I took it as a story about his journey to maturity. As a young lad he saw only one aspect of gaming, the part that focused on entertainment. As he got older he saw more of the 'cost' of that entertainment, and it was summed up by taking the majority of the video games he owned and their consoles and selling them, to buy one super console, only to have that choice turn out to be shockingly expensive.
He not only saw the 'value' of his console drop more than 90% he saw that he had 'lost' a bunch of things he cherished (his collection) which he would still have had he kept them.
The economic reality that he had essentially sold his 'collection' for $50 really affected his self image. And rather than say "Gee, that was stupid! I sure learned my lesson!" he finds he has to take it out on the video game industry that 'tricked' him into giving them all of that personal wealth in exchange for what was now perceived as crap.
Some people don't recover from that sort of shock, some do. Hopefully at some point the author will forgive himself for allowing his love of the vision that 3DO presented to cost him so dearly.
I doubt the 3DO ever developed an extensive enough games library to begin to match all that he had lost. He was cheated out of a lot of games and memories. By society.
It’s not as if somebody held a gun to his head and made him sell. He got burned in his own quest for material. Blame the human condition rather than society.
> I took it as a story about his journey to maturity.
Why does so much of society today equate cynicism with maturity? As a grown man with 3 kids, 4 houses, 3 cars one wife, I like to think I’m fairly mature, yet I find cynicism to be a thief of joy.
I don't equate cynicism with maturity, I equate a more nuanced view of the world with maturity. I know people who are both immature and cynical, in some cases a bit of maturity would mitigate their cynicism.
He not only saw the 'value' of his console drop more than 90% he saw that he had 'lost' a bunch of things he cherished (his collection) which he would still have had he kept them.
The economic reality that he had essentially sold his 'collection' for $50 really affected his self image. And rather than say "Gee, that was stupid! I sure learned my lesson!" he finds he has to take it out on the video game industry that 'tricked' him into giving them all of that personal wealth in exchange for what was now perceived as crap.
Some people don't recover from that sort of shock, some do. Hopefully at some point the author will forgive himself for allowing his love of the vision that 3DO presented to cost him so dearly.