After reading a 250k QWK mail packet, I noticed some kind of a weird, yet intriguing culture which was common amongst sceners - demo, vga, ansi or music.

To be politically incorrect, I will be using "he" or "his" because it's too much of a hassle to type "he/she" when, at the most, only 2% of the scene population is female. (So no offense is intended towards the female sceners...and myself =)

There are a few common things that sceners have in common. Of course, their interest in computers, usually the type of music they listen to, and the way they spend their time when they aren't on the computer.

As we all know their are sub-cultures strewn around our society. It is a bit difficult to determine which of these sub-cultures normal (if I can even use that word ;) sceners are most recognised as been in. If I had a guess, I think the majority of sceners are in the heavy metal kind of culture. Music such as: Pantera, Metallica, Skinny Puppy, White Zombie, etc. are popular within the scene. House music, although not as much as those aforementioned, is popular too (Hi ChuckB =). Generally, John Farnham, Kylie Minogue, Boyzone, and East 17 are not received very well. ;)

Okay, moving on to spending time off the computer. Most of the time sceners spend away from the computer is spent consuming alcoholic beverages. Anything ranging from vodka, beer, bourbon, and methylated spirits ;). If it's alcoholic, they'll drink it. Clubbing is also a popular pasttime (as it is with almost all of the young generation).

So, what's with all those crazy nicknames and aliases they have? Why do they use them? What do they have to hide?? The aliases that sceners choose for themselves have varying sources. Some are from heavy metal bands or songs, some from books, some are just made up, and some are just un-original. (I will be taking some examples, the people who really own these names may not have intended the description).

There's the "don't-take-me-seriously" alias: Squidgalator ][, Chuck Biscuits, Myopic Fish and there's the general "yeh-this-is-an-alias" alias: Blue Apache, Flick, Black Artist. The most popular types of aliases are the silly aliases.

Sceners use aliases, not so much to hide anything, but to make the environment in which they interact in more interesting. In real life, we always introduce ourselves and others with our real names. In the scene, it's an opportunity to take on a name which you actually had a say in choosing.. =) But there's always the problem in scene meets: what do you call them by? Their real name (since you *are* talking to him in real life) or their alias (which you're more used to using).

Different sceners have different attitudes. Some examples are listed below:

The "I-don't-care" attitude: He doesn't care what anyone thinks about him or his art. He can damn well draw and behave however he pleases.

The "the-scene-is-my-life" attitude: He has no life away from the scene. When someone tells him his art is crap, he gets offended, goes away to cry for a while, then flames the guy (can also be substituted with: pretends the comment didn't hurt and says he thought it was crap too). Definitely spends too much time being a try-hard in the scene.

The "split personality" attitude: Attitude varies. He can be generous and draw heaps one day and the next day he doesn't draw for 4 months. (This is different from not drawing at all. ;)

The "groups-should-serve-ME" attitude: He thinks that the perfect group is the one which drools all over him. He thinks groups should serve him, not him serving the group. Therefore, he gets very dissatisfied with groups easily and jumps groups more often than he changes his underwear. Seeks spiritual enlightenment within the scene and takes it too seriously.

The "it's-just-the-scene" attitude: The most popular attitude held within the scene. He knows it's just a scene and there's more to life than sitting in front of a computer putting together little coloured blocks. Sure it's fun, but it's not life.

So, there you have it. The scene culture in a nutshell.

- Maeve Wolf