Time changes: Where is the next Generation? - by Zerox/Gods
The scene changes.
I'm getting older. We are all getting older. The scene is getting older, it changes a bit every day but not much. The scene is still all about having fun and creating friendship, making productions and going to parties. The basic scene idea hasn't changed much, so the scene haven't experienced a revolution.
What have changed from the beginning until now?
First of all, in the start of the once so proud AMIGA history most sceners were amazed by the fantastic game machine Commodore had made. Amiga offered great music, great gfx and great functions. The C64 wasn't cool anymore. About all sceners were playing a lot of games since so many new games got released and spread. Now most game companies have abandoned the amiga in advance of PC or other platforms. It's infact not as common to play games anylonger. Secondly, less productions get released these days. Except from all the real cool party releases, not much get spread. Has the scene become totally commercial? The productions nowadays seem to be bigger than in the past. Before I got a lot of short intros with only one effect. Today it seems like the groups are embarresed if they don't release a mega demo each time. It sure is hard to create something worth watching. Then we have the card tendencies... everybody need some kind of extra card to run new productions. We need better accelerators and more memory. The AGA chip made many real old sceners leave, but also gave hope to the amiga. It was necessary to get a better computer, just as we need a much better compact computer now... not a PC puzzle. Thirdly, once there were too many swappers... now, well... the scene has too few. Most packs have disappeared also. In old times the parties were infact smaller, and they were called copy parties, heh heh. What to say? Hmm... the parties surely was made by sceners for sceners then, not just these totally commercial events. We are all getting older. It's very very seldom you hear about sceners below the age of 16. In the beginning the scene consisted of a lot of very young boys. The scene have generally become more mature. The last part is of course ok, but the scene really need new blood. Even if we don't notice it, all the time some new ones join the scene... too bad that more are leaving though. Yes, it's this topic I really want to start discussing.
Where are the newcomers?
All we hear about are sceners leaving the amiga scene... many of those are joining the PC scene instead. Even though the last years haven't exactly been good for the scene, we must not forget that new ones also join the scene. 1994 was especially a very tragic year for the Amiga and the scene. It actually started to go bad for Commodore and the scene some time before that, but it was not that easy to notice all the problems then. Within Commodore it was totally chaos and a lot of wrong decisions were made. The AGA chip should have been launched earlier, and the AAA chip should have been released too. It should at least been out before 1993, but until now it never has been finished. If the Amiga still should be superior to any other platform, we need a risc based Amiga very fast. The truth is of course that the scene really should have got this computer a few years ago. Well, even though we all LOVE the fabolous AMIGA we got to admit that the machine hasn't devloped much since the release in 1985. Back in those days the AMIGA really was superiour, but because of all the wrong decisions and internal problems within Commodore, other platforms have almost become better. Nobody can beat the perfect Amiga system, but they can get a better computer in other ways. Better sound, gfx etc. Anyway, the chaos in Commodore which led to the bankcruptsy in 1994 almost destroyed the last hope of the future of the Amiga and the scene. Since the Amiga didn't develop much sceners began to move to other platforms... we noticed it began to get downwards for the amiga a long time before the bankcruptsy. As I've written in many articles, the scene need a new superiour computer very fast. If we get a risc based amiga which is a lot better than all the other computers worldwide, and just as revolutionary as the Amiga was when it first got launched, then I'm sure a lot of new people will join the scene and that it once again will grow rapidly. I'm not sure if the old sceners that have left for other platforms will return though, but that's not neceassry either to create a strong scene. New sceners can be just as good or even better than the old ones. But where are the newcomers? Where's the next generation of sceners? Until now I haven't seen many new faces in the scene, it's almost the same people that have been here for ages... and now many of those are getting tired. With a new computer new seeds will be sown... I'm waiting for that change of season, the winter have been so long. If nothing happens real fast I fear that the scene will fade away slowly. I don't think it will ever die, but the amiga scene will become like the C64 scene is today. Those sceners can make a lot of cool things, but everybody else got better computers and can do better. It's not necessary to live in the past. So a fantastic new AMIGA surely can be the turning point for the amiga scene. It's time to focus on the positive... it's time to act. We should put pressure on VIScorp to make the computer we want. We should be happy for every newcomer that joins the scene and not focus on everybody that are leaving. Do I predict a new summer in the distant horizon? Until this new season comes, I'll have this thorn in my side... it tears me and I bleed.
DO SOMETHING NOW!!! KEEP THE SCENE ALIVE!!!
(Another army production in September'96 done especially for JP)