The Enduring Liminality of the Screensaver 

Wha....? RetroGamingNow made a video about a retro topic? Is that legal?

You might like XScreenSaver, which has 200+ screensavers that have been developed since 1992. Its probably the best continuation of them since the 90s.

this made me unexpectedly nostalgic for the days of watching the 3D Pipes screensaver with my brother while we waited to be allowed to get on the computer

"3D pipes" was the best. I loved watching them go as a kid

The 4:3 resolution is a nice touch in these retro vids. Then again, these old screensavers may look stretched/warped on a widescreen res. I still use screensavers just for fun. I have Minecraft's Bricks, Wooden Planks (floor), and Quartz (ceiling) textures loaded into 3D Maze cos they fit well in it.

With more people having OLED monitors screensavers will come back as these are very affected by burn-in. I have an OLED monitor and am glad there are still some screensavers left in win11.

Wow, I had no idea you were such an appreciator of modern art. I had never noticed the similarities before it really is fascinating once you see them

This guy manages to make the most minute things interesting

Oh I used to watch old screensavers with joy! Always got mad when me or my sisters accidentally moved the mouse lmao

The Backrooms really was a defining cultural event of our era huh

The world traveler screensavers are so surreal. To me they break the unwritten rule of liminal spaces, where pictures of nature don’t convey the feeling liminal spaces normally do. Looking at those images makes me feel like I’m not within the world anymore, more like I’m in the spaces those pictures are, and they have a whole world that doesn’t exist anymore, because they were taken like 30 years ago.

I started watching your videos for your Minecraft ARGs series, but honestly I really just love hearing you talk about stuff. Keep up the good work, man!

This’ll be a perfectly spooky video… right?

Great video as always! Nice job putting it in 4:3 ;)

omg.. that intro about what liminality is is the most perfect description of liminal spaces are that ive ever heard. I'm a big backrooms guy myself and i spend tons of time looking at liminal stuff, but Ive never heard a better description of what it actually is than that. It's always so hard to describe it since its a feeling you just cant quite place. But thats it, thats it right there. Thank you.

What a beautiful video! I don't have anything substantial to say other than show my appreciation for this video you created. It's a perfectly round package with no "sharp edges" so to say. I think videos like these are close to being an artwork in themselves (in fact I don't think this is even far fetched, as video creation is very much a creative process among some other things). Thanks for making quality content, please never change that approach to content creation.

Surprised no one mentioned these Astro Gemini 3D screensavers that were common in the late 2000s/early 2010s. I remember loving the seasonal ones (there were autumn, winter, christmas, holidays, spring, space and underwater themed ones and some more) and installing many of them on my computer as a teenager (I was around 13 to 15 at that time). These feel super nostalgic now, they look like mid 2000s game graphics nowadays. They always felt like game maps you could explore, even though they were just screensavers without controls. Something about coming home from a stormy, rainy autumn day, sitting on your cozy warm computer and seeing these autumn and christmas screensavers always gave me a very warm and nostalgic feeling. It would be amazing if someone turned these 3D screensavers into a game map to explore or something. There are also some new 3D screensavers with more modern better graphics on sites like 3planesoft or screensaversplanet for download.

Its kinda a shame that MS isnt offering 3D Maze in their settings anymore. You have to download it and such but i never forget those cool tours i had in my childhood watching the screensaver going while waiting till the smiley comes. He always creeped me. And even today i feel a bit uncanny watching the smiley for more than ten seconds lol ❤

Am I going to regret watching this when I go to sleep? Yes. Will I stop watching? No.

I did not know I needed this knowledge you have bestowed upon us! This is such a cool background look at something most 80’ and 90’ kids know!

Damn... This hits hard. Thinking back, some of my earliest memories involve sitting in front of an old Compaq Win95 custom box my dad built for my grandparents, watching screensavers and playing the JumpStart games.

A couple years ago in my school suddenly everyone was using screensavers, however most people didn’t really understand what the purpose of one was, and just ended up putting a still image or slow slideshow, like one person who put their screensaver as a still image of hentai with the n word written on the image This video was a really cool dive into what I feel is the most underrated part of nostalgic and old computing

Most of these screensavers have so much charm. My old living room pc used to have a multi colored bubble screensaver

I still use a screensaver on my Windows 10 machine, Ribbons specifically, just for the Vibes. And I can remember a time when I previewed a screensaver of multicolored dots as a kid without realizing I'd put a password on the screensaver and accidentally locking the computer up until I remembered the password... which was "Pikachu", because of course it was. (dw that's not any of my current passwords so I feel safe to share)

My liminal pick is always the Windows 7 Architecture 6 Wallpaper. I always view it as an empty airport, but I really don't know what it is. It feels like a nightmare's imitation of it

no matter how many videos are made about liminal spaces, they’ll always be great to watch since everyone’s feelings and thoughts about them are so specific to their human experience. love it

I really like the unique screen ratio used for this video

Incredible video! I'd never in my life think I'd be so invested in a video about(what I before thought was boring) screensavers

This was really great! I'd love for you to keep making videos on anything else you find interesting -- your presentation is always superb.

