“As a millennial I have a genuine question: what is the appeal of TikTok!?”
–Mr. Melancholy

“Vine with a RAM expansion.”

Razorfist theorized and predicted rather successfully that the graphical potentials would not improve between two generations of video game consoles but the RAM [Random Access Memory] would, courtesy of chips being cheap, which allowed for greater internal and structural complexity of video games without breaking the companies’ budgets. This came about during a recession where innovation was cut short alongside robust features and comprehensive support, forcing developers and publishers to rely on old tricks that might not have capitalized on what advancements of technology did happen at the time.

Even back in the day, Nintendo’s 8-Bit machine ran on a truncated/altered version of the 6502 CPU with reduced and adjusted program functionality and its sequel’s 65816 pretty much fused two of them together. The 6502 chip was on Apple IIs and even the Atari 2600 well in advance. Of course, Atari’s machine structurally allowed for variations of Pong, so developers had to work within those limitations or fall back on custom chips in the cartridges to produce different kinds of arcade-themed games. Warlords and Yars’ Revenge? Indubitably. Adventure, E.T., H.E.R.O., Pitfall, and Raiders of the Lost Ark? Just barely.

Nintendo’s hardware was already outdated in 1983, but the prompts and structure of the chip’s language allowed for smooth scrolling that gave rise to its beloved platform games. Nintendo continues this practice of outdated machinery today with their Switch console, which crosses a habitually limited handheld system with a mounted one, neither of which rival the respectable processing power of financially beleaguered rivals who must still sell games to recoup losses from their ornate consoles’ production costs. Yet, they still pale in comparison to PC enthusiasts’ builds, although those demand technological savvy and patience to research, purchase, and build not just hardware, but software like operating systems, emulators and the games themselves.

You get what you pay for, is what I’m saying. So, how does that have anything to do with Tiktok? Nothing direct–it’s just an analogy, give me a break. These are not without precedents, either. The net had all kinds of programming and software tricks in tow like the vector-based Flash media format (i.e. Newgrounds.com) that was, according to at least rumor or possibly fact, targeted for elimination by Apple when it competitively sought a program structure that ran its new line of iPads and iPhones.

Devising the next best development suite like WordPress allows enthusiasts to present information through the net without needing to be a formally trained programmer. Tumblr was an image-oriented instance most attractive to artists at best and wingnuts at worst. Each social media site operates under a specific design philosophy or method, with templates and formats that then attract undisciplined riffraff alongside legitimately good-intentioned users due to convenience and ease of use. It’s just something we must contend with when another one comes out. The streaming had not achieved resolutions or memory capacities that would not overload servers. “What are we to do?”

Enter Vine, Tiktok’s predecessor–also called “Twitter in Video Format”.

Back in the early 2010s, Logan Paul was somewhere near decent and Mike the Cop was still a formal officer of the law instead of a full-time advocate. Vine let one engineer quick gags and summarize difficult topics. It wasn’t horrible in itself–once again, a tool for the masses to communicate–so, what? Birthing Logan Paul’s career is the least of our worries. Yet, Vine lasted only so long, forcing committed users to migrate. It rode the wave of mobile pocket computer technology when it was still deemed a fad, but long-term acceptance eventually manifested, spurring on Vine’s now-infamous sequel.

Once anyone thought to make something similar, technological advancements such as memory space and high resolution allowed for mobile phones to display super-quick but still minutes-long productions of superior complexity to Vine. As before, Tiktok remains accessible to amateurs and enthusiasts who can be unconnected to the mainstream media industry in any capacity–entertainment, edutainment, news and information, research, et cetera–regardless of what their particular angle is. The net is famous for perpetuating that, which is why bureaucrats addicted to bloody sob stories that somehow get tied back to their positions–guilty parties or not–seek control over businesses who birth formats so they can control the net’s users and prevent sob stories at the very least.

This has gone on long enough, but each new service looks like a bar or club to dive into for its users who are too young to remember the “Usenet Era”, well before the internet’s wholesale commercialization. Tiktok is still a tool, not a place or community, which has long-timers and lifers running an imaginary venue. People can ignore it and use the system but, like reddit, the crowd makes things difficult enough to ward off potential viewers and clients. YouTube’s Shorts system wants in on the action. Most of these are distilled snippets from the so-called old-school long-form video format. “Want the full story? Click to the actual version!”

Out in China, they regulate what gets presented for fear of corrupting their children with absurd notions, but let the U.S. corrupt itself–an obvious double standard. So, if Rumble allows the classic libs to get a shot at glory and acceptance, then it can dial back the Tumblrs who necessitated Elon Musk’s seizure of Twitter/X’s reins. It’s not a bad proposition to be fair and a change in format or server architecture can still allow for the existent guard to stick around if so desired. But the real reason kids are into Tiktok is because they never heard of anything else they can play or use–not the NES, not Newgrounds, not MySpace, none of it. But that doesn’t stop people from showing them where the action was and still is or to make their own so as to duck this kind of ribaldry. Tiktok no longer has an appeal–it just looks like the only game in town. For the moment.

Given the United States hastens to ban it for corrupting the youth like the new rock and roll, otherwise conservative-leaning monolith Rumble decided to pull a Blackie Lawless and propose the Kill Fuck Die album so simpering industrial metal fans can recall who really did it first. To that, I close with the following:

“It’s a LONG SHOT!”

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

….

 

“The goalie has it.”

Hey, I always failed to do this! Don’t tell me you didn’t try it from across the entire court whenever you rented this game. But hey, what a wonderful world it’d be if it happened and also didn’t backfire!

Cross your fingers and good hunting.