social.noyu.me

maybe one of the reasons I like video games as a space is that, perhaps because they are treated more like art than like software, no technology becomes truly outdated. there are games from 40 years ago that people still want to play, for fun, not just as a historical curiosity.

it’s a space where technology does not have to die. it’s a space where APIs that would long since have been removed are kept alive, and those that are removed are replaced via various efforts (like my own)

it’s a space where “DirectX 7” can be as beautiful as “DirectX 12”

it’s a space where being able to interact with history is an expectation of its participants. what other software space is like that!! legacy systems are often resented and hardware and software vendors try to kill them. yet Microsoft can never kill DirectX 9, because gaming!

and it goes beyond Microsoft. we expect emulators to exist. we expect that games from 40 years ago shouldn’t just die. no other software space is like that.

it’s also a space where software can be finished. where software does not have to be kept “up-to-date”. where the original expression of an idea is respected.

it’s a wonderful space.

but why is it like this? well, because people continue to fight, each in their own way, to keep it this way. it’s not a given that games will be like this forever. but they must!

wow this very slightly took off, check out my related full-time passion project: https://touchhle.org/

@hikari this is really cool