When did "Gamer Culture" take hold?

[+save2600]

48 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Yes, I collect underwear. To wear, not to display or keep new in the package. I'm not a hardcore underwear wearer. I (usually) put on a fresh clean pair every day. 

 

*Usually* implies not always.   ?

[John Stamos Mullet]

14 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

Oh man, just read the GamerGate stuff...

 

So, Girl Nerd cheats on Guy Nerd. Guy Nerd gets super Nerdy and makes a bunch of posts about it because he can't handle the fact that he was cheated on. Girl Nerd then freaks out or something... I dunno, forgot already, and a bunch of other nerds say mean things to her on her social media accounts. Then semi-nerdy girl with stick up her butt makes a bunch of Tweets and videos on how the game industry is exemplifying women (big books on Laura Croft, etc...), so then a bunch of nerds say mean things on social media accounts.

 

There's a lesson in all of this:

 

1 - Don't put your life on the internet, and especially not on social media.

2 - If you have to be on social media for your job, then separate personal information from business information.

3 - Ugh...

The part you're glossing over here is that mob mentality sexist trolling all those "nerds" did doesn't happen the other way, because there simply is no  large undercurrent of "man hating" squads of nerds waiting to pounce on their next victim.

 

this kind of stuff doesn't happen to guys with the same kind of volume and persistence, and completely inhuman crassness. This is the problem. The 4chan/8chan/reddit/dark web losers who blame all their failings in life on other people rather than looking in the mirror and straightening out their broken existences, and who project their shame and bitterness onto the people who rejected them or turn down their unwanted advances. 

 

The dark corners of the internet gave rise to incels, and has emboldened them into gang mentality, violence threatening (and occasionally committing) psychos. 

 

Again, it's another unintended side effect of the rise in popularity of "geek culture". People who've been historically considered social misfits have now been placed in the bully seat, and they simply don't know how to handle their newfound position of social power, nor do they understand the lasting effect of their own behavior.

[Flojomojo]

Yeah, there was a lot of "you're not a real gamer" in that bleak period. Here's a nice little essay that sums it up. There were lots of these at the time and Kotaku was particularly vocal about valuing inclusion and diversity when the mainstream culture was not. 

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2017/09/22/you-are-not-a-real-gamer

 

I'm gratified that retroland generally doesn't seem to have that flavor of exclusion mentality. Maybe that stems from our time scrounging old shit no one wanted from thrift shops and dumpster diving.

 

Retro for me has always been a cheap low-end diversion, the polar opposite of framerate-chasing, overclocking, so-called "pc master race." ?

[John Stamos Mullet]

4 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Yeah, there was a lot of "you're not a real gamer" in that bleak period. Here's a nice little essay that sums it up. There were lots of these at the time and Kotaku was particularly vocal about valuing inclusion and diversity when the mainstream culture was not. 

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2017/09/22/you-are-not-a-real-gamer

 

I'm gratified that retroland generally doesn't seem to have that flavor of exclusion mentality. Maybe that stems from our time scrounging old shit no one wanted from thrift shops and dumpster diving.

 

Retro for me has always been a cheap low-end diversion, the polar opposite of framerate-chasing, overclocking, so-called "pc master race." ?

This. The only part of retro gaming that feels slightly exclusive is some of the higher end collectorism, but that isn't unique to retro gaming. High end collectors of any fetish properties tend to be "special".

[82-T/A]

8 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

The part you're glossing over here is that mob mentality sexist trolling all those "nerds" did doesn't happen the other way, because there simply is no  large undercurrent of "man hating" squads of nerds waiting to pounce on their next victim.

 

this kind of stuff doesn't happen to guys with the same kind of volume and persistence, and completely inhuman crassness. This is the problem. The 4chan/8chan/reddit/dark web losers who blame all their failings in life on other people rather than looking in the mirror and straightening out their broken existences, and who project their shame and bitterness onto the people who rejected them or turn down their unwanted advances. 

 

The dark corners of the internet gave rise to incels, and has emboldened them into gang mentality, violence threatening (and occasionally committing) psychos. 

 

Again, it's another unintended side effect of the rise in popularity of "geek culture". People who've been historically considered social misfits have now been placed in the bully seat, and they simply don't know how to handle their newfound position of social power, nor do they understand the lasting effect of their own behavior.

 

 

I honestly can't really appreciate what you're saying because I've never really been on 4Chan, and refuse to really spend any time on Reddit. Occasionally friends send me links, but I don't have an account and whatever. I get down on Twitter with politics, but largely I don't do social media. When I was younger... there were BBSes, and then early on IRC, and of course... AOL Instant Messenger, lol. When I was younger though, we generally didn't talk shit like people do now. If I talked shit to someone, there's a good chance that, since it was on a BBS, they lived near me, and on the rare occasion that I would go to a "GT" as we called them (haha), I might run into them. So this just wasn't something people really did.

 

When I was in high school in the mid 90s, the kids who played Magic the Gathering were the outcasts who spent all their time under the stairs in between classes... but those kids were still more normal than people are today because they still interacted with people face to face. Honestly, I was probably a bigger nerd than any of them, because I don't think any of those kids even had internet access or knew what a BBS was. But today, people just don't understand how to communicate face to face... and it retards their emotional growth and social skills, which only exacerbates their problems. Plus, you get a bunch of weirdos together, and they're just going to end up being more weird... radicals radicalize each other.

