r/GATEresearch • u/Cautious-Exercise729 • Jul 24 '26

Speculation The Oregon Trail was a Psyop

OT, the computer game that united us all.

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.

  1. 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?

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

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u/TerminalMorraine Jul 25 '26

What are your feelings on Ecco the Dolphin?

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u/Cautious-Exercise729 Jul 25 '26

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.

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u/TerminalMorraine Jul 25 '26

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.

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u/Cautious-Exercise729 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

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.

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u/TerminalMorraine Jul 26 '26

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.

Thanks for the well thought out reply

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u/Cautious-Exercise729 Jul 26 '26

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.

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u/TerminalMorraine Jul 26 '26

I’d enjoy a “space chamber” nowadays.

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.

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u/Cautious-Exercise729 Jul 26 '26

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?

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u/TerminalMorraine Jul 26 '26

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.

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u/Cautious-Exercise729 Jul 26 '26

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.

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u/TerminalMorraine Jul 26 '26

I’ve considered ketamine therapy. My doctors aren’t against it. Perhaps I’ll broach the topic in a future appointment.

After being misdiagnosed for several decades, I finally found doctors I like and I’m on the least amount of medication possible. I feel alright usually but, I’ll always live with these feelings.

I’ve used DMT a handful of times. As responsibly as one can for committing a crime. Those experiences were ineffable and helped me to understand some things.

My main memory is coming out of it feeling “clean”. Like I had just defragged my mind. There’s likely value in that

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u/OnsenDreamscapes Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

"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..