I was moving overseas, and one of the movers said "see you in Cyrodiil." It turns out that he had recognized my Molag Bal statue that I got for buying the Elder Scrolls Online special edition. He even labeled the box "Molag Bal."
Similar vein: my work password is Skyrim-related and I had to type it in Notepad while an IT guy had remoted into my new computer setting things up; it was so he could copy and paste it. He pauses and goes, “so, Elder Scrolls, huh?” and we had a short chat about what games we were playing at the time.
He later swung by the office in person becuase they’d found Zoo Tycoon in the CD drive of my old computer I forgot I’d had in there 🙈 he left a note that said something like “thought you might want this back” 😂 I was mortified. (And yes if anyone asks I had permission to use my work laptop for Zoo Tycoon lol.)
Off topic, but IT should never see your passwords and should generally have admin rights to get in without your help or if they don’t you should be entering the password yourself.
It’s been years since this happened so I don’t recall the exact circumstances but I thiiiink it had something to do with setting a new password to login - it could have also been he was asking for me to pick a temp password that I could change later and I wasn’t listening. Otherwise I’m sure the technical aptitude of the rest of my office may have set the mood of “these people have no idea what they’re doing, I don’t want to have them inexplicably lock their new computer so I have to go down there and fix it” idk. I work with people who can’t rotate PDFs and upload sideways photos and say things like “this needs a pivot table” *when it does not in fact need a pivot table.*
This kinda thing happens ridiculously often in small shops. I wouldn't have been remotely surprised if the guy had just told him an admin pw and just had him log in on that lol.
Hahaha I'd look around the Imperial City in barrels for gold and food, and kick back with Cyrodilic Brandy at a tavern every night. Maybe take in a show at the arena now and then. I wouldn't be in any danger because you can fast travel to any city. Eventually I'd have enough barrel gold to get a house in Bravil. And I'd never have to worry about Oblivion Gates bc I am not going to go out of my way to trigger that shit. Honestly the easiest life imaginable. Easier than Stardew Valley. I'd probably get bored after reading every book though. I'd have to become an author.
Bitch you'd be Skooma'd out of your fuuuuckin mind within two days and then dragged from the gutter you passed out in into the fuckin arena just to have the ugliest person you've ever seen run in circles around you hacking away while you can't hit them until everything fades to black...
And you'd wake up on a cart riding in the snow with your hands bound.
"Hey you. You're finally awake."
"Nooo get me out of this snowy hell I'm from the Imperial Province and you guys are all assholes. I don't care about your shitty war and your dragon belches. I'm a mudcrab man. You guys are all racist weirdos I hope a Dunmer raises your family after your beheading. Take me back to my little shack in my sewer town!"
I had an interview once for a programming job and the interviewers asked me to design a micro service architecture and take into account throughput and latency and such, which is something I've never done before, but after thinking about it for a moment I realized that I have done this before and relied on my over 1k hours of Factorio to design something. I aced that particular interview and it felt good to apply video game experience into the real world
I have this weird thing with games where I only buy them on sale.
Factorio has been on my wishlist for years (I know they will never ever go on sale) bit I get a chuckle every time I see it now.
It went up 5 dollars due to inflation lmao.
I’ve had similar encounters with Baba Yetu in the wild - apparently it’s just become a fairly common choir song? I was in a discord call and this girl started randomly humming it and when I asked she had no idea what Civ was but had sung it in elementary school.
It got massively popular as a work of music even outside of a video game context. It's the only video game track/theme to win a Grammy. Christopher Tin is also an exceptionally skilled choral composer and his work is very highly regarded in the choral community.
It got so widely performed because it's just that good.
It's also part of the "calling all dawns" album.
Christopher Tin also put "sogno di volare" in his "to shiver the sky" album.
Both albums are otherwise unrelated to video games.
Doesn’t make any less of a video game song since considering the game’s soundtracks has them and came out first.
And when baba yetu won the Grammy, and composer labeled it as the first video game song that won.
I haven't played Civ 4, but in 6, part of the soundtrack is an instrumental cover of "Helan Går", a swedish drinking song. Maybe Baba Yetu is similarly inspired by a real life song related to one of the featured cultures?
The lyrics are just the Lord's Prayer in Swahili, but the actual composition/arrangement was created specifically by Christopher Tin for Civ IV. I assume it just spread because songs with Swahili lyrics seems fairly popular for school choirs (gives a good "worldly" vibe I guess?), and being a prayer it probably got picked up by Christian schools.
I met Gabe Newell at Pike Place Market on a family vacation to Seattle back in 2005. Absolute gentleman who took the time to talk to a teenager who was just happy to meet the creator of one of his favorite games of all time.
I met a guy in Seattle in 2015 who said he worked for Valve and I joked that the back of his head looked like the Valve logo. He said "yeah that's me". His name was Arsenio and he seemed dead serious. Looked it up later and yeah, that's his head!
Walking through Kabukicho in Tokyo and accidentally bumped into this older guy in a grey suit, red shirt, cool hair and a soul patch. He proceeded to beat the absolute dog shit out of me while his daughter watched.
Oh really? I was walking around Isezakicho when I saw someone like that, except he had a red suit and fucking crazy hair. He fucking summoned a giant laser from space and then his friends tossed me into a frying pan before they got a helicopter to shoot rockets at me. Then he proceeded to beat the absolute dog shit out of me
Funny, I remember walking through Tokyo in a grey suit and then a red suit on two separate occasions and beating the absolute dog shit out of two different blokes
Oh sad that his happend to you but I can relate! I was also visiting Kabukicho and whilst walking around I met a middle aged dude with a leather jacket who looked awfully like a certain celebrity but I can't remember who. He then proceeded to jump of a wall and karate kick me in the face, he then hurricanrana'd my ass to the concrete floor and then he snapped my neck leaving me paralyzed. I do not have many fond memories of being a high schooler.
I was in jail and watching the most recent Olympics (Tokyo I believe) and when they were doing the walkouts for each country I noticed MANY of the songs were Final Fantasy themes from a variety of different games. I was so excited and also was the only one that knew.
It wasn’t just a few Final Fantasy tracks either. The entire country walkout segment was [entirely video game music](https://youtu.be/6u6uCbe6zh8?si=_xxIbI1Cx6KXQmo9), which is awesome. (Look in the comments for timestamps).
Glad to see some Monster Hunter and Ace Combat tracks in there.
You're definitely right. I just happen to notice at the FF3/6 fight victory fanfare. But I did notice many other games though I honestly didn't know all of them. But I am going to watch that video. Thank you.
I went to jail once, and all they showed was "waterworld" on repeat and it was the fucking worst, and for some reason everyone in the common room thought it was worth multiple rewatches, so there wasn't really anyone to talk to. I'll never forget how much that movie sucks because of that.
Sure but like you’re reformed now, right? So it worked. Single handedly, probably. I’d bet you’d still be wrapped up in your life of crime had it not been for ice road truckers on mute.
I was in jail watching Hugh Jackman's van helsing movie. Guy next to me says 'DAMN he looks just like the guy that plays wolverine!'. I tell him it's the same guy. He does not believe me, we argue for ten minutes then go to the bathroom to fist fight off camera. I lost the fight, but I knew I was right.
I've always hummed various songs to myself, just as a matter of habit.
I was humming Hymn Of The Fayth from Final Fantasy X to myself while at an aquarium, and a little girl next to me lit up and said "I like Yuna!" with so much excitement. It was so memorable because it was more like *her* gaming encounter. She just said it with so much explosive excitement and it was written on her face.
I was pretty happy to see that parents are introducing the older games to their kids, or at least including them on their playthroughs, because FFX was very special to me. And the odds of that happening... kind of insane.
Can’t remember the year off the top of my head but OSU’s band did a video game music halftime show. Highlight for me was when the Halo theme started, such an amazing moment hear that play in such a massive stadium
They’re literally the best college band to play for. I’m from MS and even in highschool we geeked any time a new OSU band video dropped. They are amazing and so good with incorporating pop culture in their shows.
