Didn't want to hijack the age poll thread, so I'll continue this here.
I'm a bit fascinated by the number of people in the age 30-50 around here that seem to have an history with or still work in the IT field, myself included. I know that gamers come in all kind of flavours, but it still raises the question why we (IT nerds) seem to be overrepresented here of all places?
I can take my own kids as an example, they are 20 and 18. While they share my enthusiasm for gaming, they are not as interested in computers as I am, they don't care how it works, much less how to do other things with it than gaming and watching youtube. So what happened to us? :)
I have no idea why so many IT people are following this game but as a 30 year old programmer I find this game really amazing. Maybe people in the IT field were more likely to play EQ back in the day and that has influenced people following this game? I've always wanted to be a programmer since a very early age because that is what my Dad did so whether I played games or not I'd have still ended up being a programmer. I just like the power to create anything you like that programming gives you.
Your 'Average Joe' wasn't the one playing EverQuest back in the day. There weren't many "gaming PC's" out of the box and odds are you needed to install an upgraded video card yourself, or a new CPU, RAM, etc. I'm sure you've noticed a lot of EQ players have interest here.
I know that multiple times I either upgraded my CPU, video card, RAM, whatever my motherboard would allow, to get those damn trees in Kunark to not kill my framerate.
So that's probably a big reason why a heightened ratio of Nerds to Avg. Joe's are here.
I have some kids, born around the glory days of EQ, one is a firm console gamer while the other is a PC enthusiast. I suppose I've always been both, with more emphasis placed on one than the other depending on the year. Even with a split ratio on that front regarding my kids it's pretty clear with the advent of smartphones and your tablets these years that people will generally pick ease of accessibility, so quick and easy will generally be picked over sitting at a designated place in a house or apartment at a computer.
I am also in my mid 40's and work in IT. I guess when we were young, computers were still relatively new. Now days with consoles, tablets, phones and the price of computers they are much less a novity to try and work out how they tick. Everyone has one. Been using the things since the mid 70's.
I used to run an 8 line dial in BBS running Galacticomm's MajorBBS and Gameconnection for multiplayer Doom and Decent along with MajorMUD. I had to start my own because the wife didn't like the long distance phone bills to out of state BBS's with Gameconnection. Only reason I got into IT, it was more fun building the systems than playing the games at times.
My son is 20 now going to college for computer engineering. We have been building computers together since he was a boy. He basically learned how to read at a young age from the motivation to understand what was going in EQ. I used to read to him what was going on in game until he started reading it himself. I am personally a logistics manager but I have always had a computer at home, growing up I was fortunate. Phantasy on the commador 64 was the best game ever when I was a kid.
How did you know how many people were in the IT field?
I'm 37 work in IT, and have been interested in computers and electronics since a young age. I've always built every computer I've owned except for the IMB PCjr we had (which was our first).
Now I have a daughter, 12, and while she plays plenty of PC games (WoW, Minecraft, etc) she could care less whats inside her computer or how to build it, so long as it runs. Even when I mention wanting to upgrade stuff in her computer she complains theres no need .. like who thinks that way, no need ...
Jamie said:How did you know how many people were in the IT field?
A lot of people mentioned that when introducing them selves in the "Age poll" thread.
But just as someone claimed, back then computers wasn't as mainstream as they are now, you had to be able to exchange parts to upgrade graphics and what not (most of us probably still build our own computers). Since Pantheon is set out to bring back some of the things that made games like EQ1 successful, it makes sense that it just happened to attract all the EQ1 people making it an higher than average place for people working in the IT field. I'm quite certain that asking about what line of work people have on a forum like WoW, Rift etc would reveal a more balanced mix between the different occupations.
I think its more to the fact that those of us age 30+ really experienced the home PC boom and the growth of gaming as a whole. My children love their games as well but could care less how it works. The kiddos today just have so much more at their fingertips in a much more user friendly manner. I would say cheaper, yet the price is still crazy, however we get so much more today than the couple hundred dollars for a few MB of RAM back in the when.
Caduto said:I think its more to the fact that those of us age 30+ really experienced the home PC boom and the growth of gaming as a whole. My children love their games as well but could care less how it works. The kiddos today just have so much more at their fingertips in a much more user friendly manner. I would say cheaper, yet the price is still crazy, however we get so much more today than the couple hundred dollars for a few MB of RAM back in the when.
