Derrick
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
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I fondly remember my father, uncles and their friends getting together listening to new Jethro Tull, Deep Purple or Black Sabbath albums. This would be done on custom built amps and pre-amps, with handcrafted speakers to match. They were ‘audiophiles’ and rock and roll geeks. Today it’s a different story.
Although some of my friends still consider themselves audiophiles, I know more people with gaming consoles than audio consoles hi-fi’s. In stead of comparing audio output, we now compare frame rates, or resolution, or frags.
I’ve never carried over my hi-fi to a friend’s place for comparing output, but I have attended some LAN parties. And of course the internet has also added to the social aspect.
My father and his friends had intimate knowledge about who played which instrument on which Deep Purple album, or which producers or sound engineers worked best with which artists. Similarly, today we recognise names like Will Wright, Sid Meier or Peter Molyneaux, and we respect developers, studios and distributors in the same vein.
Admittedly there are many fewer types of consoles than hi-fi configurations, but it is a different industry. It’s nodt a direct comparison, and any analogy is by definition not complete.
There are also comparisons between gaming and other forms of entertainment, especially with the huge launch of Halo 3 last year. I think there are valid comparisons with the movie industry, but Hollywood is actually just a complex and arcane banking system. Gaming is an industry in its own right, in many ways bigger than other areas of entertainment like music and film.
I don’t think we listen to less music than the previous generation. But it does seem to me music has been superceded by gaming as one of our primary hobbies.
And doubtless our children will one day say the same things about us.
Although some of my friends still consider themselves audiophiles, I know more people with gaming consoles than audio consoles hi-fi’s. In stead of comparing audio output, we now compare frame rates, or resolution, or frags.
I’ve never carried over my hi-fi to a friend’s place for comparing output, but I have attended some LAN parties. And of course the internet has also added to the social aspect.
My father and his friends had intimate knowledge about who played which instrument on which Deep Purple album, or which producers or sound engineers worked best with which artists. Similarly, today we recognise names like Will Wright, Sid Meier or Peter Molyneaux, and we respect developers, studios and distributors in the same vein.
Admittedly there are many fewer types of consoles than hi-fi configurations, but it is a different industry. It’s nodt a direct comparison, and any analogy is by definition not complete.
There are also comparisons between gaming and other forms of entertainment, especially with the huge launch of Halo 3 last year. I think there are valid comparisons with the movie industry, but Hollywood is actually just a complex and arcane banking system. Gaming is an industry in its own right, in many ways bigger than other areas of entertainment like music and film.
I don’t think we listen to less music than the previous generation. But it does seem to me music has been superceded by gaming as one of our primary hobbies.
And doubtless our children will one day say the same things about us.