4 ms·

While discovering emulators recently and playing a few older games and just enjoying it immensely, I've asked myself if it's not a bit unfortunate, or suspiciou

While discovering emulators recently and playing a few older games and just enjoying it immensely, I've asked myself if it's not a bit unfortunate, or suspicious, or misleading, the way the world of software and hardware is split into two so neatly by this word, "retro", and other unfortunate terminology ("AAA games", etc). It suggests that systems or games from the past are somehow by definition less good. And that one would have to have a "hobby" or "interest" to possibly want to spend time with them. That the experience is somehow lesser. The quietly radical thought I've been entertaining recently is that maybe "retro-computing" people have more of a right to be considered computer enthusiasts than the usual crowd you'd associate with that category, and similarly, maybe "retro-gamers" are more "gamer" than the "gamers" themselves. Picture the two archetypes - the person who regularly investigates the near-infinite cave of treasures which is all the games humanity has produced the last 50 years (as well as sometimes some of the more modern games), or someone who plays exclusively "AAA-rated" games released the previous year, who never ventures outside of the ps or xbox store, who owns a ton of skins, and follows a few YTers who talk about games? Who is more of an "enthusiast"? Whose fondness and engagement is more open-minded, fresher, "younger"? Who knows more? Who has more respect for the games, the developers, the hardware and software world?

agent008t 2y ago
I have also been thinking about this recently. The big difference/problem I think is the social aspect. With AAA at least you can expect large numbers of people enjoying them at the same time, so you can share the experience with others (and even then, good luck finding anyone IRL to relate to if you're 35+). People tend to be social creatures, and are largely driven by what 'everyone else' is doing. It's amazing how peoples' tastes miraculously change depending on what their peer group is at. But if you discover some gem of a game from 1997? You will unfortunately likely feel quite alone playing it. I don't really have an answer to this. I somewhat envy the game streamers that have a small community around them, so they can play some old game live and get the experience of enjoying it with others.

agent008t 2y ago

I have also been thinking about this recently. The big difference/problem I think is the social aspect. With AAA at least you can expect large numbers of people enjoying them at the same time, so you can share the experience with others (and even then, good luck finding anyone IRL to relate to if you're 35+). People tend to be social creatures, and are largely driven by what 'everyone else' is doing. It's amazing how peoples' tastes miraculously change depending on what their peer group is at. But if you discover some gem of a game from 1997? You will unfortunately likely feel quite alone playing it. I don't really have an answer to this. I somewhat envy the game streamers that have a small community around them, so they can play some old game live and get the experience of enjoying it with others.