What draws you to retro gaming online communities?

[StarEntropy]

I recently joined though I have followed the racketboy site for years. Sorry for such a huge topic being my second post, but I'm really interested and I hope people have great things to say.

I work as a freelance writer now, and I have been working on an article about forum-based or strong forum sites about retro gaming. I want to know and share the strengths and weaknesses of these "online communities." I was wondering if people would like to talk about the similar interests, buying/selling/trading, amateur reviews or news, comparisons to your local community, etc.

Please leave me your comments or PM me if you'd like. I am interested in personal conversations/interviews as well. I interviewed Racketboy this past week and he gave me some great insight.

[WrathOskvro]

Hey man, the bigger and more interesting posts, the better. It shows you've actually got something to contribute!

Anyway, for me the reason why I come to retro online gaming communities is because it's a pretty big hobby of mine. I love retro gaming and I always have ever since I was born pretty much. I'm also a musician and martial artist but I always tend to run out of things to talk about on those subjects, especially since I've got a bad case of writers block at the moment, and I'm not a professional fighter or anything.

But yeah, the big reason why I come to retro gaming communities is simply because I only know like one other person who shares this hobby of mine, and I always want someone to discuss my interests with of course, just like any other person. Retro gaming is nonstop fun, and I tend to find reading what everyone's saying about it to be fun too. The only downside I can think of is that it's hard to really get to know someone on such a populated forum.

[StarEntropy]

Thanks for the reply. You definitely brought somethings I never considered since I'm not much of a forum person.

I imagined these communities would be great for meeting other people who share your interest and the forums are a great location to share knowledge, but I never thought about how it could still be hard to form relationships when so much is going on.

Are there other forums anybody here also visits?

[prfsnl_gmr]

I was drawn to a retro-gaming online community because I wanted a place to discuss one of my hobbies. I have been collecting video games for over a decade, and it is nice to occassionaly engage in a conversation with other people who are passionate about the subject.

I was drawn to the Racketboy forums in particular because the discussions here tend to be more friendly, and the people who post here display levels of intelligence, maturity, and tolerance that is not normally associated with video game message boards.

As a thirty-year-old professional with a wife, a daughter, and more than a passing interest in collecting video games, this site was a perfect fit for me. I have no desire to participate in forums where every discussion degenerates into name calling or forums where every other member has a crude avatar. I appreciate the fact that these forums are friendly to women and people of varying sexual orientations - and I appreciate the fact that posts denegrating either are quickly condemned by the broader Racketboy community. I also appreciate the fact that, while the discussions here focus on topics related to video games, whenever a discussion steers to a non-gaming-related subject - such as politics or religion - the people participating in the discussion are very respectful of each other's views. (In fact, as far as I am concerned, the Racketboy forums contain some of the most thoughtful, respectful, and intelligent discussions on politics and religion on the Internet today.)

The people who post regularly on these forums are largely intelligent, well-educated, and well-rounded individuals who bring many different perspectives to the hobby, and it is always interesting to read a discussion on these forums - even if I do not participate in it. Finally, the moderators and the frequent "Next-Gen" posters really do a wonderful job keeping these forums in such good shape, and for that I am very thankful.

[Opa Opa]

I joined this site because I have a greater interest in retro gaming than the next gen consoles. I tried the ign boards and then went to Gamespot. I left Gamespot because a lot of topics turned into the whole "ps3 is better than 360" and "the wii is for kids" bull crap. Generally, the system boards about the classic consoles didn't have many knowledgeable people. You could ask a question about an Intellivision and no one would know the answer.

Also, I found a lot of people to actually be nice on sites like this. A rare thing these days.

[WrathOskvro]

Yeah going to a huge site like IGN, Gamespot, Gametrailers, etc is a bad idea especially if you're into retro gaming because most of the people on those sites are either kids, or act like kids.

[StarEntropy]

prfsnl_gmr:
Those are some strong and positive words. It's also important, because I think a lot of people have a preconceived notion most forum members are childish or rude. Also, when you think about topics such as religion or politics in a retro game based forum, you don't know how people would react.

Opa Opa and WrathOskvro:
I didn't know those sites were like that. Thanks for the heads up.

[alexis524]

i too joined so that i could would be able to relate to others with the same passion and past time. My wife's not a big gamer, and doesn't view the retro VG culture like i do, so it's nice to know there is place i can come where everyone here shares the same sense of enthusiasm and support.

[YoshiEgg25]

I joined when I had the urge to become a collector this summer. I really like it here; everyone is mature, makes contributing posts, and supportive of each other.

I go on one other forum currently (a Pokemon site), which seems to be down for good (the owner has "neglected" to pay the hosting services). I don't know what's happening, but everyone there was pretty nice, even though they weren't mature at all. Everyone was 14+ years old, but at 18, I'm the third oldest on the board.

I was on another forum for two and a half years (another Pokemon site), was one of the top posters on the site, and had an incredible track record for being an awesome guy. But the owner hated me. She ended up banning me for a rule that didn't exist: saying that I was sick of everything being used against me and that I didn't want to be contacted by staff. Which I said through a third-party source using MSN Messenger. I was sick of the place anyway; it was overrun by 13 and unders that could barely spell, staff that didn't know anything about Pokemon, and an owner who brought in staff that were brand new to the site while kicking the contributing posters to the curb. She may have over 40,000 members, but she ran the best 1% out by appealing to the idiot kids who shouldn't be online anyways. The best members on the site had battles on Shoddy Battle (Java battling app), but she never supported it until a little before I was banned; she also fired the best staff member she ever had after he banned a kid for using gay slurs towards him.

Sorry about that, I still get really pissed about that whole ordeal. That was back in April I got banned, and I never said anything disrespectful. I think I'm only going to stick to smaller forums from now on. Like here.

[shwisha]

I think the bottom line is it's powered by passion. The reason this forum exist is because of the Passion Rackbetboy shows for retro gaming. Collectors are full of passion so that just makes communities like this grow even larger. Another thing is most of the people who are into this kind of thing probably don't have a ton of other people to talk about it too, so the forums are an outlet to discuss the topic with like-minded individuals.