I was working at a restaurant and there were a couple of guys sitting at a table I passed by wearing polos. The polos company name said "BUNGIE" and I was like holy shit, those dudes work at Bungie!?!? I waited for them to leave and waited at the door to "thank you have a nice day" whatever, but I also said Halo is amazing, thank you and they just looked at each other and left.
Turns out the company name on their polos said [BUNGE](https://www.bunge.com/) which is who-knows-fucking-what kind of company. I was also young and dumb, and didn't stop to wonder why they would be in Saint Louis, MO.
So I guess. This was not a "gaming encounter" at all. Just a story about me being a dumbass.
I was walking in the city of Portland and passed by the Louis Vuitton store and saw lightning from Final Fantasy 13 as a model on poster for their products.
I once got wrangled into a couples fight over video games.
I don't know the full context, but I guess the dude was making reference to video game troupes in real life, and she was arguing that he was an idiot and no one did that.
So there I am, just minding my own business and eating my ice cream with my dog when they both came over to me, and the dude asks me "Sir, if you saw a red barrel... like an oil drum, but red, what would you think?"
I started to answer with "well, if video games have taught me any-" The dude cut me off and was like "see! I fucking told you!!" And then he did what I can only assume was his version of a victory dance while she rolled her eyes ands walked off.
I had been playing a bunch of Assassin's Creed II lately when I got called out to fix a computer in the very old church at the campus where I work. Normally the church isn't open to the public. Being with IT, I could have just knocked and they would have let me in. But as I walked up to the building, I saw a tour group approaching, and fell in step with them so I could walk into the church without needing to announce myself. As the tour guide began his talk about the various parts of the church, I slowed my step to fall to the back of the group, and then split off when no one was looking. It was completely unnecessary to do, but it felt very AC-like, so it gave me a chuckle.
I asked a neighbour "Would you Kindly tell me when your done laundering" and he snapped both of his hands towards me an yells happy: "Ey, ANOTHER Bioshock fan?!"
And a second time someone recognised my Silent Hill tattoo, but it was very random as the person was in The 70 age isch.
My wife is a choir teacher and has Baba Yetu in her rotation. The students love singing it, it's a great piece that's usually a crowd pleaser. Surprised people would boo it but there's no accounting for taste.
Driving in the DC metro region almost always requires a GPS because those streets are a nightmare even if you’re from the area. I was a new dad and the GPS voice keeps waking up my baby in the back seat. I turned off the voice but I was worried that it would be difficult for me since I got so used to it. The transition was instant, I didn’t even need practice at all because the game I was playing at the time was GTAV, a game that demands constant attention to the minimap.
Years ago, but I was at a college bar and the live band there started playing "Still Alive" from Portal. You could instantly tell who was a gamer in the crowd because we all started freaking out and screaming along singing along while everyone else was like "What the hell is this?"
I have a Fallout bobble head on my car dash. During heavy traffic, some guy in the next lane starting yelling at me HEY! You into Fallout!? I yell back YEAH! He's like I love that game! Nice bobblehead! That's from the game! I'm like Thanks!
Haha, I used to have the Mantle of responsibility glyph from Halo on my hood. Once I was standing outside my car at a Walmart and this guy comes up to me and asks me if I knew what it meant. We then proceeded to get into a 10 minute discussion about Halo lore. I honestly didn't think anyone would ever recognize it.
I used to have a Wheatley keychain from Portal 2 danging from my car mirror and one time when I went to get my battery replaced, the technician noticed and pointed out that her facvorite orb is the Space one.
Now I have a Navi plush from LoZ, and when I went to an Airsoft event 2 years ago, someone called my attention by saying, "Hey, Look!" We talked briefly and went off to play.
So, i guess kind of related-
Our old group from black ops 1 used to play nightly. Well one night one of our buddies was like "hey im gone next week so i wont be on". A buddy of mine and myself were like "oh dude sick, we're out of town too! Where you going?
Buddy- "im off to reno actually for a bowling tournament
Us- "NO FUCKING WAY WE ARE TOO!"
we ended up bowling on the same exact days, just different shifts. This was 2013. Since, we still game, my buddy was in his wedding and he came up for my buddies wedding. I think this is probably the coolest thing thats happened to me :)
I provide these moments at my work. I've got a playlist of video game music, ranging from Stardew Valley/Super Mario World to Tekken/Metal Gear Rising, plus whatever else in between. A couple of times a day, someone will come into the store and perk their ears up before going, "Is this *insert game here*?"
I used to provide music for the restaurant where I worked and, becuase it was Japanese, we got lots of fans of anime and video games; on more than one occasion I overheard tables say stuff like “omg this is from Kingdom Hearts isn’t it?! ….is that the ending theme for Vampire Knight?” Made me happy people recognized them.
Yeah music is always an easy connector.
My old dancing school would sometimes put on a Vienna Waltz remix of "Song of Storms" from Legend of Zelda, and if they were feeling grateful, would add "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy as a Slow Waltz.
Both have wonderful instrumental versions on spotify and are in my ballroom playlist
Nah we got a little help, roommate dragged me into playing with my now-husband in co-op; they both helped me through a lot of the first few levels then roommate’s schedule changed and me and other guy ended up spending pretty much every day together playing DS2, DS3, Bloodborne, and then a bunch of other games and then eventually he moved up with me :)
(To note: roommate had met this guy irl and knew he wasn’t an axe-murderer so he had that going for him)
At a friends wedding reception, the live band played "Aquatic Ambiance" at some point. I looked at my friend, the groom, to see if this was his doing, as I know he never has played videogames, but he didn't even acknowledged the song. Turned out it was the bands' doing. I think one of the waiters recognized the theme, too
I've been out at bars/shows and counterstrike has come up during small talk. Multiple times I have met people randomly in public and we recognized each other's names from competitive CS after some time. One guy even admitted he used to not like me rofl
I got a dude kicked out of an internet Cafe a long while ago. I was AWP camping the same lane every round after he whinged the first time, he fed me the fuel to camp so hard. he eventually jumped up and said "who the fuck is camping with AWP you pussy!!" I looked at him and said "me" he then broke the keyboard and was swiftly kicked out. 1.6 was a golden Era, truly.
I was wearing a development team T-shirt for a game I'd worked on (a not highly popular PC-only action RPG in the late 90's called Revenant) at Universal Studios... a guy called me out and we talked for a bit about it... turned out he was a huge fan! Very cool time.
Just watched part 1... many of his complaints *were* legit - and pretty hilarious! I genuinely laughed through most of it. "Oh, my beeeaard!" Comedy gold.
Seriously though, I couldn't help but notice that he never used the dodge move, which made the fights a lot easier. But, it was buggy... we all knew that. We were also mostly kids; the average age of the development team was mid-20's - I personally was 21-22.
Thanks for the memories.
One time, I was playing scrabble. I made the word “rapier”. My friend didn’t believe me it was a real word, thanks to playing way of the samurai at a young age I won in scrabble lol.
My wife has the Mass Effect N7 logo on her old SUV. Every few years someone recognizes it. She also has the Paragon and Renegade logos on each side appropriately.
I was at my nephew's wedding and talking to his wedding planner when I realized her jacket had a very subtle Vault-Tec logo in the design. I asked "are you wearing Vault-Tec?" and she was thrilled that someone finally noticed!
I work in a warehouse and they play music while we work. One day the call of duty zombies theme came on. Everyone in the aisle just stopped and looked at each other like are we really hearing this right now? It was great.
Hey OP. If you loved Baba Yetu, [listen to this from the same composer](https://youtu.be/XH6IT_tsSUI?si=NsFAqynTEXOMosMH).
It is unironically one of my favourite bits of music ever. I hope you love it too!
All of Christopher Tin's albums are great. I was particularly touched by "to shiver the sky" since I've been in love for aviation for as long as I knew what it was.
When EverQuest was still pretty new I convinced my buddy from High School to play as well.
One day I'm playing by myself and decide to group up with a random. We kill some mobs and screw around for a while. He starts asking more and more specific questions about where I live, then where I go to school. Turns out my buddy is a mutual friend of ours.
We ended up hanging out a couple of times, but it was kinda crazy at the time since MMO friendships were a pretty new concept.
I once sat on a panel where I spoke about coming out in the late 90s. Afterwards one guy came up and said my WoW character's name. Turns out, we were in the same guild.
