Obscure fandom? No problem.
We live in a golden age of geek where it’s really easy to get a pair of Firefly earrings, a Doctor Who dress, or a super comfy tee with your favorite fandom quote. I have Han Solo and Agent Carter cosplay dresses in my closet. A Death Star waffle iron in my kitchen. And a Super Mario wallet in my Avengers-themed purse.
It’s a great time to be a fan. The fact that there are so many products out there like this means I’m in good company. And then, of course, there are fan cons, online communities, books. Everything you can imagine.
But what if your fandom looks like this:
Buckle up, guys. I’m about to get really nerdy about something.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, PC adventure games were huge.
This type of gaming has a long and elaborate history which I won’t get into here (see sidenote below for a great book on the subject). But essentially an entire generation of kids grew up on Space Quest, King’s Quest, Police Quest, Quest for Glory, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, and many other PC games like them.
These games featured complex narratives, colorful characters, earworm tunes, somehow beautiful, artistic backgrounds created with a palette of only 16 colors and myriad ways to die. (Often with no warning. And no auto save points.) Hours of fun and frustration. Those of us who loved them, LOVED them.
Then, in the 90s, the industry shifted over to first-person action oriented games. Adventure games seemed to be dying out. But, the original fanbase for these games never went away.
Which brings me to my point:
What do you do when you love a thing that’s not really in the general public’s consciousness?
Here’s what the adventure gamers did:
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- Fan communities started creating their own sequels, working together on their own time, unpaid, just for the love of the games. Eventually, some of these studios evolved into creating original works to sell. AGD Interactive is a notable example of this.
- They networked with the original designers of these games. The original creators are a part of this online adventure gaming community, and some of them are actually designing their own sequels to series’ they created decades ago. For example, husband and wife team Lori and Corey Cole, designers of Quest for Glory, are developing a new in-universe game called Hero-U which I will most definitely be purchasing.
- They’re making and sharing their own fandom creations: t-shirts, figurines, artwork – even a fully orchestrated version of a 1990s adventure game theme.
So what’s the bottom line? It’s pretty simple.
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- Find your people. If there’s something you love, there’s a Reddit group or a message board out there somewhere for that thing. And if there isn’t, start one. Someone else is looking for that community, too. Probably a lot of somebodies.
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- Get creative.
- Enjoy.
Love old adventure games? Have an obscure fandom of your own? Tell us about it in the comments!
Sidenote:
There are some really incredible women out there who have designed/are still designing adventure games and you must go learn about them. Check out Christy Marx, who not only designed the amazing Conquests of the Longbow and Conquests of Camelot for Sierra, but also created Jem and the Holograms; Jane Jensen, creator of the Gabriel Knight series. And of course, Roberta Williams, who designed the classic King’s Quest Series, as well as Mystery House – the first PC game to combine text and graphics.
(Sidenote sidenote: If you want to read a fabulous book on the history of interactive storytelling, from Choose Your Own Adventure books to PC games, check out Anastasia Salter’s book What is Your Quest?)
(Final sidenote, I swear: If you want to play some of these older PC gems, check out gog.com)
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