Mysteries of the Scene(s)!

Written by Sane/Scoopex

Of course I should first introduce myself properly before I start this article, as chances are up to one hundred percent you never heard of me. Well, here we go:

I am Sane of Scoopex, an Amiga Scener. Since 1990 I have been active in the Scene of the Amiga and since 1995 I have been active as a writer. First I tried to make my own diskmagazine ("Trinity"), but when that didn't work out I joined "Seenpoint", the number one diskmagazine on Amiga at the moment, as a co-editor. Recently I have joined the staff of another Amiga magazine ("Retro"), again as a co-editor. One can say I am an active Amiga Scener in heart and soul ... so ... what am I doing in a peecee magazine then? Let me explain, it's all very simple!

A few weeks ago I bought a peecee. I bought it for my university-research and internetting, but quickly met Adok, maineditor of Hugi. Because of Adok's stories about the peecee-Scene, I began to think about a little trip to that Scene. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I decided to get rid of the idea again. What was I thinking? I am an Amigian in heart and soul and will remain one as long as eternity lasts. I am in Scoopex, the number one group on the Amiga platform, and writing for the number one magazine. Why should I try to be a part of the peecee Scene aswell? Why should I try to become active in a Scene I don't know, a Scene which isn't mine?

But then Retro#4 was released on the Amiga and I re-read the articles I had written for that magazine. I came across an article which I had written for Amiga-only. It dealt with the meaning of the Amiga-Scene. Suddenly I realised, the text could have been about ANY Scene. In the article I meant to handle the Amiga Scene exclusively, but in fact the article dealt with a Scene, whether it was peecee, Amiga, C64, Atari or any other Scene. The conclusion I had to draw was that Scenes do not differ that much from eacother. Amiga or peecee, we all try the same: we try to get the most out of the computer whilst entertaining eachother and ourselves.

After I had read that specific Amiga article and after I realised all Scenes are basically alike; the thought of doing something for the peecee-Scene entered my brain again and this time I answered to myself: Going peecee - WHY NOT?!

Underneath is my article which changed my mind. In my opinion these lines apply as much to the peecee Scene as they do to the Scene of the Amiga. In spite of the many, many differences between the two Scenes, the main idea is equal. Bear in mind that the article was written for Amiga only. It was written about the Amiga Scene. The fun part is, that the lines (for the biggest part) apply to the peecee Scene aswell! Enjoy.

(c)This article was published in Retro#4, an independant Amiga magazine, in February 1999, written by Sane of Scoopex (Fan.Of.Retro.)

It has been said at least a million times. And many thousands of writers have written about this subject before I thought about typing the pathetic lines you can find beneath. Nevertheless, I will write about it for the onethousandandfirst time. I will do that because I feel like it. A simple explanation? Maybe so but it is the truth. Anyway, let us start. The Scene is full of mysteries. In fact; the Scene is one great mystery. When one takes the time to think about the Scene, one will come to the conclusion that loads of questions will rise. And one will also notice that every answer which is found on each question will raise other questions.

In this -hopefully- returning column, I will ask a question. A new column in each new issue of Retro. A new question in each new column. I will not only ask a question, a mystery of the Scene, but of course I will also try to answer that same question. I will probably not succeed in finding real definitive answers because of the simple reason that there are no real definitive answers. I will probably come to the conclusion that for every single Scener other answers can be found, IF I can even find an answer at all. But even when I do not find real good answers, I have at least tried to fathom the mysteries of the Scene ... Besides that you and me will have had some fun, right?

Okay, let us start this very first column with a nice big thought, call it a mindthrill if you want to. Join me in a dive into the mystic world called Scene. Let us start with the mystery of mysteries, the question of questions: Why do we do this? Why the hell do we do this? Have you ever thought about that? You have? Well, try to answer some of the following questions!

Why do you dedicate so many hours to something which does not really exist? The Scene, a world generated from bits and bytes. It is not even really out there. You will eventually stop with it and you know that. The Scene does not help you further in life. On the contrary; your social life can get seriously damaged by the Scene. Questions, questions and more questions. Why do you sit behind your computer hours and hours each night? Alone. Your closest friends are fellow Sceners who live thousands of miles away from you. Why do you watch demos, over and over again instead of going to a bar? Why do you write articles instead of playing Tekken 3 on your Playstation? Why do you compose music instead of watching Springer, Seinfeld, Baywatch or the latest blockbuster rental movie? Why do you tell your girlfriend or wife (Hi Lars!) to wait a few minutes (which will turn out to be hours) because you have almost finished e-mailing your Scenic pals, when she asks you to come to bed? Why do you spend hours and hours on drawing your full-screen picture when you could have watched the soccer world-cup match of this evening?

Okay, I hear you. I said I would at least TRY to find an answer. I asked questions instead. I think that the answer on all the questions, and thus the ultimate question; "Why do we do it?", is pretty simple after all. In the above paragraph I namely wrote something which was untrue, I made a mistake. So why did I write it then, knowning it was mistake? Why did I make that mistake on purpose? Well, because most people in our real life (but also most Sceners) make that exact same mistake. Most people really think that the Scene does not bring one further in ones real life. But this is as true as the claim that Michael Jackson never had facial plastic surgery. It is as true as the assertion that Bill Clinton only had sex with Mrs. Clinton. It would be as true as the .... well, I quess you get the picture.

The Scene DOES help us further in our lives. The Scene relaxes us and opens a whole new world when we want to. As an ultimate hobby the Scene makes you think of nothing else, it gives you distraction when you want to. That terrible exam of next week will be in the back of your head when you turn on the computer. The fight with your girl is of no importance when you read the latest issue of Retro. When you turn on your Amiga and load your favourite demo or magazine, the Scene is there! Instantly! Compare that to soccer or any other sport for that matter, which is there when the referee blows his whistle, when the match begins. Other hobbies start when they ought to start and NOT when you want to, like the Scene.

Furthermore, the Scene is the explicit hobby for loners. You can participate the Scene on your own because when you enter the Amiga Scenic realm, thousands of others will be there; your fellow Sceners. The Scene really is the only hobby which generates real life mates in a split second. Of course physically you are still on your own but mentally you are not. Can you name one other hobby which does that for you?

The Scene is THE place to let out your creative flow in the form of either words, graphics, music or code. No other hobby gives you the opportunity to be so damn creative. And at the very same moment the Scene gives you the ability to show your creative work to loads and loads of people around the globe. And that is really something else compared to the local embroiderclub.

To give a last good reason (be sure there are many more to find and I can go on for many more paragraphs but I have to stop somewhere) why the Scene helps you further in life, I could tell you that the Scene brings you into contact with a lot of different personalities from loads of different countries. Of course this also matures you and makes your horizon become wider.

I think I have found a pretty good answer on the mystery of the Scene; -Why do we do it?-. We do it because we are creative loners and we want to dive into a mystic world when we want to. As a bonus we get the opportunity to widen our horizon. Now is that a good reason on the question why you started your Scene career? I guess it is. And I think it also is a very good reason to continue this ultimate hobby as long as possible ....

Sane of Scoopex

I hope you see what I meant! Anyway, I am planning to write more articles for Adok which will hopefully be placed in Hugi. I am sure I'll see you all again, whether that may be on peecee or on Amiga! -

Sane of Scoopex