DIGITAL PARTY REPORT 5----------------------------------1 (Maximan/LSD) 3 ---------- Forwarded message --------- Date: 26 Oct 1995 06:46:33 GMT From: Matt Taylor Newgroups: alt.sys.amiga.demos Subject: Digital Party 1995 Comment 1 You've probably read a few party reports by now, but I thought I'd give a different perspective on the party: "WHO THE HELL?" Anyone who attended the last Digital party in Rotherham and attended this one would probably have noticed that the make-up of the people there had changed completely. Now, I'm either showing my age (um, 25 :->), or there was a distinct lack of cool scene people there - scene 'old-timers'. I realise that many of the older scene members have now got jobs in the games industry (myself included) and have less time for the scene than they used to, but a party's a party, right? Surely you can't miss a good computer knees-up and a chance to see the latest stuff? Well, apparently they did. I mean, I recognised about 10 people - maybe less - that were at the last party AND in some group worthy of recognition. Perhaps they were too busy. Perhaps it was the location.... "TOO FAR SOUTH?" Lets face it - the best parties are held in the North of England. Northerners like to let their hair down a bit, take copious amounts of drink and drugs, get rowdy, and not carry so many mobile phones as Southerners do. What the party needed was some mad bastard like Banger conducting an interview in the bogs, or some crazy fuckers pushing a trolley full of crazy fuckers into other crazy fuckers, or strange individuals smearing lard all over the place. The party was far too tame and twee for my liking, with hardly anything remotely interesting or exciting going on. I can only attribute this to the lack of Northern people at the location. I think there was also a distinct lack of... "BOOZE AND DRUGS" Now, I'm not one to condone the taking of illicit illegal substances, or the over-consumption of alcoholic beverages, but these things do tend to make a party go with a bit more of a swing, don't you think? I didn't see one person skinning-up, dropping tab, taking a disco-biscuit, or even swigging a gallon of vodka out of a jerry can. What went wrong? Was there a prohibition notice served by the organisers or something? I didn't see one dilated pupil or glazed eye in the place. The last party was all the better for this kind of activity. My friends and I were completely BLASTED at the last party, and it WAS all the better for it. Perhaps it was because there were too many kids at this party that there was a complete lack of entertainment. "MUMMY, PLEASE MAY I GO TO THE PARTY?" Although I don't have the demographics for the last set of parties, there was no doubt at all that this party had more kids in attendance than ever before. I have never seen so many people that require parental guidance or adult supervision in one party since my 8th birthday. But, despite this, there should've been at least _one_ kid pulling out his Rizlas somewhere in the place. If there was, they did it far too discretely for my liking. I mean, don't tell me that even kids don't like to get blasted out of their heads at a party, or enjoy a toke on the ol' weed now and again? There seemed to be far too many kids treating the whole thing with wonderment, and taking it far too seriously. Parties are for fun, so lighten up kiddies! I can just imagine the scene at home before the party: "OK, Jimmy. What time does the party finish? We'll pick you up at the door". "DEMOS? WHAT THE FUCK?" What went wrong here? I have never seen such a sorry set of demo competition entries as these in all my life. Groups were releasing better stuff than this back in 1991! I wouldn't have DARED to enter the sort of shit we saw here for fear of being laughed off the scene. Words cannot describe how lame these efforts were. The 64K intros were better than this crap! It's no wonder that the rest of Europe laughs at our scene if this is the best we can produce. I, like most people, thought that the lack of recent demo releases meant that groups were saving up something special for the party. How wrong we were! I mean, glenz vectors, vector cubes, scrollers, and rotating dots is not exactly cutting edge stuff now, is it? Even Digital were disgusted enough to lower the prize money for this section considerably. I sincerely hope that this is not an indication of the current state of the UK scene. "PARTY ON!" Once again Digital successfully pulled off another party, albeit more expensive and less-featured than previous parties (not a trend I hope). However, apart form the rather entertaining Quartz party a few years ago, they seem to be the only UK group that seem to be interested in holding parties. Doesn't any other group want to give it a try? For this reason, we at LSD have collectively decided to hold a party in the beginning of next year, probably in February. It will not be the LSD Coven (Oepdius forgot/failed to organize it, and recently seems to have forgotten he's on the scene), it will be in the north of England. Exact details will be announced next month, with tickets becoming available in the early part of December. Watch this space for details. I would welcome comments about the party being posted in this newsgroup. Surely other people who attended the party would like to give their version of events? Later all, 5 Maximan/LSD. 1