frenchfrynoob

@frenchfrynoob@lemmy.world

This is a remote user, information on this page may be incomplete. View at Source ↗

⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago⁩:
Thank you for your suggestion, it’s very helpful. However, the article was indeed mostly typed by hand; the AI only polished the grammar. Perhaps it’s due to cultural differences.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨30⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago⁩:
“I sincerely want to ask a question. I posted something today — hey, genuine question, not trying to argue.

I shared this piece because I truly thought the Chinese net cafe CF culture and stories like Aunt Juan were interesting enough to be seen by people outside China. Even if it’s niche, I put real effort into writing it.

So when the reply is just ‘I read the first 2 sentences and now I have cancer’ — what do you actually hope to achieve? Does that kind of response make the internet a better place, or does it just make people less willing to share their own cultures and experiences?

I’m honestly curious about your perspective.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨46⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago⁩:
yes
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
Haha fair enough guys, my bad.

This is clearly way too niche for most people here. Chinese net cafe CF culture doesn’t translate well

Appreciate the ones who read it. Lesson learned — shorter posts next time.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
TL;DR: CF is a popular Chinese FPS where some veteran players have insane aim thanks to the game’s chaotic design. Just sharing a fun old net cafe culture story, that’s all!
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
In recent years, we’ve had quite a few CS players. Personally, I think the problem you mentioned is relatively easy to solve.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
That’s why veteran CF players often talk about the “principal carry culture”—where one player leads the entire team to victory. It’s not a disregard for tactics, but rather a reflection of how the game’s mechanics reward extreme levels of individual skill. On the other hand, what CS players take pride in—default map control and the trade kill chain—are the fruits born from a different set of mechanics.

Neither is superior to the other; they’re just different flowers blooming from different soil. Respect every FPS player’s understanding of their game, and next time you wonder why CF is played the way it is, I hope you’ll appreciate it from a mechanical perspective.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
Here’s an interesting perspective that might answer your questions.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
Haha, yeah I know it sounds ridiculous — a bunch of “Principals” just dry peeking and destroying people while the tactical gods get owned. We Chinese players openly admit this style has big limitations.

The truth is: dry pulling looks insanely strong in CF only because the game is literally built for it.
- Almost every wall can be shot through
- Super low ping in net cafes
- Respawns are ridiculously dense (you kill one guy and the next is already shooting you in the back)
- Pub matches don’t really need utility or team play
In that kind of chaos, raw aim, reaction time and balls matter way more than smart tactics. Even a very tactical Western player would probably get farmed at 3 a.m. on Victory Square

We know it wouldn’t work well in proper CS. That’s exactly why we say: CF taught us how to be fast, but not how to be smart. Respect to actual tactical shooters.

Just sharing our weird net cafe culture, no cap.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago⁩:
Thanks for reading (or at least clicking)! If you have any questions about CF or Chinese gaming culture, feel free to ask. Always happy to talk about old FPS memories.
“Think you’re decent at CS? Queue up on CF’s Victory Square and the Principals will show you what’s up.”lemmy.world ↗
Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩ | ⁨13⁩ ⁨comments⁩
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Finally bought a physical PS2 copy of Most Wanted — for the kid in China who couldn't pay back then⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“Just to clarify — I know buying a used PS2 copy doesn’t support the devs financially. It’s more like a personal ritual, a way to say ‘thank you’ to the version of me who played this on a cracked disc. Totally understand if that doesn’t make sense to others.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Finally bought a physical PS2 copy of Most Wanted — for the kid in China who couldn't pay back then⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“Just to clarify — I know buying a used PS2 copy doesn’t support the devs financially. It’s more like a personal ritual, a way to say ‘thank you’ to the version of me who played this on a cracked disc. Totally understand if that doesn’t make sense to others.”
"When 'P5 is the best' meets Yakuza 7: Tattooed, unemployed, and accidentally chuunibyou"lemmy.world ↗
Submitted ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩ | ⁨0⁩ ⁨comments⁩
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
"I’ll add a picture of a Subor learning machine. Even though what we played back in the day were bootlegs, our love for gaming was still real Image
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
Blowing on game cartridges and smacking old TVs seemed to work mainly because reinserting the cartridge improved the connection, while the smacking temporarily fixed loose solder joints in aging CRT televisions — it wasn’t the blowing or hitting itself that actually did the trick.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“You can play it, but it’s a bit of a hassle. The official version has given away some DLCs, but it’s just not that popular in China.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
However, it’s worth noting that the first generation of Chinese Paladin (or The Legend of Sword and Fairy) is only available in Chinese on Steam, with no official English translation. There are fan-made English patches, but their quality varies. Starting from the fourth generation onward, some later titles gradually added official English subtitle support. For example, Chinese Paladin VI had an international version with English language options. If you want to try a version with English support, it’s recommended to start with the sixth generation."
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“The early Chinese game market was indeed quite chaotic, but the situation has improved a lot now.

