There’s an Aztec city building game called Tlatoani. It’s in early access, but has enough meat on the bone that it’s one of my goto games.

Out of curiosity I checked Steam DB for active player numbers. I have discovered at any given point I am 10% to 25% of the given player base BY MYSELF. I am 1 of 4 people playing this game right now in the world. With the prevalence of the internet I always assume whatever weird bullshit you’re into there’s at least a thousand people talking about it; making memes outsiders could never comprehend. It’s actually novel to fly under the radar for once.

What do you do that doesn’t have a community associated with it?

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    8·
    8 days ago

    Thermodynamics, specifically refrigeration cycles.

    Its probably my autism showing but the fact that we can just move funny fluid around and make heat move is absolutely fascinating. I can spend a lot of time making theoretical refrigeration cycles with different fluids, thermoelectrics, heat capacities, repurposing car junkyard AC systems, etc.

    Millions of people do it for work, sure. I doubt any of them are “into it”.

  • pruwyben@discuss.tchncs.de
    7·
    8 days ago

    Earlier this year I tried out a Steam demo of a game called “That Time I Found a Box” and got hooked on it. It’s a very unique card game where you create and enhance the cards as you play. I played it for days and eventually beat the demo - the devs told me I was the first person to beat it.

    The full version just came out on Steam - I’d recommend taking a look. It’s a bit janky and not for everybody, but it does something unique that really clicked for me.

  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
    5·
    8 days ago

    I’m really, really into what I can only call technological bootstrapping. Like, we started out on this planet with nothing, and then built everything. How did that happen? Primitive tech is another name but the emphasis is usually on the very first stages.

    That itself has gotten me into obscure things like metrology, greenwood working and small-scale semiconductor fabrication.

    • ErmahgherdDavid@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      7 days ago

      That’s cool! Can you recommend any resources on this? I’ve thought a lot about this sort of thing. I’m guessing semiconductor fabrication requires a lot of complex upstream tasks and isn’t the sort of thing that’s feasible at home. Would love to be wrong!

  • AmericanEconomicThinkTank@lemmy.world
    5·
    8 days ago

    I try to curate zines from around the world into local exhibitions, do hand translating alongside if need be, imitate the original paper best I can.

    It’s kinda fun lol. That and kinda similarly, but I love♡ spending time on online software radio sites, just listening into different channels like I was there myself.

    • metallic_substance@lemmy.world
      2·
      7 days ago

      I was in the top 1% for Beatles listeners a few years back. That was shocking, but it was a deep-dive I did over like 6 months, so I guess it makes sense. Still, given their popularity it really surprised me an made me question Spotify’s metrics

  • Tuukka R@piefed.eeEnglish
    3·
    8 days ago

    Well… I’m using an instance that has 10 active users according to https://piefed.fediverse.observer/list :)

    I wanted to move from Lemmy to PieFed, because its development is faster than that of Lemmy’s and because its maintainers have values I have nothing against and because I want to help a cool project grow.

    And then I had a bunch of criteria that I wanted my instance to fulfill, and piefed.ee was the only PieFed instance that fulfilled all of my wishes. So, now I’m apparently one out of ten :)

    • ragica@lemmy.ml
      1·
      8 days ago

      Glad you found a happy cozy home. Appreciative that I can reply to you from heart of the old beast!

      Relative to all the well known commercial social media platforms though aren’t we all into something here hardly anyone else knows about, whether 10 users or a few thousand?

  • smeg@infosec.pubEnglish
    3·
    8 days ago

    I have a lot of obscure interests, but not as obscure as yours.

    • Finding former Pizza Huts in North America. It’s just such an iconic building design. There’s a documentary out now on them, but I’ve been fascinated for almost a decade now.

    • Meshtastic

    • John le Carré novels. He was huge decades ago, but basically nobody knows the name now besides Boomers and genre fans.

  • Tuukka R@piefed.eeEnglish
    3·
    8 days ago

    Whenever I’m going abroad within Europe, for a bit over month before that, I start buying stuff only with banknotes. I put all of the coins made in Finland or (other) Baltic countries in a separate pocket and then make sure to use those during my travel.

    It feels nice that people get to see coins that they don’t see that often. And at the same time, I’m increasing the relative amount of non-Finnish coins in Finland, which I also think is good, as that helps people here notice that there’s more to the EU than just Finland :)

    I would guess it’s unlikely that all that many other people do the same.

