Niche interests!

[Ducky]

I happen to love bagworms!! They're a type of moth that creates its own protective shell that acts as a mobile home. They're such fascinating insects, but I don't see a lot of other people who like them much, if at all. Most of the time, if you search them up, many of the results are for pest removal. It makes sense as too many of them planted onto a tree can damage or even kill it due to them feeding on its nutrients. Despite this, I think they're really cool and wish they got more appreciation.

I do enjoy some of the representation they get in media (specifically in anime!) Such as the Pokemon, Burmy, and its evolution line.

There's also a Digimon named Minomon that's based on a bagworm. I have a bagworm sticker and also a little plushie of one (I can post photos if anyone's interested!)

(Let it be known that I had a MUCH longer reply to this thread but I shortened it >w< It was at least like 5 paragraphs long hehe...)

[Nettlebrand]

Television production, especially from the era I grew up watching cable in (2002 - 2008). I think I was 10 years old when I'd spend ages going to the "Sesame Street" Wikipedia page, jumping from article to article, and occasionally learning some sketchy shit that'd make my mom raise her eyebrows and ask me whether what I was reading was "for kids".

[Solinus]

Mine are clocks. More specifically, those that mark the hour with a melody and sometimes animation, often sold under the Rhythm, Citizen or Seiko brands.

The first one is from the 80s/90s and was only sold in Japan, the second one is made today but only in select countries, and the third one is from the 2000s.

[Dan Q]

🗺️ Geohashing! XKCD comic #426 invented a sport, possibly as a joke, but some of us took it seriously and a few of us still participate to this day.

The idea is you take the Dow Jones Industrial Index (functionally a random number, but everybody agrees on what it is), plus today's date, run it through some maths, and you get GPS coordinates around the surface of the Earth: one for every square-degree of latitude and longitude. (You don't have to actually do the maths, mind, there are apps and a website that'll calculate it for you and just draw the resulting map.)

Your challenge is, within the 24 period, get to that day's coordinates and then write about what you found there on a wiki. It's "spontaneous adventure creation!"

Oh, and nowadays I host the wiki for the couple of hundred of us still actively playing the game, after the old site got taken down after a security incident. (I actually get very little free time to go out and actively geohash, sadly, but I manage sometimes and I enjoy reading about the adventures of others!)

Here, I did a 3½ minute vlog (from an expedition) a while back that sort-of explains it.

[MrsMoe]

Animation history! It's a little awkward being knowledgeable and knowing a lot about animation techniques and philosophies when I have no experience in animation whatsoever, but animation is one of my oldest special interests and I always found learning about it even more fascinating than just regular film history itself. I know a lot of usual trivia about Disney and all the western big dogs and whatnot, but now learning about foreign/indie animation is much more engaging for me. Outside of anime, I'd say soviet/eastern european animation is what really scratches my brain 

[RRoxyRRight]

While I wouldnt say my interests are the nichest of niche, I do like some things That I feel the average person would not know about.

I really love rpg maker horror games. I used to spend hours looking for them and playing them!! I did do a little work on the rpgmaker wiki aswell. I dont really play many of them anymore unfortunately  but id like to get really into it again.

MSI rip off bands are also a bit of a gulity pleasure of mine to research.

[fablefound]

i think that i'm pretty weird and voracious when it comes to, like, a lot of media consumption--i have an entire playlist of musical artists under a certain amount of monthly listeners, for example, and i've written literal academic essays comparing new wave and hyperpop music scenes. and when i have more mainstream interests, i tend to go DEEP, like how i'm probably a living encyclopedia on all things roger rabbit, from the comics to the cancelled sequels x_x
it's hard to know what's properly niche though, because i surround myself with other people with niche interests! like, a lot of irls would probably raise their eyebrows if i talked about neocities, or other stuff i'm in communities for, like collecting vintage clothes and toys... and i've had to explain what discworld is a lot, even though it's like, one of the bestselling fantasy series out there and still a very alive, very devoted fandom.
(not to mention that thanks to the internet, for better or worse, the niche can become mainstream practically overnight. i've been playing the omnichord for over half a decade, and while i DON'T miss having to explain what it is at all my gigs, i'm constantly compared to people who play them on tiktok and stuff -_-)

