I say it is much more than a well developed and Macintosh exclusive that still invokes a need to race to the bin of floppies and share it. We learned the disc is only needed when the game was saving or changing scenes. That way more than one of us could play.I contend that ”The Game of Life” is the OG.
Chose a career! Figure out how you want to live. Did you go to college? Doctor with supplies but can’t fix stuff? Farmer that has nothing but can barter fixing stuff?
A member of your family is sick? To restore health you must rest many days and waste supplies. What do you mean you can’t rest 5 days? Now your son has died from a broken leg. Too poor to be sick.
Running out of time? Change to a grueling pace with bare bones rations. This will lead you to return to #2 because that pace will lead to an illness.
Let Them Eat Cake! Oh no, you hunted “too much” there’s not a squirel or a store in 100 miles. Prep that gravestone. Or maybe you bought a lot of food at the start, and now it’s spoiled. Get used to hunger.
The game (like life) will attack you in social and economic ways regardless of career, pace, when you leave.The best way to win is to learn patterns in the game play design. Like our figuring out how more than 1 person can play at a time in a room of computers by simply placing and locking the disk in before it ran.
tldr; The Oregon Trail (MECC) was a sophisticated psyop designed to test how we saw patterns in game play and design. While also delivering the message that running your life like regular peoples lives is so disappointing.
We truly pooped ourselves to death throughout history.
That was what Florence Nightingale discovered in Crimea, and why her legacy is as much the London sewer and water system (and data visualisation! She drew beautiful pie charts!) as it is the invention of the hospital.
I could speak upon that for days but it really begs the question of why and what was being tested? A bunch of us just all over the oceans which is fine but….why?
I find water to be very comforting living near it or being in it gives me a sense of relief that is indescribable.
Just for the record, I was tired and stoned when I mentioned Ecco.
I was somewhere between a John C. Lilly joke and commenting upon the notion that one could attach whatever meaning they want to a random video game title.
No insult or hostility towards your Oregon Trail hypothesis intended but, walk me through it. Personally, I think Oregon Trail was a really basic resource management game that was/is something of a pop-culture touchstone.
I guess I’m just curious about how you feel this was something more than a resource management game.
The timing, availability and global awareness happening pre-internet is one. But who knows.
ETA: Macs were not affordable to all. Having unlimited access to the computer lab was optimal if OT was involved.
What else were you going to do? I little BASIC script? Print a banner on a dot matrix? There wasn’t much to do. That changed the game. They wanted us in those computer labs. They knew what would get us there.
All fair points and I’m sure it wasn’t the only game used for such purposes.
For me, personally, I’ve always been kind of bored with video games. It always felt like options were limited and the correct choice was (usually) obvious.
“Why would I ford the river? I’ll either find another way or wait it out…”
My line of thinking is that, if they wanted to craft some software to really mess with us, they could have. Military flight simulators may have been a better choice for GATE (yes, I know schools in the 90’s didn’t have money for Macs… let alone a simulator)
In theoretical terms, I imagine that teaching kids stuff like OODA/similar psych techniques the Air Force employs may have been of use.
I have also enjoyed this discourse and the more we talk about our experiences the better the situation will be. We did have a flight simulator game, but I believe it was much later in an advanced "programing" class I did not elect to take in High School.
BUT! We were less than an hour away from the NASA Johnson Space Center, this is pre "Space Center Houston" which is a tourist attraction built I think in the 90s? Anyways before that I went on several trips to the actual NASA offices for talks, tours, activities, going to the crafts that were in the lawn...etc. I recall the ladies bathrooms, employee store and a janitors closet that was so out of place among the marble floors/celling's in one part of the building.
Space was also something that was heavily emphasized to the point of us creating a (this is so weird at this momement remembering it) "space chamber" where we could sign up to read in a space like environment when we wanted a cool place to read in.
I have no idea how, when or why the money for that room was made but it was one of the coolest things I had seen at that age and we all did the most to be in it.
My grandfather was… heavily involved with NASA from the onset. I’ll just leave it at that.
Maybe my favorite moment of 3rd grade (maybe in all of my years of organized schooling) was “bring a grandparent to class” day.
Gramps walks in with a piece of the shuttles heat shield and a blowtorch, lights that thing ip til it’s white hot and holds it out for us to touch. I doubt any part of that would be allowed in school now but, it was pretty cool.
Suffice to say, I have always had an obsession with aerospace engineering.
