Comments on: The Latent Object http://tleaves.com/2004/11/17/the-latent-object/ Creativity x Technology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:09:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jon http://tleaves.com/2004/11/17/the-latent-object/comment-page-1/#comment-735 Jon Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:54:20 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=239#comment-735 I'm a sucker for cheap PS1 puzzle games off the preowned rack. They're never very good, but at least they're only $3. I have spent the last month trying each of them in order, realizing that I'll never want to play them again. Even at $1 apiece, I'm halfway to the store credit for GTA:SA! Hooray for shopping! I’m a sucker for cheap PS1 puzzle games off the preowned rack. They’re never very good, but at least they’re only $3. I have spent the last month trying each of them in order, realizing that I’ll never want to play them again. Even at $1 apiece, I’m halfway to the store credit for GTA:SA! Hooray for shopping!

]]> By: peterb http://tleaves.com/2004/11/17/the-latent-object/comment-page-1/#comment-734 peterb Thu, 18 Nov 2004 01:40:53 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=239#comment-734 I remember reading an interview with Kate Bush where she was describing her reaction upon hearing Pink Floyd's _The Wall_ album. She said something along the lines of "I went into a deep depression for nearly a year, and didn't write a note of music, thinking to myself 'Right, well that's that. There's really no point in making any more music ever, is there?' That's how perfect I thought that album was." As I sit back and read this article, I am having approximately that same feeling. Because you're right -- only part of being a gamer is about playing games. The other half is about _shopping_. Today, on that same chat system, I was musing about the possibility of buying _Eternal Darkness_ for the Gamecube, a game I already borrowed and finished. Just because it was inexpensive: "So i'd basically be buying it to replay through to see the other endings, or, more accurately, to buy it so it can sit on my shelf and i can not play it and feel stupid." To quote Talking Heads: shopping is a feeling. Of course this isn't limited to games. It's what all marketing is based around. I haven't drunk a Coke in years, but on a hot summer day, when I see a Coke billboard, I feel the pull of the Latent Coke. It's only after many years of hard work and consciousness raising that I've realized that the Latent Coke is better than any actual Coke I've ever had. To widen it even further, and twist it a bit: how many people leave relationships because the latent romance that they haven't yet obtained seems more alluring than the real (and therefore by definition flawed) relationship they are in? We are strange creatures, indeed. I remember reading an interview with Kate Bush where she was describing her reaction upon hearing Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_ album. She said something along the lines of “I went into a deep depression for nearly a year, and didn’t write a note of music, thinking to myself ‘Right, well that’s that. There’s really no point in making any more music ever, is there?’ That’s how perfect I thought that album was.”

As I sit back and read this article, I am having approximately that same feeling.

Because you’re right — only part of being a gamer is about playing games. The other half is about _shopping_. Today, on that same chat system, I was musing about the possibility of buying _Eternal Darkness_ for the Gamecube, a game I already borrowed and finished. Just because it was inexpensive: “So i’d basically be buying it to replay through to see the other endings, or, more accurately, to buy it so it can sit on my shelf and i can not play it and feel stupid.”

To quote Talking Heads: shopping is a feeling.

Of course this isn’t limited to games. It’s what all marketing is based around. I haven’t drunk a Coke in years, but on a hot summer day, when I see a Coke billboard, I feel the pull of the Latent Coke. It’s only after many years of hard work and consciousness raising that I’ve realized that the Latent Coke is better than any actual Coke I’ve ever had.

To widen it even further, and twist it a bit: how many people leave relationships because the latent romance that they haven’t yet obtained seems more alluring than the real (and therefore by definition flawed) relationship they are in?

We are strange creatures, indeed.

]]> By: Eric Tilton http://tleaves.com/2004/11/17/the-latent-object/comment-page-1/#comment-733 Eric Tilton Thu, 18 Nov 2004 01:15:15 +0000 http://tleaves.com/?p=239#comment-733 "Luckily" -- ha! “Luckily” — ha!

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