While it may seem that gaming is a widespread pursuit practised by pretty much everyone, there are certain pockets of society that have no knowledge of Red Dead Redemption or what a Master Chief is! But then there are those who are firmly in the era of Sonic the Hedgehog and retro gaming. If you have made the most of your lockdown effectively you have, no doubt, expanded your gaming horizons. But with various lockdowns coming in and out of force, now is the perfect opportunity for everybody to expand their gaming horizons. For those retro gamers, how can you guide them in the right direction?

Bring Out the Big Guns

You can choose to acclimatize the individual or you can just get them a PS5 right away! We all know that keeping abreast of changes in the gaming world is all about the latest and greatest. And why don’t you bring out the big guns right away? But a word of caution for the retro gamer who thinks they can easily plug in a control pad and get going; it’s about so much more than a modest cartridge. It is all about expansion packs and external hard drives. And this means for those retro gamers that want to improve their experience, they’ve got to continue to purchase the additional extensions and hard drives if they want to get the most out of it. You can purchase plenty of external hard drives, and the great thing about most of these external hard drives is that they are compatible with PS5. The PS5 is the latest and greatest, so if you want to bring them firmly into the present, purchase this for them as a present!

Using Benchmarks That They Know

A retro gamer has a very limited frame of reference. For those gamers who are over the age of 45, their knowledge may only go up to 1995. There are people who didn’t even have a PlayStation One! If you want to get a retro gamer into the modern world of gaming, it is important to use retro references to ignite their understanding. Modern gaming can be a very cliquey endeavour, so make sure that they can use their old knowledge to their advantage. If they spent their childhood on the NES or the SNES, the Nintendo Switch is still repackaging the old formats. And any retro gamer will always tell you that the old ones are the best. With Mario being repurposed every few years and even when you start to look at something like the DS, for all of its faults, the Mario packages on there feel exactly the same as the Mario All-Stars and original Mario games back in the 80s and early 90s! In fact, if you look at the contemporary versions, they are so much easier. This is, arguably, one of the biggest benefits to the retro gamer. We don’t know we were born! We have so many save options and yes, while the difficulty has increased somewhat, think about the poor retro gamer who was always burdened by having to pause their game when they were so close to the end to have their tea, or even worse, a power cut meant they had to start all over again!

There’s Plenty of Great Games on Mobile Devices

You can play great games online and for the retro gamer that’s not got much time on their hands to get into modern gaming, this is probably the best way to retrain their senses. There are plenty of fantastic packages on mobile devices these days. And even the basic games can be a gateway to a whole new world. For the retro gamer, the Sonic packages are just as good as their retro counterparts, if not better! It is the stepping stone from a mobile device to a Nintendo Switch. So even games that have a massive impact from your Candy Crush type games as well as Pokémon Go, these can turn your phone into a super machine. Any might be worth reminding the retro gamer that they can get a controller for their phone. The touch screen experience is incredibly limited.

The Human Factor of Modern Games

Something that retro gamers will have no knowledge of in the modern world is the wide variety of RPGs that go beyond Final Fantasy 1, 2, and 3 on the Mega Drive. Games are now a more immersive experience in comparison to 25 years ago! A game like Perception is an amazing experience that isn’t just an RPG with some scares, but it’s a visceral horror. Playing the part of a blind woman navigating through a mansion using echolocation is something that was unheard of 30 years ago! Speak to anyoine that grew up in the heyday of the 1990s and they will still tell you how amazing Flashback was! And in fact, if you’ve never played Flashback, now is your time! But now we have to look at the human qualities of any game, in conjunction with its playability and plot points. And while we can be very snobbish and talk about the gaming world now in comparison to a few decades ago, we can learn from retro games as well. Look at the classics like Mario 64. It was absolutely mind-blowing at the time! And it still makes many people’s top 5. It’s as much a lesson for us as it is for the retro gamer. So if you want to create a symbiotic relationship with a retro gamer, it’s so important to remember that they had it much harder than us!
So whether you are looking to get your parents into modern gaming or they need brushing up on their knowledge, there is plenty to get involved in. And no doubt they will tell you that the 8-bit experience is better and mind-blowing. And while realism in modern games is improving all of the time, we’ve got to tip our hats to the older generations. 8-bit gaming is rough around the edges, but it laid the foundations for everything that we know of today.

Young and upcoming writers often mirror the writing style of famous authors in their work. This method helps them improve and develop theirs in the future. Some of these writing attributes young creators emulate include critical themes, language, and delivery. Having a source of inspiration to build your work is the foundation for developing your writing skills, but many students interpret this practice wrongly. Here, this write-up provides you with how you can correctly use an inspirational source in your work as a young writer.

The Risk of Emulating Other Writers

Falling Prey to Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a critical pitfall you should try to avoid when emulating other’s work. Many writers, especially college students, fall prey to unoriginality while writing essays, thesis, and other literary pieces. The educational sector and society frown upon such acts, which is why university students always check essay for plagiarism after writing. Most literary pieces are voluminous, so it’s possible to inadvertently plagiarise from your source of inspiration. So, you must review your work after writing.

Becoming an Unknown Clone

There’s a chance that you can get lost among the numerous other writers who copy a master’s style. Readers can’t tell the difference and might feel it’s just another run-of-the-mill follower. To avoid such a scenario, it’s helpful to be creative and not just adopt the themes or manner of delivery. Switching up perspective from your inspiration is an excellent way to add creativity and ingenuity to your write-up.

Stay Out of Touch with Current Trends

Taking inspiration or trying to adopt the writing skills of famous writers, especially those from a previous generation can lead to you staying out of touch with the current art trends. Find a way to balance both sides, developing a style that keeps with the current and popular approach while doing justice to your inspirational source.

How to Correctly Use Source of Inspiration

Understanding the difference between following, plagiarism, and interpretation is critical to correctly using your source of inspiration. Excellent writers always strive to achieve the latter, as here you don’t copy your mentor’s concept, text, or plots but emulate their style and approach. In regards to following someone’s art expression, writers imitate their source’s perspective and ideas.

Plagiarism is unethical; you should avoid it and practice proper citation during any projects such as a college paper, research pieces, and more. It’s okay to start with following an art expression, as many writers begin with imitation before moving on to emulation. The latter is the basis for content creators looking to find and build their style.

It’s best to identify the writing attributes that fascinate you from your sources. You can emulate various literary aspects of your mentor’s work, such as how they connect their paragraphs, describe events, their language, and more. Here’s a list of these attributes.

Vocabulary

What vocabulary does your mentor use in their work? Do they use complex or simple words?

Sentences

What’s the length of their sentences and how rich are their descriptions?

Use of Figurative Language

Using figurative language in literature helps bring your text to life. You can emulate the delivery of various figures of speech in their work.

Transitions

How does your mentor connect plots, paragraphs, and sentences?

How Young Creators can Protect Their Work from Plagiarism

You can unintentionally fall prey to plagiarism, and subsequently, lose credibility on your write-ups. It’s critical to practice the following to avoid such scenarios.

• Note all sources during research.
• Practice proper citation and referencing.
• Exercise caution if imitating rather than emulating other’s work.
• Scan your written pieces for plagiarism after completion.

Final Thoughts

It’s critical to keep your work free from plagiarism. Failing to maintain originality can undermine your efforts as a creator and lower your credibility. You can correctly reflect an inspirational source in your art by practicing emulation and interpretation.