Thread:Vorknkx/@comment-3547390-20150204202730/@comment-1496755-20150322121551

Source ports are good, though sometimes I choose DOSBox - the reason for this could either be that there aren't any adequate source ports for a given game (e.g. Shadow Warrior, the only port for it is very buggy and unreliable), or that the pure DOS experience feels better even if the source port is good (as in the case with Rise of the Triad, which has a decent port, but it doesn't quite grab me).

Descent is probably the only game where the DOSBox and source port experience are of equal quality, so I play them both (as the mood strikes me). This case is special for another reason - there are two source ports for Descent (one that leans towards the oldschool experience, and one that is more about modern hi-res stuff) and the two are locked in a bitter rivalry with each other. I was really puzzled about this - these guys enjoy the same game series and try to make it playable on modern machines, why don't they cooperate? I asked them about it once and they tried to convince me that two source ports are "way too many", but I immediately countered them with the example of the Doom community - it has more than 10 active source port projects, yet there is no war going on between them. Quite the contrary, they try help each other. And this is why I am not active in the Descent community these days - I got tired of all the tension and hostility between the two sub-communities. It's absurd.

Lots of people don't understand games as an art. They see some form of childish entertainment or some weird hobby that "nerds" cling to. They can't comprehend the experience of blending artwork with impressive architecture and awesome music. It's their loss :P

And this is one of my reasons for enjoying oldschool stuff - it may be simplistic, it may look primitive, but it was made with love and dedication. And I can see this in every detail.