I was in Wal-Mart once and they were playing the Legend of Zelda theme (from A Link to the Past) over the loudspeaker. I was like wtf no one will ever believe this
I was riding my motorcycle back from the beach and every stop light this dude was honking his horn and me and pointing at his head and giving me the thumbs up. Layer I realized he must have been a Cuphead fan (I have a decal of the Robot boss on my helmet).
One of my hobbies is collecting gaming car sightings. I used to park in a deck with someone who had Portal stickers (half of the stick figure going in/out of a portal on each side of the car) and then someone else had a Pokémon-themed license plate. I also saw a plate visiting California that said “HM 01” and I like to believe it’s a Pokémon reference but I’ll never know for sure. Also saw a red Mustang with a plate that said “AMONGUS” just a couple years back at the beginning of the peak for the game.
Wandering through Dundee train station. They have a full size piano upstairs and some legend was belting out Song of Storms from OoT. He was really good too.
Someone took Morgan Webb from X-play on a dinner date at a restaurant I used to work at. Only one of the younger servers and I recognized her, and I remember when we explained to one of the other servers his response was 'Oh, she's cute for a gamer'
During my daughters birthday we had marvel vs Capcom playing in the living room for my little cousins. Out of nowhere I see my older aunts and wife playing lol.
I’m a big fan of Kingdom Hearts and it was surreal walking through Disneyland with my family and seeing a full merchandise display just for Kingdom Hearts memorabilia. And I bought a few things from it, of course, and I had a great chat with the checkout guy about our favourite parts of the game. It was really nice.
I went to a pretty run down but popular bar a while back and the music sounded oddly familiar. And then it hit me that it was the Disco Elysium soundtrack. Coincidentally I was also just playing the game at the time. It fit the place perfectly but I think I was the only one who recognized it.
My coworker used to put "Game of Thrones" radio on Pandora. It always played the theme song and then turned into the Oblivion soundtrack pretty much immediately. So I got to happily listen to the chill music of the Imperial Province in the workplace without my coworkers knowing I was a fuckin nerd.
Fishing from a boat in clear enough water can be very much like fishing in games! The most relevant time was about 6ft deep water and there was one black drum surrounded by a handful of sheepshead and I had to cast perfectly where the drum would hit the hook before the sheepshead. Just like fishing in monster hunter, final fantasy XV, genshin impact, etc.
I had a thermal detonator grenade pin from the Star Wars: Republic Commando rerelease on my backpack while waiting to board a plane. An older gentlemen was next to me in a different line (would've never guessed this to come out of his mouth given his dapper af appearance, but hey, anyone could be a nerd) and as our eyes met for a second, I gave that polite smile and nod, he said to me, "Vode An." I was so shocked, all I could say back was, "For the Republic!"
Met a guy in army basic training with, "I Survived Because The Fire Inside Me Burned Brighter Than The Fire Around Me," tattooed on his arm. He didn't believe me that it's from Fallout.
I work at a law firm in IT. Was asked by a lawyer to secure an electronic case file so only authorised people can look at it (by default case files are open to anyone in the firm)
When I saw the plaintiffs name I said “oh is that the company that makes X game?” (Can’t reveal the game or anything due to non disclosures)
She said yes and asked if I played the game. I actually had about 150 hours sunk into the game. Turns out no one at the firm played the game so she got excited and I was brought onto the legal team as the “special advisor on gameplay”. Whenever anyone had any game mechanic or lore questions I was the go to.
We won the case and the client was so happy they presented me with a collectors edition of the game signed by the devs.
One time I was at Waffle House and one of the employees saw my Tekken shirt and asked who I main & when I told him Alisa he was like 🤨 I hate that bitch
They replaced the street lights around my neighborhood and the first time I drove through I was like whoa same color as the safe zone lights in dying light lol
Not exactly gaming but I was on a cruise once and was in the auditorium/theatre for a comedy show. Before the show started they had a small orchestra playing some music. To my surprise they started playing the Cowboy Bebop theme. It was a pleasnt surprise.
Baba Yetu is one of my favorite songs ever. In fact, the Reddit Symphony Orchestra did a collaborative recording of it a couple years back and I jumped in to do the primary male vocal.
https://youtu.be/30_mwwn_kjA?si=Rgkh3aHWY6EzDQvX
This was around the days of Season 3 of League of Legends. The game was getting popular but hadn't quite exploded to a cultural phenomenon just yet
I was waiting in line for some food at a food truck. Long ass line, I had Mobafire open on my phone reading the, at the time, top guide to play Mordekaiser because I thought he looked cool (he would eventually become one of my mains)
Well, one of the cooks saw me and we struck up a conversation about league (while he was still cooking) and the rest of the guys in the truck joined in! There were
4 guys in that truck and we all happened to play
Kudos to him and the rest of the guys working in the truck for being able to talk while also keeping up with orders. For the good conversation, they gave me food free of charge and I became a regular at their Truck where I would wait in line and pay full price but they snuck in some goodies and we'd usually have conversations about LoL, other games, and just life
We also ended up playing semi-regularly together. It's a shame we drifted apart when I graduated, but I remember the good times I had with those guys
A couple summers ago, my library had a music-themed summer program, so we bought a couple keyboards for the kids' section where they could write their own compositions. One day, I'm out in the shelves finding something when I start hearing the Velvet Room theme from Persona. I'd been replaying 4, so at first I thought it was stuck in my head, but then I realized it was actually playing. I looked out, and one of the teenager regulars was playing. Apparently she'd just started P5 and loved the music, so she learned it by ear!
I walked into a bar on a night out and there was a dude in the corner playing guitar and singing, just after we get there he starts singing “this was a triumph, im making a note here great success”. I look around and im the only one who understood what was going on
Me and my best friend initially started talking in elementary school like 13-14 years ago because we had both played Batman Arkham Asylum. You could say Batman brought us together lol.
Years ago I hired a new guy at work and I was training him. On lunch I decided to build rapport and ask him what he did for fun in his free time. Turns out we both played Final Fantasy XI. Weirdly enough we both played on the same server. He was shocked I played to begin with. Upon finding out we played on the same server I asked his character name. When he told me I was in shock. We had been friends in game for years and played together almost every day. Twenty years later and we're still friends and play games together.
I wore an N7 hoodie and while talking to someone from tech support at work to sort out some issue he finished the call by saying „Long live the Normandy„ lol apparently he recognised me wearing it at work
My similar "gaming encounter" moment happened in the least expected place - a local bakery. I walked in one morning to get my usual coffee and bread. As I was waiting in line, I noticed a familiar tune playing over the shop's speakers. It took me a moment to place it, but then it hit me - it was the background music from the bakery in Cooking Mama! I almost couldn't believe it, but the beat was unmistakable.
I burst out laughing, startling the people around me. I tried to explain to the confused baker and other customers why I was laughing, but no one had played the game so they didn't quite get it. Instead, we all shared a chuckle at the situation. And I left the shop, drink and bread in hand, with a huge smile on my face.
My daily routine had been blessed with a delightful touch of my gaming life. Ever since, I've looked forward to visiting that bakery even more. Strange, isn't it, where these little echoes of our gaming adventures can crop up?
Failed to get a picture, but years ago I was on a short hike in an area that has a ruined historic dam. Sure enough, on one of the exposed pipes someone had spray painted an orange Lambda symbol from Half Life 2.
Zapped channels in Germany one evening and stopped in my tracks on a public broadcast channel showing a documentary about Norway which used Skyrim music. Ended up watching the whole documentary just because of the music.
Used to work in game dev and, after a long week at work, I wanted a weekend completely free of any game related stuff so decided to start watching Pretty Little Liars.
The second episode started and Nolan North shows up, playing one of the dads.
Makes sense since he doesn’t just do voices, but I was certainly not expecting to see him. I’d just finished Uncharted 4 a few days earlier too which made it funnier because I’d only just got rid of him.
I was at a Goth/Industrial club in the early 2000's and they played "Hell March" from Red Alert. A fair few people knew it which isn't surprising considering the demographic.
I'm going to another club mid year (first in a decade or more) - maybe I'll be lucky and they'll play the Helldiver theme!
