Topic: where do i start

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@Heavyarms55 Haha, I suppose there really IS a generational gap. Sometimes it feels like talking past each other, or speaking another language entirely. Over the whole of it, it's mostly semantics, though. But I'll try to clarify.

I actually did see where we agree and where we don't, but personally, I always think it's pretty useless to spend a lot of time and text on elaborating what we agree on or on what I actually DO understand people are saying, so often times, I just don't mention it. I sometimes realize, like now, that not everyone is a mind reader...

But as far as the semantics go: I say "in its own time frame", you say "vacuum", I also said "bubble", all different sides of the same coin, if you get what I'm trying to say. But of course there's also always the factor of having something in your head, clear as day, typing it/writing it down, and then hoping that the person on the other end interprets it EXACTLY as you intended it. Over the years, I've learned (sometimes much to my dismay) that this doesn't always happen, when online, UNLESS you know the other person well enough...

Anyway, I digress. The whole reason for the "vacuum comparison" is because that truly is the only fair comparison. You're not going to compare a family car to a race car, or to a futuristic concept car: they're not in the same league. That part seems pretty logical to me. That is why I'm afraid I can't get behind the whole "looking at old hardware with modern glasses" thing. It feels like looking at a child and expecting him to be an adult, and subsequently criticizing him for not being one...

On a side note: not that you specifically mentioned it, but my usage of language, and subsequently my harshness/rudeness, probably stems from my profession: as a sales & marketing professional, you NEED to be direct, and I've actually always been direct all my life (always thought it to be the most honest) and my work has only emphasized that, over the decades, so that at least clarifies part of that.

As for breaking the illusion: yet another semantics thing. Perhaps it's easier to take a more modern example: I like to play racing sims with a steering wheel and pedals. Controllers are still okay-ish as well, and currently, I don't have a steering wheel for my Xbox One, so I'll have to make do for now, but I do find that it breaks the illusion/lessens the experience of emulating actually driving a car.

So, basically what I'm saying is layers of immersion. Thoughts, sentiments, feelings. And they come in all shapes and sizes. Where it concerns retro gaming, those factors are strongest in me when I play on original hardware, with the ACTUAL controllers, and preferably on an old TV. And it's not so much about pretending to be a child, but more about opening up a temporary portal to the sensation of how it was back then. Not pretending, just getting a sense of how it was, if you will.

You can obviously never relive the first time you ever played a game, but you can come close. And even back then, most games were played more than once anyway, so it isn't specifically about the first time either. It's like playing an old song that you have fond memories from. It's actually just using objects/assets to enhance the experience as a whole and to strengthen those memories, making you relive/think back to the moment, or at least a part of it.

Like for example the first time you had a girlfriend and you shared a certain favorite song, or your parents bought you a puppy dog and on the way to the pet store, a song played on the radio. Chances are, that if you hear that song on the radio now, you might think back to that day, sitting in the back of the car, on your way to buying a puppy.

That's how you can relive a bit of the magic of gaming as well, but not on a faux-retro console with super UHD output, with wireless controllers, on a massive, flat screen, with a Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound system or whatever. At least: not for me. That's not how I played those games back then, and if I revisit those games, I want to come as close to the original experience as I can, so I need as many of those factors combined as I can still have in today's world. And that is what, for lack of a better word, "real" retro gaming (or perhaps I should call it hardcore... hate that word) gaming is all about: the real deal, or at the very least coming as close to the real deal as possible.

And don't get me wrong: I know that this is just me, and some of the other more fervent retro gamers, so others will for example be just fine playing Game Boy Tetris on their smart phone or tablet with a paired controller, but that's nowhere near my ideal setup, and it just doesn't float my boat...

Hats off on the complete Game Boy playthrough, though. Depending on the number of hours it took, or the time of day, that must've indeed been pretty straining. Like I said, for me it's only short bursts. A couple of levels, a quick race or fight, and that's it. And on those non-back lit systems, only during the daytime.

It's also how I used to play them anyway. I did have a snake light for my original GBA, but I actually found that more annoying than handy, but the Game Boy Color was the handheld that I used to take with me on holidays, and always to sunny countries, so not that hard to play under those conditions...

As for being cynical; I have that too sometimes. I have little faith in young people in general, because of the way how a lot of them act and speak, and both society in general and attention spans of younger people seem so disposable at times, people living more online in their social media and being more engrossed with their smart phones than with actual life, so it's always a pleasant surprise to find someone online who actually does have a good set of brains, can take some criticism, and can hold his own in a conversation, so there: take that...

And it's not even just because I'm getting older, because I'm still with the times, and I hang around, and game a lot with people from all kinds of ages. And until recently, I also still worked with a lot of people your age.