 

When I was really young, we would throw acorns at the girls in the neighborhood and tell them they couldn't come into our tree fort. That's because we had weird feelings that we didn't understand, and we were dumb kids that did dumb stuff because we didn't know what to do with those feelings. These kids, nerds, and people who do the things you're talking about... they do this because they hate that which they can't have. I'd guarantee that not a single one of those kids who's attacking those girls is in any normal relationship... if ever. But at the same time, if someone is going around attacking video games because the girls in the games have big boobs...well, what do you expect? You're going to get shit on by people because it's not girls buying these games, it's nerd boys.

 

Whatever, I find this whole thing interesting, but as much as I'd love to jump into the shit and be part of the mess, I just don't hang out in those circles. AtariAge and hacker conferences are pretty much my go-to for my nerd herding.

[82-T/A]

8 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

This. The only part of retro gaming that feels slightly exclusive is some of the higher end collectorism, but that isn't unique to retro gaming. High end collectors of any fetish properties tend to be "special".

 

My problem is that, I keep buying shit I already have. As soon as computer games started coming out on CD-ROM, and when many of my favorite games (growing up) started getting re-released on CD-ROM... like Starflight 2 (for example, on CD)... I bought them all. At some point, I threw out all the boxes. All the Ultima, Wing Commander, you name it... tossed all the boxes. I kept all the CD-ROMs and DVDs and put them into a Case-Logic sleeve case. Maybe ~250 of them.

 

Then I discovered Good Old Games. I've got 196 games on GoG. Granted, most of them I bought for anywhere from $0.95 cents to under $5 dollars... but still, 75% of those games are games that I already own on CD. Kind of a waste, and kind of obsessive.

 

"One Day..." I'll find the time to play these games, but as of right now... I don't.

[82-T/A]

8 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

I'm gratified that retroland generally doesn't seem to have that flavor of exclusion mentality. Maybe that stems from our time scrounging old shit no one wanted from thrift shops and dumpster diving.

 

Retro for me has always been a cheap low-end diversion, the polar opposite of framerate-chasing, overclocking, so-called "pc master race." ?

 

 

Sorry, I made three separate threads rather than put them all in one... don't hate me.

 

As for the retro-land stuff... I think it's because we're all from a different time... seriously. Most of us here are all in our 30s and 40s. I'm 41, and honestly... I just don't even know where to go where all this stuff is going on that we're talking about. 4Chan? I guess... I just thought it was where all the Kek stuff went on. I didn't know people talked about games there. I only learned about Twitch because someone sent me a meme, and I was really bored one day on YouTube and ran across it... and I was like, why are these people just randomly giving money to this Asian girl in panties and panda ears while she's playing some first person shooter? Does giving this girl money make these people feel like they're going to get laid? I mean, the girl was like... "Oh, thanks guys... " "... oh, wonderful... thank you..." ???

 

But as far as the high-end video game stuff. I think we were all like that at one point, but again... it was a different time. When I was in high school, my friends and I would all spend money on our computers. We had 486s, but we'd all try to get the greatest DX2 or DX4 whatever... or the fastest VESA Local Bus graphics card... or whatever cool Sound Card. 32 megs of ram... OMG...  hahah... we'd compare, brag... etc. But again... most of our interactions were face to face... kids today lack that.

 

Reminds me of this time I went to the My Little Pony (Rainbow Rocks) movie at the movie theater... WITH MY DAUGHTER. I also invited my buddy, who has a daughter that is the same age (and they play together). I wore a Derpy shirt because my wife managed a Hot Topic at the time (... I know, don't ask). When we got there, I met my buddy at the front with his daughter. I had to run back and get something from the car, leaving my daughter with my friend and his daughter. As I was walking back... this kid... maybe 14? Asked me... "Excuse me... are you... (so and so)." I was like, no... sorry. The kid told me he thought I might be the man he was supposed to meet that he had met online... Uuuuhhh... WTF? 

 

When we went to the theater... I shit you not... they were all teenage boys, and some older men... with a couple of teenage girls. The only only "little girls" that were there (the audience the movie was intended for) was my daughter and my friend's daughter. I think I even posted about it here... weird. I just don't know WTF is going on with some kids today.

 

The internet is a fantastic thing... but for people who have never known a life without it, it can be emotionally and mentally debilitating.

[Newsdee]

9 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

"One Day..." I'll find the time to play these games, but as of right now... I don't.

Same goes for Steam. Sometimes I wonder if I should start a "one game a day" marathon so as to at least try them all...

Edited August 4, 2019 by Newsdee

[Flojomojo]

Nah. The fun was in acquiring them. Actually playing them could ruin it. 

[82-T/A]

2 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

Nah. The fun was in acquiring them. Actually playing them could ruin it. 

 

... you might actually be right.

 

Some of the games I played as a kid, seemed so awesome when it was the only game I had. But when you play them as an adult... ... uhh...

 

[Flojomojo]

If I had games-o-plenty as a kid like some of my friends (particularly those who could download warez from BBSes), it's possible I wouldn't be so obsessive and collector-ey today. My GOG and Steam libraries are completely insane. 

[Newsdee]

20 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

If I had games-o-plenty as a kid like some of my friends (particularly those who could download warez from BBSes), it's possible I wouldn't be so obsessive and collector-ey today. My GOG and Steam libraries are completely insane. 

Nah. That just means they had an early start... ?