The General Conversation Area

[neptune2venus]

Forgive me if I'm off the mark, but it sounds to me like you're essentially a none practising (at least currently) swinger. So I'd suggest that's your keyword to stick into Google if you wanted to find like-minded people.

Isn't that just pigeon-holing? I know it's easier just to stick labels and hope for the best but sometimes that doesn't help at all.

I'm quite confused... Who comes from Neptune then?

Someone who feels often alienated from her female counterparts and likes to be a bit different.

So then, whats the conclusion of attraction in your dissertation, Naeptune? Do you think attraction just comes down to our innate biological and instinctual needs (childbearing in woman and secuity in men). Or is there something more?

I won't be finished my dissertation until next year. It focuses on online dating and perceived attractiveness. I can't really say more until I've finished the study. I'll let you all know how it goes though!
Just to answer your question: Women and their fertility plays a large amount into who they go for in a partner. Menstrual cycle, whether she is on the pill, marital status, financial status (women gold diggers are actually partially true judging from the studies I've read). In my opinion think it is really part biological and part environmental. Attraction isn't just one thing, it is many things which make up a whole - which is why science can't make an exact magic formula.

 

[megalomaniac]

Isn't that just pigeon-holing? I know it's easier just to stick labels and hope for the best but sometimes that doesn't help at all.

I wouldn't say pigeon-holing. I wasn't trying to put him in a box, so much as trying point out a box he might find interesting. Worth asking in-case it wasn't something he'd considered, at least I thought so.

So apologies if it did come across as pigeon-holing.

Just to be clear: While I may not share ayase's views I absolutely don't think any less of him for having them, I'm just trying to be helpful by identifying where he might find people that share his world view. Each to their own.

 

[ayase]

And know that I take no offence to your comments megalomaniac (indeed it takes something of very serious magnitude to offend me). I was perhaps a little surprised, but you're obviously open and frank in expressing your ideas and I can appreciate that.

 

[megalomaniac]

And know that I take no offence to your comments megalomaniac (indeed it takes something of very serious magnitude to offend me). I was perhaps a little surprised, but you're obviously open and frank in expressing your ideas and I can appreciate that.

Phew, must confess I was a little worried for a minute there.

Yes, you're right. I'm told that's a good quality, it does sometimes land me in trouble though. I also have a dry sense of humour and a sarcastic streak a mile wide so I'm sure I'll offend someone eventually, one way or another

 

[teonzo]

So I feel a bit like I've "been there, done that" but you're probably right that's where the most interesting and least conformist people are.

Eh, the problem (as you well know) is that you are looking for people with a niche way of thinking. So it's much more probable to find them in subcultures or other niche circles. If you wait to find them in "general" people then you are destined to a looong wait. You simply need to find the way to maximize the odds to realize your dreams (easy to write, difficult to do).



Teo

 

[teonzo]

Someone who feels often alienated from her female counterparts and likes to be a bit different.

Maybe you should consider to move to Saturn, it would fit much better with your yo-yo for justice.



Teo

 

[ayase]

I'm told that's a good quality, it does sometimes land me in trouble though. I also have a dry sense of humour and a sarcastic streak a mile wide so I'm sure I'll offend someone eventually, one way or another

I'm sure we'll get on just fine.

Rui and Teo have given me things to think about anyway, with the conclusion being that I do probably need to spend more time with different (and less time with normal) people. Was wondering if I should do some more travelling this coming year, perhaps I will.

 

[ilmaestro]

Out of interest how old are you folks? I suspect the demographic here's a bit younger than that other Anime forum I'm a member of.

Where is "that" other anime forum? Because I'd say this one has a higher average age of regular poster than 98% of the others.

 

[megalomaniac]

Out of interest how old are you folks? I suspect the demographic here's a bit younger than that other Anime forum I'm a member of.

Where is "that" other anime forum? Because I'd say this one has a higher average age of regular poster than 98% of the others.

