Plagued Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[George Lucas]

I found games I used to play as a kid and they were pretty aweful except one. I didn't pay the two dollar price tag after 30 minutes ran out, let alone get a system

That seems like an aweful lot of effort for nostalgia. Not to mention good book remains good, and worst thing with movies are cheesy effects and shitty camera. Old games tend to be outclassed in all regards. The better ones are easy to find, forgotten ones are typically low-quality trash.
Depends what you want. COD:M is actually a good game, WoT blitz looks decent, never cared for platformers but I am pretty sure you could find something.

Forgotten games are often low-quality, but sometimes copyright and license issues prevent even a once super popular game from getting rereleased. Goldeneye 007 is a mess as far as copyright goes. Even something simple like the Mother games can turn into a disaster because while Nintendo owns certain rights, the games can only be released if both Nintendo and Itoi Shigesato allow it, as they share the copyright.

Saying old games are outclassed is odd considering how many new games are directly inspired by old games and even made to look like they are running on old systems. Games since the late 80s have been capable of having over an hundred hours of content, so it’s not like sheer length is anything to go by when the latest CoD campaign mode can be finished in a few hours.

 

[Pissmaster]

The shrek tv is a mass produced item with a novelty/weird/funny factor to it., as are those other TVs. The hard to get shit is the import stuff like the fucking SEGA TV with the built in dreamcast, and even then that one's just hard to get because of the price gougers and the fact its literally a mini TV with a built in dreamcast. No way in hell would i ever think of owning that many variants of movie/brand tie in TVs but it's an understandable thing given how people collect and use the things. The shrek one is the supreme variant as it holds the same kind of odd style to it the SEGA TV has.

I'm not surprised at all. Game collectors are a crazy breed:


$120 for a big 4-outlet power strip from 25 years ago. This thing exists because you need to have three transformers plugged in to power a fully-loaded Sega Genesis with a 32X and a Sega CD, so you could buy this big fancy one to plug in your TV and all three transformers. The age alone makes it a borderline fire hazard, but that sega logo means you can pull three figures from a single power strip.

There's a modern solution to having so many transformers plugged in: Power squids, they take up less space and cost $20. But they don't have the Sega logo on them, so I guess they're not worth consooming.

 

[The Lawgiver]

To be honest, that clear TV looks kind of neat.

IIRC that's actually a modern Prison TV, I remember hearing some prisons still use CRT but keep it simplistic, boxy, and clear so the innards are always visible and inmates can't hide shit in them or something like that a few years ago.

I'm not surprised at all. Game collectors are a crazy breed:
View attachment 2858505

$120 for a big 4-outlet power strip from 25 years ago. This thing exists because you need to have three transformers plugged in to power a fully-loaded Sega Genesis with a 32X and a Sega CD, so you could buy this big fancy one to plug in your TV and all three transformers. The age alone makes it a borderline fire hazard, but that sega logo means you can pull three figures from a single power strip.

There's a modern solution to having so many transformers plugged in: Power squids, they take up less space and cost $20. But they don't have the Sega logo on them, so I guess they're not worth consooming.

Yeah, the sega logo is the reason why this one's being bought for crazy prices, but the fucking Sega TV is literally a japanese dreamcast perma-wired to a somewhat portable sized TV. I remember hearing one of the major things hit by consoomers and scalpers during the pandemic was the dreamcast, never checked partly because I already have an idea of the kinda ludicrous prices fuckers are scalping them for knowing the situation with literally everything else and scalpers these last 2 years.

 

[Quixotic Man]

Yeah here is a great video on clear prison technology.

Just in case you want your own shitty low quality clear plastic radio.

 

[Strange Looking Dog]

I believe a lot are mentally ill and not really happy, in their own fucked up logic consoom is a coping mechanism but don't know in which way the good will of others can help rather than enable it more, they could get a lot of handouts, free healthcare options and still process it as "cool, now i have even more money freed up for weed and toys", much like Chris has always done with all the money well intentioned people have sent him thinking he really is gonna use it for food and medicine, if anything his hoarding, irresponsible spending and entitlement is only the worse for it.

