I have a nephew that wanted "to be a programmer".

Turns out he wanted to make games, and he thought that making games was a lot like playing them. :\

> Turns out he wanted to make games

Well, great for him! Many a programmer started this way. IMO it's one of the best motivation ever to start programming, and to actually learn stuff (you try to make a game, and suddenly maths and physics become interesting).

I know i started out that way. Then I realized that I could do a lot more with a lot less work in web programming. Games are hard and the payoff is much less compared to, say, making a web app.

Unfortunately most people don't understand that video games are one of the more difficult things to program. I know many people who start Comp Sci as a major and then quit as soon as they get past Java 101 (or some that quit before).

Have you introduced him to tools like game maker, construct, stencyl, etc. ? Maybe he can do some simple things and then learn some code...

I second this idea. The old Klik-n-Play program contributed to my inspiration when I was a kid, and the license agreement forbidding distribution of my creations helped motivate me to continue to learn to code. My next step after Klik-n-Play and QuickBasic was Allegro and DJGPP.