I used to have a job adjacent to the gaming industry, I went in a number of gaming stores to try to find partners for the products we were selling.
I could talk at length how sad and strange gaming stores are, but I just wanted to share one incident where I was in Phoenix in August and entered a small shop in a business plaza that looked relatively clean and new on the outside.
On opening the door I was hit with the worst BO wave that has ever crashed over me, and having been in gaming stores before, this says a lot. There were some young guys sitting at tables surrounded by backpacks, which I can only assume were full of fermented roadkill, and playing various games, looking up curiously as I tried my best to smile and nod a greeting. My eyes watered and I left immediately because I felt like I was going to vomit.
I checked up on the store 6 months later and it had closed doors pretty fast. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t get business.
The memes and jokes are not an exaggeration. Gamer boys are TERRIBLE at self-care and hygiene. I don’t know why it’s so hard to reinforce the concept to people that just because you can’t smell yourself, it doesn’t mean you don’t smell, you NEED to shower, change clothes, all of them, including and especially socks and underwear, and you need to clean your fucking rooms, your rooms are stink nests and that smell seeps into EVERYTHING.
You know how angry incels will vomit spiels online how frustrated they are that they get the advice to “just shower?” I love this common exchange because I know for a fact that probably more than half of these boys screaming online how nobody wants to touch their weewee are also completely disgusting and do nothing to maintain and manage themselves.
When my parents bought their house, there were hoarders renting out the lower flat. when they opened the door, it smelled awful. Kids being kids, I just flat out asked one of their kids “Why does your flat stink so much?”. They told me, it does not stink ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. So you can get insensitive about stuff like that.
On another note: my wife can taste stuff I cannot taste. I can see better than other folks while my hearing is really bad. So senses work differently for different humans. So while I can smell myself as well, that does not need to hold true for others.
My theory was that it was so many teenagers traveling a long way to a big tournament who couldn’t afford to just get a hotel room the night before. So they’d sleep at their friends house or whatever, and then just show up in whatever condition.
But having the problem at the local game shop kind of defeats that theory.
I used to have a job adjacent to the gaming industry, I went in a number of gaming stores to try to find partners for the products we were selling.
I could talk at length how sad and strange gaming stores are, but I just wanted to share one incident where I was in Phoenix in August and entered a small shop in a business plaza that looked relatively clean and new on the outside.
On opening the door I was hit with the worst BO wave that has ever crashed over me, and having been in gaming stores before, this says a lot. There were some young guys sitting at tables surrounded by backpacks, which I can only assume were full of fermented roadkill, and playing various games, looking up curiously as I tried my best to smile and nod a greeting. My eyes watered and I left immediately because I felt like I was going to vomit.
I checked up on the store 6 months later and it had closed doors pretty fast. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t get business.
The memes and jokes are not an exaggeration. Gamer boys are TERRIBLE at self-care and hygiene. I don’t know why it’s so hard to reinforce the concept to people that just because you can’t smell yourself, it doesn’t mean you don’t smell, you NEED to shower, change clothes, all of them, including and especially socks and underwear, and you need to clean your fucking rooms, your rooms are stink nests and that smell seeps into EVERYTHING.
You know how angry incels will vomit spiels online how frustrated they are that they get the advice to “just shower?” I love this common exchange because I know for a fact that probably more than half of these boys screaming online how nobody wants to touch their weewee are also completely disgusting and do nothing to maintain and manage themselves.
The thing is you can smell yourself. I can smell when I stink. How can you not notice that rancid smell following you is you?
When my parents bought their house, there were hoarders renting out the lower flat. when they opened the door, it smelled awful. Kids being kids, I just flat out asked one of their kids “Why does your flat stink so much?”. They told me, it does not stink ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. So you can get insensitive about stuff like that.
On another note: my wife can taste stuff I cannot taste. I can see better than other folks while my hearing is really bad. So senses work differently for different humans. So while I can smell myself as well, that does not need to hold true for others.
Went to PAX, the rest of the convention floor smelled fine. The smell at the tabletop game floor hit hard.
My theory was that it was so many teenagers traveling a long way to a big tournament who couldn’t afford to just get a hotel room the night before. So they’d sleep at their friends house or whatever, and then just show up in whatever condition.
But having the problem at the local game shop kind of defeats that theory.