I get that things have been muddled by the injection of hoarding into the topic, but I've been talking specifically about "born consumers". Sure, some people are just distracting themselves from trauma with shopping but they could just as easily be using the bottle. However, there is a fairly large group of people —people who we would point to as prototypical consumers— who seemingly aren't doing it out of trauma. In their case how are we defining their happiness? Are we talking about a simple balance of pleasure/pain or some form of eudaimonia? The majority of people have ample access to the former, but the latter is something that you can't really mass produce —not in a factory or a shrink's office.

Maybe you can patch up somebody's emotional wounds; but you can't breath purpose into them, they've got to find their own and some people just never do. For such people I don't think mental illness is an appropriate framing as it implies their behavior is a condition that can be cured or treated, yet this's just how they are.

That is literally what hoarding is

I don't deny that some people respond to stress by overeating or hoarding but I hardly think that's what anyone means by consumer behavior. KF did have a thread on hoarders at one point though, so you might consider reviving it if that's what you'd like to talk about https://kiwifarms.net/threads/compulsive-hoarding.17727/

Am I thr only one that doesn't get the obcession with emulating old games?
Those games typically are far worse then what is available, both mechanically and graphic wise. And portability excuse is stupid, there are far better mobile games, and they don't require a whole different device

Most of it's nintendy nostalgia, but a lot of old games still hold up. For a cheapskate though it's pretty ideal, 50+ years of variety —experiments both good and bad— available right there on your computer
There's a thread on the emulation scene somewhere around here. Unsurprisingly they've got a lot of trannies, man children and drama.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Maybe the old games might not be as polished as the newer games but sometimes it's nice to play a simple game that isn't filled with DLC and microtransactions and a horrible story with hour long unskipable cutscenes. Also there are types of games that aren't really being made by anyone anymore. No one is really making old school FPS like doom or duke nukem and no one is really making those point and click puzzle games like Myst. The few indie companies that do try to make these types of games usually don't live up to the originals either.

nowadays with games as service and everything having to be an online multiplayer rat maze even someone just wanting a solid well thought out single player experience with no extra bullshit is becoming antiquated. Older games from GOG are also pretty cheap and run on a potato. I don't want to be one of those "all new is bad because is new" but if i make time for gaming i personally would rather go back to an old classic i haven't played than try another "gta clone with some rpg elements" or even the indie spiritual succesor. Some jankiness and maybe having to install a quality of life mod or two never bothered me.

I get that things have been muddled by the injection of hoarding into the topic, but I've been talking specifically about "born consumers". Sure, some people are just distracting themselves from trauma with shopping but they could just as easily be using the bottle. However, there is a fairly large group of people —people who we would point to as prototypical consumers— who seemingly aren't doing it out of trauma. In their case how are we defining their happiness? Are we talking about a simple balance of pleasure/pain or some form of eudaimonia? The majority of people have ample access to the former, but the latter is something that you can't really mass produce —not in a factory or a shrink's office.

Maybe you can patch up somebody's emotional wounds; but you can't breath purpose into them, they've got to find their own and some people just never do. For such people I don't think mental illness is an appropriate framing as it implies their behavior is a condition that can be cured or treated, yet this's just how they are.


I don't deny that some people respond to stress by overeating or hoarding but I hardly think that's what anyone means by consumer behavior. KF did have a thread on hoarders at one point though, so you might consider reviving it if that's what you'd like to talk about https://kiwifarms.net/threads/compulsive-hoarding.17727/



Most of it's nintendy nostalgia, but a lot of old games still hold up. For a cheapskate though it's pretty ideal, 50+ years of variety —experiments both good and bad— available right there on your computer
There's a thread on the emulation scene somewhere around here. Unsurprisingly they've got a lot of trannies, man children and drama.

there's a natural proclivity to always choose comfort over pain and there's a culture that reinforces that comfort is happiness because is profitable. It takes individual willpower to fight against it and things like a good upbringing and education that stresses impulse control and long term thinking might be a huge help, some people never had that in their upbringing and could use professional help and learn more constructive tools to deal with their issues, but is true, there's lots of contradictions and self help, psychiatry has also become an industry to cash in on the vulnerable, is so complicated that i just rather focus on the individual level.

