There's a lot of talk here about what beginners would or wouldn't find hard to learn. I am a beginner. I think I'm different from most beginners, but in my mind OOP is just par for the course... and it's that because pretty much everything to do with programming is hard to learn. Sorry, not 'pretty much'. Every single little thing is hard to learn, even when it's as basic as Blitz3D (no pun there :) I purchased BlitzMax knowing full-well it'd be tough to learn, and would have still purchased it even if OOP was mandatory. With everything that's involved with game development OOP really is the least of my worries. Max is a great language for those who want to learn to program, but also gain a deeper knowledge of some of the more complex aspects of coding as they do, so they don't die of shock if one day they have to use a more complex language.
What doesn't help the situation for learning BMax are things like badly written docs (we're all agreed on that), badly written code examples which break many good coding guidelines, and badly written tutorials (mostly by community members). Sorry, but those are the biggest stumbling blocks to me as a beginner (aside from my own brain), when it comes to learning BlitzMax. Give me OOP any day of the week. If I could have an overly complex language and OOP forced upon me in exchange for good docs and a few good teachers who'd read and taken Code Complete to heart, I'd take that deal in an instant.
What doesn't help the situation for learning BMax are things like badly written docs (we're all agreed on that), badly written code examples which break many good coding guidelines, and badly written tutorials (mostly by community members). Sorry, but those are the biggest stumbling blocks to me as a beginner (aside from my own brain), when it comes to learning BlitzMax. Give me OOP any day of the week. If I could have an overly complex language and OOP forced upon me in exchange for good docs and a few good teachers who'd read and taken Code Complete to heart, I'd take that deal in an instant.