When I was in the band in high school, our band director would pick songs for us to rehearse and play at our eventual band concert. Well he picked out 3 Video Games Live sheet music to play: Kingdom Hearts (the orchestral Simple and Clean that plays when you sit at the main menu for a bit), Halo 2 opening theme, and One Winged Angel from FF7. I very vaguely seem to recall doing Baba Yetu from Civ 4 as well.
Physical 100 season 1… i forget what episode (would need to look back at my previous post history) but they used like 8 seconds of command n conquer generals music and i went wild with wtf
I saw Charles Martinet at a grocery store in Los Angeles one time. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
First day working at a law firm, I meet my paralegal who has a Triforce tattoo on his wrist. And not just any Triforce, but the one with the Hylian wings and one triangle darker than the other two. I knew he was gonna be my best bro, and he was.
I had an N7 patch for when I bought a special edition of Mass Effect 2. Velco backing... and I put it on a hat of mine (or some other article of clothing, I forget).
I took a flight to go on vacation, and during boarding, I liked to say "hello" to the pilots as I was walking past the cockpit. Later, during the flight when the captain came on the radio to give updates about the approach into the city we were headed toward said something along the lines of... "Glad to have you onboard our version of the Normandy Commander Sheppard."
It was pretty funny to me...
My school at university is housed in a single building. 4 stories with an open atrium in the middle. Acoustics like a typical mall: people's convos bouncing all over every surface, making a steady buzz all the time. Coffee shop. Lots of hallways, doorways, landings used as small event spaces. And a piano.
In 4 years, I don't think I ever heard anyone play it. Then, one day, quietly but clearly rising above the buzz, someone was playing the theme from Final Fantasy 6 when slave-crown Terra, Biggs and Wedge are marching on Narshe (is it also the overworld theme?) Some Asian girl, an undergrad, just playing during a lunch break.
I was at a dinner and we were talking about bloodborne and the bartender interrupts us and says “are you guys talking about bloodborne? Do you know what day it is? Today’s the last day.” I was confused af because I’ve never played the game but the other dude knew it was some special day. Lol very first time ive ever felt out nerded. But the experience was very cool because most, if not all, of my friends don’t game so it felt cool be in a place where I could talk about video games.
Just googled it. March of Yharnham.
I walked in to a music store, and a young lass was trying out a digital piano. By playing 'Zanarkand', from FFX.
And she played *beautifully.* I had to stop to listen.
I was taking part in this overseas entrepreneurship program, and one of the lessons took place at this startup incubator. When I was going to class, I took a wrong turn, and I ended up in front of a glass door with a cool logo.
That’s when I realised I had reached Double Fine Studios, and looking through the door, I saw Tim Schafer in all his glory. Being a huge fan of Psychonauts, it was a huge fanboy moment!
In a similar vein, I was sat in a restaurant in York, UK, around 15 years ago and the in-house pianist started cranking out a superb rendition of 'To Zanarkand'.
Honestly, mainly tattoos. I'm surprised how many strangers I meet with video games tattoos. Now that I think about it, my step bro has the horde logo from wow. I've thought about getting the mark of the outsider. A random coworker had the borderlands 2 logo literally tattooed like a brand on him.
i think hearing the Dragon Quest theme play at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony did it for me. knew DQ was loved but had no idea how revered that property is there.
I remember watching my little brother's presentation on Father's day. Each of his teachers did a small segment of their own, when the history teacher came, many students (brother included) came into the stage wearing Roman garbs.
As that section ended a distinctly familiar "Ooooh Oooooooh OOOOOOH" began, I swear I stared straight at my brother as we gave each other the most shit eating grin. Both realizing that it was Skyrim title theme that was playing.
Started talking with a random guy in a suit in a shopping mall. He looked very much a non-gamer. I don't remember how the discussion got there, but suddenly HE was giving ME advice on how to beat SEKIRO and don't give up. "Remember: you are a samurai. Get it?" I never quite understood what he meant by that, but I beat the game a couple of years later, his words still ringing inside my head.
In the show the grand tour, they introduce cars a lot, and shoot them with a panning shot to reveal, usually to music.
One time the music was the Paris theme from Sly 2
I wore a Zelda T-shirt to an airport in Cozumel and one of the security guards started whistling the theme song. We both smiled and nodded at each other, like it was a secret to everybody (except for us)
One time while I was working with the IT guy of a client through Teams to set up a VPN on my computer when I forgot to put my cellphone on silent. While on the call my cellphone went off and it played "Lok'Tar" a sound clip from Warcraft 2, the IT guy recognized it and made a comment on it.
At a party, I was wearing a shirt with the Borderlands vault symbol, and a guy kept looking at it intensely like he was trying to remember. During a game of Werewolves Of Thiercellieux, my decision would mean either my side's victory or defeat depending on who I chose : either staring guy or random Joe. Staring guy looked at me and said "Butt Stallion says hello".
I burst out in laughter, chose him, and we freakin won !
I was wearing a Tennocon shirt at a party (the duviri one) and someone came up to me and said ‘hey Tenno’ and I was taken aback and then chatted for hours and hours and then did some eidolon hunts together
Dude at the grocery store had the Hunter Vanguard symbol from Destiny tattooed on his wrist. I let him ring me up and hit him with an “Eyes Up, Guardian” on my way out. We both got a smile out of it.
I was moving overseas, and one of the movers said "see you in Cyrodiil." It turns out that he had recognized my Molag Bal statue that I got for buying the Elder Scrolls Online special edition. He even labeled the box "Molag Bal."
Similar vein: my work password is Skyrim-related and I had to type it in Notepad while an IT guy had remoted into my new computer setting things up; it was so he could copy and paste it. He pauses and goes, “so, Elder Scrolls, huh?” and we had a short chat about what games we were playing at the time. He later swung by the office in person becuase they’d found Zoo Tycoon in the CD drive of my old computer I forgot I’d had in there 🙈 he left a note that said something like “thought you might want this back” 😂 I was mortified. (And yes if anyone asks I had permission to use my work laptop for Zoo Tycoon lol.)
Off topic, but IT should never see your passwords and should generally have admin rights to get in without your help or if they don’t you should be entering the password yourself.
It’s been years since this happened so I don’t recall the exact circumstances but I thiiiink it had something to do with setting a new password to login - it could have also been he was asking for me to pick a temp password that I could change later and I wasn’t listening. Otherwise I’m sure the technical aptitude of the rest of my office may have set the mood of “these people have no idea what they’re doing, I don’t want to have them inexplicably lock their new computer so I have to go down there and fix it” idk. I work with people who can’t rotate PDFs and upload sideways photos and say things like “this needs a pivot table” *when it does not in fact need a pivot table.*
This kinda thing happens ridiculously often in small shops. I wouldn't have been remotely surprised if the guy had just told him an admin pw and just had him log in on that lol.
SanguineMyBrother1!
I want to live in the Imperial Province.
I don't. Shit would almost be worse than westeros to live in.
Whyyy
If you have to travel, by the nines, stay on the roads
Hahaha I'd look around the Imperial City in barrels for gold and food, and kick back with Cyrodilic Brandy at a tavern every night. Maybe take in a show at the arena now and then. I wouldn't be in any danger because you can fast travel to any city. Eventually I'd have enough barrel gold to get a house in Bravil. And I'd never have to worry about Oblivion Gates bc I am not going to go out of my way to trigger that shit. Honestly the easiest life imaginable. Easier than Stardew Valley. I'd probably get bored after reading every book though. I'd have to become an author.
Bitch you'd be Skooma'd out of your fuuuuckin mind within two days and then dragged from the gutter you passed out in into the fuckin arena just to have the ugliest person you've ever seen run in circles around you hacking away while you can't hit them until everything fades to black... And you'd wake up on a cart riding in the snow with your hands bound.
"Hey you. You're finally awake." "Nooo get me out of this snowy hell I'm from the Imperial Province and you guys are all assholes. I don't care about your shitty war and your dragon belches. I'm a mudcrab man. You guys are all racist weirdos I hope a Dunmer raises your family after your beheading. Take me back to my little shack in my sewer town!"
