Related Sections: Random Encounters
Kids Draw the Darndest Things (zombie edition)
A friend of mine brought his 8-year-old daughter along recently when several of us gathered at my house for our weekly multiplayer fix. She spent most of the evening playing Rock Band in the living room and acquitting herself admirably as a singer and even medium drummer. But at one point, she strayed into the back room to watch some of us play Left 4 Dead on my LAN. She didn't seem the least bit fazed by the zombie slaughter. In fact, watching my repeated failed attempts as a Boomer trying to vomit on the other team, she was delighted to see me blown into large chunks of rotting undead flesh, some of which she identified as "the Boomer's butt".
So when she returned a few weeks later, she had drawn for me one of the most awesome bits of art (pictured) I've ever had the privilege to post on my refrigerator. You know you're jealous.
By james at 1:34 PM ON 04/09/09
jack thompson would have a fit but adorable none the less
By Balasarius at 1:34 PM ON 04/09/09
Awesome.
But what's here name? Kicran?
By KammGoodbarrel at 1:39 PM ON 04/09/09
Kieran?
By sovietzombie at 3:22 PM ON 04/09/09
Kieran is a de facto male name. Poor girl...
By dingus at 5:08 PM ON 04/09/09
If memory serves, she actually couldn't stand being in the room with the team playing as humans (teams on the LAN are generally in separate rooms). All those zombie hordes freaked her out (understandably). She would only be in the room of the team playing as monsters.
Sweet.
By Mike at 5:32 PM ON 04/09/09
Thats cool we have a undead picaso on our hands lol
im curious Mr. Chick were you guys playing on PC LAN or 360 LAN?
By Tom Chick at 6:30 PM ON 04/09/09
Mike, I have a six-computer PC LAN. We play L4D on that. Have you played it on the 360? I think that's a terrible way to experience L4D. Valve doesn't do a very good job porting their games to console systems.
By malkav11 at 6:46 PM ON 04/09/09
I've played it on both. I didn't really notice a big difference other than the keymappings being much clearer on 360.
By Supertanker at 10:41 PM ON 04/09/09
Dingus is right - the tension on the human side was too much for her, but she didn't mind watching the zombie team.
She tells me she drew the hand by tracing her own, and drew the whole picture from memory. I downloaded L4D from Steam, so there's no box around the house for reference.
By Switchbreak at 9:48 AM ON 04/10/09
You should write more Shoot Club articles, Tom.
By Luis Arana at 10:22 AM ON 04/10/09
I'm glad to see I'm not the only parent exposing their kids to an occasional M rated game. My two boys (8 & 10) love zombies and monster movies. While I draw the line at sexual content or outright murder/gore movies (No SAW or HOSTEL), my kids have loved horror movies since they were in diapers (Living dead movies, Freddy Krueger, Final Destination, 28 days later). They are huge fans of games like Resident Evil, Unreal Tournament, Bioshock, Left 4 Dead, etc.
Horror movies were something my Mom shared with me when I was a kid and it didn't impact me except that as an adult I now work for the SCIFI Channel!
It all depends on the maturity of the kid and if they understand the difference between fiction and reality. Once you get past the scornful stares as you wait in line with a 7 year old for the premiere of "Dawn of the Dead", it can be a great family bonding experience!
By Gumbercules at 10:41 AM ON 04/10/09
If I'd had an experience like this as a child, perhaps I wouldn't be plagued by recurring zombie apocalypse nightmares, like I am now.
By sumitagarwal at 2:36 PM ON 04/10/09
Tom! Upload a high-resolution scan so we can post copies on our own refrigerators and live vicariously through you!
By tromik at 2:42 PM ON 04/10/09
It's almost too perfect. It's like an adult drew it to look like a kid's work. In fact, if I tried to recreate the L4D box art, it wouldn't look that cool.
Also, videogame box art: Low art. Kid's recreation of videogame box art with Crayola marker-medium: High art.
By Mike at 4:17 PM ON 04/10/09
Tom, Yes i have played on 360 and only 360. Not because i dont like PC gaming cause i do and i prefer keyboard and mouse in FPS games. After my video card went out on me and some other upgrades have been needed i have lost interest in PC gaming with fewer and fewer titles comming out and the cost of PC hardware and the neverending cycle of videocards being released i decided it was too much hassle to upgrade. the main reason for that would be the video cards. SO many models are released all the time that i found it to be too confusing and nerve racking to even want to go thru it all over again. and for the same price of one video card i can have an entire gaming machine thats much easier to keep running. SO the video card companies really scared me away from their own product. that and its so easy to find a broken 360 and fix it that i have 3 consoles and havent paid more than 300 for all of them together. Its fun to fix them anyway i think ;)
By malphigian at 12:15 AM ON 04/12/09
"It's almost too perfect. It's like an adult drew it..."
I think it was in fact the work of Kieron Gillen.
By dingus at 1:41 AM ON 04/12/09
Okay, here's the first two options I thought of...
1. Luis is a troll.
2. Luis needs serious help.
Please feel free to add to the list!
By pakodoom at 6:21 PM ON 04/12/09
i don't think R rated movies are bad for kids when it comes to monsters, sex and outright man on man violence are no good but i remember seing alien when i was like 6... scariest movie ever for me. but now i just love monsters an hope someday to be the lucky guy who designs them for a living.
By dingus at 6:42 PM ON 04/12/09
"i don't think R rated movies are bad for kids..."
A person who shows 28 Days Later to a child in diapers--assuming we're not talking about a teenager with incontinence issues--needs to have his head examined.
At the very least he's got some splainin' to do.
By Steiner at 8:33 PM ON 04/12/09
First let's clarify this whole diaper issue. Is the child wearing them, or the person showing the movie?
My grandpa showed me Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and he was wearing a colostomy bag...
By zorel at 9:17 PM ON 04/14/09
I've put 25+ hours each in on PC and 360 L4Ds and I would hardly say the 360 version is "terrible", if you aren't lucky enough to have your own personal gaming cafe it's a reasonable substitute. I've had a lot of fun doing splitscreen campaigns on the console version.
For versus or expert mode PC is a must but you don't have to be hardcore to enjoy L4D.
p.s. First attempt failed with a "text entered is wrong" message. Wow, the server is not only sentient but also a PC fanboy :)
By Anonymous at 12:08 PM ON 09/20/09
this pic sucks
By Anonymous at 12:09 PM ON 09/20/09
this pic sucks my dick off side ways
Anonymous:
this pic sucks my dick off side ways...More »