It's 2024 and a news presenter's response to a teenager breaking a Tetris record is "go outside"

[Wrexis]

Tetris: Sky News presenter tells teenager to "go outside"

Sky's Jayne Secker caused upset when she said 13-year-old Willis Gibson should "get some fresh air".

www.bbc.com

Willis Gibson, 13, from Oklahoma, became the first human to beat the original version of the 80s puzzler - a feat many thought was impossible.
After showing the clip, [the presenter] turned to the camera and said: "As a mother, I would just say step away from the screen. Go outside, get some fresh air. Beating Tetris is not a life goal".

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What a condescending and dated thing to say.

It makes me angry because I got hit with a lot of this shit in the 90s.
Gibson was probably born in what, 2010ish? And still has to put up with this.

 

[Yata]

This is not an unpopular opinion. I doubt the average person wouldn't consider this a waste of time if they knew how much time this kid had to invest on Tetris to achieve this.

Still a very rude thing to say out loud and to the entire world just after achieving such a big record. Especially when he is so young.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Said by someone who's entire profession is based on people watching a screen.

 

[SketchDog]

Just more uncalled for rudeness you see every day. If it's not harming anyone why does she care what he does with his free time.

 

[AllBizness]

She should make a public apology to the kid. How awfully rude.

 

[Yerffej]

I think you'd be surprised by how many people the world over still hold this sentiment. Even people younger than you.

 

[Yappa]

Embarrassing woman. Do your job and keep your family advice to yourself.

 

[eraFROMAN]

She didn't need to say it, but she also doesn't matter enough to care; little homie will be getting praise for this for the rest of his life

 

[Syne]

The kid accomplished an amazing feat, even dedicating it to his recently deceased father. The news reporter should really apologise.

The sentiment is unfortunately still strong in a lot of places that playing games is a waste of time, yet you never seem to see the same sentiment towards people who just sit and watch hours and hours of reality tv or scrolling tiktok 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Don Fluffles]

She didn't need to say it, but she also doesn't matter enough to care; little homie will be getting praise for this for the rest of his life

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Great reminder.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Nothing like the standard conservative 'if it isn't sports, is isn't a valuable hobby' horseshit.

 

[cowbanana]

We live in a world where video games are still met with these vacuous responses. But sitting inactive on your ass watching mindnumbing shit like soccer is a-ok, bro.

 

[Aaron]

Also saying that it isn't a "life goal," lady, he's 13. What did you do when you were 13 to achieve your life goals? In fact, what are you doing now?

I'm sure this kid will go on to achieve many more great things in his life. I'm skeptical we'll be able to say the same for you. White, blonde, pampered conservative news anchors are a dime a dozen.

 

[Sphinx]

What a stupid woman.

Does she know that the guy attends tetris competitons?? You know, get prices, sponsors...hell, the achievement will probably net him enough social media followers to pay any bills he has.

Again, was a stupid woman.

 

[The Omega Man]

I believe opinions and actitudes towards video games such as the one this woman has are still held by the vast majority of people, even if video games are more mainstream than ever and the video game industry is selling millions of consoles and games, most people still think like that woman.

 

[mnk]

I am 35 and when talking about video games recently, I was told to "go outside" by a 30 year old. He wasn't even like a frat bro sports guy, but an artsy "always working" creative type. Anyone who doesn't play games, regardless of their age or personality type, has a good chance of having that attitude.

 

[Blue_Toad507]

The irony is that the UK media went nuts for a 16 year old this last week who was a finalist in the World Darts Competition. Not exactly an outdoorsy activity, but still given far respect and recognition than this feat.

 

[Necromanti]

Definitely night and day from how she was talking about recent accomplishments in darts.

 

[Trakan]

It's not mentioned in this article so I'm sure if it's true or not, but in another one I read it said the kid's father just passed away and he dedicated the record to his dad making the lady's words extra fucked up.

 

[RoninChaos]

I think giving this lady oxygen isn't worth it because she will never care about any of this, and she only sees the world one way. She doesn't know the kind of dedication this took, how it's a record breaking thing, etc. but, and this can't be stressed enough, the kid is 13. HES 13.
What kind of life goals do you expect him to have at 13? And he accomplished a record breaking achievement. That's pretty fuckin' cool for someone who is 13. Plus, he lost his dad recently and dedicated this to his dad. Don't shit on the kids accomplishment because you have a teleprompter and a camera. That's a bitch-ass move.

