[sob727]

The article brings back fond memories. We had the feeling of being part of something new and exciting. This was also a good way to combine fun and learning. The skills I developed then set me on a path to (relative) success which I'm not sure I'd have found otherwise.

Weird that CNN couldn't help inserting a race comment in a story that has nothing to do with it (case in point: we had a black kid in our group of friends doing LAN parties, and we never thought of him as black, he was just one of us, a human being whom you'd define across infinitely many dimensions, and definitely not just skin color).

[spaceman_2020]

It’s so weird to me that the first users of the internet were so okay looking for, and making friends.

I remember sitting with my brother with the ICQ client and randomly talking to people and even making friends with them.

The internet now is so much more guarded. Everyone pretending to be something. If you do make friends, its usually incidental, not intentional.

But early internet, we were all sold on the idea that yeah, the internet is for making friends.

[giobox]

I’ve thought about this before, and I’m not sure it is weird, I think it largely makes sense.

The early days of the internet was essentially a self-selecting group of individuals, the chances for finding like minded folks were that much higher. Just the excitement at being online at all is no longer an interesting experience to anyone - it was back then to much of this much smaller group. A shared exciting experience attracting likeminded people.

Now the entire planet is almost online, the distinction between a human and someone who uses the internet largely doesn’t exist anymore- it’s no longer a subset and has all the vagaries of real life, with its good, bad and in-between actors. Another example of this is that in the early 90s we didn’t care about identity fraud online nearly as much - today it’s a much bigger problem that many people have experienced.

Given that, is it any surprise people are now perhaps as guarded as they are in the “real world”? Back then the line between the offline world and the online one was much clearer, today it’s more and more a core feature of humanity’s daily existence, good and bad. My thoughts anyway.

[rationalfaith]

That's not weird, that is just CNN.

It's ironic that they posted this story as they're a huge contributor to the polarization of American citizens.

For profit "news" media is just glorified gossiping channels.

[beardedwizard]

Does this single anecdote change the actual data evident in the photos? I'm sure you didn't wake up and think of excluding anyone, but clearly this selected for white males as many activities do. Nobody is asking anyone to feel guilty about it, cnn is just reporting the facts.

[Wolfenstein98k]

True, it's a fact. It's also a fact that few of these people were jocks.

So it obviously selected for non-jocks, maybe even for geeks.

Now why didn't CNN feel the need to point that out?

Why did they choose to only comment on race, as if any participant chose gaming because other people behind screens might be <outgroup race>?

[23B1]

It's CNN selectively reporting the facts because most of the MSM now looks at everything through a culture war lens. Plenty of other lenses to pick from.

A large reason old internet was so fun is that nobody gave a damn about this identity nonsense, we were too busy playing Quake 2 with ninja ropes.

[alexilliamson]

What happens more often, MSM doing culture war gymnastics? Or people accusing MSM of culture war gymnastics (an accusation which is, itself, culture war gymnastics)?

[smabie]

Well probably the latter since there's a lot more people who don't work for MSM then do?

[JKCalhoun]

Ha ha, yeah wondering about that rope. Keep your shirt on man!