|1-A psychological view of the scene.



                     by Mike / Quantum Incorporated


This  article  was inspired by a non-scene friend.  What he said made me
think  about  the  scene in another light.  I have used some examples of
scene  names  in  here,  I  am  not trying to prove anything about these
people,  I'm  just using them as an example.  These are NOT nescessarily
my views, just views that I have come across.  Have a read, and see what
you think.

It's  funny  (funny  peculiar),  the  scene  when you look at it from an
outsider's  eyes,  isn't  it?.   Here  we are with all our wonderful and
sometimes  bizzare handles and group names, hiding behind a pseudonym to
protect  us  from  whoever  feels  the need to mock us, even though most
sceners  know who most of the other sceners are.  Why do we use handles?
Well, sometimes they can be used in a comical way, having a funny handle
might  portray the person as humorous and fun-loving, whilst some people
may  choose  one that they feel enhances their personality more.  I have
noticed  that  a lot of people's handles are either related to science &
technology  (eg  Eon),  sci-fi  (eg  Cybersonic,  Apex), or some sort of
masculine  influence,  (eg  Immortal)  which may make a weedy spotty kid
sound  like  a muscular, fit, energetic sex god.  Names can certainly be
deceptive.

^22^^560
As  you  may have noticed, I do not use a handle.  I use my first
name.   I  used  to have a handle ("Active") but I decided to get
rid of it.  Why?  I don't know.


There may be a reason, whether deliberate, or sub-conscious, for someone
to  choose  a particular handle, as I mentioned before, someone may want
to  enhance their image or immediate appearance, to fool other people in
to  thinking  that  this  person  is great.  OK, this is not true in all
circumstances,  obviously,  some people just see a word and like it, and
adopt  it  as  their  name.   It  gives  you a chance to have a seperate
personality,  you  can be a different person, you can even pretend to be
things that you are not.  That's why people love using handles, it gives
them a chance to slip in and out of each world as they choose to.

Group  names  are  similar,  but not the same, obviously, as you have to
have  a  collective  term  for all your members to work under.  It's the
same  as  being  in  a  band, you have to have a name that is memorable,
because  you want people to remember who you are, don't you?  But how do
you  go  about  doing that?  How do you make people remember?  You could
have a "controversial" name, (eg - Bloody Fuckers Design), or, you could
have  a name that comes under the same headings as handles, for a start,
Quantum Inc is related to science (QUANTUM physics).  To an outsider, it
may  seem  rather  petty, a bit like children getting together in gangs,
and giving their gang a name.

Some  people that I know reckon that all this business with pseudonyms /
handles  is  a  bit juvenile, and, to a certain extent, I can agree with
that,  because  there seems like a hell of a lot of pretending going on,
pretending  to  be  things that you never will, fantasising about things
that  can  never  really come true.  Is it a case of people with still a
bit  of their childhood in them, or is it just a bit of harmless fun?  I
know  which one I believe in, but I had dificulty explaining it to other
people,  so  that's,  probably  why  I  got rid of my handle, because to
non-sceners  (and  especially  non-computer  owners),  it  might sound a
little pathetic.

Anyway,  that's  enough  about  names,  here is a view of a well-covered
subject,  but  a  view  that I don't think has been talked about before.
Yes,  the  subject  is  LAMERS.  Not "what defines a lamer", but "Why do
people  call  other  people  lame?".

This  is  how I see it:  Some guy doesn't like something or other, so he
calls  it  lame,  and  accuses  everyone  that likes the things he hates
"Lamers".   It can be used to intimidate, so what happens is, some scene
newcomer  hears an experienced scener slagging something off as lame, So
this  new  scener  goes  along  with it, because as it is an experienced
scener  that's  said it, it must be right.  And it goes on and on and on
from there.
^2^^40
              Although  that  may be the case, there is a certain amount
              of  paranoia  and  distrust going on.  The word LAME is an
              insult  of the highest order.  Sceners can call each other
              "Stupid  Twats"  and "Daft Fuckers", for example, and they
              will  be  able  to  take a joke, they know that the person
              giving  out  the  insult  is only joking.  But if somebody
              jokingly  calls  someone  a  lamer,  things  can get a bit
              uptight,  people  start hating other people, and the whole
              concept of the scene breaks down.

I  remember  a  long,  long  time ago, I saw a demo, and when it came to
greetings  time,  it  said  "Greets  go to these lamers..." and began to
greet  various  people.   I would not be offended by that, but I know of
some  people,  who I would say have a decent sense of humour, would find
it  offensive, and dislike anyone who suggested that, even jokingly.  It
seems  like reputation is the most valuable asset of being in the scene,
people  can  be  very over-sensitive about themselves, which may lead to
them being nasty or obnoxious to other people, just for the hell of it.

Is  that  what  we want?  NO.  So loosen up.  Get a sense of humour, and
always  remember  that  the  scene  is  SUPPOSED to be about friendship,
co-operation, and most importantly .....  FUN!  Never forget that.

end.