Bottom line, going on TV and insulting the kid, and throwing in your opinion isn't necessary. You aren't his mom. Read the fucking news and keep it moving.

 

[Jedi2016]

She didn't even read up on what she was reporting on, either. She acts, like many of them do, like this is the only thing the kid does with his time. But it turns out this is just one of his hobbies, and his others do involve going out and interacting with other people.

In fact, I'd wager he probably has more social interaction than this woman does.

 

[kostacurtas]

Probably she is just salty because she couldn't do it. 😎

 

[SilverX]

Edit - Missed the dad part so it wasnt right to make a joke

 

[Zonic]

Makes it even more infuriating that this kid lost his dad in December. Imagine being so soulless that you're telling a 13 year old kid who is still grieving over the loss over his parent & is probably doing this as a means to help cope with a terrible event "go touch grass"

Oh BTW, in the SAME broadcast...

The irony is that the UK media went nuts for a 16 year old this last week who was a finalist in the World Darts Competition. Not exactly an outdoorsy activity, but still given far respect and recognition than this feat.

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...yeah, this. Like, I know darts isn't easy & requires skill, but makes no sense how throwing a dart really good is considered this big thing, but being the first person to truly "beat" Tetris after 30+ years isn't.

At least MSNBC's host was much more classier.


View: https://twitter.com/enigmaxtreme/status/1743136579110187197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1743136579110187197%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Plus NBC got the guy who created Tetris to congratulate the kid.

 

[Nerokis]

I believe opinions and actitudes towards video games such as the one this woman has are still held by the vast majority of people, even if video games are more mainstream than ever and the video game industry is selling millions of consoles and games, most people still think like that woman.

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Not sure I agree. That woman is in a person where she is specifically encouraged to give voice to her dumbest impulses. Most people are just aware that video games are a widespread hobby and likely don't feel all that strongly about it one way or another.

Not to mention that she isn't even the average person. She has a platform and was tasked with reporting this story. She should do better regardless of how much her opinion lines up with the majority's.

 

[DC5remy]

It's much safer inside

 

[TaySan]

She should apologize to the kid. I read he was doing it for his deceased father

 

[echasketchers]

because no one who plays videogames goes outside ever

 

[Rahkeesh]

Isn't that Sky news, founded by Rupert Murdoch, basically the closest equivalent to a UK Fox News? Should you expect actual journalism there?

 

[Qikz]

This is not an unpopular opinion. I doubt the average person wouldn't consider this a waste of time if they knew how much time this kid had to invest on Tetris to achieve this.

Still a very rude thing to say out loud and to the entire world just after achieving such a big record. Especially when he is so young.

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I think one thing people forget about this story and I'm sure I posted in a thread about this before here (maybe it was another forum) is the fact that as soon as this kid can stream he's going to be making HUGE money playing Tetris on stream. He's literally got the street cred now to be a big streamer in the sphere without even being old enough to stream. The second he starts streaming he's going to have thousands and thousands of subscribers.

It's not the 90s anymore where being good at games doesn't make you money. Thanks to streaming it makes you mega rich.

 

[Jakenbakin]

There any documentaries about Jayne Secker's accomplishments? No, when I put her name in YouTube I just see that she sucks for berating a child's accomplishments. Weird. Maybe she should shut the fuck up and apologize.

 

[Crayolan]

I saw gaming-centric places reporting on this woman making an ass of herself but it's kinda hilarious to see it reach even mainstream outlets like bbc. On the bright side, I guess it indirectly gives more visibility to the kid's achievement.

 

[HeRinger]

Pardon my ignorance, but how did the kid knew he "beat" the game? Like, was it previously known (by whatever reason, maybe the creator mentioning) that that's what was supposed to happen?

 

[chatsquared]

Why is it wrong for a 13 year old to work towards a goal they feel is significant

That's really what's driving me up the fuckin' wall here. Like I got told by my own mom to go touch grass whenever I felt like I achieved something in a video game just like all my friends and their mom's did. What frustrates me is that this newscaster wouldn't have even heard about this story if a significant portion of people found what this kid did to be something worth celebrating. Obviously there's tons of people that found worth in what he did so like why even condescend?

