Do your friends and family think you're crazy for......

Post by **undamned** » Wed May 18, 2005 5:12 pm

I'm fairly surprised at how accepting my friends are of my shmup/gaming habits. I think the main thing is that they know that I am responsible with it, in that I know what stuff is worth, resale-wise, and if I tire of something or need money for somthing else, I can make back the lion's share of the money I've spent.

I do get some eyebrow raises when they ask how much PCB's cost. I tell them the truth: "It pretty much depends on the game. Some of my PCB's cost me around $12, including shipping, others $300."

I do have a friend that tells people that I'm into, what he calls, "gamey-games," implying non-sports-racing-fps-mainstream

I actually think that phrase kinda fits. "Gamey-games" sounds fun, and that's what gaming should be all about.

-ud

The Bullet Dodger · Post by **The Bullet Dodger** » Wed May 18, 2005 7:10 pm

My brother thinks I'ma "fuckin nut" whenever he watches me play a shmup, and also when I spend big money on games from overseas. He's very closed minded when it comes to video games. He refuses to believe that so many great games that never came out in the US. But I'm proving him wrong slowly but surely. And hopefully by the end of the year I'll turn him into a shmupper.

Dartagnan1083 · Post by **Dartagnan1083** » Wed May 18, 2005 10:08 pm

Most of the friends I make are understanding/tolerant of shmups even though it's not their thing when it comes to games.

As with gaming in general, my family is concerned...but not too hatefull.
That goes with the sole exception of the younger of my 2 neices...who is about 27 and dates younger men.

She would HONESTLY rather have me spend money on ciggarettes than games.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Wed May 18, 2005 10:32 pm

Some of my family just scratch their heads. Some are amazed when they ask how many game systems I have and I say 13, not including add-ons and handhelds. They usually get all bug-eyed

My wife understands my obsession with gaming, though not with shmups. She plays certain games for hours on end, some of which I would gladly join her in (RTS), others I wouldn't. She knows that when you have a hobby like gaming you're going to dedicate money & time to it. She accepts that, though she'd rather I play an RTS with her on our network than a shmup by myself. She hasn't got up the guts to try one yet because she's real nervous she'll die in 20 seconds or less. I'm still trying to get her to play shmups...

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed May 18, 2005 10:39 pm

What about some of the games you all have? Do you blow their minds when you show them something manic like Dodonpachi or something really bizarre and full of Japanese fruitness like the Parodius games?

My roommate thought Strikers 1945 was pretty weird because of the mechs popping out of the bosses and the PROP-DRIVEN WWII airplanes going into outer space.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed May 18, 2005 11:05 pm

I don't often have opportunities to get commentary on my gaming because I keep it to myself, but recently my dad watched a few minutes of Giga Wing Generations and Dragon Blaze. GWG was too much excitement ("I can't keep up with this." "Don't worry, most people at shmups can't either." I didn't say shmups, but you get the idea.) and Dragon Blaze looked "too easy" afterwards. I tried explaining briefly about hitboxes and bullet speed, but I don't think it got through, and this is why I keep it to myself.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Thu May 19, 2005 12:57 am

FatCobra wrote:What about some of the games you all have? Do you blow their minds when you show them something manic like Dodonpachi ...

My mother actually said that DDP DOJ looked like a game for people having ADHD! She couldnt believe the amount of stuff going on at the screen!

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:05 am

Actually, most of my friend are in gaming somehow. (Either casually or gaming maniacs), and I usally like to show them shmups.... and when I show my SKILLS at the genre (Not that I am all that great, but I am better than all them

), they just show respect for that.

And because everyone knows I've been a gamer sincer I was a kid, and I just kick everyone ass in most competitive games... I also have respect for that.

So I rarely get weird looks or stuff like this. I even noticed that when I talk to girls about that, they don't give weird looks, but are usually very gentle about the subject, it's usually stuff like "Oh, I suck at this stuff" or "Oh, I used to love Mario Bros!", but never a "Geez, that's weird"... even when I talk about Tate and stuff.

Now when some friends of mine do SEE me tating, they go like "OMFG YOU ARE CRAZY!!"

Skyline · Post by **Skyline** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:02 am

I get sort of a different treatment. My friends share my gaming tastes somewhat (more addicted to Bemani than shmups, but still like the genre, as well as the arcade games of old) and understand why I buy $70 games and $80-$200 controllers. My father brags to his buddies about how seriously I take my gaming, and how "sophisticated" it is...rofl.

Kinda made his jaw drop when he first saw my pop'n music ASC, first when I told him that it was for a game, then when I started playing said game (pnm 9), then how much it cost. Same goes for IIDX. The fact that I have three consoles in itself, with arcade sticks for each (2 for the PS2), also makes him shake his head and sigh...heh

My mom used to give me weird looks about my gaming, but she's now a World of Warcraft addict with almost 2GB of RAM in her computer. So...she can't make fun of me anymore.

