[quote name='UltimaX' timestamp='1315924056' post='4861089']
Game Maker, RPG Make, XYZ Maker, etc are good, but it's also a double edged sword. You are learning a proprietary language / script that is of no use once you are done with it. What if he decides next year he is done with games and wants to move to application development? He would have to start all over now to learn another language. That's why I think it's best to learn a standard language. Teaches you the same logic and what not, but you are also learning a lot more about the system you are on (file system, Win32 API (for example), etc.
When you get into college, the first thing you learn is a pseudo language. It will not be of any use in the future, but will help you the general structure of an algorithm. Thats the reason I pointed in the RPG Maker direction. Sure you wont be able to use it in the future, but a lot of learning how to program is learning how to program, language independent, isnt it so?
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Yes that is true, but that's also college. I was thinking more along the lines of something that can be applied and have some value in the future. C# was just a suggestion because once you start learning DirectX or OpenGL you can still use C# for the tools creation. You have to learn from scratch either way you go as well. So there is still the value there in C# and more beneficial. Not saying RPG Maker is a wrong choice, but I just wanted to make James aware of the pros and cons.