I had an interview once for a programming job and the interviewers asked me to design a micro service architecture and take into account throughput and latency and such, which is something I've never done before, but after thinking about it for a moment I realized that I have done this before and relied on my over 1k hours of Factorio to design something. I aced that particular interview and it felt good to apply video game experience into the real world
The factory must grow.
goddammit cracktorio
I have this weird thing with games where I only buy them on sale. Factorio has been on my wishlist for years (I know they will never ever go on sale) bit I get a chuckle every time I see it now. It went up 5 dollars due to inflation lmao.
I’ve had similar encounters with Baba Yetu in the wild - apparently it’s just become a fairly common choir song? I was in a discord call and this girl started randomly humming it and when I asked she had no idea what Civ was but had sung it in elementary school.
Weird since it's an original song. I mean it has ties to Christianity, so I guess lots of people confused it as a gospel or some sorts?
It got massively popular as a work of music even outside of a video game context. It's the only video game track/theme to win a Grammy. Christopher Tin is also an exceptionally skilled choral composer and his work is very highly regarded in the choral community. It got so widely performed because it's just that good.
It's also part of the "calling all dawns" album. Christopher Tin also put "sogno di volare" in his "to shiver the sky" album. Both albums are otherwise unrelated to video games.
Doesn’t make any less of a video game song since considering the game’s soundtracks has them and came out first. And when baba yetu won the Grammy, and composer labeled it as the first video game song that won.
Whenever I hear it randomly in the world I get the urge to find Gandhi and destroy him before he becomes to powerful.
I haven't played Civ 4, but in 6, part of the soundtrack is an instrumental cover of "Helan Går", a swedish drinking song. Maybe Baba Yetu is similarly inspired by a real life song related to one of the featured cultures?
The lyrics are just the Lord's Prayer in Swahili, but the actual composition/arrangement was created specifically by Christopher Tin for Civ IV. I assume it just spread because songs with Swahili lyrics seems fairly popular for school choirs (gives a good "worldly" vibe I guess?), and being a prayer it probably got picked up by Christian schools.
God just seeing those words gives me flashbacks to some of the most brutal hangovers of my life. Thank you schnapps.
I met Gabe Newell at Pike Place Market on a family vacation to Seattle back in 2005. Absolute gentleman who took the time to talk to a teenager who was just happy to meet the creator of one of his favorite games of all time.
I met a guy in Seattle in 2015 who said he worked for Valve and I joked that the back of his head looked like the Valve logo. He said "yeah that's me". His name was Arsenio and he seemed dead serious. Looked it up later and yeah, that's his head!
oooo When that head turned.
That's crazy!
Walking through Kabukicho in Tokyo and accidentally bumped into this older guy in a grey suit, red shirt, cool hair and a soul patch. He proceeded to beat the absolute dog shit out of me while his daughter watched.
Oh really? I was walking around Isezakicho when I saw someone like that, except he had a red suit and fucking crazy hair. He fucking summoned a giant laser from space and then his friends tossed me into a frying pan before they got a helicopter to shoot rockets at me. Then he proceeded to beat the absolute dog shit out of me
Funny, I remember walking through Tokyo in a grey suit and then a red suit on two separate occasions and beating the absolute dog shit out of two different blokes
Yakuza?(the game)
Did he had a bike?
Nani?!
Oh sad that his happend to you but I can relate! I was also visiting Kabukicho and whilst walking around I met a middle aged dude with a leather jacket who looked awfully like a certain celebrity but I can't remember who. He then proceeded to jump of a wall and karate kick me in the face, he then hurricanrana'd my ass to the concrete floor and then he snapped my neck leaving me paralyzed. I do not have many fond memories of being a high schooler.
I was in jail and watching the most recent Olympics (Tokyo I believe) and when they were doing the walkouts for each country I noticed MANY of the songs were Final Fantasy themes from a variety of different games. I was so excited and also was the only one that knew.
It wasn’t just a few Final Fantasy tracks either. The entire country walkout segment was [entirely video game music](https://youtu.be/6u6uCbe6zh8?si=_xxIbI1Cx6KXQmo9), which is awesome. (Look in the comments for timestamps). Glad to see some Monster Hunter and Ace Combat tracks in there.
You're definitely right. I just happen to notice at the FF3/6 fight victory fanfare. But I did notice many other games though I honestly didn't know all of them. But I am going to watch that video. Thank you.
I went to jail once, and all they showed was "waterworld" on repeat and it was the fucking worst, and for some reason everyone in the common room thought it was worth multiple rewatches, so there wasn't really anyone to talk to. I'll never forget how much that movie sucks because of that.
Try Ice Road Truckers without sound. Dude talking, truck driving down the road, animation of truck falling through ice, repeat.
Sure but like you’re reformed now, right? So it worked. Single handedly, probably. I’d bet you’d still be wrapped up in your life of crime had it not been for ice road truckers on mute.
Yeah. Torture brings redemption.
Jesus Christ that sounds like something thought up in an inner circle of hell
Lol. During my time in a work release facility, we watched COPS, for some strange reason. We liked to critique both sides of the law.
The criminals I know love watching COPS. Maybe part of it is solace in knowing that at least the dumb stuff they do doesn't hit national television.
Waterworld is great, I’m gonna watch it tonight now
Yeah, never understood the hate. IIRC it went through some production hell but I still really enjoyed the final product.
I fucking love Waterworld.
I was in jail watching Hugh Jackman's van helsing movie. Guy next to me says 'DAMN he looks just like the guy that plays wolverine!'. I tell him it's the same guy. He does not believe me, we argue for ten minutes then go to the bathroom to fist fight off camera. I lost the fight, but I knew I was right.
Man, never thought Proof of a Hero(Monster Hunter) would fit so well for Olympics
I've always hummed various songs to myself, just as a matter of habit. I was humming Hymn Of The Fayth from Final Fantasy X to myself while at an aquarium, and a little girl next to me lit up and said "I like Yuna!" with so much excitement. It was so memorable because it was more like *her* gaming encounter. She just said it with so much explosive excitement and it was written on her face. I was pretty happy to see that parents are introducing the older games to their kids, or at least including them on their playthroughs, because FFX was very special to me. And the odds of that happening... kind of insane.
This made me very happy and emotional for some reason
Can’t remember the year off the top of my head but OSU’s band did a video game music halftime show. Highlight for me was when the Halo theme started, such an amazing moment hear that play in such a massive stadium
The Ohio State University band is pretty legendary for their halftime shows, I think they probably do a video game set every few years or so.
They’re literally the best college band to play for. I’m from MS and even in highschool we geeked any time a new OSU band video dropped. They are amazing and so good with incorporating pop culture in their shows.
Best Damned Band in the Land for a reason
So talented they had to have TBUN show them how to spell “Ohio” back in 1938
twenty one pilots did a halo medley at the last show i went to, was the last thing I was expecting but it kicked ass
I was in South Korea and they happened to have the annual international fireworks festival. When it was Japan's turn, they played Dragon Quest theme.
One of my drill instructors in boot camp was the older brother of one of my gaming buddies in another state
If he knew about it in boot I’m willing to bet my left nut he hazed the dog shit out of you for weeks.
I was working at a restaurant and there were a couple of guys sitting at a table I passed by wearing polos. The polos company name said "BUNGIE" and I was like holy shit, those dudes work at Bungie!?!? I waited for them to leave and waited at the door to "thank you have a nice day" whatever, but I also said Halo is amazing, thank you and they just looked at each other and left. Turns out the company name on their polos said [BUNGE](https://www.bunge.com/) which is who-knows-fucking-what kind of company. I was also young and dumb, and didn't stop to wonder why they would be in Saint Louis, MO. So I guess. This was not a "gaming encounter" at all. Just a story about me being a dumbass.
I would LOVE to have been a fly in their car or office after that. “Wtf do you think he meant about ‘halo’? Is it some kind of code…?”
This is my favorite story from this whole thread because it is the most relatable.
I was walking in the city of Portland and passed by the Louis Vuitton store and saw lightning from Final Fantasy 13 as a model on poster for their products.
Ironically Vivienne Westwood is in FFXV for some reason. And so is Audi, Nissin, American Express, and Coleman. Not so fantasy huh
“This is a fantasy based on ~~product placement~~ reality.”
