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RogueMarket wrote:I interpreted it as 'nerd' but thats me! hah

Actually, you're not far off in translating otaku as nerd.

snotling wrote:Full Sub to video

The power of youtube. I never used it before, now i see the uses! Wow.

Platuan4th wrote:

RogueMarket wrote:I interpreted it as 'nerd' but thats me! hah

Actually, you're not far off in translating otaku as nerd.

Yeah Otaku pretty much equals nerd.

They have a worse reputation here than back home if you can belive that. Back in the U.K. people think nerds are weird but in Japan they think nerds are serial killers waiting to be born. Although that impression is softening a bit.

I suspect it's the same in Taiwan, hence the "look, they leave the house" aspect of the video. In Japan there are some people who are so socially maladjusted they literally never leave their home and rely on their parents for everything. They don't have actual agoraphobia but they have the functional equivalent of it.

bravelybravesirrobin wrote:
I suspect it's the same in Taiwan, hence the "look, they leave the house" aspect of the video. In Japan there are some people who are so socially maladjusted they literally never leave their home and rely on their parents for everything. They don't have actual agoraphobia but they have the functional equivalent of it.

It's more related to the meaning of the characters used in Taiwan. The word used in Taiwan (and Hong Kong, I think) is 宅男 which is probably derived from the Japanese word Otaku (御宅族) and it literally means "a male who stays at home". It's usually used to describe people who stay home playing online games and doesn't really have the same breadth of meaning as Otaku.

Some of the words on the screen said "宅男不宅" which sort of means "Nerds (i.e. guys who stay at home) aren't stay-at-homes"; it's wordplay of the sort that is seen a lot in the news here.

By the way, Snotling, you were awesome.

Steve

nathonicus wrote:That warmed the heart! Nerd enthusiasm - the universal language! What well-dressed 40k players. I don't think I've ever seen a button-down shirt in the friendly local, unless someone was just coming from work.

Neat.

Almost all I wear are button down shirts, albeit preferably untucked... But then again, I'm a very weird, breed even for a nerd.

Am I the only person who finds this whole thing a bit strange?

'Hey, look at this cool new thing you can do that doesn't involve computers!!!!'

Are people's memories really so tragically short and their lives so disconnected from the real world that this is seen as groundbreaking?

Games which actually involve you picking something up (i.e. board games) have been with us for thousands of years. Wargames (assuming you're starting with Kreigspeil and then H.G. Wells' 'Little Wars') have been with us for over a century.

Internet gaming dates from the mid 90s.

I worry that anybody would find it shocking to engage in a pastime that involves meeting people and physically doing something.


Don't get me wrong, anything that brings wargaming to a wider audience is a good thing and I wish every success to the Taiwanese gaming community (and indeed to all the fledgling gaming communities in east asia). I'm just surprised its seen as a big deal.
Maybe I'm just too used to a more cynical western media - indeed a part of me is jealous that no reporter in the western hemisphere would even think about getting excited over a new game!

Good luck in any case to all new gamers, wherever they may be. May the dice gods be kind and the LGS's friendly

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Am I the only person who finds this whole thing a bit strange?

'Hey, look at this cool new thing you can do that doesn't involve computers!!!!'

Are people's memories really so tragically short and their lives so disconnected from the real world that this is seen as groundbreaking?

Games which actually involve you picking something up (i.e. board games) have been with us for thousands of years. Wargames (assuming you're starting with Kreigspeil and then H.G. Wells' 'Little Wars') have been with us for over a century.

Internet gaming dates from the mid 90s.

I worry that anybody would find it shocking to engage in a pastime that involves meeting people and physically doing something.


Don't get me wrong, anything that brings wargaming to a wider audience is a good thing and I wish every success to the Taiwanese gaming community (and indeed to all the fledgling gaming communities in east asia). I'm just surprised its seen as a big deal.
Maybe I'm just too used to a more cynical western media - indeed a part of me is jealous that no reporter in the western hemisphere would even think about getting excited over a new game!