When it comes to the impact of bad games on the market, I think China’s Blood Lion is a classic example — it was so bad that it made many people lose faith in domestic single-player games for a while.

As for excellent Chinese games, The Legend of Sword and Fairy (Chinese Paladin) truly showcases a unique kind of romance that is distinctly Chinese. This romance is very different from JRPG stories — it’s more about chivalric culture and the emotional ties of the jianghu (the martial world).”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“We have a Reddit-like forum called Baidu Tieba (Baidu Post Bar), which features Chinese-language content and has very few posting rules. However, a common posting habit there is to break a long article into multiple short replies. I’m also getting familiar with the forum culture of Lemmy.

The timeline of this article is as follows: Subor Game Console, stories from arcade halls, PS2 rental shops, PSP handheld study rooms, the game console ban and the war on Internet addiction, the rise of Steam and support for legitimate games, and finally a Q&A section.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“Personal blogs are not very popular in China. I posted the Chinese version on Gcores, which is a pretty good gaming media website.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
yes
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
thank you
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
The VCD300 carried the childhood memories of countless children from impoverished families, allowing them to access the outside world and experience simple joys through discs in an era of material scarcity
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
Thank you for sharing sincerely
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
Tomorrow I’m planning to write a short piece about how a simple translation difference created an unexpected connection between two games that couldn’t be more different in style. The way Chinese gamers turned that into a running joke really says something about our sense of humor — self-aware, playful, and deeply rooted in the quirks of language.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
I’d like to learn more about foreign gaming meme culture and emojis — where people share them, how they evolve, that sort of thing. Do you have any recommendations on where I should go to observe and participate? And out of curiosity, where doyoupersonally go for gaming memes?
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hi everyone, I'm French Fry Noob – a 1999 Chinese gamer⁩ ⁨⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
“I personally feel that Chinese players care more about gameplay experience when it comes to EA, while they tend to be pickier about operations and originality when it comes to online game companies like Tencent. So even though EA often gets criticized, I’m still looking forward to them doing a good job with series like Battlefield and FC.”
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
A Final Note

China did have a few homegrown consoles with big ambitions — the Little Tyrant Z, Battleaxe, Snail OBOX. I never got to play any myself. From what I’ve read and heard, their problems were similar: they approached console making with the mindset of PCs, mobile games, or online games. The result: almost no game ecosystem, weak hardware, low value. In the end, they missed their target audience. It’s a pity. I hope future builders learn from those lessons. Maybe one day the console market won’t be just three giants, but four, five, even more. Looking back, those “failures” might not seem so worthless after all.

Imagine this: for the first fifteen years of your life, there are almost no legitimate console games within the law of your country. No official channels, no store counters, no advertisements. To play games, your only choices are smuggled goods and pirated copies. So when Steam — a legal, convenient, respectful gateway — finally opened, we rushed in with near-frenzy to buy games, including countless older titles we had missed. Not to “atone.” Not purely out of compensation. But because for the first time, we had the chance to be seen and respected by the game industry as ordinary consumers. “Paying back the ticket” was never a cheap moral performance. It meant: when the legal path finally appears, we embrace it without hesitation.

This is my gaming story. What’s yours?
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From Yellow Cartridges to Steam: A Post-90s Gamer’s Chronicle of China⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
Frequently Asked Questions

“Born in 1999, why do you write like someone from the ’80s?” This gets asked the most. The truth is simple: I caught everything at the end of its lifecycle. Growing up in a small county with slow information flow, when I finally got to play Famicom, people in big cities had long moved on. When I first entered an arcade, the PS2 had been out for years. So this isn’t “I was always on the cutting edge.” It’s how a child in a small place in the late ’90s slowly caught up through outdated things. That’s the real rhythm for many players from smaller towns.
1. Is any of this made up? To be honest: the stories are real, but not all of them happened to me personally. “Blowing into cartridges,” “Water Level 8,” “the noodle bowl” — these were passed down by word of mouth across our generation. Some happened around me, some I heard from friends or online — but they resonated so deeply that I wrote them in. So this isn’t my autobiography. It’s a group portrait of my generation of players.
2. Why is online gaming barely mentioned? Fair question. Honestly, it’s not that I look down on online gaming — I just played very little of it. I was strictly supervised as a child and rarely went to internet cafes. By the time I had free access to a computer, Steam was already here. My main path was always single-player, console, handheld. Online games — Legend of Mir, Fantasy Westward Journey — belong to another world, huge and brilliant. But I’m not qualified to write that story. To write it would disrespect the people who actually grew up in internet cafes. So I’ll stick to the path I know. Let someone better qualified write the online gaming chronicle.