 

[Wrexis]

Pardon my ignorance, but how did the kid knew he "beat" the game? Like, was it previously known (by whatever reason, maybe the creator mentioning) that that's what was supposed to happen?

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A bot auto-played the game and got to that level and crashed. That process was repeated and confirmed by multiple people that's the maximum you can go to under normal circumstances. So he basically did that manually.

 

[Rexskel]

What an idiot woman. It always surprises me how annoyingly arrogant news presenters can be outside of here in Quebec. Just do your job and step down from your high horse.

 

[nsilvias]

go outside says a news reporter who likely has contributed to generations of parents being led to do believe that tge world is on fire which makes parents not let their child leave the house because of overly negative news reporting.

 

[senj]

Pardon my ignorance, but how did the kid knew he "beat" the game? Like, was it previously known (by whatever reason, maybe the creator mentioning) that that's what was supposed to happen?

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Tetris has a known kill screen (point where integer overflows cause the whole thing to fully glitch out, making it as far as you can play) that has never before been reached by a human player but was known to exist from bots hitting it.

 

[VariantX]

Go outside? Kids arent allowed to fucking be outside anymore like we were growing up or they'll get CPS called on their parents. Also, hes 13. Why the fuck would you expect someone to even know what they wanna do with their life at that point anyway?

 

[HellBlazer]

Good job, kid.

 

[Gold!e]

Jokes on her.

Tetris is portable.

 

[Ambient]

I would much rather my child play Tetris than watch Sky News. What a petty human being, feel bad for her kids if she has any.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Tetris has a known kill screen (point where integer overflows cause the whole thing to fully glitch out, making it as far as you can play) that has never before been reached by a human player but was known to exist from bots hitting it.

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Wow, how many stages did he have to get through to trigger that? How long did this attempt take?

 

[NaikoGames]

freaking boomers man

 

[Mesoian]

Yeah I saw Jerma go off on her.

It's just boomer rhetoric that falls apart when you apply other games to the same logic. Like, she also had to report on the 16 year old who won the darts championship and had to be even keeled because that's a "sport".

 

[Sparkedglory2]

Yeah. She's gonna get ripped to shreds by the internet. What an unbelievably old fashioned take to diminish the accomplishments of a 13 year old.

And to make it worse for her. He dedicated the achievement to his dad that recently passed away.

 

[Mesoian]

Makes it even more infuriating that this kid lost his dad in December. Imagine being so soulless that you're telling a 13 year old kid who is still grieving over the loss over his parent & is probably doing this as a means to help cope with a terrible event "go touch grass"

Oh BTW, in the SAME broadcast...

...yeah, this. Like, I know darts isn't easy & requires skill, but makes no sense how throwing a dart really good is considered this big thing, but being the first person to truly "beat" Tetris after 30+ years isn't.

At least MSNBC's host was much more classier.


View: https://twitter.com/enigmaxtreme/status/1743136579110187197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1743136579110187197%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Plus NBC got the guy who created Tetris to congratulate the kid.

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Even Fox News, of all things, had a better report on it. I won't link it here because fuck fox news, the only reason why I saw it because I was at the gym.

But yeah, trashy behavior on Sky's end.

 

[SunshinePuppies]

why do some of these comments have to point out that the rude person is a woman specifically?

 

[senj]

Wow, how many stages did he have to get through to trigger that? How long did this attempt take?

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Iirc it crashes on level 237. Took 40 some minutes.

 

[noquarter]

Pardon my ignorance, but how did the kid knew he "beat" the game? Like, was it previously known (by whatever reason, maybe the creator mentioning) that that's what was supposed to happen?

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It's a 'kill screen' for Tetris. It looks like there are multiple ways to get the calculations for updating level, score, and lines to take longer than the game expects them to and the game glitches out. The kid actually missed his first opportunity a few levels earlier by ending the level on a double line instead of a single line. It also seems that he only had like a 73% chance of the game crashing here on a single line, sp he could have had to possibly keep playing if luck wasn't on his side.

Here is a video describing it https://youtu.be/BpEcjdr_YDo?si=Zyfn7gW7NvDIjDFz