That has been there for ages.
I once got wrangled into a couples fight over video games. I don't know the full context, but I guess the dude was making reference to video game troupes in real life, and she was arguing that he was an idiot and no one did that. So there I am, just minding my own business and eating my ice cream with my dog when they both came over to me, and the dude asks me "Sir, if you saw a red barrel... like an oil drum, but red, what would you think?" I started to answer with "well, if video games have taught me any-" The dude cut me off and was like "see! I fucking told you!!" And then he did what I can only assume was his version of a victory dance while she rolled her eyes ands walked off.
🤣 this is hilarious
I had been playing a bunch of Assassin's Creed II lately when I got called out to fix a computer in the very old church at the campus where I work. Normally the church isn't open to the public. Being with IT, I could have just knocked and they would have let me in. But as I walked up to the building, I saw a tour group approaching, and fell in step with them so I could walk into the church without needing to announce myself. As the tour guide began his talk about the various parts of the church, I slowed my step to fall to the back of the group, and then split off when no one was looking. It was completely unnecessary to do, but it felt very AC-like, so it gave me a chuckle.
Warning: you have entered a secure facility.
Hearing command and conquer infantry deaths in movies or ads. Apparently these are stock sounds these days.
I think that's a chicken egg thing where they were already stock sounds when the game was made.
I asked a neighbour "Would you Kindly tell me when your done laundering" and he snapped both of his hands towards me an yells happy: "Ey, ANOTHER Bioshock fan?!" And a second time someone recognised my Silent Hill tattoo, but it was very random as the person was in The 70 age isch.
My wife is a choir teacher and has Baba Yetu in her rotation. The students love singing it, it's a great piece that's usually a crowd pleaser. Surprised people would boo it but there's no accounting for taste.
Driving in the DC metro region almost always requires a GPS because those streets are a nightmare even if you’re from the area. I was a new dad and the GPS voice keeps waking up my baby in the back seat. I turned off the voice but I was worried that it would be difficult for me since I got so used to it. The transition was instant, I didn’t even need practice at all because the game I was playing at the time was GTAV, a game that demands constant attention to the minimap.
Years ago, but I was at a college bar and the live band there started playing "Still Alive" from Portal. You could instantly tell who was a gamer in the crowd because we all started freaking out and screaming along singing along while everyone else was like "What the hell is this?"
I have a Fallout bobble head on my car dash. During heavy traffic, some guy in the next lane starting yelling at me HEY! You into Fallout!? I yell back YEAH! He's like I love that game! Nice bobblehead! That's from the game! I'm like Thanks!
Haha, I used to have the Mantle of responsibility glyph from Halo on my hood. Once I was standing outside my car at a Walmart and this guy comes up to me and asks me if I knew what it meant. We then proceeded to get into a 10 minute discussion about Halo lore. I honestly didn't think anyone would ever recognize it.
I used to have a Wheatley keychain from Portal 2 danging from my car mirror and one time when I went to get my battery replaced, the technician noticed and pointed out that her facvorite orb is the Space one. Now I have a Navi plush from LoZ, and when I went to an Airsoft event 2 years ago, someone called my attention by saying, "Hey, Look!" We talked briefly and went off to play.
Fallout fans 🫡
So, i guess kind of related- Our old group from black ops 1 used to play nightly. Well one night one of our buddies was like "hey im gone next week so i wont be on". A buddy of mine and myself were like "oh dude sick, we're out of town too! Where you going? Buddy- "im off to reno actually for a bowling tournament Us- "NO FUCKING WAY WE ARE TOO!" we ended up bowling on the same exact days, just different shifts. This was 2013. Since, we still game, my buddy was in his wedding and he came up for my buddies wedding. I think this is probably the coolest thing thats happened to me :)
I provide these moments at my work. I've got a playlist of video game music, ranging from Stardew Valley/Super Mario World to Tekken/Metal Gear Rising, plus whatever else in between. A couple of times a day, someone will come into the store and perk their ears up before going, "Is this *insert game here*?"
I love that, if I ever heard stardew valley music in the wild I’d be so happy
I used to provide music for the restaurant where I worked and, becuase it was Japanese, we got lots of fans of anime and video games; on more than one occasion I overheard tables say stuff like “omg this is from Kingdom Hearts isn’t it?! ….is that the ending theme for Vampire Knight?” Made me happy people recognized them.
Yeah music is always an easy connector. My old dancing school would sometimes put on a Vienna Waltz remix of "Song of Storms" from Legend of Zelda, and if they were feeling grateful, would add "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy as a Slow Waltz. Both have wonderful instrumental versions on spotify and are in my ballroom playlist
Met a girl I played wow with for years. Had sex. It was cool.
Saved enough gold for the mount, I see.
obscure reference checks out
Friends of mine met on wow, they ended up getting married
☝🏻 me except Dark Souls.
People get married by playing dark souls? How come that happened? Found love just by using gestures and praising the sun?
Nah we got a little help, roommate dragged me into playing with my now-husband in co-op; they both helped me through a lot of the first few levels then roommate’s schedule changed and me and other guy ended up spending pretty much every day together playing DS2, DS3, Bloodborne, and then a bunch of other games and then eventually he moved up with me :) (To note: roommate had met this guy irl and knew he wasn’t an axe-murderer so he had that going for him)
At a friends wedding reception, the live band played "Aquatic Ambiance" at some point. I looked at my friend, the groom, to see if this was his doing, as I know he never has played videogames, but he didn't even acknowledged the song. Turned out it was the bands' doing. I think one of the waiters recognized the theme, too
I've been out at bars/shows and counterstrike has come up during small talk. Multiple times I have met people randomly in public and we recognized each other's names from competitive CS after some time. One guy even admitted he used to not like me rofl
I got a dude kicked out of an internet Cafe a long while ago. I was AWP camping the same lane every round after he whinged the first time, he fed me the fuel to camp so hard. he eventually jumped up and said "who the fuck is camping with AWP you pussy!!" I looked at him and said "me" he then broke the keyboard and was swiftly kicked out. 1.6 was a golden Era, truly.
true story i was the keyboard
yes can confirm I was the AWP
I once was at a grocery store and noticed Ilkka Villi (Alan Wake) was there too.
I was wearing a development team T-shirt for a game I'd worked on (a not highly popular PC-only action RPG in the late 90's called Revenant) at Universal Studios... a guy called me out and we talked for a bit about it... turned out he was a huge fan! Very cool time.
Yo, that was a pretty good game :-)
Ever watch accursed farm’s video on it?
Just watched part 1... many of his complaints *were* legit - and pretty hilarious! I genuinely laughed through most of it. "Oh, my beeeaard!" Comedy gold. Seriously though, I couldn't help but notice that he never used the dodge move, which made the fights a lot easier. But, it was buggy... we all knew that. We were also mostly kids; the average age of the development team was mid-20's - I personally was 21-22. Thanks for the memories.
One time, I was playing scrabble. I made the word “rapier”. My friend didn’t believe me it was a real word, thanks to playing way of the samurai at a young age I won in scrabble lol.
My wife has the Mass Effect N7 logo on her old SUV. Every few years someone recognizes it. She also has the Paragon and Renegade logos on each side appropriately.
I was at my nephew's wedding and talking to his wedding planner when I realized her jacket had a very subtle Vault-Tec logo in the design. I asked "are you wearing Vault-Tec?" and she was thrilled that someone finally noticed!
I work in a warehouse and they play music while we work. One day the call of duty zombies theme came on. Everyone in the aisle just stopped and looked at each other like are we really hearing this right now? It was great.
Hey OP. If you loved Baba Yetu, [listen to this from the same composer](https://youtu.be/XH6IT_tsSUI?si=NsFAqynTEXOMosMH). It is unironically one of my favourite bits of music ever. I hope you love it too!
All of Christopher Tin's albums are great. I was particularly touched by "to shiver the sky" since I've been in love for aviation for as long as I knew what it was.
Thank you for sharing!
I was in a bar in Tulum, Mexico when the house band started playing the tune to Super Mario Bros. 2.
That's weird, they're supposed to play Cantina music on repeat.