Good luck in any case to all new gamers, wherever they may be. May the dice gods be kind and the LGS's friendly

Asia overall is into the MMO/Video Gaming/PC gaming technology scene.

I also suppose it could be that there aren't really much board games out there as extensive as 40k.

Only closest models would be Gundam and such - but they have no rules for that hah.

Definetly some cultural differences though.

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Am I the only person who finds this whole thing a bit strange?

'Hey, look at this cool new thing you can do that doesn't involve computers!!!!'

Are people's memories really so tragically short and their lives so disconnected from the real world that this is seen as groundbreaking?

Games which actually involve you picking something up (i.e. board games) have been with us for thousands of years. Wargames (assuming you're starting with Kreigspeil and then H.G. Wells' 'Little Wars') have been with us for over a century.

Internet gaming dates from the mid 90s.

I worry that anybody would find it shocking to engage in a pastime that involves meeting people and physically doing something.

The internet culture is astonishingly well-entrenched here. My younger (20-something) colleagues were shocked at the idea that I wasn't going to get connected at my new apartment. "I can't imagine what I'd do without an internet connection," was the general response.

I lasted about two weeks before I called the cable company to hook me up.

Maybe I'm just a miserable old git who yearns for simpler times (cue theme tune from the Hovis* ads)
It always used to bug me when I was teaching that children could not comprehend a world without mobile phones, whereas I was perfectly happy growing up with the old rotary/analogue sets...





*A popular bread in the UK - the ad shows scenes from an early 20th century Yorkshire mill town to the tune of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, Opus 95, "From the New World"

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Am I the only person who finds this whole thing a bit strange?

'Hey, look at this cool new thing you can do that doesn't involve computers!!!!'

Are people's memories really so tragically short and their lives so disconnected from the real world that this is seen as groundbreaking?

You're approaching this from the wrong angle. Miniatures and wargames are novel imports to Asia. They don't have the background that you can take for granted.

In Japan "serious" board games are hard to come by and getting a bunch of adults to come over for a few hours of games would be quite rare.

It's a bit like anime in the 90s. Everyone in the US thought it was a huge thing and no doubt it occaisionally made the local news. Anyone from Japan who saw one of those stories must have thought them absurd if they didn't understand the context of American animation up to that point.

My local GW is in an area with a lot of foot traffic and sometimes its funny to just watch passers-by look in the window and struggle to understand what they're seeing.

Sorry, should have been a bit clearer - it seems to me that the surprise isn't so much to do with the fact that it's wargames per se, but more the fact that are people are doing anything that's not computer-based.

Maybe I'm missing something in the translation?

chaos0xomega wrote:Those minis are astoundingly well painted, as is the terrain. And the players themselves look far more respectable than most of the cretons I see around here...

I was thinking the same thing when I watched the video. I wish I could say I knew what it was like playing with fully painted armies on great-looking tables. And looking respectable.

*ponders buying some button-up shirts in the future*

angryboy2k wrote:I know the guys in the video personally

...oh. Small world, isn't it? X)

Like I said I didn't really mean to offend anyone, but I guess it was still a really stupid thing to say in hindsight. Funnily enough though I thought my Zerg rush comment would offend more people.

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Am I the only person who finds this whole thing a bit strange?

'Hey, look at this cool new thing you can do that doesn't involve computers!!!!'

Are people's memories really so tragically short and their lives so disconnected from the real world that this is seen as groundbreaking?

Games which actually involve you picking something up (i.e. board games) have been with us for thousands of years. Wargames (assuming you're starting with Kreigspeil and then H.G. Wells' 'Little Wars') have been with us for over a century.

Internet gaming dates from the mid 90s.

...

Well remember that Taiwan was only created as a nation in 1949 (?) and was a dictatorship for 40 years during which they rapidly industrialised and moved into computers.

There undoubtedly wasn't any history of tabletop wargames, and computer games from the 1980s onwards have probably been a major factor in children's entertainment.

40K is like online games so the idea of it being an online game translated into the real world must seem natural.

You would probably get the same kind of news story from Korea.