UKA, most of the regulars are late 20's-30's. I'm 31 myself.

I may be entirely wrong but for some reason I get an early-mid 20's vibe from most folks here.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

UKA, most of the regulars are late 20's-30's. I'm 31 myself.

I may be entirely wrong but for some reason I get an early-mid 20's vibe from most folks here.

I fall into that demographic, 23 years young presently. Maybe we should do a poll of people's ages?

On a positive note I finally have my PC back and running properly again. Hooray! Turns out that McAfee had an update that was blocking signals to routers and that many, many people were affected by it.

 

[Rui]

We used to have a lot more late teens/early 20s but lately it feels as though the regulars are pretty old here. I'm no longer in my 20s and the boss (chaos) is a fellow oldie. There are several regulars who are well into their 30s as well.

R

 

[Ath]

Out of interest how old are you folks? I suspect the demographic here's a bit younger than that other Anime forum I'm a member of.

Where is "that" other anime forum? Because I'd say this one has a higher average age of regular poster than 98% of the others.

UKA, most of the regulars are late 20's-30's. I'm 31 myself.

I may be entirely wrong but for some reason I get an early-mid 20's vibe from most folks here.

Another 23 year old here. I thought everyone was about mid 20's when I started posting at UKA, but without knowing ages I just have a tendency to assume I'm talking to people around my age group anyway.

 

[ilmaestro]

Out of interest how old are you folks? I suspect the demographic here's a bit younger than that other Anime forum I'm a member of.

Where is "that" other anime forum? Because I'd say this one has a higher average age of regular poster than 98% of the others.

UKA, most of the regulars are late 20's-30's. I'm 31 myself.

I may be entirely wrong but for some reason I get an early-mid 20's vibe from most folks here.

That's the one demo I get the fewest vibes from in this forum, haha. There are a few newer regs who seem (to me) to still be in their late teens or very early twenties, and the older regs are all (either to my actual knowledge, or my assumed knowledge) late-20s or older. Certainly most of the people posting in the last few pages of this thread, anyway.

 

[megalomaniac]

Heh, well that'd make me wrong then....I did say I might be. Though the two 23 yr olds are in the right bracket at least. Seems to me that much like gaming the average age of the anime fan is steadily increasing, a broader demographic can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. It always bugs me when games & anime get written off as for kids.

 

[mangaman74]

We used to have a lot more late teens/early 20s but lately it feels as though the regulars are pretty old here. I'm no longer in my 20s and the boss (chaos) is a fellow oldie. There are several regulars who are well into their 30s as well.

R

Stop looking in my direction Rui (says the person in his late 30s).

 

[ilmaestro]

Heh, well that'd make me wrong then....I did say I might be.

No, I'm not 100% sure myself (although I am 90% sure, haha), I thought it was interesting to see how someone newly browsing the forum might see it.

Seems to me that much like gaming the average age of the anime fan is steadily increasing, a broader demographic can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. It always bugs me when games & anime get written off as for kids.

I would agree (although it depends a bit on what you mean by "average", I suppose).

I think this is a function of the waves in which anime and gaming became popular, and which group of people you therefore associate yourself with. I don't think there is any real change in the number of university-age or younger fans (maybe there are fewer than when DBZ was at the height of its popularity, I'm not sure), and certainly no change in the number of anime and games that are fairly deliberately "for kids", it's just that fewer people are "dropping" anime and gaming as they get older, since they are growing up in social groups where these things are increasingly acceptable, and where the product is being produced and promoted by people who also grew up enjoying it.

There is a sense of inevitability to this in any hobby that has enough value to persist over a decent stretch of time, and retain the support of people who get into it as a child or young adult - I'm sure that the average age of model train builders would have been comparatively pretty young when that first became a "thing", and I've noticed the same trend in the groups of people I've met since I started playing Magic: The Gathering.

 

[BlackWolf]

Hmm I don't feel so bad about only turning 26 in a few months (though the arrival of my son in the same timespan makes me think otherwise) after seeing the ages of my fellow posters.

