> When everything is mainstream, when attractive and popular kids are programming computers, immersed in role-playing games, fluent in comic books, writing the rules and setting the boundaries, what becomes of the kids who still can’t fit in? Dear’s book made me wonder who we’re missing. Where are their steam tunnels, real or imagined? Where do they go when they’re tired of being told how to be?
But... what's the answer?
There were always people (and niches) in the depths in which one could feel comfortable. However - I must admit - it became harder to find these depths and to get through the superficiality. The niches have become even more self-isolated and it has become more difficult for newcomers with real interest to immerse themselves.
I had it happen a few times that it changed to something unrecognizable to me and thus I left it for a new one.
So at this point, I feel like gatekeeping, (ofc not based on race gender or such things, but rather specifics to the subculture) has become mandatory, even at the cost of keeping a, possibly sizeable, portion of genuinly interested people out.
I came later. I never experienced 1993, September. My first glimpse into this net was in fall 1997. So I was part of the eternal September so to speak.
It's naturally resistant to mainstream dilution. More so because it's a game where we write the narrative, choose the themes, and freely change the rules.