[HABITRABBITS]

my two are practical effects and hunter: the parenting.

on the side of practical effects, it's an old childhood fascination (i grew up watching face off and loved learning how the monsters from my favorite movies were done) combined with an appreciation for 90s and 2000s action movies. i miss when movies would dedicate 110% to the vibes, everything from the setting to the extras were dripping in personality. i specifically bought special edition DVDs of the del toro hellboys just for the combined 4+ hours of info on the production side and the tour of the troll market and everything. i love del toro's movies and how hard he goes, and i really hope frankenstein gets a physical release with the little documentary on its production included.

as for hunter: the parenting, it's just obscure enough that i have a really hard time finding people that like it, let alone know what it is. i only found about it because one of my friends really loves WoD and got me to watch it, and i fell in love almost immediately. i was surprised at how good it was, it balances the seriousness and the dread of h:tr and v:tm with inherent TTRPG silliness so well in its writing and handles its mysteries remarkably well. it's funny, well-written, and the vibes are immaculate. 100/10 would recommend.

[varve]

🗺️ Geohashing! XKCD comic #426 invented a sport, possibly as a joke, but some of us took it seriously and a few of us still participate to this day.

Whoa, blast from the past! I used to do that, but jobs changed and free time changed and the email notifications about what the day's point was stopped coming... my last geohash was 10 years ago.

Wonder if I should look into it again. My graticule is something like 75% inaccessible (water or trackless mountains).

[wuldorgifu]

 The culture of virtual world & multiplayer games, both 3D and 2D. This started when I was very young and got extremely into Animal Jam. I was the only kid in my area, seemingly, who loved that game so much or played it in the first place. I was in the fanbase during the golden age of Animal Jam Youtubers + 'Jambassadors', aka the 2010s, and there's a cultural rabbit hole that is *very* deep. Urban legends, a whole economy, well-respected figures in the community who made my childhood, the rise and fall of AJHQ... it was a form of solace for me and I had online friends on there whom I'd speak to every day.

The game(s) are a shell of their former glory now, with the 3D mobile version becoming the main focus of the devs and the 2D desktop version being renamed Animal Jam Classic and changed to downloadable software after the discontinuation of Flash. The playerbase of the original desktop game skews older, and while everyone's friendly and it's worth checking out, it's not the same as it was in its peak and stuff like fanmade stories and well-known creators aren't so prominent. The mobile version used to be a lot more fun, but it's lost even more of its spark.

I became interested in how people interact in game environments after finding a history of Club Penguin online. There're a lot of games where it's relevant-- MMOs/MMORPGs, PBBGs, MOOs/MUDs/MUSHs/MUCKs, VRML games, virtual worlds of all kinds. It's interesting to see the kind of community a game attracts, the in-jokes, events, well-known figures...

I'm especially interested in multiplayer games with very little documentation that are effectively dead or need archival. There's a certain feeling you get exploring an empty MMO. It's also gratifying to work with other people to put the pieces together.


 I enjoy researching obscure/obsolete video game consoles & mediums too. Especially ones that are region-specific. Some examples of would be the North Korean Moranbong, the Samsung Nuon, Pioneer Laseractive, Hitachi Hi-Saturn Navi, IQue Player, Panasonic 3DO, Game.com handheld... unusual CD-ROM games and lesser-known games for well-known consoles hold my heart as well.


 On top of this I spend a lot of time learning about small or defunct publishers and finding the books they put out!

[rhyswynne]

It's probably niche online but probably not niche in the grand scheme of things - I love cricket!

I play as much as the English summer allows and I also enjoy watching it and listening to it on the radio. It's crossed over with another niche of mine (video games), and I'm currently collecting every Cricket game ever made. I've got the most common ones, but there was a Cricket text adventure for the Commodore 64 which I own. There's also a few rare titles I've got in my collection.

On the whole, because it's a niche-ish interest that doesn't convert well to video games, the games are invariably crap, it's actually quite cheap to do. I think the most expensive game I've paid for is £5!

[ABlueRose]

I have a few!!

