Gaming Beyond the Iron Curtain
October 9, 2017 11:16 AM Subscribe
In Gaming Beyond the Iron Curtain: East Germany, Super Bunnyhop discusses the parallel development of technology and video games in East Germany during the cold war.
He's a 'gator? That's surprising. I've seen some of his recent stuff, but never got a whiff of that.
posted by lkc at 12:20 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by lkc at 12:20 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Software via vinyl and the radio... fascinating.
posted by clawsoon at 12:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 12:28 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
It's 2017. The parts of the world which are not yet on fire are made of Milkshake Duck.
posted by acb at 12:29 PM on October 9, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by acb at 12:29 PM on October 9, 2017 [7 favorites]
I feel like a good site rule *might* be that if you're making a FPP related to video games, and the main person behind whatever link you link is a Gamergater- don't make the post? Because how can you trust his opinions ever again after they reveal themselves to hate women that much? Someone should make a MeTa I think.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:42 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:42 PM on October 9, 2017 [10 favorites]
If you want the story, but also want to bypass the Gamergater and terrible YouTube presentation, here is the story told by the East German programmer.
posted by rikschell at 1:25 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 1:25 PM on October 9, 2017 [12 favorites]
→ Software via vinyl and the radio
Couldn't make it very far through the badly-researched and dirge-paced video, but I'm guessing that was a reference to BASICODE. We had it in the UK, so I guess it's weird not to have it.
Stuff that was likely missed out: the Electronika BK, a 16-bit home computer released in Russia in 1984. Who wouldn't want a PDP/11 compatible home computer?
posted by scruss at 1:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Couldn't make it very far through the badly-researched and dirge-paced video, but I'm guessing that was a reference to BASICODE. We had it in the UK, so I guess it's weird not to have it.
Stuff that was likely missed out: the Electronika BK, a 16-bit home computer released in Russia in 1984. Who wouldn't want a PDP/11 compatible home computer?
posted by scruss at 1:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
There are a lot of great stories about Soviet-era digital technology and the way the state tried to manage it - such as the decision to abandon research and development of native CPU designs and go all-in on cloning Western architectures. A move,based partially on the economic advantage of being able to use Western software off the shelf instead of having to develop equivalents locally, but also because of a realisation that central top-down control would not do the job - but couldn't be abandoned. The same sort of thinking also stymied earlier efforts to build a nationwide data network; having information available to everyone involved in an industrial economy does not work if you don't let them act on it.
But there was a lot of ingenuity. One Apple II clone had loops of wire coiled around the inside of the case - the design needed to introduce a delay to one signal, but no parts were available - so just use a bloody long piece of copper. And because the early 8-bit home computers had custom chips that were effectively just a lot of standard logic gates connected together on die, the Eastern bloc hackers could reverse-engineer them into circuits that really were just 74 series TTL packages (which had been cloned and were in production locally) wired together. Which led to some very active scenes, most notably Sinclair ZX Spectrum based designs of which there were over fifty different models.
posted by Devonian at 3:12 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]
But there was a lot of ingenuity. One Apple II clone had loops of wire coiled around the inside of the case - the design needed to introduce a delay to one signal, but no parts were available - so just use a bloody long piece of copper. And because the early 8-bit home computers had custom chips that were effectively just a lot of standard logic gates connected together on die, the Eastern bloc hackers could reverse-engineer them into circuits that really were just 74 series TTL packages (which had been cloned and were in production locally) wired together. Which led to some very active scenes, most notably Sinclair ZX Spectrum based designs of which there were over fifty different models.
posted by Devonian at 3:12 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]
Stuff that was likely missed out: the Electronika BK, a 16-bit home computer released in Russia in 1984. Who wouldn't want a PDP/11 compatible home computer?
WHY DO I NOT HAVE ONE OF THOSE RIGHT NOW?
Oh, gods, there are several of them available on eBay. Help me.
posted by hanov3r at 3:14 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
WHY DO I NOT HAVE ONE OF THOSE RIGHT NOW?
Oh, gods, there are several of them available on eBay. Help me.
posted by hanov3r at 3:14 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Stuff that was likely missed out: the Electronika BK, a 16-bit home computer released in Russia in 1984. Who wouldn't want a PDP/11 compatible home computer?
