>the fact that I could take someone else's source code and change it to my will felt like a superpower.

The ability to go and tell your computer to do something and then see the computer do it is, in a word, mindblowing. I know it was mindblowing for childhood me.

My experiences with programming were HTML4.01 and CSS2, PHP, Ruby, and some more abstract forms of "programming" (RPG Maker!), and they all gave me a healthy if basic understanding of how computers work and how much power a keyboard and mouse can give to an individual with the proper will and gumption.

RPG Maker was great, I've been meaning to go back and build something with it again now that I have actual developer skills.

Not everyday I come across a fellow RPG Maker around these parts. I hail from the so-called golden age of RPG Maker (RM2K and RM2K3), those were the days I tell you.

I was way too young when I first discovered it, but it was in the 2k/2k3 era too. I could barely wrap my head around how switches and variables worked so my projects never got very far but I remember loving playing the Legion Saga series.

Thank you! I also grew up around the time of HyperCard and BASIC on PCs, and spent hours carefully typing in programs from magazines. I can look back on that and find a lot of warm memories. I can also look at it with a critical eye and question how much I would have learned about general computation principals if there was something like Scratch available during that time period.