The whole "yeah...I was shopping for an extra TV today so I can have a dedicated vertical display" thing still makes everyone go "WTF?"

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Thu May 19, 2005 7:51 am

My girl was initially along the lines of 'WTF', but she's one of the few girls I've met that's as into her games as I am, if not more so - she finished DMC 3 on normal for fuck's sake - that was beyond me!. She watched me play DoDonPachi a couple of times, got curious, tried it herself and loved it. She does suck at 'em though. Prefers to play two-player, and still thinks all shmups are sort of 'the same'. She's coming round though.

There have been weeks with 10 or so packages arriving and she started wondering how I could pay for them... I couldn't at the time and actually got myself into serious debt for some time... Then my grandmother decided to "share"some money and it got me back out of debt...

I hear ya, although unfortunately no one has decided to 'share' anything with me yet so the collection is slowly being sold off to cover the debts I ran up collecting it

Sometimes you just gotta laugh I suppose.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:00 pm

no they think i am irresponsible and childish.

ryosnk · Post by **ryosnk** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:34 pm

Overall the only one that understands me is my younger brother, who is also a gamer so thats very cool. But my parents think, I waste to much time and money on gaming.

My wife thinks, I have a problem but when I pop in a puzzle game she is all over it. Playing like three hours straight (more then me ;

) . I always tell my wife that gaming is a way of relaxing for me. I know that gaming is expensive but I have cut down dramaticly to roughly $60 a month on games.

Overall they dont judge me on schmups but overall in gaming because they think its all kid stuff. Also, my three nephews mostly grew up with me and they are becoming huge gamers themselves. But only one likes shmups

.

Chum_Bum · Post by **Chum_Bum** » Fri May 20, 2005 3:49 am

Well I've got news for you all... you ARE all crazy lol. Its okay though, I completely understand why people spend hundreds, if not thousands, on this genre, but I don't think I'm ever going to reach that point of addictiveness. Right now I'm pretty content with Ikaruga and GunBird 2, although I do have Bangai-o coming in the mail and am looking at Silouhette Mirage and the DonPachi series for my saturn.

Chum_Bum · Post by **Chum_Bum** » Fri May 20, 2005 3:50 am

not to mention you can look at that huge collection as an investment

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:23 am

Well I'm not on the same level as most here

I'm sticking to the PSOne for most of my gaming,and most of my other consoles are slowly getting sold.

So I dont get asked many questions or weird looks based on my *hobby*

Even so I've never been questioned about my purchases even when I was a rather big PC gamer (back afew years ago).

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Fri May 20, 2005 6:12 pm

Chum_Bum wrote:... and am looking at Silouhette Mirage and the DonPachi series for my saturn.

A word of caution about the Saturn version of Silhouette Mirage: all dialog and menus are in Japanese, which can be quite prohibitive to understanding the game. However, there was a US PSX release. There are some subtle differences in play mechanics between the two, but they're pretty close, plus having stuff in English is always nice.

The Bullet Dodger · Post by **The Bullet Dodger** » Fri May 20, 2005 6:56 pm

FatCobra wrote:What about some of the games you all have? Do you blow their minds when you show them something manic like Dodonpachi

Yup. My bro loves most of the manic shmups I have. He really likes Giga Wing 2 and Ikaruga. It's almost as if he's hypnotized while playing one,.........just like me!

My parents one the other hand think I'm gonna go blind pretty soon if I keep on playing them.

adam76 · Post by **adam76** » Fri May 20, 2005 11:45 pm

Pretty similar tale here. Girlfriend shows complete indifference, friends just roll their eyes. To emphasize my point, a dialogue with a work colleague 'Steve'-a gamer-we talk about X-Box and stuff.

Steve "so what did you play last night Ad?"

Ad "i played a new dreamcast shooter, 'Trizeal'."

Steve "Shooter? Like 'Half-Life'?"

Ad "no."

Steve "Oh, like 'House of the dead'?"

Ad "no, like spaceships and stuff, loads of bullets, crazy-ass bosses...you know."

For the record, Steve's face bore a blank expression that still lingers today. Steve did'nt know what a shoot-em-up was.

We don't talk about X-Box anymore.

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Sat May 21, 2005 12:15 am

FatCobra wrote:What about some of the games you all have? Do you blow their minds when you show them something manic like Dodonpachi or something really bizarre and full of Japanese fruitness like the Parodius games?

While I was playing ESP Galuda a friend of mine made the comment "That's what my headaches looklike."

KBZ · Post by **KBZ** » Sat May 21, 2005 3:53 am

I'm pretty much the only one of my friends who plays shmups. It kinda sucks cause I live far away from them so we always go to this one guy's house for gaming, and it's almost always halo2 or timesplitters. Makes me wonder if I should buy new friends.