Seems to me that much like gaming the average age of the anime fan is steadily increasing, a broader demographic can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned. It always bugs me when games & anime get written off as for kids.

I would agree (although it depends a bit on what you mean by "average", I suppose).

I think this is a function of the waves in which anime and gaming became popular, and which group of people you therefore associate yourself with. I don't think there is any real change in the number of university-age or younger fans (maybe there are fewer than when DBZ was at the height of its popularity, I'm not sure), and certainly no change in the number of anime and games that are fairly deliberately "for kids", it's just that fewer people are "dropping" anime and gaming as they get older, since they are growing up in social groups where these things are increasingly acceptable, and where the product is being produced and promoted by people who also grew up enjoying it.

There is a sense of inevitability to this in any hobby that has enough value to persist over a decent stretch of time, and retain the support of people who get into it as a child or young adult - I'm sure that the average age of model train builders would have been comparatively pretty young when that first became a "thing", and I've noticed the same trend in the groups of people I've met since I started playing Magic: The Gathering.

That seems pretty acurate, I'm now part of a social group where I can indulge in my anime fandom a lot less easier then a few years ago where I felt I had to hide it from the others. This wasn't because I was ashamed per say, just that I knew their reaction and back then I didn't have the backbone I have to simply say "so what?" to their jokes. The night I told them I belonged to a roleplaying group...The amount of jokes they pulled from it proved that they may of been my age but they were acting a fair few years younger then it.

With your example of Magic: The Gathering, back in it's infancy the average age of it's gamers was actually in the mid twenties as it was targeted to roleplayers. It quickly spread of course.

 

[ilmaestro]

I think in the super early days of MTG, sure. But in the super early days of Western anime, the audience was even older and even more predominantly white-male dominated as it was picked up first by Star Trek/general SF fans. I think for both, once they moved to a more commercial setup and actually started to, as you say, spread and gain some kind of popularity, either the target audience or the largest audience became high school aged kids and has only started to trend back upwards in recent years (it's interesting that this has been reflected in Pro Magic, too, with a few big-name players coming back after years away from the Pro Tour).

 

[BlackWolf]

For Magic at least, it's the way that the current formats have been designed, to reignite the interest that many of the older players lost throughout all of Magic's changes (wether it be from new themes, new card types or even the change of the card frames themselves). In this current MTG enirovment it's good to see that new players can compete against older players on an even playing field (of sorts, Standard is quite fair but like most card games having the right cards helps quite a lot) Of course having a new player compete against a pro in Draft and the odds are evened even more as the card pool can make or break a game.

There's also another trend that may be worth noting. The older anime/(MTG fans to carry on the talk) grew up and had kids, which a percent of which became the new generation. I've seen it happen. In fact it doesn't have to be kids, younger/older siblings. I was introduced to Roleplaying/Wargaming/MTG via my older brother, who has two kids of his own, the youngest of which has shown an interest in magic (and they both like Studio Ghibli movies...) In fact she even beat two of my friends when I looked after her last

...Also we may need a dedicated MTG thread at some point ilmaestro...I do enjoy talking about it.

 

[ilmaestro]

There's also another trend that may be worth noting. The older anime/(MTG fans to carry on the talk) grew up and had kids, which a percent of which became the new generation. I've seen it happen. In fact it doesn't have to be kids, younger/older siblings. I was introduced to Roleplaying/Wargaming/MTG via my older brother, who has two kids of his own, the youngest of which has shown an interest in magic (and they both like Studio Ghibli movies...) In fact she even beat two of my friends when I looked after her last

Very true, this is why I don't think it would be accurate to say flat-out that anime fandom (or MTG) is now "older", there are just extra groups of fans without (hopefully) impacting too much on its popularity within areas that it has flourished over the last ten years.

...Also we may need a dedicated MTG thread at some point ilmaestro...I do enjoy talking about it.

I think that's probably a good idea. :s