Over 50 Years Of Metal Detecting & Gold Prospecting

[Steve Herschbach]

7 hours ago, jasong said:

Remember to take a breath from the RPG's now and then and get out into the mountains, I had to force myself to stop playing Everquest and Unreal Tournament when I was in school just to get anything done and get outta there.

I’m a full blown computer nerd, literally from the days before PCs existed, until now. Apple II was my first rig but it was the Atari 800 that got me going with the games. I literally bought the machine after seeing a Star Raiders demo. Adventure games went from text based Zork to first person snapshot Kings Quest to Myst. That’s when life got in the way, and I had the self knowledge to recognize I had to set gaming aside to make a living. So one of my many hats at AMDS was IT guy building and running our network, and website guy getting us online in 1998. I cut my teeth as a moderator on the Alaska Gold Forum before starting my own, first the AMDS Adventure Forum, and then migrating  to this when I left AMDS as nobody on staff would replace me, so that forum folded. Many of the members there formed the original core membership here.

I love the technology behind gaming, the graphics and the design. I like games that can be modded, and have published a few mods of my own on Nexus. Modern RPGs (I’m a Bethesda and CD Projekt Red fan) amaze me with their depth and complexity; they are fully fleshed alternate realities, now approaching photo realism, and AI will take the NPCs to a whole different level. Matrix, here we come!  I’ve probably got 700 hours into Fallout 4 alone now, and just used the upcoming release of Starfield as an excuse to buy a very high end gaming PC, money that previously might have been saved for a GPZ 8000. 

I took the gaming back up when I was recovering from back to back hip surgeries, 6 months of down time. It has been weird, as I have faced not insubstantial guilt issues over devoting so much time and money to something so frivolous. Too much ingrained work ethic biting me in the butt, though I’ve tried to justify it by thinking “at least I don’t watch television.” I’ve come to finally acknowledge this is exactly why I scrimped and worked so hard for so long - to be able to do exactly what I want, and not give a rip what anyone thinks about it! 

[Norvic]

Wow, Steve thank you for your journeys summary, it is a privilege to have also had a similar journey as I believe we are living in an era that makes such journeys possible and I hope and wish that your sharing of your journey details on DP will influence others to cast aside negativity and begin such a positive journey. We live in magic times where the sky is no limit.

[Johnnysalami1957]

Steve, Reading your posts and reviews over the time I have spent here makes me feel like you're an old friend. I hope that your retirement is good to you, it will be an adjustment. I realized that I was not invincible!. My advice to you is to be happy every day. And don't sweat the small things. I'll be checking in here for some posts on your retirement.⛏️

[Tony]

Thanks for sharing your story Steve……and providing this awesome metal detecting forum BUT I’d hate to think that you feel you can’t escape from it if the need was there…..most of us play well in the sandpit and only occasionally throw out the toys.

Atari 800……I only had enough money for the Atari 400 back in 1981. I can remember spending hours typing in the BASIC game programs from Compute! magazine. I discovered metal detecting the same year aged 14……the rich kid up the road had a Compass Relic Magnum 7 which I drooled over more then my Atari 400.

Keep well….and keep doing the things that make you happy. Damn you’re not that old 🚑

[GhostMiner]

Hopefully there will be good moderators to keep the site in good order.

[flakmagnet]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

.and keep doing the things that make you happy. Damn you’re not that old

Yeah…I was gonna say…

Steve you know what you have achieved and what you want to do now. Can't think of a thing wrong with any of that. Have fun and dive into all the things that fascinate you. I will bet there will be some gold detecting down the line when the urge strikes you - and if it doesn't, that's fine too.

The one thing I do hope you get constant pleasure and satisfaction from is this forum. It was your no b.s. approach to forum behavior that set the bar for all of us and look how well this forum almost polices itself. We've all come to learn that this is the way to make discussions worthwhile. That was you who did that.

Good health to you.

[Steve Herschbach]

14 hours ago, GhostMiner said:

Hopefully there will be good moderators to keep the site in good order.

Nothing is changing as far as the site moderation is concerned. I’ll continue to review the site daily, but simply expect to post less often as I’m detecting less often, and not paying much attention to new detectors now. I've tried hard to convince myself I need one of the new toys, but what I have now is good enough for what I’m doing.

[jasong]

5 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I’m a full blown computer nerd, literally from the days before PCs existed, until now. Apple II was my first rig but it was the Atari 800 that got me going with the games. I literally bought the machine after seeing a Star Raiders demo. Adventure games went from text based Zork to first person snapshot Kings Quest to Myst.

Cool same here, I was into it a bit later but not much, just younger. 8088 computer my mom bought to do bookeeping, taught myself to program GWBasic from it's manual and made basic Zork-like text games, had King's Quest but I was a Space Quest kinda guy all the way. 😁 Sierra logo still emblazened in my memory. Later ran a BBS prior to internet being available in my town and had all sorts of text RPG's on it, kinda the precursor to the MMORPG's and forums of today. 

I plan to do a similar retirement as you after I get everything done out in the world I am able to get done first. I am building a server room for future local AI and VR developments and gaming. Maybe detect for jewelry on a beach vacation somewhere nice if my body is up for it. 🏝️

[Cascade Steven]

Steve:

Best wishes for your retirement.  Please enjoy every day with your family.  I  have found that they pass all too quickly.

[Rivers rat]

Hi Steve just a question what is RPG????😆 Can you enlight me once more

 

Good write up! Not too sure who said that but always remember Nostalgia is a seductive layer

 

RR