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I'm curious how certain things fit into city living. Examples: Rockband the Game. You can't play that game in an apartment in the city without being a total di

I'm curious how certain things fit into city living. Examples: Rockband the Game. You can't play that game in an apartment in the city without being a total dick to your neighbors. You can play it in a house in suburbia. Arguably the same is true for the home version of Dance Dance Revolution Another is room scale VR which pretty seems to demand owning a large enough place to have your VR room. Maybe some people can move stuff to the side one in a while but if you have to spend a bunch of time prepping the room every time I can imagine room scale VR to ever get that popular. Yes I know the world doesn't revolve around video games but they seem like an example of activities that are designed around sprawl. There's plenty of others, many non-game activities as well that, for lack of a better way to describe it, would compel me to still prefer a suburbian house over a city apartment. I guess what I'm wondering is how much cultural inertia there is for one or the other

atom-morgan 10y ago
To provide a better example, I used to play drums. As much as I'd like to continue practicing, I can't in an apartment complex even if I were to buy an electric kit. The tapping on the pedal would be too much for the people who live below me. This problem, combined with the insane amount of people moving to Atlanta, has me thinking about moving.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  I suspect it's not common in the US, but my apartment is directly above a shop. I can stamp on the floor as much as I like in the evenings and on Sundays, since the shop is empty. You could try raising the drum kit off the floor: http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=4068.0 http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=4068.0
  - atom-morgan 10y ago
    I didn't even know this was an option. Thank you for sharing.
- Johnny555 10y ago
  Of course, that can be a problem in suburban life too, I remember complaints from our neighbors (well, one particular neighbor) about my brother's drum playing in our house. I have a friend in SF that just pitched in with his buddies to rent a jam space where they can play as loud as they want without neighbors complaining. Though you might be surprised at how little sound will travel through a well constructed building (i.e. not wood framed) if you take a little care. I lived in a concrete & steel apartment building for a while, and the upstairs neighbors came down to ask if I could hear them running on their new treadmill, I could not. They had it perched on some thick 6" foam isolating pads and I literally could not hear them running on it at all.
danking00 10y ago
I wonder what type of cities you've lived in. I've lived in various parts of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and we've previously had rock band and currently have room scale VR (it is, in fact, in use as I write this). Neither had dedicated rooms but the setup and tear down is manageable. Neighbors never complains about the noise, but we also don't set the bass to room-shaking levels. Perhaps the most significant difference between my home style in my last ten years and the decade previous (when I was a child/teen in suburbia) is that I share much more space. By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. It makes sense. When I was a child we at least had four people in our suburban house, but even then, it wasn't anywhere near capacity. With four adults in a four bedroom apartment we get much closer to capacity usage. We also make use of parks, coffee shops, and public libraries (CPL's main branch is beautiful) for more flexible space when necessary.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  > By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common?
  - throwaway54665 10y ago
    > I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common? Six-figure tech salaries. Did you expect them to move with their non-existent girlfriends?
  - tomkinstinch 10y ago
    In Boston/Cambridge/Somerville it is depressingly common. I wish it were within my means to live alone, but even on six figures it doesn't make sense (I refuse to spend 40-50% of my net income on housing). Having roommates (who aren't romantic partners or family) is the worst. I need sanctuary away from people, and for example, it's frustrating when you want to cook and your cooking equipment is left dirty, when the kitchen is already in use, or when roommates have parties while you're trying to sleep. It's not an issue of having bad roommates, but of having people going about their lives independently in far too close proximity. I used to sleep without earplugs, but since moving to Boston I need to use them every night or I wouldn't ever get a full night of sleep. Having roommates in one's thirties extends childhood much too far. For me, density is the enemy, and being near nature is the goal. Unfortunately, jobs are in the city and not in the woods.
roel_v 10y ago
First example depends on the quality of the building. I own several well-engineered ones in which you never hear the neighbours except in the worst cases - when having a party with dozens of ppl for example. You hear that ine house over in suburbia as well. Second one is a size thing, not a building quality. Nit many people have truely 'spare' rooms, you always have to make room for dedicated purposes like this. It remains to be seen if vr rooms will really be a thing, too.
jandrewrogers 10y ago
It depends on the design of your building. Good quality apartment buildings, like the steel and concrete one I currently live in, are approximately soundproof. I never hear my neighbors (side, above, and below) and they don't hear me. Same with space -- how much do you think you need such that you can't rent or buy a place with that much? It seems like you are improperly projecting your limited experience to the general case. Neither sound nor space are inherently a problem with apartments.
WalterBright 10y ago
As long as I have my engineering hobbies, I need a house. Trying to do anything non-trivial to a car without a garage is impossible, as is having more tools than a toolbox. Even so, finding a house that is amenable to my activities is hard :-(
golergka 10y ago
> You can't play that game in an apartment in the city without being a total dick to your neighbors. What? Why? Just put on good soundproofing in your apartment. If you're living in the center, there's a good chance you already have old-school half a meter brick walls anyway.
- tamana 10y ago
  USA has shoddy construction and it isn't practical to upgrade it. Brick is a tiny fraction of buildings, surviving very old buildings.

atom-morgan 10y ago

To provide a better example, I used to play drums. As much as I'd like to continue practicing, I can't in an apartment complex even if I were to buy an electric kit. The tapping on the pedal would be too much for the people who live below me. This problem, combined with the insane amount of people moving to Atlanta, has me thinking about moving.