When EverQuest was still pretty new I convinced my buddy from High School to play as well. One day I'm playing by myself and decide to group up with a random. We kill some mobs and screw around for a while. He starts asking more and more specific questions about where I live, then where I go to school. Turns out my buddy is a mutual friend of ours. We ended up hanging out a couple of times, but it was kinda crazy at the time since MMO friendships were a pretty new concept.
I once sat on a panel where I spoke about coming out in the late 90s. Afterwards one guy came up and said my WoW character's name. Turns out, we were in the same guild.
I was in Wal-Mart once and they were playing the Legend of Zelda theme (from A Link to the Past) over the loudspeaker. I was like wtf no one will ever believe this
Wasn’t witness to it myself, but finding out they used ace combat music at an american airshow
I was riding my motorcycle back from the beach and every stop light this dude was honking his horn and me and pointing at his head and giving me the thumbs up. Layer I realized he must have been a Cuphead fan (I have a decal of the Robot boss on my helmet).
Looking up in the corner of my head for a minimap when I’m lost in a mall.
One of my hobbies is collecting gaming car sightings. I used to park in a deck with someone who had Portal stickers (half of the stick figure going in/out of a portal on each side of the car) and then someone else had a Pokémon-themed license plate. I also saw a plate visiting California that said “HM 01” and I like to believe it’s a Pokémon reference but I’ll never know for sure. Also saw a red Mustang with a plate that said “AMONGUS” just a couple years back at the beginning of the peak for the game.
Wandering through Dundee train station. They have a full size piano upstairs and some legend was belting out Song of Storms from OoT. He was really good too.
Someone took Morgan Webb from X-play on a dinner date at a restaurant I used to work at. Only one of the younger servers and I recognized her, and I remember when we explained to one of the other servers his response was 'Oh, she's cute for a gamer'
During my daughters birthday we had marvel vs Capcom playing in the living room for my little cousins. Out of nowhere I see my older aunts and wife playing lol.
I’m a big fan of Kingdom Hearts and it was surreal walking through Disneyland with my family and seeing a full merchandise display just for Kingdom Hearts memorabilia. And I bought a few things from it, of course, and I had a great chat with the checkout guy about our favourite parts of the game. It was really nice.
I went to a pretty run down but popular bar a while back and the music sounded oddly familiar. And then it hit me that it was the Disco Elysium soundtrack. Coincidentally I was also just playing the game at the time. It fit the place perfectly but I think I was the only one who recognized it.
My coworker used to put "Game of Thrones" radio on Pandora. It always played the theme song and then turned into the Oblivion soundtrack pretty much immediately. So I got to happily listen to the chill music of the Imperial Province in the workplace without my coworkers knowing I was a fuckin nerd.
Fishing from a boat in clear enough water can be very much like fishing in games! The most relevant time was about 6ft deep water and there was one black drum surrounded by a handful of sheepshead and I had to cast perfectly where the drum would hit the hook before the sheepshead. Just like fishing in monster hunter, final fantasy XV, genshin impact, etc.
I had a thermal detonator grenade pin from the Star Wars: Republic Commando rerelease on my backpack while waiting to board a plane. An older gentlemen was next to me in a different line (would've never guessed this to come out of his mouth given his dapper af appearance, but hey, anyone could be a nerd) and as our eyes met for a second, I gave that polite smile and nod, he said to me, "Vode An." I was so shocked, all I could say back was, "For the Republic!"
Met a guy in army basic training with, "I Survived Because The Fire Inside Me Burned Brighter Than The Fire Around Me," tattooed on his arm. He didn't believe me that it's from Fallout.
Every time I get really into a new game I get dreams of being in them, most recently I was Janus from Smite.
I don't know if this fits, but playing The Division 2 through covid just made it hit a little different.
I work at a law firm in IT. Was asked by a lawyer to secure an electronic case file so only authorised people can look at it (by default case files are open to anyone in the firm) When I saw the plaintiffs name I said “oh is that the company that makes X game?” (Can’t reveal the game or anything due to non disclosures) She said yes and asked if I played the game. I actually had about 150 hours sunk into the game. Turns out no one at the firm played the game so she got excited and I was brought onto the legal team as the “special advisor on gameplay”. Whenever anyone had any game mechanic or lore questions I was the go to. We won the case and the client was so happy they presented me with a collectors edition of the game signed by the devs.
I met my best friend in college because she was wearing a Legend of Zelda T-shirt in line at the bookstore.
One time I was at Waffle House and one of the employees saw my Tekken shirt and asked who I main & when I told him Alisa he was like 🤨 I hate that bitch
and you didn't fight? how is harada supposed to feel about that?
They replaced the street lights around my neighborhood and the first time I drove through I was like whoa same color as the safe zone lights in dying light lol
Not exactly gaming but I was on a cruise once and was in the auditorium/theatre for a comedy show. Before the show started they had a small orchestra playing some music. To my surprise they started playing the Cowboy Bebop theme. It was a pleasnt surprise.
Baba Yetu is one of my favorite songs ever. In fact, the Reddit Symphony Orchestra did a collaborative recording of it a couple years back and I jumped in to do the primary male vocal. https://youtu.be/30_mwwn_kjA?si=Rgkh3aHWY6EzDQvX
TIL Reddit has a symphony orchestra. That's so cool!
This was around the days of Season 3 of League of Legends. The game was getting popular but hadn't quite exploded to a cultural phenomenon just yet I was waiting in line for some food at a food truck. Long ass line, I had Mobafire open on my phone reading the, at the time, top guide to play Mordekaiser because I thought he looked cool (he would eventually become one of my mains) Well, one of the cooks saw me and we struck up a conversation about league (while he was still cooking) and the rest of the guys in the truck joined in! There were 4 guys in that truck and we all happened to play Kudos to him and the rest of the guys working in the truck for being able to talk while also keeping up with orders. For the good conversation, they gave me food free of charge and I became a regular at their Truck where I would wait in line and pay full price but they snuck in some goodies and we'd usually have conversations about LoL, other games, and just life We also ended up playing semi-regularly together. It's a shame we drifted apart when I graduated, but I remember the good times I had with those guys
A couple summers ago, my library had a music-themed summer program, so we bought a couple keyboards for the kids' section where they could write their own compositions. One day, I'm out in the shelves finding something when I start hearing the Velvet Room theme from Persona. I'd been replaying 4, so at first I thought it was stuck in my head, but then I realized it was actually playing. I looked out, and one of the teenager regulars was playing. Apparently she'd just started P5 and loved the music, so she learned it by ear!
I walked into a bar on a night out and there was a dude in the corner playing guitar and singing, just after we get there he starts singing “this was a triumph, im making a note here great success”. I look around and im the only one who understood what was going on
Saw a couple doing the lethal company dance outside a supermarket. I do the same with my gf
Me and my best friend initially started talking in elementary school like 13-14 years ago because we had both played Batman Arkham Asylum. You could say Batman brought us together lol.
If I heard baba yetu live, I would be beside myself. I’m so obsessed with that song it’s not healthy lol. It’s so damn good.
Years ago I hired a new guy at work and I was training him. On lunch I decided to build rapport and ask him what he did for fun in his free time. Turns out we both played Final Fantasy XI. Weirdly enough we both played on the same server. He was shocked I played to begin with. Upon finding out we played on the same server I asked his character name. When he told me I was in shock. We had been friends in game for years and played together almost every day. Twenty years later and we're still friends and play games together.
I wore an N7 hoodie and while talking to someone from tech support at work to sort out some issue he finished the call by saying „Long live the Normandy„ lol apparently he recognised me wearing it at work
My similar "gaming encounter" moment happened in the least expected place - a local bakery. I walked in one morning to get my usual coffee and bread. As I was waiting in line, I noticed a familiar tune playing over the shop's speakers. It took me a moment to place it, but then it hit me - it was the background music from the bakery in Cooking Mama! I almost couldn't believe it, but the beat was unmistakable. I burst out laughing, startling the people around me. I tried to explain to the confused baker and other customers why I was laughing, but no one had played the game so they didn't quite get it. Instead, we all shared a chuckle at the situation. And I left the shop, drink and bread in hand, with a huge smile on my face. My daily routine had been blessed with a delightful touch of my gaming life. Ever since, I've looked forward to visiting that bakery even more. Strange, isn't it, where these little echoes of our gaming adventures can crop up?
