#bitstorm

The Dickensian:

Pimp-4 Ya sounds like quite the character. You also sound frustrated with the meat market retailers created for gamers. Who is Pimp-4 Ya? Did you know other people like him? How did all of you communicate?

Foreignsubst:

I did enjoy the big-market stores, EB especially, but I was searching for a sort of learning experience.

I wanted someone to explain to me the technical aspect of setting up an emulator, how it worked, flaws in the emulation, and the history of games. I got all of that from IRC, interrupted by dick jokes.

Pimp-4 Ya is some idiot that hopped on the channel for about 30 minutes, most likely, and then got kickbanned. We were on IRC.

I started on IRC when I was 13. I accessed it via a flash applet on a website I wrote an article about Spyro the Dragon for. At first, I didn't realize that IRC existed separately from the website.

It was like discovering this bizarre alternate universe, filled with filthy weirdo that I came to love.

I later accessed it with a separate client. Thus began the process of my schooling.

(I was not doing very well in real-life school)

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat.

The Dickensian:

Correct me here if I get the narrative wrong. Your access to this alternative world of experiencing games occurred through IRC. You wanted a deeper experience with gaming than what was offered in a retail environment, and this loose collection of online weirdos jacked you into it. It sounds to me like all of you wanted involvement with the emulation community at first because you wanted more games. The market made that impossible with the resources you had. What was your justification for stealing the software and using the emulators to use it?

Foreignsubst:

I was just curious about these people. The ROMs were secondary, and were often suggested by the people I met in various chatrooms. I loved the games, but it was the interplay between community and lost relics of gaming thta relaly got me.

I didn't consider what I did illegal. I realize that sounds naive, but that's because I was 16 and believed in complete information freedom. I was raised in an environment where I was privileged enough to have a second phone line for 56k, Napster happened, etc.

A huge amount of the information culture we see today is a result of the innovation that went on between 1999 and 2003.

Which is a big statement that I can't really back up, except with my subjective experience.

I also did not steal the software - it was made free by dudes, some of whom I knew.

And when I say dudes I mean that pretty exclusively... I remember, like, one or two women, and they were probably men too.

The Dickensian:

Community sticks out as a recurrent subject in your story. You said that school and real-life were distressing, and these online personalities intrigued you. How did the dudes and women get the software? What did they do to it that was special and made using it different than getting a game at for example, Best Buy?

 Foreignsubst:

Here is an encapsulation of the attitude at the time:

<Bitstorm> Well, that does it fellas. I now have

 allthe roms for everything. <Bitstorm> Time to delete and start again. <Bitstorm> ;)

The software was made by my friends, or friends of my friends. We all hanged out and joked around. This is sort of a lost period of my life... Because I am not in touch with any of these people, and it was all through the screen, the memories are a little fuzzy.

The emulators had personality.

The personalities were really, really funny.

I got the ROMs from people I knew, mostly. Like, accessing their personal collection.

I got the emus from links people posted, often the moment new versions came out. When a new version came out, it was very likely the emu would be able to emulate new games, or was more accurate in its representation, or had more options.

It was cool to have access to this stuff. I wasn't at the center of anything, but I spent enough time hanging around to get to know people who had access to all the files I wanted.

Here is an illustration of someone who did not have access:

<DoomSooth> "Anyone have da r0mz for Ninja Gaiden? Gib m3 d4 r0mz. Oh d4 p4in! STOP HOARDING DUDES!" <DoomSooth> Then someone would tell them "From the arcade machine. ROTFLMAOKTHXNEWBIELAMER!"

The Dickensian:

I remember even the software having a lot of character. In 1999 and 2000, I experimented with Nesticle, an NES emulator, whose icon was a pair of testicles. Sense of humor sounds like a big part of this scene. Give us an example of what all of you found funny.

Foreignsubst:

No problem, let me think.

First of all, I saw that ALL YOUR BASE thing in .gif format way before all y'all.

But I mean, this kind of shit was the height of emuhumor:

<Turing^> hmm <Turing^> but he'll never get it perfect <Turing^> SEGA eats all their doc's after tehy abandon the hardware <Turing^> the founder of SEGA was found dead with pieces of the Model 3 white paper still in his throat <Turing^> :Ps

Turing is referring to the fact that it's difficult to emulate that particular system, because the hardware documentation always gets "lost" by SEGA.

I find this funny.

It's difficult to think of exactly what it was I found funny.

Classic:

<DaemoN_> NOOOOO!!! MY PENIS IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!

Or:

<REIROM> Fuji help me to get unbanned then i will give u roms <REIROM> i am making an trojan

  <REIROM> HEY MAN <REIROM> WHY BANNED? <Opi> it was Gridle - not me <REIROM> BUT WHY? <reirom> my hard work u destroy <reirom> i wiil quit the scene <reirom> i,m crying

The Dickensian:

That is awesome. I am laughing right now. You said you lost touch with a lot of these people. Where did they all come from? Where did they go? How long did you maintain your relationships with them?

Foreignsubst:

It was mostly my changing that led to falling out of touch. I was 16, a lot of the guys I really got along with were late twenties, thirties. I was heading off to college and a lot changed.

The internet connection at my college sucked and was always going out.

I got more into music, and had less time to play video games. I dunno, I just grew up and changed as I did.

We were always joking about "quitting the scene" because of getting fed up with the constant drama.

It was never that melodramatic - I just kind of moved on. I think I got in touch with one or two dudes again, but never consistently, which is a little sad.