At one point there was some "hardcore oldskool gaming tourney" in town, but it was all like pokemon stadium and crap =/

My parents don't even have any idea how much I spend on games like trizeal, chaos field, and ikaruga. I keep my door closed and the headphones on :p. One of my friends is starting to get into shmups and 2d fighters like kof. I even convinced him to buy an arcade stick! We'll be moving in together sometime so who knows what kind of arcade beast will spawn from that.

I'm not going all out like many of the people here, but I'm definately getting a strong taste for this kind of hobby, which isn't a good sign when I still have to pay for tuition 0_o

peace,

Kingbuzzo.

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Sat May 21, 2005 6:38 am

It's not the shmups and my Japanese PS2 that are surprising my parents. After all, my dad occasionally plays shmups.

What does drive them a little crazy though is the $35 Super Eurobeat CDs (key word: $35) that I occasionally buy at Kinokuniya.

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Sat May 21, 2005 9:09 am

My wife's really cool about it and positivley encouraged me to make the leap up to owning a cab and buying pcbs, as long as it doesn't take over and we have some quality time together. She isn't into games but likes traveling a lot (we just came back from a week in Paris), and so do I.
My friends think it's quite cool and have gave me lots of encouragement with my website and some of them really like shmups too. I've always been into games (ever since i saw Space Invaders in 1979), so my folks are used to it and my Dad (60) owns a PS2 and regularly plays on it.
I'm pretty lucky I guess.

The Bullet Dodger · Post by **The Bullet Dodger** » Sat May 21, 2005 10:21 pm

adam76 wrote:Steve did'nt know what a shoot-em-up was.

Every single gamer I know, including friends & cousins, has never even heard of the phrase "shmup". Even the guys that work at local game shops, like GameCrazy, EB Games, Game Exchange, etc., have no clue what a shmup is. I always have to say "2D shooter like Gradius". It's pretty sad when they work at a gameshop, claim to be gamers, and have never even heard of the word.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:19 pm

Redundant answers, ahoy!

As far as gaming goes, my friends fall into two categories:

1.) Watch in amazement at all the crazy action, but have no desire to play themselves.

2.) Give a funny look, ask why my TV is sideways, and comment on how the game is "old-school." One friend was surprised to see that DDP:DOJ was a PS2 game. "Oh, I figured it was a Sega game or something." By Sega he meant Genesis.

Other people in the dorms thought my NES collection was a total waste of money since you could just download ROMs for free. College kids rival Asia when it comes to piracy. Also, aside from big-name classics or games they personally owned as kids, they didn't see why I would play such old games.

As for my parents, they don't know anything about video games except that I waste my money on them. If you put ESPGaluda and GTA3 side-by-side, they probably wouldn't be able to guess which one was more popular. Although my mom did see me playing Parsec47 one time and asked "are you even playing a game?" I told her yes, she replied "I don't even know what you're supposed to do or where you are." Priceless.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Sun May 22, 2005 12:34 am

Davey wrote:Other people in the dorms thought my NES collection was a total waste of money since you could just download ROMs for free. College kids rival Asia when it comes to piracy. Also, aside from big-name classics or games they personally owned as kids, they didn't see why I would play such old games.

They're too dumb to realize that emulation is fake and not as good as the real thing.

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Sun May 22, 2005 3:24 am

Davey wrote:... my mom did see me playing Parsec47 one time and asked "are you even playing a game?" I told her yes, she replied "I don't even know what you're supposed to do or where you are." Priceless.

Heh, that's what I thought when I first saw screenshots of NOIZ2SA. I thought it was some sort of newfangled puzzle game at first.

As for my friends, I rarely talk to them about my shmups. Some of my friends will give me weird looks if I talk about how some of my games are Japan-only releases.

In fact, just recently, I talked to some of my friends about the fact that I played Strikers 1945 II at the local laundromat. One of them called it "gay" because the game threw s-loads of bullets at you and you lasted only about 30 seconds. Guess he's never heard of DDP: DOJ.

japtor · Post by **japtor** » Sun May 22, 2005 7:58 am

my parents were pretty surprised when they came home to an astro city in the kitchen. i asked my mom a few days before i bought it if it was ok if i got one, showed her the picture on my monitor. apparently she thought it was some small box or something. so yeah the cab catches most people off guard.

before that it was the tated tv (next to my regular tv). and the whole being good at shmups thing (compared to them). dangun time attack is fun for competition with my friends, they go first and get a few hundred or a few thousand, then i go last and break a million.

then theres the stack of boxes with pcbs, not so crazy considering the cab nearby, until someone asks how much they cost, thats when the whole crazy thing really comes together.