I remember when I was like 15 or something in the 90's, I spent $438 to upgrade to a 15" NEC MultiSync SVGA monitor. I bust my butt for nice upgrades when I was a teenager. $438 was a lot in the 90's, comparatively! Now you can do what, a 24-27 inch LED LCD for $200 or so. My first video card for EQ was a Diamond Viper 330 AGP, nVidia RIVA 128 *4 MB* of video RAM. Whew, talk about hot stuff!
Zahlhedren said:I used to run an 8 line dial in BBS running Galacticomm's MajorBBS and Gameconnection for multiplayer Doom and Decent along with MajorMUD. I had to start my own because the wife didn't like the long distance phone bills to out of state BBS's with Gameconnection. Only reason I got into IT, it was more fun building the systems than playing the games at times.
This post made me smile and think of the awesome days of yesteryear.
I loved BBS's. I loved to play Barren Realms Elite, LORD, Falcon's Eye, etc ... and there was a good number of underground BBS's you could find if you digged around long enough and knew the right people. I met several SySop's in my city in real life, and other end users. I played so much Doom II deathmatch and coop over dialup, Heretic, Hexen, etc. Dude. Man. lol
There are actually telnet-enabled BBS's today still around and I regularly played on some until the early 2000's.
When we grew up, computers as a household item were still in its infancy. They were, for all intents and purposes, new. We remember when internet became a "thing". As with most new things, they create a desire to learn about them. The newness of it fascinated us old fogies. We wanted to learn how it worked. It was quickly apparent that they would become a common feature in everyones home, and a new industry to explore that our parents had never explored before.
"Want to follow my footsteps running this muffler shop, son?"
"Hell no, pops. I'm gonna listen to bad emo music and learn computers"
These days, kids grew up with them. They're not new. They don't want to follow in our footsteps. They're just a part of life, like dishwashers and television was for us. I doubt many of ya'll grew up wanting to learn how to fix washing machines.
With that said, I'm 32 and I don't know jack about computers. I work in mortgage.
-Tralyan
Vade said:I remember when I was like 15 or something in the 90's, I spent $438 to upgrade to a 15" NEC MultiSync SVGA monitor. I bust my butt for nice upgrades when I was a teenager. $438 was a lot in the 90's, comparatively! Now you can do what, a 24-27 inch LED LCD for $200 or so. My first video card for EQ was a Diamond Viper 330 AGP, nVidia RIVA 128 *4 MB* of video RAM. Whew, talk about hot stuff!
Haha, I remembe that card. I used to use those 3DFX VOODOO cards. Talk about going back in time. The cost per power could never be compared versus today, for sure. I just spent around 2-3k on a swanky state of the art (at the time) PC. 2k back then was like the base price of a pc with maybe 4MB of RAM and some iteration of the Pentium processor. Then again, just think about it. In 10 more years the stuff we thought was the best will have the new generation of IT turning their noses!
Tralyan said:These days, kids grew up with them. They're not new. They don't want to follow in our footsteps. They're just a part of life, like dishwashers and television was for us. I doubt many of ya'll grew up wanting to learn how to fix washing machines.
I agree fully with that statement. For me though, my dad works in broadcast technology and electrical engineering. We had PC parts and all sorts of crazy stuff around the house. It all just fit. However, I can see that my kids already have no interest in what I try to teach them about what I do and love. They have their own plans, which is great. Only makes me sad when I remember the times my Dad and I would break down, learn, and rebuild all sorts of gadgets. To each their own.
A flashback down the memory lane. I remember the old hardware, and honestly I still have some of it stored away in the attic, stuff like 3DFX Voodoo, some old 386/486 CPU's and other stuff that probably belongs at a museum. I remember gaming with a few friends and we hooked up a IPX/SPX networing (coaxial) with 50Ohm resistors etc to play things like Doom or Descent. That was fun times!
Guess we all grew up just at the right moment :)
Koras said:A flashback down the memory lane. I remember the old hardware, and honestly I still have some of it stored away in the attic, stuff like 3DFX Voodoo, some old 386/486 CPU's and other stuff that probably belongs at a museum or become usuable when the haulo. I remember gaming with a few friends and we hooked up a IPX/SPX networing (coaxial) with 50Ohm resistors etc to play things like Doom or Descent. That was fun times!
I recently tossed a lot of computers I had actually shoved into the trunk and back seat of a parts car. I salvaged the CPU's before I sent it off to the crusher ... for whatever reason.