  • Troy@lemmy.ca
    3·
    7 days ago

    “space music” – I played Mass Effect 1 long ago and got hooked on the idea of musicians trying (and often failing) to make music for futuristic settings. This is like Star Trek episodes that reference classical music but some person has to predict what classical music will sound like in 2300. So they go with with future retro stuff and it just tickles me. So I seek out these sorts of experimental musical pre-trend predictions cause they’re often hilarious.

      • Wugmeister@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        4·
        8 days ago

        If I was an Apple user it would be the Orion browser. There’s just no downsides to it other than it being only available for Mac and Iphones.

        Everything else i have to add disclaimers when talking about them. For example, I use Brave as my daily driver and I’ve had an easier time getting other people to switch to Brave than any other browser becuase having an awesome adbocker integrated into the browser itself is just that good. However, Brave is run by crypto bros, so it comes packaged with a crypto wallet and some AI bloatware. Thankfully there’s a setting to turn the integrated crypto ads off, but the fact that those things are there at all is a BIG red flag. But it’s an easier sell to normies because it’s built on Chromium and works with the Google ecosystem in a way that Firefox-based browsers don’t.

        I would love to push Librewolf more, but it doesn’t have a mobile version, and apparently installing UBlock Origin on your own is just too scary for the normies. So now wherever I meet a person and see they have an IPhone, the next words out of my mouth are “Have you heard of the Orion browser?”

        • Brave Little Hitachi Wand@feddit.ukEnglish
          3·
          8 days ago

          When I find out a thing I like is the preferred option of someone whose niche fixation is that type of thing, it gives me life.

          All I really want from the internet is to have a council of difficult nerds telling me what all the best shit is so I can become the perfect being.

          I’m never leaving Lemmy lmao

        • goeticThunder@lemmy.world
          2·
          8 days ago

          Yes, absolutely, 100% yes. Using Orion + Kagi is absolutely the best change I’ve ever made to my browsing experience on Mac.

  • Zachariah@lemmy.world
    2·
    8 days ago

    There’s a lot of Robotech/Macross stuff out there, but I rarely see anyone post online about it, and I’ve never met anyone in person who even knows what it is.

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
      1·
      8 days ago

      and I’ve never met anyone in person who even knows what it is.

      I guess it doesn’t exactly come up randomly in conversation.

      But I intend to be the change I want to see in the world.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      8 days ago

      Never hear it spoken of, nor any online comments. We teens were hooked. A serious animated series about young adults?! We called it “japanimation”, maybe we just made that up, never heard the word elsewhere, but we had never heard the word “anime”.

      Haven’t revisited as I’m afraid I’d be deeply disappointed.

          • pootzapie@lemy.lolEnglish
            1·
            8 days ago

            This looks amazing…I was literally thinking of the robotech books today because I heard some music that sounded like the background jazz and was thinking how Jack McKinney bio mentioned he played in fusion jazz bands! Also called it japanimation back then… how cool!!

  • BodePlotHole@lemmy.world
    2·
    8 days ago

    My favorite thing in the whole world is dropping LSD, and listening to obscure music or watching weird shit…

    Dude I can’t find ANYONE to hang out with me… I wave that flag in every social situation I find myself in. I really thought there would be more people into it.

    Well, that or I’m completely unbearable to hang out with. If that’s the case I just wish people would tell me.

    • calliope@retrolemmy.com
      3·
      8 days ago

      Oh, that’s just a risky proposition, that’s all!

      I would wager most people don’t know themselves well enough on psychedelics to trust watching weird shit with someone who is also on psychedelics.

    • breakfastburrito@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      7 days ago

      I am big into old obscure media, love ubuweb, but I would still hesitate to join a kind of unknown person for an activity like that. It’s just a big plunge.

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      8 days ago

      I mean that’s a giant leap for any new friend. Lsd isnt so common that the average person has experience with it. So how to have a good trip and trip safely is a necessary starting point. It’s also a multi hour to days long thing. Thats a heck of a lot of time for most People to spend not working, no family obligations, and no other needs/wants. Basically its a rare population who’s willing to trip and of those willing it’d probably be a once a year thing at best. That said of people willing to trip I would think the music and videos would be about par.

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    8 days ago

    I’m addicted to buying crappy antique and vintage shotguns and restoring them. Have so many now I can hardly justify another. I know, I’m ruining the antique value by stripping the metal and wood, but they’re ~$150 items, not exactly rare.

