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Retro Gaming- more awesome and less awesome than I thought it would be

Started by Abyssal Maw, September 25, 2006, 07:57:49 AM

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Yamo

#45
October 08, 2006, 02:41:04 PM
Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalWhen I look at these people trying to play retro games I see a quite sad bunch of people.  On the one hand, I see people mourning their lost youth when their hobby was still fresh and new and you could play all day and on the other hand I see quite a reactionnary anti-intellectual manifesto against the more novel things done in games today.

The supposition here being that "games today" are more highly-intellectual than they were in previous decades, which I is not a premise that I accept at all.

QuoteIt's like right wing newspapers that talk about the good old days when you could leave your door unlocked and middle-aged guys buying red sports cars and dating women much younger than them... it's self-consciously trying to be unself-conscious.

I can totally empathise with where the feelings are coming from, I just don't think it's healthy to look backwards to improve our lives.  Firstly because actually being a teenager was pretty fucking horrific.  Sure you got to game all day but you never had any money, the closest you got to sex were like 5 hour make-out sessions after which you had to get the bus home with balls like bowling balls and you had to live with your parents.  The idea that gaming in the old days was better than it is today is an illusion just as misleading as the idea that we were happier when we were younger.

None of this addresses people whose tastes in gaming have remained consistant over the years. It seems to assume a situation where I at one point stopped playing games that I enjoyed when I was younger in favor of a whole new set of games (or a whole new play style), and then reversed my opinion and switched back later.
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Mr. Analytical

#46
October 08, 2006, 02:42:04 PM
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Is it a mid-life crisis?  You can call it whatever you want.  I'm'a call it "gaming", and do some tonight.  

  Hope you enjoy yourself :)

  We were speaking on different levels yeah?  I've never denied that it was fun (I've even toyed with the notion of running some RC game myself) but I do think the desire to relive old gaming glories comes from the same place as a 40 year-old's urge to buy a Porsche.

Mr. Analytical

#47
October 08, 2006, 02:46:36 PM
Quote from: YamoThe supposition here being that "games today" are more highly-intellectual than they were in previous decades, which I is not a premise that I accept at all.

  No, I completely agree with you.  I think the bulk of the hobby is unchanged since its initial inception.  Having said that, the "retro-gaming" fad or movement does set itself up as a reaction to whatever it is that's going on currently in gaming.  If there's any characterisation of what the hobby today is then it's not coming from me... I'm merely commenting upon the perception that fuels the retro-gaming movement.

  If there's any editorialising going on it's merely me expressing my disappointnment at the desire of people to sign up to what is a reactionnary artistic manifesto, partly because you're absolutely right in saying that the bulk of the hobby hasn't changed since the 70's.
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