{"id":2068,"date":"2017-05-24T11:42:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T11:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gotpapers.scene.org\/?p=2068"},"modified":"2024-05-24T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T09:04:00","slug":"thorion-collection-pt-1-the-average-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gotpapers.scene.org\/?p=2068","title":{"rendered":"Thorion Collection Pt. 1 – The Average Guys"},"content":{"rendered":"

In previous updates, we treated you to letters from the scene<\/abbr>‘s top protagonists. But what about the countless average guys whom these “elites” would usually have considered “lamers”, but who were, in fact, the backbone of the formers’ popularity – by spreading their products and making their names “big” in the first place? The voices of these bystanders and “rank and file” sceners<\/abbr> are a blank spot in scene preservation, as they often left no traces in terms of releases. Luckily, with the letter collection of Thorion<\/strong> (a.k.a. Thomas or Smily), we can make a step towards closing this gap. In the letters exchange between him and his Amiga<\/abbr> penpals around 1990, one gets a glimpse of teenage computer fans swapping<\/abbr> PD software and demos (and the occasional “Raubi”, as in “pirate copy”), following the developments of the scene, teaching each other scene-related skills, and occasionally making it to the ranks of the “elites” (like Thorion himself, who would do a brief stunt<\/a> as graphics artist in TRSI<\/em> in 1992 before quitting the Amiga world altogether).<\/p>\n

You can download the scans of these 32 (German-language) letters, complete with metadata, here<\/a> – or view them in the gallery below.<\/p>\n

And as a bonus, the collection includes a document from a different fringe of the scene – namely pirate groups who would branch out into the “real” shadow economy, selling software and hardware for hard cash. The detailed advert from the Amiga group Vision Factory<\/em>, offering all sorts of illicit computer products, can be downloaded here<\/a>. According to a long-time VF member, this operation was maintained by two members from Northern Germany, without any coordination with the group leadership (and without sharing any of the profits)…<\/p>\n