Interesting to see that Soviet computers used the Latin character set for keywords (and possibly OS commands), but also had Cyrillic available. I imagined that they'd have either translated the BASIC keywords into Russian or transliterated them into Cyrillic.
posted by acb at 3:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Interesting to see that Soviet computers used the Latin character set for keywords (and possibly OS commands), but also had Cyrillic available. I imagined that they'd have either translated the BASIC keywords into Russian or transliterated them into Cyrillic.
posted by acb at 3:21 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
hanov3r: So I shouldn't tell you I might be able to get you a working PDP/11?
posted by Canageek at 4:01 PM on October 9, 2017
posted by Canageek at 4:01 PM on October 9, 2017
Also: Dammit, I liked Super Bunnyhop and didn't know he was a gamergater. Now I'll have to force myself to watch that video to make sure it is as described, then unsubscribe.
posted by Canageek at 4:02 PM on October 9, 2017
posted by Canageek at 4:02 PM on October 9, 2017
and the main person behind whatever link you link is a Gamergater- don't make the post?
Right, except, as I said:
1) I didn't know.
2) I find this surprising because I only watch a couple (him, Jim Sterling and Hbomberguy) of people and they were all referenced from r/Gamerghazi, which is specifically an anti-gator group.
Even searching there now, I can find a few references of him pissing off 'gators in the last couple years. Even the 'context' video from the one linked above (where he's talking to his old journalist professor), doesn't seem at all pro-gator, though it is a little toothless and both-sidesy w/r/t "ethics", but he's lamenting that normal industry stuff gets spewed into hateful conspiracies by siloed communities and that the con was more fun being with people in person and a lot less nastier than internet discourse. I understand there is a big old blind spot in there, but I don't think that makes him a goobergabber.
(Contrast that with Notch, who was still insulting Zoe Quinn on twitter a couple months ago, and has only doubled down on that bullshit since selling Minecraft.)
posted by lkc at 4:24 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]
Right, except, as I said:
1) I didn't know.
2) I find this surprising because I only watch a couple (him, Jim Sterling and Hbomberguy) of people and they were all referenced from r/Gamerghazi, which is specifically an anti-gator group.
Even searching there now, I can find a few references of him pissing off 'gators in the last couple years. Even the 'context' video from the one linked above (where he's talking to his old journalist professor), doesn't seem at all pro-gator, though it is a little toothless and both-sidesy w/r/t "ethics", but he's lamenting that normal industry stuff gets spewed into hateful conspiracies by siloed communities and that the con was more fun being with people in person and a lot less nastier than internet discourse. I understand there is a big old blind spot in there, but I don't think that makes him a goobergabber.
(Contrast that with Notch, who was still insulting Zoe Quinn on twitter a couple months ago, and has only doubled down on that bullshit since selling Minecraft.)
posted by lkc at 4:24 PM on October 9, 2017 [4 favorites]
They way I feel about it is this.
If you are or were a gamergater- you either are:
An extreme misogynist- in which case I want nothing to do with you and you should be no-platformed.
OR
You are so ignorant and generally stupid and unable to connect with and talk to women, that you were genuinely had by the haters and genuinely believed that it was about ethics in journalism.- in which case you are so stupid I don't want to hear what you have to say about anything because if you were this stupid about this- how can I trust an iota of anything you do to be accurate or trustworthy or factual, considering your earlier intellectual lapse.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:32 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]
If you are or were a gamergater- you either are:
An extreme misogynist- in which case I want nothing to do with you and you should be no-platformed.
