissists and Republicans with logic. Stupid is as stupid does.

@flargh I often annoy my kid by saying 'shall we play a game' in a stilted computer voice.

@flargh put X in the center square!

@flargh Wait until it finds out about zugzwang!

@flargh
Guilty! I, too, like to speak in the synthesized voice, I've memorized it. My useless talent.

@flargh and the subsequent moment where the scientist throws open the door of the lab and says “no more secrets!”

@flargh I just wish the damn computer had used a comma for direct address.

@flargh

Let’s play global thermonuclear war.

@flargh pivotal

@flargh I showed it to my fourteen and ten year olds recently and they LOVED it. Holds up remarkably well.

@flargh More than that: "The only winning move is not to play" is a genuinely brilliant and memorable summary that has many applications beyond that in the film. For example, "working down the ladder" in academic journal submissions: see https://svpow.com/2013/03/19/the-only-winning-move-is-not-to-play/

@flargh You're right. I've been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of weeks as we watch these large language models explode in use.

@flargh @jrdepriest … WOPR

@flargh Um, which movie is this from?

@flargh OOF YES. The terror, relief, and enjoyment all wrapped up in a tight ball -- WATERSHED MOMENT.

#GenX
#Xennial

@flargh My personal manifesto. It’s a constitutionally foundational text for me.

@flargh At my work recently we were all asked "what movie defined your generation." Everyone expected me to say "The Godfather" because it's my favorite movie but I said "War Games." (Godfather not my gen anyways.) It was a good pull.

@flargh OMG … I recognized the movie before the end of the first line. #WarGames #GenX

@flargh This one, too.

Medien: 2

@flargh I agree:

Medien: 1

@flargh You know, there is something to that… we grew up with the certainty that, if conflict started between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, we were all dead. So we see old men’s madness now, in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and we are left to marvel at the hubris and folly of it all.

@flargh
Shall we play a game?

@flargh
Everything taught us that opting-out was the best choice.
I still live that way to this very day, and I see both how it hurts and protects me.

@flargh 10000000%