Symbiote 10y ago
I suspect it's not common in the US, but my apartment is directly above a shop. I can stamp on the floor as much as I like in the evenings and on Sundays, since the shop is empty. You could try raising the drum kit off the floor: http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=4068.0 http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=4068.0
- atom-morgan 10y ago
  I didn't even know this was an option. Thank you for sharing.
Johnny555 10y ago
Of course, that can be a problem in suburban life too, I remember complaints from our neighbors (well, one particular neighbor) about my brother's drum playing in our house. I have a friend in SF that just pitched in with his buddies to rent a jam space where they can play as loud as they want without neighbors complaining. Though you might be surprised at how little sound will travel through a well constructed building (i.e. not wood framed) if you take a little care. I lived in a concrete & steel apartment building for a while, and the upstairs neighbors came down to ask if I could hear them running on their new treadmill, I could not. They had it perched on some thick 6" foam isolating pads and I literally could not hear them running on it at all.

danking00 10y ago

I wonder what type of cities you've lived in. I've lived in various parts of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville and we've previously had rock band and currently have room scale VR (it is, in fact, in use as I write this). Neither had dedicated rooms but the setup and tear down is manageable. Neighbors never complains about the noise, but we also don't set the bass to room-shaking levels. Perhaps the most significant difference between my home style in my last ten years and the decade previous (when I was a child/teen in suburbia) is that I share much more space. By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. It makes sense. When I was a child we at least had four people in our suburban house, but even then, it wasn't anywhere near capacity. With four adults in a four bedroom apartment we get much closer to capacity usage. We also make use of parks, coffee shops, and public libraries (CPL's main branch is beautiful) for more flexible space when necessary.

Symbiote 10y ago
> By pooling four incomes (two six figure tech salaries and two low five figure academia/architecture) we can afford places with enough living space to be comfortable. I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common?
- throwaway54665 10y ago
  > I'm surprised people with six-figure salaries are sharing. Is that common? Six-figure tech salaries. Did you expect them to move with their non-existent girlfriends?
- tomkinstinch 10y ago
  In Boston/Cambridge/Somerville it is depressingly common. I wish it were within my means to live alone, but even on six figures it doesn't make sense (I refuse to spend 40-50% of my net income on housing). Having roommates (who aren't romantic partners or family) is the worst. I need sanctuary away from people, and for example, it's frustrating when you want to cook and your cooking equipment is left dirty, when the kitchen is already in use, or when roommates have parties while you're trying to sleep. It's not an issue of having bad roommates, but of having people going about their lives independently in far too close proximity. I used to sleep without earplugs, but since moving to Boston I need to use them every night or I wouldn't ever get a full night of sleep. Having roommates in one's thirties extends childhood much too far. For me, density is the enemy, and being near nature is the goal. Unfortunately, jobs are in the city and not in the woods.

roel_v 10y ago

First example depends on the quality of the building. I own several well-engineered ones in which you never hear the neighbours except in the worst cases - when having a party with dozens of ppl for example. You hear that ine house over in suburbia as well. Second one is a size thing, not a building quality. Nit many people have truely 'spare' rooms, you always have to make room for dedicated purposes like this. It remains to be seen if vr rooms will really be a thing, too.

jandrewrogers 10y ago

It depends on the design of your building. Good quality apartment buildings, like the steel and concrete one I currently live in, are approximately soundproof. I never hear my neighbors (side, above, and below) and they don't hear me. Same with space -- how much do you think you need such that you can't rent or buy a place with that much? It seems like you are improperly projecting your limited experience to the general case. Neither sound nor space are inherently a problem with apartments.

WalterBright 10y ago

As long as I have my engineering hobbies, I need a house. Trying to do anything non-trivial to a car without a garage is impossible, as is having more tools than a toolbox. Even so, finding a house that is amenable to my activities is hard :-(

golergka 10y ago

> You can't play that game in an apartment in the city without being a total dick to your neighbors. What? Why? Just put on good soundproofing in your apartment. If you're living in the center, there's a good chance you already have old-school half a meter brick walls anyway.

tamana 10y ago
USA has shoddy construction and it isn't practical to upgrade it. Brick is a tiny fraction of buildings, surviving very old buildings.