    Look at this $119 ($160 by the time I get it home) piece of crap!

    https://www.guns.com/used-guns/p/companhia-brasileira-de-cartuchos-151?i=571883

    Never even heard of that brand, let alone the model. Bet I could make it dance and sing for a week’s worth of evenings. It’s a single-shot, can’t be too fucked up. Probably.

      • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        7 days ago

        It’s a piece by piece thing. First I strip the wood down, assuming that’s needed or wanted. Hella work, many blisters, stain as appropriate. Wish I had pics, but one 60s ERA (Brazilian make) single-shot was stained in what I call Confederate Blue, sort of a blue/gray mix. Girlfriend’s eyes popped when she saw it. “You told me about it, but I didn’t imagine this!” I’d take a pic, but it’s in the shed at camp. :( The single-shot hanging over my door is from the 60s or 70s, deep red, silver metal, nickle sling swivels, $20 buffalo-leather sling from eBay. Took that pic just for you OP!

        That last one took over 2-months! Broke a piece fucking with it. Ordered. Waited. Tried again. Lost a spring. Ordered. Waited. Found the original spring, now have two. Refinished the wood after the first clear coat peeled off, dumb mistake, took a week of sanding, staining, drying, coating. Just about my favorite. Long barrel for full force and accuracy, tight pattern, kicks like god’s own mule. Too broke to buy more low-power shells, stuck with the monsters another gun required, bruisers, not fun. But still fun. :)

        Back up. First I make sure everything is mechanically safe and sound, actually works, no “oops”, and not interested in “wall hangers”. Parts are an adventure, but Numrich gun parts has loads of old parts for cheap, diagrams for reference. “WTF is this part even called?!” Need a weird spring or piece of metal? They got it. LOL, I’ve used a ball-point pen spring!

        Once it’s mechanically sound and the wood is done, time for accessories! That usually means a matching strap and some way to affix shells, maybe a sight or a new bead on the end. I like the “grab and go” way of the gun. Got a solid source for leather wraps if anyone cares, Polish outfit on eBay. I will scream to the heavens about their quality, service and pricing. Got about 6 of those, want more, too broke. When they say “20-gauge”, it ain’t a loose 12-gauge that sorta fits. Left-handed merchandise as well! :)

        Not many pics, but here’s a single-shot 20-gauge I gave a dear friend for (FINALLY) graduating high school. He’s now happily married and moving up in the US Air Force! Got to hold it again at his house warming party. Gods I miss that one, want another to fix up.

        This one’s new, not exciting, but I wanted a cheap, light, 12-gauge for hiking. Sawed off (legally!), stained, upside down flag nailed on. But ain’t my AR cool!

        Not my work, except for adding the shell carrier and rough grip, but very much my style. 1900s (?), double-barreled, side-by-side, 12-gauge, sawed off (legally!). They stripped the blueing (blackening) off all the metal, chopped it, sanded and stained, wonderful. Can’t use modern loads, and both barrels trip at once if cocked, still fun as hell.

        Wish I had more pics! Got a 90s Remington, made in Russia. You read that right. A tiny 410 with the most beautiful wood furniture I own. When my FFL handed me the box, and he usually doesn’t comment much on my purchases, “Wait till you see the wood grain.” It shines like amber in the sun.

        Anyway, I better go pay attention to my wife, but your triggered my trap card! Be glad to say more!

        EDIT: Stumbled on a pic! Confederate Blue shotgun on top. The colors really pop IRL! Next one is a Revelations brand from 70s/80s Western Auto Stores, first thing I ever gunsmithed, got me on this road. It’s a common Remington 500, simply rebranded. Yes, you could buy guns in auto parts stores in the day, no ID. Two Turkish POSes. First one works fine, second one’s going in the swamp. Next up is a Remington 1895, same year as the make, didn’t do much of anything to that one but clean up the wood. And the aforementioned “red”. Love that thing.

        And no joke, the bug blaster on the bottom works. It’s a salt shotgun for flies. It works.

        EDIT2: Found the Russian 410! Looks better in the sunlight, but you might get the idea.

    • LavaPlanet@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      8 days ago

      That’s so cool! I’m not at all into guns, but I love seeing other people’s expertise and the before and after of trashed to treasure, would be amazing to see.