bangersnmash on 2/3/2015 at 10:12

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Only with black men

Scots Taffer on 7/3/2015 at 03:52

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I think real life intrudes on our enjoyable but otherwise worthless pursuits in ways that we can't anticipate, fully understand or realise until after it's happened and our old hobbies and interests are like a town that's fading in the rearview. Particularly these days. Time is so precious and we are expected to be using it constantly. If you aren't being productive, you're almost made to feel guilty and whilst I can mount a half-reasonable argument to justify how bantering, debating and connecting on forums is a worthwhile use of time, I also can't be bothered. That's the other thing that happens - time becomes scarce, we care more about the things we have time to care about, everything else just drops off. Where's the fucking time? What's the fucking point?

Then there's the fact that most of us grew up (despite different age groups) during the birth of the online era and it has changed our society so much. "Like", love or hate Facebook - it's the primary tool for keeping in touch with friends and loved ones, overseas and locally. Mobile communication and proliferation has changed the need to connect in person, or rather I'll say that it has changed the "perception" that we need to catch up in person as often... in reality, we still need that contact and often crave it. If we're lucky, we keep our closest social circles and hopefully they stick with us, through the childbirths, the changes in jobs, the divorces, the health scares, the sheer shit that life throws at you (sometimes in short succession).

I still wonder what the FUCK happened to Monkeysee, but I do think it was something along the lines of this comic.
http://www.pbfcomics.com/archive_b/PBF089-Caring_for_Your_Turtle.gif

I love that I met so many interesting and varied people here and that somehow, despite all the age gaps, geographical disparity and lack of a single unifying common interest (we don't all love gaming, remember), a lot of people have connected pretty deeply and remained friends despite the decline in the forum's activity... which you could argue was due to the things I've mentioned, you could also argue that there were changes to the core "management" of the forums that helped foster a different tone to the place that inevitably killed some activity... like it or not, there is always a role for a leader or moderator in helping to foster a tone. David and GBM (and Mara too) were that here for a long, long time. There was a "be a smart ass but not an ass hat" culture that really drove some funny arguments, one-up-manship and a zany sense of belonging. Of course, I'm speaking here of CommChat more than anywhere else, but even GenGaming had its days. I think that culture died and with it, much of what some people loved.

That's not everyone's experience, though. People took what they did to different degrees and levels. Some of us may have felt we "owned" this place more than we ought to have and that it sometimes generated a level of cultural elitism. But really, all it was about was generating a level of respect for the responsibility of being part of the community... you can't just storm through the middle of a group of people, flip the table, shit in someone's hat and then expect to be accepted... In the past, those people got their ass handed to them until they realised that being part of the community meant being a respectful and contributing member of the community... not just using it whenever you felt like it.

And then back to the impact of the changing technological landscape, with the surge in social media and the relative "death" of blogging and forums, it changed the nature of conversations. They have become more one-sided, everyone feels more informed now in this age because they can google or wiki pretty much anything and "become an expert". Back in the early days you had GENUINE expertise, people who knew their shit. Now there are so many armchair enthusiasts and pseudo-experts that think that be barking the same shit you'll find on a dozen google searches that qualifies as having given the topic some genuine deep thought... you can be completely wrong but at least have a very rounded view of a matter, then discussing that with more educated and more rounded people that aren't interested in WINNING as much as they are interested in CONVERSING can be a genuinely rewarding experience. This, too, is part of culture I think. A culture that is no more.

Medlar on 7/3/2015 at 20:00

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You are of course quite right Scots, life moves on for all of us young and old. I think however this place would come alive once more with new releases of 'the game' and perhaps, just perhaps with the success of the OtherSide Entertainment crowd funded project that may come about. A further Thief game would be perfect to follow Underworld Ascendant. One can only hope eh!

Medlar on 7/3/2015 at 20:19

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Porthtowan?

Medlar on 7/3/2015 at 20:48

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Oh well, I guess the second best village is better than none ;)

It will be good to meet you, would it be too fogieish to enjoy a cream tea on our deck?