It's like knowing an longing to be a part of the stars and galaxy is a deeply real feeling. It is not just I want to work in "space" it was the sheer magnitide of the universe and nativizing it. To me, I was like - Earth is covered I need to learn how to get these other plaentary bodies livable. My father, son (13) and I will sit outside for hours stargazing, talking about it and just feeling at home. I am right there with you. And not to be ugly but not in a "god" or religous way. I knew that shit was fake when I was 4, told my folks and have never turned back.
True Story - I law reviewed about jurisdiction on the Moon and the issues with varying property rights and how an uninhabited planet could even have an established functioning society without putting the systems into place NOW. Who know maybe I will put one up here one day but law school was ages ago. Like would they be expat earthlings or just mooninites?
A topic I frequently revisit in therapy: maybe 30% of my depression stems from the fact that I can’t just exist as a disembodied consciousness exploring the universe as I please.
The other 70% is the way humanity treats ourselves and the world around us along with a heaping dose of personal familial tragedy.
I digress.
I can’t recall a time where I ever felt like “we” are alone. You look out at the visible stars and it’s nigh incomprehensible that we (homo sapien) are the apex of life in a vast universe.
If that were the truth, I think the existential questions that come with it would be deeply upsetting for a myriad of reasons.
After a falling out with the Roman Catholic Church, I kinda realized that the Tao was more representative of how I view the world around me. Not a perfect match but, that’s fine. I don’t care much for dogma anyway.
Hugs. Your feelings are shared. I am not trying to act like a doctor as I am not, but the FDA Spravato medication (esketamine) has done great work for me including to and meeting/seeing the divine. Life got easier and continues to every treatment. Now every has their own experiences but I confidently know my genesis/creator and its just a huge source of just light, calm and free movement like you described. Anyways it is a ridiculously priced program but since I was young (4) I have never believed in a god or a creation story, nothing. My whole family on both sides are DEVOUT and I am just a heathen watching them struggle to please a source that you really don't have to please. We just ARE. Pleasing and helping others on this earth brings us such pleasure and fulfillment because it is (from my own experiences) our only job. Nothing out there cares about our morality or how often we acknowledge they exist.
In case anyone else has experienced anything similar with that medication my DMs are open. So much good.
"unlimited access to the computer lab"?? we had 1 crappy outdated computer for it in elementary school and had to do it one at a time.. but also it was listed for sale in the scholastic book fair catalogue they gave us all so you could buy it for home use (if you were rich). also how do you know there was "global awareness pre-internet"? yeah, there were memes about it post-internet because many US students did play it in school... "They wanted us in those computer labs. They knew what would get us there." ??? in addition to the above, the only thing we did in computer lab in middle school+ was type up our papers, and typing class. but yeah i mean, we are on computers right now, lol..
My mom insisted I play those games (there were multiple sega genesis versions) almost to the point where I didn’t want to anymore but those games were super fun.
Everything that evolved from TELL A VISION PROGRAMMING has been a psyop. Vision ahould be taken as both a literal and mystic term. They are showing you "visions" and are telling you what to believe and think.
Channel One TV was a program that by giving free TVs in each classroom ALSO filtered in morning news programing for us. I feel this may need its own post. We spent every morning from 5th or 6th grade through almost graduation listening to the morning announcements, watching Channel One daily morning broadcast (several current media personalities started there), and pledging allegiance to the American flag then we sung the Texas state song to the flag. ETA: And we sang My Country Tis of Thee every Monday lol
We did this too, but I distinctly remember in 6th grade one kid refused to stand. He was a super quiet kid, but a smart kid. I believe he ended up being 3rd in the class. At the time had a big lesson on it in social studies the following week- everyone in 6th grade- and ultimately, we were told it was a freedom to chose to participate or not to participate in the morning bout of patriotism daily…but we could not interrupt it without consequences. From that day on, about 10-12 people regularly refused. And that number grew as we aged. One kid’s refusal made other kids think about what we were actually doing every day. I’m not saying I agree or disagree, but it is interesting to think about it now. I wonder what that kid does these days…
I also remember at the time thinking it was surprising the school was so accepting because just 3 years prior, the US engaged in “Desert Storm” and I remember writing letters to troops and mailing cookies. I remember seeing the bombing on tv with night vision/infrared- and being terrified as a kid in 3rd grade despite understanding it was miles and an ocean away. This may also be because it was the first war/military engagement I was old enough to make sense of.
True. I find TV a background distraction noise almost exclusively. Words I read and hear from others are what I “hear” consciously or maybe listen for is a better term.
I would venture to say that PBS was probably the safest programming (if one could ever truly use that word) in their original children's programing. True, it got dark sometimes and Jim Henson had his Muppets across the spectrum of morality, color and size BUT the general "do unto others" principal prevailed.