The Dickensian:

You're describing a natural process of moving on as your interests changed. Within the community, when was there a shift from emulating the ROMs to finding ROMs and altering their content?

Foreignsubst:

I wouldn't say it was a shift, necessarily. I never really saw much ROM hacking myself. It was more a source of humor - some kid would hack a game, we'd play it, laugh our asses off, etc etc.

One favorite joke of mine was "Banana Cocksucker Mahjong."

...

I will not go any further into that.

The Dickensian:

Please, do not.  

Foreignsubst:

But anyways,

That's off the record.

HAHA

let me think.

So, there was always hacking and there was always emu.

I mostly hanged with emu guys. Hacking required a kind of patience I have a feeling none of us had.

I was all about instant gratification.

I only played a lot of those games for a few minutes, maybe a few hours.

It was all about discovery and exploration.

It was a lot easier to make an emu earlier in the history of emulation, because there was still unexplored territory in easier consoles

Making an NES emulator, plenty of people could do their own. It might suck, but they could make one.

I was really into the ideas of - what files will I need to make this work? Why is this particular ROM giving me such a hard time?

What kind of BIOS does it need to emulate this system, what about the DAT files, why can't I get X to work.

The Dickensian:

Altering the games for amusement intrigues me. You describe the motivations of hackers as creating something funny. You also continuously bring up the subject of access. Ultimately, why did you think all of you wanted that access? What did you gain from having it?

Foreignsubst:

<wild-> you dont have 0 second l33t warez? <wild-> :( <wild-> some us some mamedev rom hoards then * DN|AWAY points to atila <DN|AWAY> it was him <DN|AWAY> the big guy <DN|AWAY> he hides all the warez in his pocket

<DoomSooth> You'll never use all of your MAME ROMs? <DoomSooth> You'll miss so many great games. <tidalbees> doom well i try new ones all the time <DoomSooth> Like Banana Cocksucker Mahjong.

Being 0-day is the coolest.

That's more of a warez thing, though.

But having the latest emus, and having all the roms, now that's cool.

It was like any teenage fantasy.

Status, power, and farting.

and filthy, filthy minds.

Here's another quote:

<atrkid> hi <miner1024> hi atrkid, i am bill, 25, single, and looking for love ;-) <Skates> hahahahahahaha <miner1024> ok, im looking for roms really, sorry

 I really have to give you a flavor, one last quote:

<Alexxxxxx> i'll never die , i'm the legend <Alexxxxxx> and a legend never die! <Alexxxxxx> i'm Siegfried! <Alexxxxxx> i'll come back <Alexxxxxx> a new soul arrive!! <Alexxxxxx> shit <Alexxxxxx> i've drink to much wine <SwampGas> IF YOU DO NOT CEASE THIS INCESSANT BEHAVIOR, I AM EMAIL DAVE , THE DAVE FROM FINAL BURN!!! , AND I AM FLAME HIM <SwampGas> U WILL ALL PAY!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <RabidLamb> U BE PAY! THIS AM WAR! <DaemoN__> A WINNER IS YOU!

(Final Burn was a highly-anticipated emulator for certain arcade games, such as Marvel vs. Capcom)

"Fights" like this broke out constantly.

And then there were serious feuds.

It was highly entertaining - actually, probably more entertaining than the ROMs.

The Dickensian:

From those exchanges, I gather there are two main motivators, hoarding and exploring your hoard. After all of you gathered your hoard, you would share it, compare it, and make dick jokes. It was like trying to catch all the Pokemon if the Pokemon were video games and software converters. Instead of fighting the Pokemon or training them, you made immature or insane jokes. All of you wanted a forum, an online community of like-minded individuals who were not content with just playing a game alone or with a few friends. I have a final question for you. Compare your community's experience with the average gamer today. What is the biggest difference?

Foreignsubst:

HAHA Hmmmm...

I don't really know what it's like to be a serious gamer today.

But.

I hope that a few things still remain intact:

The sense of humor, and the international element. I befriended people from Denmark, Iceland, Brazil, and Portugal.

The quotes I'm pulling here are for humor's sake, because those are a lot of what I saved. But these guys also had a lot to say that was quite intelligent.

I would like to shout out to Dakidski, Nemesis1, Bytie, and of course DaemoN_.

Nemesis1 introduced me to electronic music. Previously, I only listened to punk.

Bytie and Dakidski had a similar mind-expanding effect on my tastes.

DaemoN_ and I joked around. I miss those guys. Targaff, too. I'm sure there are more that I'm leaving out.

But what's important is that I'm sure people nowadays have friends on Xbox live or whatever that they play with... I'm sure that these communities exist.

Maybe not in the same way, but I think the spirit might be the same - the enjoyment of games with people you care about, whether they're from down the block or from arcoss the world.

Whether you pay for them on an online storefront like Steam, or you download them for free on your parents' dial-up internet.

Not that I ever broke the law, ever, because that is not an upstanding thing to do. Freedom isn't free. Information is money. Web 6.0 2012, get out your wallets.

That will be the extent of my bitter ramblings.

For now.

;)

The disgruntled teenager in me lives on...will never die... THE SOUL STILL BURNS!

The Dickensian:

Very illuminating. Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts today, foreignsubst. Everyone, please check out foreignsubst's blog. His music, performance, and writing are exquisite. You will not find two like it.

Foreignsubst:

Kthxbye.

The Dickensian: