people back in 2008 really had to go into one of these if they wanted to jerk off and shitpost on AOL or whatever oldfags used back then
Nah brah we had broadband at home back then.
>>750742119I think a lot of people had a home computer with some shitty internet at the timeWhen I was ~6 years old my older brother showed me The Ultimate Showdown when it was still new and it became a foundational memory
>>750742119More like 1998
>>750742221I'm trying to remember when our lan centre went bust, I think like 2005 maybe. It was dead by 2004 here locally at least. I'm sure it was different elsewhere but yeah 2008 is a stretch.
>>750742119In 2008 I was having pedophiles buy 15 year old me premium website subscriptions over MSN messenger
>>750742119Only poorfags ever used these
>>750742119What the fuck was the point of the internet cafe in this game? Last time I saw an internet cafe was in like 2003. Because we had a home PC (since 1998) maybe that’s why I didn’t see any after that. I wasn’t exactly looking out for one
>>750742119By 2008 the internet was solved. Internet cafes weren't due to primitive internet, rather just a vestige of older gens still expecting socialization in the real world. We now lament the death of third spaces - this was their last ditch effort to exist.
>>7507421192008 was way too late for internet cafes in new york
>>750745180Despite the prevelence of social media the internet "cafe" still exists in asian countries. Many students gather there after class to play video games
>>750742119it was really only jewyork that tried opening these, as some gay luxury hangout spot I assume. The most I've honestly seen the concept was in this game.
>>750745269these places are the opposite of luxury
>>750745251Honestly based of them. Being in the presence of other humans is a pretty crucial end of our collective soul and we are sorely missing it right now.
>>750745269They're still popular in asia
>>750742119tw@ isn't real, anon
>>750745251>Despite the prevelence of social media the internet "cafe" still exists in asian countriesI've always found that odd. In all the time I've spent playing video games I've never thought to myself "wow, this game would be so much better if I was playing it in front of a bunch of random strangers!"
>>750745296Mileage varies state to state I'm sure but I'm with the other Anons associating this more with hipsters going out to try and recreate scenes from Friends and failing.The poors here used libraries to send out resumes.
>>750745328I wish m8 it's saturday it's all out in manchester tonight wahey.
>>750745342If you've never attended a LAN party it's hard to understand. When your friend is sitting right next to you and your opponent is across from you it creates a dynamic that's just euphoric. Feels like real combat, you can look directly into their eyes
>>750742119People used porn mags to fap not internet.
>>750745509crazy to think up until like two decades ago people were living in the dark ages of porn and had to jerk off to pictures of naked ladies like sailors jerking off to curvy pieces of driftwood.
>>750745296I'm sure that's how it ended up. It's just that the notion of an internet cafe was a retarded business for the west even back then, so it would make sense for hipsters and women to push for a useless thing just for vanity.
>>750745556Dude I jerked off to a pen with a naked woman on it, when you turned it upside down her clothes came off
>>750745141There's a mission Niko has to set up a date with a gay guy to murder him
>>750745269>Only JewyorkAre you geniunely like 12 years old?cibercafes were like literally everywhere before like 2010
>>750745652This plus it was just the novelty. Browsing the "internet" in a game was unheard of and added to immersion
>>750742119Even by 2003, just under half of all American households had Broadband Internet access, By 2008, it was closer to three quarters. But internet connected cell phones with true desktop parity-level features weren't established in the market yet. The original iPhone had just released, wealthy people were still mostly in the Blackberry ecosystem, and most of the rest were using flip phones, if they had a cell phone at all.Which is to say, these internet cafes existed in small numbers in urban contexts to let people access a faster internet connection or a more powerful PC than they might have at home or in their office. And to some small extent, to allow people who had neither a cell phone or PC to access the internet for personal or professional reasons. Meaning they were usually full of dickheads looking for jobs or trying to stalk people.
>>750745652>>750745652>>750745652>mfw Roman died;_;7
>>750745690Okay include all faggy cities then, but they weren't "literally everywhere". Every normal family had their own PC.
>>750745705Yeah, its pretty cool.There's even a honeypot CP site that when you try to visit automatically gives you max wanted level kek.
>>750745705One of the highlights of my last GTA IV playthrough was just surfing the web and finding all the cool little sites Rockstar put into the game. Stuff like that and just watching the TV in Niko's apartment has always been so cool to me.
>>750745770>But internet connected cell phones with true desktop parity-level features weren't established in the market yet.Palm and Windows Mobile PDAs were around for ages, NAD even dumb phones except the cheapest ones usually supported J2ME.
>>750745342It's because they live with their parents and can't be seen gaming all day.
>>750745460LAN parties are different to PC cafes generally speaking. Not many Cafes are running cash money tournaments where you play only against the people in the same building.
>>750746054They depicted that in Doom 3 back in 2004. Technology back then, especially in gaming and handheld phones, progressed incredibly quickly compared to today
>>750746110Yeah true but your whole friend group could be playing the same game after class while another friend group of classmates does the same. LAN is still an option
>>750745119Wish I still had that screenshot of (((people of wealth))) mass-congregating in tw@ to prove you wrong, alas I've lost it. Randomization does very funny things in this game sometimes.
