A quick Google (or Excite as I think I used in the 90s) search for the term retro brings forth the result…
Accompanying it is a load of pictures of women wearing clothes from the 1960`s and a load of links to retro toy shops, not a mention of our beloved hobby/passion (passing interest) of retro gaming. In that sense, I have answered my own question. I am so engrossed in the gaming world and have been since the start of the 1980`s, that whoever I mention retro to, I am talking about retro gaming, whenever I look up something about retro on YouTube, its gaming, retro magazine, gaming, “are the instructions with it?”…gaming.
So, sticking the word retro in front of something means the past, hmm, but what does the past mean?…last week, ten years ago, 30 years ago, a time when you were a child or before you were born?
Another definition from Wikipedia more pertaining to time is “In popular culture, the “nostalgia cycle” is typically for the two decades that are 20–30 years before the current one”. There’s that word, nostalgia, it puts the onus back on me again, so does that mean retro cant be defined unless the person using the word is speaking with nostalgic tones about a time 20-30 years ago? That would make all games and gaming systems, consoles, micro computers etc only subjectively retro to whatever individual is talking about them depending on their place in space time…I hope Brian Cox is reading this, in the future, whilst playing his xBox XXXI.
So, when I say retro, I know what I mean, when I hear retro I know what comes into my mind, yet there is no completely defined notion of what’s retro when referring to a particular system or game, maybe even an era of gaming. Back in the day, the 90s, people were referring to the Atari 2600 as retro, even collectable, other people, like in the shops I worked in, it was pretty much worthless, all the games were unboxed and nothing of interest for the very few collectors who were interested, there wasn’t the nostalgia there yet, even for the good old Spectrum, there was love, sure, but I dont remember many people collecting yet.
So when does nostalgia start and retro begin, I want to know what you think, because it will no doubt be different to my thoughts, I look forward to your comments…I also may look back at them.
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