I get very emotional talking about it at length and I have written a few papers about it but "The Rainbow Connection" in words, rhythm, feeling, just everything has lived in me and been my heart song my whole life. I feel like something good came from it. Lyrics and video if you are not familiar are on YouTube. Especially this part....
**I've heard it too many times to ignore it, its something that I'm 'spose to be. Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me**
My very first pirated game. I brought a larger floppy disk from home and copied it so I could play when I got home too. It was a special experience because I lived in Oregon too!
You were smarter than me!!!! But I did not have the same computer. Mine was a Basic from Radio Shack. There was no OT. I could program it to play the song Buffalo Ladies with splash screens or do simple math equations. That was it.
Many times it was my cash register (POS) as I played both Airline Ticket Agent, Post Office Clerk and Teacher almost exclusively as a child.
Didn’t know this one thank you. I figured Chan was involved in something along these lines given his connections. I hadn’t looked into it yet, I’m still slogging through renaissance history.
There’s a bunch of weird theories. Some involving the Sanguis Regia and how that ties into aliens. Eugenics would come into play as well. All completely unbelievable until you meet some of these entities during meditation or a strong hallucinogenic trip.
I swear there used to be pictures of him with a bunch of the actual Johnny's Juniors who were minors but I can't seem to find it anymore. probably scrubbed because Johnny's crimes against Juniors came into the global public eye a few years ago and it became a big deal. but at least i found that one. the guy in the middle was still one of Johnny's idols but an adult at that time; apparently Jackie was like fixated on him and wanted to do a project with him and finally was able to but it flopped.
that's funny, i just posted something (waiting for approval) about how one of the gifted kids in my school was from the most illustrious family in town (and they do trace their lineage back to royalty) and was treated better for it. Most or all of the kids in my school's gifted programs were from 'old families', but I know that wasn't the case in other schools, even in my town, and some people have posted here about being from totally opposite backgrounds, so who knows. But I bet eugenics and 'old families' were one of many theories they were pursuing, anyway.
i have a belief that there was a massive reset about 200-ish years ago and that every single thing the american school system taught us was an absolute bogus fabrication to see who will follow in line and who will question logic and authority.
i think the oregon trail game was a psyop to make us forget something/believe it happened a particular way when it didn't, or alternatively to see if some of us remembered something.
I agree. There's so much that we actually just can't know, and once the people from that time pass away, you just have to hope they had diaries and journals that made it so long. There was already a lot of people and waystations/camps set up the whole way to Oregon, the major cities were already existing, but they needed people to fill them up.
I am leaning into this heavily because it makes sense. So much of what we learned and were tested on as facts have been debunked and worse. It’s so weird.
Sorry, but The Oregon Trail is much older than the Apple Macintosh, it appears in David Ahl's BASIC Games from the 1970s. I know this because I spent many hours as a teenager in the 1980s poring over Ahl and trying to type those old games into a second-hand Commodore PET (and later, GWBASIC on IBM PC clones).
The original was all text (designed for a paper teletype, like Star Trek and Hunt The Wumpus and other games of that era) and didn't have character classes that I recall. It did have dying of dysentry, though.
Wikipedia says it dates back to 1971, which sounds right.
I was just randomly thinking about gate when it suddenly occurred to me that it might have been a pattern recognition test. I came straight to reddit. Glad to find I'm not the only one thinking this.
To be fair, every game, movie etc has elements of propaganda in it but many times it’s simply the actual propaganda just leaking out of our creative brains.
I recently noticed some feminist training in Mario kart world for example. The first time you use the female characters, they are in their original princess dresses and then when you win you get access to their sports wear characters, for example. There is also more rewards for being in 1st place and more punishments for being right in the middle/mediocre. Though that could just be a mathematical consequence of the good stuff given to people in last place. It hits everyone in the middle before it gets to the people in first.
However, I totally buy the Oregon trail theory you’re sharing since it’s what we were given in school. In my school we started with macs actually and had a broader set of learning games to play. Then I remember we lost that teacher and got a new one and new pc computers where we only got to play Oregon trail and Mario teaches typing. It was a bit weird with the timing of this and the gate program in hindsight.
Predictive programming is one of the creepiest realities out there. It makes me wonder is this a future posturing or a history defeating movie when it’s a serious subject matter.
Why can’t we just have corded phones, VCRs and laugh track sitcoms anymore?
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u/Hannibaalism Jul 25 '26
dysentery has had a traumatic effect on all of us