I wanted to comment about the IPX/SPX networking bit. I was like 16/17, was spending time at my aunt's in another state with my cousin. I dragged my PC along and put it in the basement, he had one upstairs in the living room.
I thought it would be really fun to play Duke Nukem 3D networked together and we both played it a lot. So one day when his mom was at work I had a grand idea to go to Radio Shack or somewhere, get some coax with BNC ends, got some network cards and installed them in both PC's. I asked hey you got a drill around here somewhere? He's like yea here's one.
So I pulled back the corner of the carpet upstairs above my PC below in the basement and I drilled through the floor of my aunt's living room floor to run coax along the wall from the PC, under the carpet and down the newly drilled hole to my PC. LOL!
I was so freaked out when my aunt came home, I felt like I was compelled to commit murder with an episode of nerdrage because we just HAD to play Duke 3D together. I mean, HAD TO. Right? Either she never noticed or never said anything to me, I don't know which.
Today I'm a homeowner with a family of my own. If I busted my kids doing what I did I don't know if I'd give them an award for initiative or to kick their asses. I'm not 100% sure.
Koras said:Guess we all grew up just at the right moment :)
Absolutely.
Late 40’s here and I am still in IT working for a gaming studio. AR is the primary hardware here. I played EQ with my dad for the most part back in the day to help him recover from cancer. We connected that way and I think it was a form of therapy for him. He still plays today. Over the years I met more people that played and they were in the field also. I still work with and have friends that are IT and are waiting for this game to come out. Are we geeks? You bet! I think it is a different caliber of player that enjoys these types of games. I think we are different and that makes us passionate and firm supporters of this genera.
Ox
Oxillion said:Late 40’s here and I am still in IT working for a gaming studio. AR is the primary hardware here. I played EQ with my dad for the most part back in the day to help him recover from cancer. We connected that way and I think it was a form of therapy for him. He still plays today. Over the years I met more people that played and they were in the field also. I still work with and have friends that are IT and are waiting for this game to come out. Are we geeks? You bet! I think it is a different caliber of player that enjoys these types of games. I think we are different and that makes us passionate and firm supporters of this genera.
Ox
Oh you brought up sad notes, but some of my happest moments. I too had a dad we played EQ with in 99-09 before he finally fell to lung cancer. He loved EQ as much as the rest of us, or even more. He started the boxing rules on Drizzil Ro with 6 of them...... 6 of them??? in kunark OOT.... what a freak LMAO
Vade said:So I pulled back the corner of the carpet upstairs above my PC below in the basement and I drilled through the floor of my aunt's living room floor to run coax along the wall from the PC, under the carpet and down the newly drilled hole to my PC. LOL!
haha that's epic and creative!
Oxillion said:Late 40’s here and I am still in IT working for a gaming studio. AR is the primary hardware here. I played EQ with my dad for the most part back in the day to help him recover from cancer. We connected that way and I think it was a form of therapy for him. He still plays today. Over the years I met more people that played and they were in the field also. I still work with and have friends that are IT and are waiting for this game to come out. Are we geeks? You bet! I think it is a different caliber of player that enjoys these types of games. I think we are different and that makes us passionate and firm supporters of this genera.
Ox
Yeah I agree with you that we are a different caliber of players. That's why I think this will be a much more enjoyable experience compared to other games. Playing together with people that has the patience and know what it takes for teamplay to be successful or that doesn't give up after the first failure.
Yeah I agree with you that we are a different caliber of players. That's why I think this will be a much more enjoyable experience compared to other games. Playing together with people that has the patience and know what it takes for teamplay to be successful or that doesn't give up after the first failure.
I have found these groups to be far more supportive of each other and patient. Long term thinkers and planners. Frankly the new MMO’s are fostering hordes of players that are not social nor patient. If they don’t like what they get or a raid goes south they hop on social media and go psycho on people. It’s rather disturbing now. I am hopeful this game will foster the opposite and from what I can see on this forum we have already started that.
Ox
Server/Network guy here (VMWARE, Exchange, CISCO, SharePoint, etc) Best time ever was back in 99/2000 in Air Force Airman dorms. What started out as Me and a buddy from Comm Squad sharing resources between us in the dorms to eventually being a full blown network of 60~ some nodes. We all chipped in for new parts, storage, etc. Best part was running the cable along side the brick building and camoing it. It took the dorm manager till I was moving off base 2 years later to finally notice it and tear it down. Good times!