Things that would totally freak out a younger gamer

I come across these people all the time… a current crop of gamers who proclaim themselves as hardcore die-hards, yet also consider the original Halo to be “old school” gaming.

They have no idea of the past, the true past, of video gaming.  It recently had me thinking of what it would be like to dump these people into a time machine and see how they reacted to some of the things in video gaming’s past.

Here are some of the things I feel would freak them out.

Cassettes – You can’t even buy cassettes of music anymore, and you haven’t for years.  How many of these “hardcore” gamers have ever played, or even seen, video games on cassette tapes?   Would they even know what to do?

Yep… it took me 33 minutes to load my Frogger cassette on my Commodore 64, and sometimes it failed to boot after doing so.  It kicked ass, too.  Save me your rants about 20 second loading screens, ya hear?

Blockbusters – No, not the video stores.  Lines.   Lines out the door to play the hot new arcade games.  I stood in line to play Donkey Kong for the first few times…. I even remember a line to play Pac-Man at a laundromat!  People were glad to wait, too.

Think that 3 minute wait at your local GameStop’s midnight release is rough?  Some of us waited hours to play a game for 90 seconds in 1982.

The Quarter – You’d go to your local arcade and to mark your place in line to play the machine you’d place your quarter on game, usually above the control panel or near the marquee, depending on the cabinet shape and style.

That quarter was law.  The rules surrounding it were loud and clear.

These “modern hardcore” types would not only misunderstand it, they’d probably try to pocket the quarter and never be seen again.

The Wait – There wasn’t an internet back then, pally.  You couldn’t buy a strategy guide for the game on the day the game came out.  If you wanted to figure out how to beat the game you either had to wait months for a magazine or book to provide you hints or (gasp!) you actually had to figure it out yourself!

I think this would be the one that drove them over the edge.  They might actually have to form their own strategies or something.

Can ya’ll think of some more?  Do so and post them below!