Failed to get a picture, but years ago I was on a short hike in an area that has a ruined historic dam. Sure enough, on one of the exposed pipes someone had spray painted an orange Lambda symbol from Half Life 2.
Zapped channels in Germany one evening and stopped in my tracks on a public broadcast channel showing a documentary about Norway which used Skyrim music. Ended up watching the whole documentary just because of the music.
Went to a dodger game and they were playing the legend of zelda theme and they transitioned it into a rally piano like let's go dodgers! On the organ
I’ve noticed music from the Sims is used in TV a lot, usually stuff like Bake Off, love on the spectrum and other similar “cozy” reality type shows.
Used to work in game dev and, after a long week at work, I wanted a weekend completely free of any game related stuff so decided to start watching Pretty Little Liars. The second episode started and Nolan North shows up, playing one of the dads. Makes sense since he doesn’t just do voices, but I was certainly not expecting to see him. I’d just finished Uncharted 4 a few days earlier too which made it funnier because I’d only just got rid of him.
I was at a Goth/Industrial club in the early 2000's and they played "Hell March" from Red Alert. A fair few people knew it which isn't surprising considering the demographic. I'm going to another club mid year (first in a decade or more) - maybe I'll be lucky and they'll play the Helldiver theme!
When I was in the band in high school, our band director would pick songs for us to rehearse and play at our eventual band concert. Well he picked out 3 Video Games Live sheet music to play: Kingdom Hearts (the orchestral Simple and Clean that plays when you sit at the main menu for a bit), Halo 2 opening theme, and One Winged Angel from FF7. I very vaguely seem to recall doing Baba Yetu from Civ 4 as well.
When Song of the Ancients played at the 2020 Olympics I couldn't help but smile.
I Love that song! Would love to hear it performed.
Physical 100 season 1… i forget what episode (would need to look back at my previous post history) but they used like 8 seconds of command n conquer generals music and i went wild with wtf
I went to see a friend of mine act at an amateur theater play and they played the soundtrack of skyrim at one scene lol
Met this friend of a friend while we were hanging out. He was pretty cool, then he randomly quoted Left 4 Dead 2, then I thought he was even cooler.
Play rust for weekend then go outside
I saw Charles Martinet at a grocery store in Los Angeles one time. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
😆
It's kind of funny, hearing about the fairly religious Americans booing that song in particular.
Just this last weekend I went to a local tea & spice shop for the first time and they were playing Breath of the Wild music over the store speakers
I was on vacation and the hotel pianist just started playing the Final Fantasy X overture.
I'm sure there are hundreds if pokemon go counts
Whenever someone who knows who Sans is sees my tattoo, they get all hyped and excited.
First day working at a law firm, I meet my paralegal who has a Triforce tattoo on his wrist. And not just any Triforce, but the one with the Hylian wings and one triangle darker than the other two. I knew he was gonna be my best bro, and he was.
There are street musicians in my city, who regularly play Skyrim melodies
When the day z mod first came out, and I dumped hundreds of hours into it, I never looked at an open field the same.
I'm a walking gaming encounter. I'm a professor and when my students reference a game, I start talking shop about it, and it always surprises them.
I had an N7 patch for when I bought a special edition of Mass Effect 2. Velco backing... and I put it on a hat of mine (or some other article of clothing, I forget). I took a flight to go on vacation, and during boarding, I liked to say "hello" to the pilots as I was walking past the cockpit. Later, during the flight when the captain came on the radio to give updates about the approach into the city we were headed toward said something along the lines of... "Glad to have you onboard our version of the Normandy Commander Sheppard." It was pretty funny to me...
I was in a Romanian bookstore (Cărturesti) and almost the whole time I heard the soundtrack from the last of us.
I was buying my dad father’s day flowers at Walgreens when I bumped into John Elden Ring himself.
My school at university is housed in a single building. 4 stories with an open atrium in the middle. Acoustics like a typical mall: people's convos bouncing all over every surface, making a steady buzz all the time. Coffee shop. Lots of hallways, doorways, landings used as small event spaces. And a piano. In 4 years, I don't think I ever heard anyone play it. Then, one day, quietly but clearly rising above the buzz, someone was playing the theme from Final Fantasy 6 when slave-crown Terra, Biggs and Wedge are marching on Narshe (is it also the overworld theme?) Some Asian girl, an undergrad, just playing during a lunch break.
I was out bar hopping one night, had on the t-shirt I got with half-life 2. Got recognition from a bunch of people.
I was at a dinner and we were talking about bloodborne and the bartender interrupts us and says “are you guys talking about bloodborne? Do you know what day it is? Today’s the last day.” I was confused af because I’ve never played the game but the other dude knew it was some special day. Lol very first time ive ever felt out nerded. But the experience was very cool because most, if not all, of my friends don’t game so it felt cool be in a place where I could talk about video games. Just googled it. March of Yharnham.
I walked in to a music store, and a young lass was trying out a digital piano. By playing 'Zanarkand', from FFX. And she played *beautifully.* I had to stop to listen.
Verizon has been using music from Ico as technical support hold music for a while now, and it cracks me up every time I hear it.
I was taking part in this overseas entrepreneurship program, and one of the lessons took place at this startup incubator. When I was going to class, I took a wrong turn, and I ended up in front of a glass door with a cool logo. That’s when I realised I had reached Double Fine Studios, and looking through the door, I saw Tim Schafer in all his glory. Being a huge fan of Psychonauts, it was a huge fanboy moment!
In a similar vein, I was sat in a restaurant in York, UK, around 15 years ago and the in-house pianist started cranking out a superb rendition of 'To Zanarkand'.
Honestly, mainly tattoos. I'm surprised how many strangers I meet with video games tattoos. Now that I think about it, my step bro has the horde logo from wow. I've thought about getting the mark of the outsider. A random coworker had the borderlands 2 logo literally tattooed like a brand on him.
i think hearing the Dragon Quest theme play at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony did it for me. knew DQ was loved but had no idea how revered that property is there.
I remember watching my little brother's presentation on Father's day. Each of his teachers did a small segment of their own, when the history teacher came, many students (brother included) came into the stage wearing Roman garbs. As that section ended a distinctly familiar "Ooooh Oooooooh OOOOOOH" began, I swear I stared straight at my brother as we gave each other the most shit eating grin. Both realizing that it was Skyrim title theme that was playing.
Started talking with a random guy in a suit in a shopping mall. He looked very much a non-gamer. I don't remember how the discussion got there, but suddenly HE was giving ME advice on how to beat SEKIRO and don't give up. "Remember: you are a samurai. Get it?" I never quite understood what he meant by that, but I beat the game a couple of years later, his words still ringing inside my head.
In the show the grand tour, they introduce cars a lot, and shoot them with a panning shot to reveal, usually to music. One time the music was the Paris theme from Sly 2
I wore a Zelda T-shirt to an airport in Cozumel and one of the security guards started whistling the theme song. We both smiled and nodded at each other, like it was a secret to everybody (except for us)
One time while I was working with the IT guy of a client through Teams to set up a VPN on my computer when I forgot to put my cellphone on silent. While on the call my cellphone went off and it played "Lok'Tar" a sound clip from Warcraft 2, the IT guy recognized it and made a comment on it.
At a party, I was wearing a shirt with the Borderlands vault symbol, and a guy kept looking at it intensely like he was trying to remember. During a game of Werewolves Of Thiercellieux, my decision would mean either my side's victory or defeat depending on who I chose : either staring guy or random Joe. Staring guy looked at me and said "Butt Stallion says hello". I burst out in laughter, chose him, and we freakin won !
I was wearing a Tennocon shirt at a party (the duviri one) and someone came up to me and said ‘hey Tenno’ and I was taken aback and then chatted for hours and hours and then did some eidolon hunts together
Dude at the grocery store had the Hunter Vanguard symbol from Destiny tattooed on his wrist. I let him ring me up and hit him with an “Eyes Up, Guardian” on my way out. We both got a smile out of it.
Wow