The Left Behind: Fallout Geeks

[Tannhauser]

The Escapist is a mixed bag, with the rare great article and mountains of pretentious inanity (especially the graphics, artsy dross). This week they featured the "Best of the Escapist," in which one of the articles concerns itself briefly with the Fallout community. More interesting than that, and the reason I posted this, was the central point of the article: the search for the ideal for gamers. Not to say this isn't the sort of pretentious article I dislike, but it has an interesting concept behind it. I believe it to be a ripe topic for discussion.

The Left Behind by Joe Blancato.

I don't consider myself a gamer; I consider myself someone who does things, and sometimes plays games. I read and talk and write about them more than I actually play them; I'm a fan of the ideal, the hype, the promise. I've argued design theory with masters of code to the point of profanity, but when the games finally hit shelves, all I could do was read the box quotes, shrug my shoulders, and wait for the Next Big Thing.

I know I'm not alone. I've seen entire tribes of refugees during my travels, people fixated on one dead game or another. There are die-hard Ultima Online fans, SubSpace freaks and Fallout geeks. As the Great City of Gaming builds itself on top of its history, an undercurrent of homeless gamers wander between high-poly games, in search of their previous gaming peak. Rarely do they find it. The tribes converge from time to time, occasionally trading stories, their artifacts from ages past. The common theme is always the same: Where's home?

 

[Briosafreak]

This is news stuff, and very interesting.

 

[Tannhauser]

'eh, it was two in the morning. I was not in the best state of mind.