First: Sea creatures  I love chaunacops (My profile picture), but there's all sorts of neat little guys! There's ZOMBIE WORMS that eat the bone marrow of dead sea creatures, adorable little sea slugs, the extremely intelligent octopuses (Which, bonus fact is there is no official spelling for the plural of octopus! You can use octopuses, octopis, or octopodes and be correct), and so much more!

Second: Item label is a plushie company focused on making weird little creatures. They're just cool

Third: Public domain!! I get so excited on January first because that's when we get new stuff in the public domain in the US! I just think it's so cool that we get new stuff yearly for free, and so much of old media is still so good and interesting! gutenberg.org is good for books

Fourth: I'm not sure if this one counts, but psychical media! Not so much on the specs side, but I've been collecting DVD's, CD's, and ds/3ds games (Also wanting to dip my toes into GBA games, since I can play them on my ds, but haven't taken the plunge yet). I also watched this super cool video a while back, about turning your digital games into physical media (...technically)! In the video the guy made cases for his games, and every game on GoG (Good Old Games) is DRM-free, which means you can save the installer onto a disc or sd card. He downloaded all his installers and had them inside the cases, and he set up a system on his computer that made it when he scanned an airtag (placed inside the game case), it would load the game automatically! I really want to do something like that sometime...
Oh, and tangentially I've been wanting a mp3 player, and to bookbind some fanfiction. Also maybe burning some DVD's with public domain stuff

[Cobra!]

One interest I have that would be considered niche nowadays is the sport of Robot Combat.
If you remember Robot Wars, Battlebots and Robotica, it's basically that. Building vehicle-like robots and battling them out.

It was basically my life growing up and I was as obsessed as you could possibly be, and I was heartbroken when those shows were all cancelled.

By the time the reboots came around, I lost some interest, due to the sport developing metas. Mainly huge flippers and giant spinning discs.

However, I still love the whole concept of building robots and pitting them against each-other in competitions!

A couple fo years ago, I was made aware of a sub-category called "Sportsman" and it was exactly what I wanted! It basically forbids the metas in the sport and nerfs the weapons, allowing for more creativity and variety in robots!
My dream is to build robots for that competition!

Fourth: I'm not sure if this one counts, but psychical media! Not so much on the specs side, but I've been collecting DVD's, CD's, and ds/3ds games

I love physical media! I'm trying to collect as many formats/players as I can! I recently got a zip drive and disks from a friend.

I also watched this super cool video a while back, about turning your digital games into physical media (...technically)! In the video the guy made cases for his games, and every game on GoG (Good Old Games) is DRM-free, which means you can save the installer onto a disc or sd card. He downloaded all his installers and had them inside the cases, and he set up a system on his computer that made it when he scanned an airtag (placed inside the game case), it would load the game automatically! I really want to do something like that sometime...

Oh? You got a link to the video?

[ABlueRose]

One interest I have that would be considered niche nowadays is the sport of Robot Combat.

Oh!! I never got into it myself, but I remember thinking robot fights were so cool! Sad to hear it's died down some 

Oh? You got a link to the video?

Here you go! I really need to do some more research into different options for this. I'd like to change it so putting in a CD with a script would start up a specific game, but the first time I failed and wasted a CD, so back to the drawing board. Or maybe I need to just look into air tags 

[Cobra!]

Here you go! I really need to do some more research into different options for this. I'd like to change it so putting in a CD with a script would start up a specific game, but the first time I failed and wasted a CD, so back to the drawing board. Or maybe I need to just look into air tags 

Ah, he put them into SD cards. Not as interesting as I had hoped but at least the spirit is there. (Also half the games he made copies of have actual commercial copies on PC )
Also Steam has a backup system that formats the games the same way Steam DRM’d physical games were.

I actually made a physical DVD version of Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Seties this way! I found a program called undercoverxp to make printouts of a custom cover I frankensteined. Photos attached.

I think I still have the image files for the cover and other files needed to make your own somewhere so if anyone wants to make their own let me know and I’ll look for them. (These files don’t contain the game data for legal purposes and for the sake of forum rules. You’ll need to provide those yourself.)