 

[Autistic Joe]

It’s no different from watching an old movie or reading an old book. My hope is that eventually playing old games will become as easy as those two activities, but for now it generally requires a lot of technical knowledge, especially the titles that have been abandoned and never re-released.

Why would it require a lot of technical knowledge just to play on an emulator? I've been using emulators for years, to replay all the old shit I grew up with the 80's/90's -- MAME, DOSbox, Atari 2600, and C-64. And all you really need is to install the software and then track down the ROM images or Disk images for the games you want. (I guess MAME is the most complex in that regard, because many arcade games had numerous roms, and some of the ones you find on the internet are incomplete or buggy.)

Just curious, are emulators for other platforms (e.g. consoles, gameboy, etc.) not as simple to use? Because all the ones I have, you just run like any other Windows program.

 

[Moguro Fukuzou]

Why would it require a lot of technical knowledge just to play on an emulator? I've been using emulators for years, to replay all the old shit I grew up with the 80's/90's -- MAME, DOSbox, Atari 2600, and C-64. And all you really need is to install the software and then track down the ROM images or Disk images for the games you want. (I guess MAME is the most complex in that regard, because many arcade games had numerous roms, and some of the ones you find on the internet are incomplete or buggy.)

Just curious, are emulators for other platforms (e.g. consoles, gameboy, etc.) not as simple to use? Because all the ones I have, you just run like any other Windows program.

I haven't emulated anything in a while so it could be quite different now, but I remember ps2 games could be a bit finicky and games could require very specific settings to make them run decently or at all.

 

[Car Won't Crank]

I haven't emulated anything in a while so it could be quite different now, but I remember ps2 games could be a bit finicky and games could require very specific settings to make them run decently or at all.

PCSX2 has worked fine in almost all the games I've played. You sometimes have to switch from hardware to software renderer if the display glitches out though.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Just curious, are emulators for other platforms (e.g. consoles, gameboy, etc.) not as simple to use? Because all the ones I have, you just run like any other Windows program

Retroarch can be a but annoying to set up first time but once you do its pretty convenient and you just select the core you want for any console under the same application.

I haven't emulated anything in a while so it could be quite different now, but I remember ps2 games could be a bit finicky and games could require very specific settings to make them run decently or at all.

It used to be pretty badly optimized and buggy but nowadays with a decentish pc you can get some really good performance and visual enhancements. It still has the odd error here and there but the wiki has a lot of it covered, you just look up the game and change the problematic setting to the recommended one.

 

[Coral Apples]

Why would it require a lot of technical knowledge just to play on an emulator? I've been using emulators for years, to replay all the old shit I grew up with the 80's/90's -- MAME, DOSbox, Atari 2600, and C-64. And all you really need is to install the software and then track down the ROM images or Disk images for the games you want. (I guess MAME is the most complex in that regard, because many arcade games had numerous roms, and some of the ones you find on the internet are incomplete or buggy.)

Just curious, are emulators for other platforms (e.g. consoles, gameboy, etc.) not as simple to use? Because all the ones I have, you just run like any other Windows program.

Spoiler: Emulator Sperg

Depending on the emulator there are a few things to troubleshoot and download. Mostly onwards from fifth gen, sixth gen consoles I find to be a bit more finicky. Old shit is super easy to emulate, since graphics aren't complicated, not as much to render and load, smaller files overall and generally the systems themselves are plug and play.

