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When Mom and Pop Want to Make a Game: A Tech Support Tale of Passion, Perseverance, and Webhooks

Have you ever answered a tech support call that started simple—“I can’t access my database”—only to find yourself tumbling down a rabbit hole of quirky ambition, perseverance, and a dash of confusion? Well, buckle in, because today’s tale from r/TalesFromTechSupport is a delightful blend of heartwarming determination and classic tech chaos.

Meet our protagonists: a mom-and-pop team, two decades removed from a humble flyer for a “tech guy/coder,” who unknowingly set off a chain of events leading straight to a web game passion project. What could possibly go wrong? Spoiler: a lot, but not the way you might expect.

The Call That Started it All

Our story begins with a call from a kindly older lady who just wants to access her database. A simple enough request for most techies, but as any seasoned support veteran knows, the surface is often just the tip of a much larger iceberg. As the tech support hero patiently untangles the issue, the real story emerges—one piece at a time.

The mom, as it turns out, is a graphics designer. Pop, presumably, handles the logistics. Together, they’ve poured their hopes into a web game. It’s their “passion project”—the kind of thing that keeps you up at night sketching sprites on napkins and dreaming up new levels over breakfast.

But passion alone doesn’t build a game. Enter: the developer. Or, rather, the former developer, whose brief tenure was cut short by an unexpected twist—his asylum application to the UK was denied, leaving him unable to continue the work. Before his abrupt departure, he’d managed to “hook up some graphics,” set up hosting on a WAMP stack (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP), and add a few webhooks—all for a cool $200 for phase 1 of 10. Oh, and did I mention the monthly hosting fee for a barely-used server?

The Untangling

Our tech support protagonist quickly realizes this isn’t just a database login problem. It’s a story of being led astray by overcomplicated setups, recurring costs, and a series of developers who seem to vanish before completing the job. You can almost picture the mom, full of hope, clicking through hosting dashboards and uploading lovingly crafted graphics, only to be stymied by login errors and cryptic PHP warnings.

The advice? Cancel the hosting—why pay a monthly fee for a WAMP server when your game is still in development and barely using any resources? But there’s more at stake here than mere dollars and cents. For mom and pop, this game isn’t just a website; it’s a dream. And dreams, as we know, are stubborn things.

The Relentless Dream

It would be easy (and perhaps wise) to walk away at this point, but the story doesn’t end there. Mom is undeterred. She’s had “great difficulty finding good developers,” but she won’t give up. She even offers our tech support hero the coveted developer role—a flattering gesture, but one he must decline (full-time jobs have a way of getting in the way of side quests).

Yet, despite setbacks, confusion, and a carousel of developers, mom and pop press on. There’s something charming and universal about their persistence. How many of us have had a project—big or small—that we refused to give up on, even when logic screamed otherwise? Whether it’s a novel in a drawer, a garage band waiting for its big break, or, yes, a web game with a shoestring budget, the world runs on people who just won’t quit.

Lessons from the Frontlines of Tech Support

There’s a lot we can learn from this tale—about technology, yes, but also about people:

  • Passion Projects Are Powerful: The drive to create can push us through the thorniest tech problems (and the odd unscrupulous developer or two).
  • Tech is a Jungle: For non-technical folks, the world of web hosting, databases, and servers is a confusing and sometimes predatory place.
  • Patience Matters: Sometimes, the best thing you can offer isn’t a fix, but a little kindness and honest advice.
  • Never Underestimate Determination: Mom and pop might not have their game live yet, but their story isn’t over.

The End…or Just the Beginning?

While our tech support hero couldn’t take the job, he left mom and pop with sound advice and a glimmer of hope. And who knows? With enough stubbornness and a bit of luck, maybe one day we’ll all be playing their web game—graphics by mom, project managed by pop, and debugged by a chorus of well-meaning techies.

Have you ever helped someone chase a tech dream against all odds? Or been part of a passion project that wouldn’t die? Share your stories in the comments below—because sometimes, the best support is just knowing you’re not alone.

What’s your most memorable tech support call? Let’s hear your tales of triumph, disaster, and everything in between!

Original Reddit Post: Mom and Pop wants to make a game