KOMPUTERSYAP: A HOME FOR THE NEGLECTED.
Before we get to the golden era of internet cafe games in The Philippines, we must turn back time in order to understand why it happened.
Thirty or so years before the year 2000, and event happened that would make a lot of Filipinos live very miserable lives. This is of course is Proclamation No. 1081, The proclamation and the beginning of Martial law.
We will not dive deep into it and will just take key points. Martial law Tyranny lasted for fourteen years ending in the year of 1986 and while it did not end in a bloody fight, it did left The Philippines in a really bad state which would take years for it to truly recover.
As you would have guessed, these people born years before and within this event did not have a very fun childhood. These people would then become the parents of the luckiest generation, the 90s kids.
90s kids are among one of the luckiest bastards in the entire history of humanity, not only did they get to hold the most groundbreaking mobile phone in the whole history of the world, The Nokia 3310, but they were also the first to be able to stream hentai off the internet.
Okay back to topic,
The 90s, a time where most household in The Philippines have telephones, televisions, everything to have fun, it's there. The demographic which would be the parents of the 90s kids are having fun in their 20s, partying, dancing and doing other fun social activities they weren't able to when they were younger.
But of course they would also have children, and having children means you won't be able to join fun social events. the concept of daycare centers weren't fully realized yet, most 90s kids have Yayas/maids. So while the parents of the 90s kids go partying, The 90s kids are left playing Famicon at home with relatives or yayas.
You heard that right, Famicon/NES, the 90s kids have access to the first plug and play home entertainment system.
But we are not here for gaming history, we are here for KOMPUTERSYAP HISTORY!
Parents of the 90s kids have reached their 30s and with it, their capability to dance have also diminished with a risk on hurting their backs. Could you guess what social event replaced dancing? IT'S BINGO!
A Bingo Center in a mall is a social gathering of people in their 20s or 30s, and it is packed! It's not hard to imagine considering The Philippines having one of the most population dense cities in the world.
Enter Playstation 1, in the year 1995. one of the best consoles in gaming history. If the parents are playing bingo on the third floor of the mall, the children are playing Playstation 1s on the second floor. These Playstation rental charge by the hour, it was cheap alternative to daycare center. That is how it thrive! This is how it begins!
Enter Playstation 2, in the year 2000, same thing as above. But there's a new contender in the mall, Personal Computers, while games such as counter strike or Quake 3 weren't quite here yet, Virtua Fighters and Virtua Cop were! and so are a handful of Dos games.
Year of 2001, this is where everything changed. This is the year Counter-Strike 1.3 was released to the wild. teenagers(not 90s kids PWEH!) are starting to migrate from console singleplayer games to competitive multiplayer PC games, these are Counter- Strike, Quake 3 Arena, Age of Empires, Age of Wonders and Starcraft.
Heh! people were still using the best Windows Version ever, Windows 98 Second Edition.
These separated the kids from the big boys, from controllers to keyboard + mouse combo.
Years go by and PC games are getting better and better, one of them is Diablo 2, a time where people carry diskettes just save their progress.
And as years go by so did the 90s kids, now teenagers able to read and comprehend basic english words such as [Start Game] and [Press Any Key to Continue.]
But how did the KOMPUTERSHAP became a culture? Neglected children, as the parents of these children went to their social activities, the children are forced to fend to themselves, looking for love and acceptance. these PC RENTAL CAFEs became a second home to these children, a place for children to play with other children, a place to become the best counter-strike player to be acknowledge by everyone. They found Love, They found attention, They found Happiness.
And then in 2003, Ragnarok Online Cometh. Online Gaming, Online Chats, hell there's even Videocam Chatrooms by Yahoo Messenger. these socially starve teenagers have a new way to quell their hunger. Online Love Scams~ Chiksilogs~ Real Money Trading~ it's all here.
There was also an inside joke that people who plays M.U. Online are Matandang Ungas. heh.
And then in 2004, happened Dota Allstars. a game where good players are revered as gods, a team-based game that forged deep friendships, In Counter-Strike you just aim an shoot, but Dota Allstars, one game of this is like a story, an adventure, full of camaraderie.
It's not until 2007, that Dota Allstars would seal the deal as the best KOMPUTERSHAP game ever with the introduction of Garena/Virtual Lans. Specially the Shop2Shop setup, where team of five players in one KOMPUTERSHAP fight another team of five players in another KOMPUTERSHAP. Counter-Strike is essentially dead by this time, replaced by Crossfire.
That was the prime of KOMPUTERSYAP Culture.
2008, Herooes of Newerth,
2009, League of Legends,
2010, Dota 2.
three games that require you to be online, not LAN. these games have steep hardware requirements as well, not sustainable for the competitive pricing that exist in KOMPUTERSHAPS
This golden era of KOMPUTERSHAP was about to end and so begins the era of Mobile Gaming.
by 2009, Plants vs Zombies for android was released. Smartphones were getting cheaper and powerful.
by 2012, Clash of Clans~
by 2016, Mobile Legends was released and the culture of KOMPUTERSHAP was all just a novelty~
And so Ends my Story about KOMPUTERSYAP culture~
The end.
I didn't proofread.