I've had no good results with a lot of PS2 games/PCSX2, but I've read that you need a pretty good computer to get good results, like what a lot of other people are saying. Some games already have a PC port, so if available it'll probably run better. Example is 'DMC HD Collection' plays better in comparison to a ROM on my PC. PS1 games/ePSXe run fine for me, some games haven't worked, but most do. The PlayStation emus take a bit more setting up and getting BIOS and maybe plugins for them to work, fiddling with settings. Also memory cards can be a bitch from what I remember.

NES, SNES, GB, GBC and GBA emulators are easy and don't need a great computer. Basically download the right emulator, choose a ROM and play, just like the ones you mentioned. NDS emus are easy enough, but a little more in-depth to get the best settings for best performance, really depends on the computer. Don't really have to add anything extra to it.

I've even played around with ReDream and Demul, Dreamcast emulators. Kinda similar to the PS emus with needing a BIOS and some plug ins, I think it crashed a bit more frequently than the PS emus. Demul worked better in my experience though. Otherwise most emulators are easy enough to set up, there are enough resources to check out and different emulators to try.

To be more on topic, I had a bunch of collectable crap when I was younger, I had to move a bunch of times, shit sucked, so I downsized. A friend gave me a Buddhist book that brought up attachment to things in life leading to suffering and it really stuck with me. I'm not going to stop acquiring things due to that idea, but it does put in perspective about items I've once had and lost and felt badly because of it. All the toys after childhood that went to a thrift store at the end of its time, all the money wasted that could go towards a good meal or an experience. Obviously children aren't thinking like that, but looking back makes me more modest to what is needed in life. Thinking about being an old fart surrounded by a bunch of shit that someone will have to throw away when I'm dead helps too. This isn't to shame anyone who does like stuff, stuff is great. I get tempted by things often, but I just hold on to it in store, do a lap and reconsider usually. And I really do like the idea of the KonMari method, brought up often, but most of the things I've hung on to still bring joy to my life, so it is a good method. I'd say don't mindlessly consume, think about it. Or just go to Kevin Gibe's thread, that really puts it into perspective.

 

[The Southwest Strangla]

Spotted on r/crtgaming
View attachment 2857389

Someone's not happy
View attachment 2857393

Wasting your whole life savings on a dead meme from 2011 lmao

 

[Maggots on a Train v2]

I don't know why YT thinks I'm interested in these things.

This shit is cringe and pure consoomerism. I do not believe for a second that a bio woman is entranced by $200 eroge figurines. The normal-ish ones are understandable, if the lewd ones are from regular series, you can still just not buy it. She must look like this:

every time she looks at the display shelf holding a thousand dollars in giant nutsack shaped tiddies.

 

[Namekian George Floyd]

...
Um, no? I don't know about you but having gross sweaty people put their arms around you and wearing a heavy, hot dress when it's a 100° out doesn't scream "princess" to me. Plus plenty of then gets their tits and ass grabbed too.

It's a known thing among cast members costumed work is some of the least desirable in the parks. Sure plenty of wannabe actors do it to beef up their resumes, hoping to move up to a speaking role in a show, but being on display is exhausting.

These women are *employees*, they are there to make *other* people happy. Have you never actually been to a park?

Tried to find the article but the only thing that came up was drawing of Disney Princesses as depressed and emo.
Also, no, I have no desire to ever go there.

 

[highlighter_shitposting]

Saying old games are outclassed is odd considering how many new games are directly inspired by old games and even made to look like they are running on old systems. Games since the late 80s have been capable of having over an hundred hours of content, so it’s not like sheer length is anything to go by when the latest CoD campaign mode can be finished in a few hours.

Old games tend yo lack QoL stuff, balance issues are pretty bad, ai is dumb, etc.
I am not some retard that chases newest games or anything. In fact, most new releases are aweful. But you don't need to go back to gameboy era to find good games

Maybe the old games might not be as polished as the newer games but sometimes it's nice to play a simple game that isn't filled with DLC and microtransactions and a horrible story with hour long unskipable cutscenes. Also there are types of games that aren't really being made by anyone anymore. No one is really making old school FPS like doom or duke nukem and no one is really making those point and click puzzle games like Myst. The few indie companies that do try to make these types of games usually don't live up to the originals either.

Then enjoy stuff from late 00s and mid 10s. Games will be better while having polish.
Also you brouggt up two examples relatively easy to get. Old school fps are really easy to find and can be run on almost anything

 

[Raging Capybara]

Old games tend yo lack QoL stuff, balance issues are pretty bad, ai is dumb, etc.

But you have literally just described an average modern game.

 

[highlighter_shitposting]

But you have literally just described an average modern game.

Not as bad as old ones. Play the first cod, it's relatively easy. You'll see nonsensial difficulty scaling, weapons being absurdly unbalanced to the point you'll think they are from different games, retarded ai, etc. And it's a relatively good game

 

[The Ugly One]

Not as bad as old ones. Play the first cod, it's relatively easy. You'll see nonsensial difficulty scaling, weapons being absurdly unbalanced to the point you'll think they are from different games, retarded ai, etc. And it's a relatively good game

When COD came out in 2003, it was not well-regarded for its multiplayer, and there are plenty of MP games from the time that were expertly crafted by people who had been honing their design skills since the 1990s. Some of the best MP games from the ancient past continue to have dedicated fans, because they're that well designed and haven't ever really been surpassed. Gametracker lists 247 servers for 1999's Quake III arena still online. UT 2K4 still has a dedicated online player base as well, with 177 servers listed on Gametracker. Not bad for games that came out before this year's high school graduates were born.

It's borderline impossible surpass Quake III today, because it was made at a time when the most talented, experienced developers in the industry worked on small teams with comparatively tiny budgets, so they didn't need to ensure their games had the shallow learning curves and everyman appeal needed to pull in Call of Duty's sales numbers. If you want the talent of 1999's id software on your team, you're going to be looking at a $100m+ budget, and then you can't make an arena shooter with a punishing skill curve. You have to make COD.

Also should point out that TF2 came out in 2007, and after 15 years, it's still in the top ten on Steam. If something surpassed it, gamers didn't notice.

 

[Creep3r]

"Food".

Owning 50 boxes of the same exact same cereal to do absolutely nothing with because it has a picture of the same rapper on it but in different poses... I don't even understand the logic behind this. Why buy this? Why keep boxes filled with cheap food substitutes that are going to rot just because the box looks slightly different? Why is the rapper picture variant so important? What does collecting this shit achieve?

 

[George Lucas]

Why would it require a lot of technical knowledge just to play on an emulator? I've been using emulators for years, to replay all the old shit I grew up with the 80's/90's -- MAME, DOSbox, Atari 2600, and C-64. And all you really need is to install the software and then track down the ROM images or Disk images for the games you want. (I guess MAME is the most complex in that regard, because many arcade games had numerous roms, and some of the ones you find on the internet are incomplete or buggy.)

Just curious, are emulators for other platforms (e.g. consoles, gameboy, etc.) not as simple to use? Because all the ones I have, you just run like any other Windows program.

Fundamentally, it depends on how accurate you want the timing to be.

The other complexity is usually with storage. Formats for save data are inconsistent. Methods for multi-disc games also vary or just don’t work. Cassette tapes can be finicky. Old computers have different keyboard layouts that you have to consider. Sometimes you need special instructions to start the software. Software that depends on writing to arbitrary diskettes or memory cards can be annoying.

The most complex stuff is probably computers (Japanese computers especially), arcade games with complex mechanical parts, and anything involving networking. Even something like a gated analog joystick can make emulation wonky (N64 and Space Harrier have this problem; well, now you need to understand how joysticks work at a low level so you can set the proper parameters to make your joystick work better). Emulator authors often have to make a lot of compromises to make even seemingly simple systems behave decently. Recently there’s been talk about how badly scanline-level rendering is actually needed for making various systems run correctly. One of the big drivers for this is the Laserdisc arcade games.