OR
You are so ignorant and generally stupid and unable to connect with and talk to women, that you were genuinely had by the haters and genuinely believed that it was about ethics in journalism.- in which case you are so stupid I don't want to hear what you have to say about anything because if you were this stupid about this- how can I trust an iota of anything you do to be accurate or trustworthy or factual, considering your earlier intellectual lapse.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:32 PM on October 9, 2017 [5 favorites]
Like how can I trust a shred of what this guy says? How do I trust that it isn't wholly or partially fabricated?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:33 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
You are so ignorant and generally stupid and unable to connect with and talk to women,
to fess up a bit, I know his old roommate and can confirm that this is not too far from the truth. he's oblivious and 'objective' in a way that only white men who were not socialized properly can be. not the worst guy in the world but very much a 'benevolent king of a very tiny domain' kind of dude
fine if you just want straight up video game nerd facts; terrible if it's any subjective criticism of social dynamics, culture, or society
posted by runt at 6:21 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
to fess up a bit, I know his old roommate and can confirm that this is not too far from the truth. he's oblivious and 'objective' in a way that only white men who were not socialized properly can be. not the worst guy in the world but very much a 'benevolent king of a very tiny domain' kind of dude
fine if you just want straight up video game nerd facts; terrible if it's any subjective criticism of social dynamics, culture, or society
posted by runt at 6:21 AM on October 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
that last piece of social consciousness and awareness being very important to me which is why I tend to favor the output of Polygon's scattered media (sans Nick Robinson due to recent and somehow very unsurprising revelations) and Vice's Waypoint over just about anything else related to games media on the internet
posted by runt at 6:23 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by runt at 6:23 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yes, let's pillory the man for not immediately identifying the crowd-sourced stalking campaign.
The Eastern Block computer gaming video was kind-of weak though, but better than a lot of things coming out of YouTube.
posted by pan at 11:16 AM on October 10, 2017
The Eastern Block computer gaming video was kind-of weak though, but better than a lot of things coming out of YouTube.
posted by pan at 11:16 AM on October 10, 2017
Yes, let's pillory the man for not immediately identifying the crowd-sourced stalking campaign.
I'd rather pillory him for not listening to the bevy of evidence that existed at the time that this was, indeed, a crowd-sourced stalking campaign
Calling GG a crowd-sourced stalking campaign now and not a misogynism-based hate group actively campaigning for hearts and minds is the same kind of privileged obliviousness that seems to be Weidenbaum's bread and butter
y'all are perfect for one another, I suggest kissing
posted by runt at 10:32 AM on October 11, 2017
I'd rather pillory him for not listening to the bevy of evidence that existed at the time that this was, indeed, a crowd-sourced stalking campaign
Calling GG a crowd-sourced stalking campaign now and not a misogynism-based hate group actively campaigning for hearts and minds is the same kind of privileged obliviousness that seems to be Weidenbaum's bread and butter
y'all are perfect for one another, I suggest kissing
posted by runt at 10:32 AM on October 11, 2017
Calling GG a crowd-sourced stalking campaign now and not a misogynism-based hate group actively campaigning for hearts and minds is the same kind of privileged obliviousness that seems to be Weidenbaum's bread and butter
It is now a misogynism-based hat group, no doubt about that. It started as a crowd-sourced stalking campaign, and it billed itself as about journalistic ethics.
I'll admit the journalistic ethics angle got me for about a day, before I realized they were weirdly uninterested with the journalists they claimed were involved and went looking for more evidence.
Since games journalism is sort of Bunnyhop's thing, and the stalker assholes (now a misogynistic hate group) were spreading a shit-ton of obscuring FUD from the beginning, I can't see glomming him onto the group without more evidence, when his sin was apparently doing a milquetoast Q&A with the Gamer's Gate as an excuse.
I mean, at the point he made that video, he was being targeted by them, he was on their list of unethical games journalists?
posted by pan at 10:29 AM on October 12, 2017
It is now a misogynism-based hat group, no doubt about that. It started as a crowd-sourced stalking campaign, and it billed itself as about journalistic ethics.
I'll admit the journalistic ethics angle got me for about a day, before I realized they were weirdly uninterested with the journalists they claimed were involved and went looking for more evidence.
Since games journalism is sort of Bunnyhop's thing, and the stalker assholes (now a misogynistic hate group) were spreading a shit-ton of obscuring FUD from the beginning, I can't see glomming him onto the group without more evidence, when his sin was apparently doing a milquetoast Q&A with the Gamer's Gate as an excuse.
I mean, at the point he made that video, he was being targeted by them, he was on their list of unethical games journalists?
posted by pan at 10:29 AM on October 12, 2017
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posted by runt at 12:00 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]