I even had several people of around your age under my wing at times, because of the various sales teams I had to put together and train, and they all came in on day one, thinking they knew all and would win every prize there was to gain within the first year of their training. Boy, were they wrong... Some didn't even finish the training and went back home crying to mommy (or their girlfriends), or so I'd like to imagine...

Anyways, before I keep muttering on any further, with more career nonsense, I'll just end with saying that I hope I've cleared some of my previous comments up for you, and if not, you'll know where to find me...

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@Heavyarms55 Don't worry, I'm not completely in agreement with "those" people, probably because I'm still pretty much in contact and up to speed with younger people (probably also due to the business I'm in), so I'm more a kind of an in-betweener, if you will.

But having said that, and without having the intent to annoy you, I do hope you can understand that I am kind of wondering why quite a few people are so invested in their social media and smart phones. Case in point: if I'm on a family birthday, then I see at least 10 people out of the 20 people present, fondling or looking at their smart phones. And walking around the city, I see symptoms of the same. I don't need no news outlet to make me imagine it. And I can't un-see that, so that's how the observation comes into being.

As it so happens, there was even a survey here on the news last week, asking how long young people could last without looking on their phones, and even they themselves said that they couldn't last for more than an hour or two. And I'm not trying to use that as some kinda handle, it just makes me wonder how much time they invest in that (for all intents and purposes) virtual reality, and not in the real one, making them miss out on so many things that (could) happen, if you don't bury your face in your smart phone.

So, again, it's not to annoy or anger, so I hope you can see it in the right perspective, because for me, it's simply an observation I make and something I don't entirely grasp or agree with, that's all. I'm not one to be highly influenced by news or other media; by and large, I make my own observations and make up my own mind, based upon my own thoughts and experiences. Remember: I'm a sales & marketing guy, so nobody is selling me anything...

So, I hope you're not going to get angry over what is a personal observation. It is what it is, without any sentiment or intent to undermine, degrade, insult or whatever, and it's most certainly not meant to judge.

And one tip I'd like give you, if you will allow it: if you don't feel you are that stereotype that everybody is talking about in mainstream media and so on, why be so angry about it? It's a total waste of your own precious energy and emotions, and you should not let people get to you that easily. If people criticize me or my generation and I don't recognize myself in their "profiling", I simply shrug and ignore it. Not worth my time...

And equally so, stating that you're going to write an essay about how the opposite is true or how older people are even worse, is actually only adding fuel to the fire, which again, is a total waste of your own precious energy, so why would you even want to go there?

Me, I've done perfectly fine so far, in the world, and pretty much no one can hurt me or damage me by saying something about me or making false statements about my generation. My grandfather used to say: "It's better that they use their mouths talking about you, than that they use it to eat your food", which is a bad translation from the Dutch version of "sticks and stones"...

And hey, I even gave you compliments earlier, so there's your proof that I don't think you belong to any bad category of people, much less did I generalize you into being something that you're not.

But back to (retro) gaming: of course I have to interpret your text, which makes it uncertain to a degree if I'm doing it right, but from what I think I can gather, you're overthinking what I was trying to tell you.

Again: it's simply about memories and doing things to relive those memories. I don't quite understand how someone would not be able to do that, since it's really not that hard. And I thought the examples I gave would be clear enough, but since they're apparently not, I'm honestly at a bit of a loss here.

Honest question: so, you can't relate to something having happened in your youth, and having memories of that, which could be triggered by something that you do today? Like the examples I gave with connecting a song to a memory, but it could also be a place, an image/photo or what not.

And maybe not for you, but for a lot of retro gamers, that is what it is all about: reliving those memories. Why else would you want to play these old games? Because you liked to play them when you were younger, and you have fond memories about that. Connect the two, and you have what I was trying to tell you. It's not about time traveling to another age, pretending to be a kid or comparing to other stuff, it's just about being back in those moments.

I'm afraid I can't make it any clearer than that, and perhaps I should emphasize that I always say exactly what I mean, so you shouldn't try to read between the lines or look for some underlying meaning. My whole post also has no malicious content, and is meant to be as honest as can be, so if it still angers you or if, for example, my genuine tip comes across as me trying to tell you what to do or anything, then you're really misinterpreting what I'm actually trying to tell you. I'm not angry either, and there's nothing in this entire post that's meant to make you angry, so I really hope that comes across.

I do have to say that I'm now a bit curious about what your reasons are to agree with me on the retro gaming on a smart phone...

Anyway, if even after this entire essay, you're still in disagreement or feel angry, then perhaps it would we best if we virtually shake hands and just agree to disagree, otherwise we're gonna be spending way too much time and text on something that neither of us is ever going to make a compromise on, so perhaps we should consider that...