Do you miss going to the arcade with your friends and blowing your allowance?
In Springfield, MO downtown there is a place called 1984 which is an all day arcade. They have a snackbar and about 50 old arcade games (I got the Star Wars flight simulators) that you can play all day and half the night for 5 bucks.
I've had great fun at Dave and Buster's but it wasn't like the old days. I love my home console but for years I'd missed the sounds of the arcade. Anyone else in the same boat?
You can thank mobiles for that. People like being independent of people and yet in touch of them at the same time through their apps. Arcades use to be a center place to hang out, now even hanging out at the mall is something to be recorded in history.
I think the social aspect has evolved. I have had very good friendships and exchanges in guilds when playing online games. It depends on whether the game encourages this or makes it easy to join up with random strangers. I don’t think virtual friendships are any less fulfilling when you spend tons of time together and slowly get to know one another.
I use to spend my entire Sunday playing at the arcades.
Actually I do not miss it as much as I would think I would since the smart phone replacement / home computer ROM consoles can totally replace the experience.
Nowadays, kids meet up together and sit next to each other; each holding a smart phone and playing the same game. I would say this is quite close so the same like in the arcade.
If already, birth of the smart phone killed the outdoor activities for the kids.
I can totally agree what's up what you are saying. There's something about walking around and playing all sorts of different arcade games rather than sitting and playing on a console. It's like arcade playing has more of a soul to it.
I'm crashing this party to say that the arcade is not dead (Long live the arcade! *wink*. There are still places similar to Dave & Busters that offer games to play and some of them have retro games. In Texas, there's a small chain called Cidercade that serves up alcoholic cider and has video games _and_ pinball. I think that there's also a bunch of nostalgic enthusiasts who will sell you a working game cabinet, too, which is just awesome.
But back on the topic of why a lot of us have nostalgia for arcades, it's probably primarily because we have a lot of good memories associated with hopping around from machine to machine and playing games with your best buddies or your family. I know I do.
I miss going to the arcane, even if I was rarely able to go to such, and have fond memories of going to the nickel arcade that was/is in Utah. Hopefully, it is still running and I can go to such in the future, and arcades will continue to be something to enjoy. Though, I have seen other ways people can game in a more public place, one in particular being where you could rent to play console games. Even if, admittedly, this is not the same as going to an arcade.