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How do you explain emulation to your Mom?

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RyoriNoTetsujin:

--- Quote from: thebyter on December 01, 2011, 12:00:22 pm ---I have a harder time explaining to people why I want to build an actual cabinet.  "Can't you just play that on your laptop?"  I try to explain how it just doesn't "feel" right, but I get an "ohhh..kay" and a confused stare.  Any ideas for fixing that?

--- End quote ---

That's one I really wouldn't bother with.  When it's done, they will either understand -- or they won't.  Don't build a cab for anyone but yourself (unless commissioned to do so, of course!  ;D )  

I've made the mistake of thinking people would "just get it," once they saw it and played it... and believe me, many just don't.  It doesn't matter how old they are, or how much experience they may have had in an actual arcade.  Some folks will simply not share the enthusiasm, and you set yourself up for disappointment if you expect them to.

Do it because you love it.  My 2 cents.

ids:
As for building - I had a lot of  confused stares and "why..?" type questions as well.  Nobody had heard the term "mame cabinet" and no amount of explanation could get past, at best, a "why...?"  It was disappointing and discouraging.  Those same people, upon seeing the finished product, suddenly understand (most, anyway), and many think it is really cool.  One friend has started his own build as well.

I think I've had better luck explaining emulation:  it just simulates the old hardware, and runs the original (code|game) - it even expects a quarter!

Howard_Casto:
When you try to explain a hardware emulation layer is when you lose the stupid masses.  So just don't explain that part:

"You know the card you put in your camera that holds all your pictures?

Well there is a storage chip inside it that holds them.  Old arcade games were stored on chips too.  These chips were on the circuit boards in the real machines. 

MAME is a special program that lets you run the programs stored on those chips on your computer, so it is the EXACT game you played in the arcade."


No need to explain the front end, or OS or any of that either... if they think that it's part of mame, that's fine. 

In general I avoid explaining it unless they say something ignorant like "So you got pacman for the computer?" or "Where can I buy joust for windows?"

Gray_Area:
Most people know computers run applications. So I say there's MAME, and I tell them what that stands for, and then I say it's an application that plays those games, the original, ARCADE versions.

As for building a cab or contol panels, I say it's because I hate using a keyboard, and gamepads blow; or that in some cases, the game is unplayable, or just sucks to play, without the original controls (like Star Wars).

People don't need to know how it works. Just that it does, and you like it that way.

dandare:
Try explaining 'hackintosh'  :dizzy:

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