This was such a well written video essay. Very nicely done, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this.

I love it how the video is 4:3 to make it feels like an old video

This is a really interesting concept. Thanks for another cool video RGN keep up the amazing work!

New RetroGamingNow video holy shit.

Wonderful video exploring a niche subject! love this to bits

I came to this channel because of the Minecraft theories, and I'm so glad I stuck around. Hope to see more videos like this one in the future. (Maybe eventually covering more liminality stuff)

the game "samorost 2" really gives me this feeling of old screensavers, there's something charming about its visual style

The second you mentioned After dark and I saw the flying toaster, my mind remembered the After Dark Game collection I used to play. Me and my brothers used to play those games for hours. We always wondered why there was a game about a flying toaster, it looks like the games reused assests from the screensavers.

I really enjoyed this. Great video dude!

Pipes was my jam.

Well that was actually AMAZING. I'm blown away by how beautifully put it all was, honestly

Thank you for creating a video about screensavers! I've been trying to learn programming just so I can create freeware (okay, actually donationware) screensavers for anyone who's interested. I remember screensavers from my childhood making computers seem whimsical and otherworldly, and I'm disappointed that they've gone out of fashion. There's this one online "game" called The Endless Forest that was a multiplayer experience that you could set up just as a regular screensaver, but when your computer went to sleep, it would enter the titular Endless Forest. It really got me thinking about what screensavers could be like if we kept developing them.

I grew up vividly remembering pipes and never knew what it’s purpose was till now

Really loved this video, cannot wait until the next one

This video is pure nostalgia.

Great video as always!

I like to imagine that the patterns you see when you close your eyes are the brain’s screensaver

great video mate, keep doing the thing

I'm from the 2010s, so there never was any screensavers on my computers. When I see some of this old technology though, it's a weird feeling. I look into a long gone world, things I can see, but never truly comprehend. I guess it is liminal as it's the end of a tunnel that I can't reach. Awesome stuff as usual, RGN, would be interested to see more like just if it interests you at all

3D pipes was personally my favorite screensaver, i would watch it endlessly as a kid

Im so hyped for every video

Nice video! I loved it!😊

Finally! I’ve always thought screensavers seemed liminal finally a video on them that talks about that

Really cool video RGN, I love seeing appreciation for older technology - things that we needed, sometimes still need, but are seen pointless and frivolous now. We'll always be nostalgic for things like this, and I think this video captured it really well.

Great vid, i didn't know i had these on my current compooter

That was so fascinating, I’ve enjoyed this and yes I remember some of those screensavers

With the upload of this video, my day has been made.

Loved this video!

14:18 got that as a daily Landscapes background on my chromebook

i get so excited whenever i get a notification for you. you have to be one of my favorite youtubers, every video you make is so interesting and well researched. and the visuals are so well done, the audio is so perfectly curated that i barely even notice it. thank you for making the videos you make. i love this channel

Please make more videos like this, I really enjoyed it.

great video! thank you

Finally RetroGamingNow making a retro video.

Your videos are the best!

This video is good to fall asleep because it won’t burn your screen overnight 😂

Totally Twisted After Dark screensavers were the opposite of liminal and I loved watching them. Over time I would occasionally see some minor event that I’ve never seen before. Good times as a little kid. Windows 3.1 was good times as well. My grandma lived with us until her passing in 2010 and she played Shanghai (Mahjong) on our computer from that time period, up to that time. I had so much fun exploring the different applications of that computer growing up. It had Doom, Wolfenstein, the cat and mouse game. It also had a chess game where each removal of a piece from the board would show an animation of the two pieces coming to life and displaying a medieval fight scene.

Please make more of these kinds of videos. I loved this oje

How do you not have a million subs already? Your videos are amazing!

Nice video, Retrodaddynow!

Bro your narration makes everything scarier, I don't know if I'd be as scared at these type of videos if your chilling voice and that music wasn't playing over it

This is such a beautiful vieeo RGN, i love your nonminecraft videos as much as your minecraft ones and can’t wait for what you give us next time!!!

This was both interesting and informative.

What a introspect video! That was great!

This has turned from a Minecraft theory channel into a philosophy channel and I love it.

This feels like a Solar Sands video. Awesome job with the narration & music, I've yet to see another person go in depth with the connections between Screensavers and liminality. The resolution of the video is very true, Screensavers served their purpose at a time when they were needed and when the time came, they left us. The new direction in this video is good, and leaves me wondering what other ideas you want to show.

you know its a good day then retrogamingnow uploads

I still have a screensaver on my laptop to this day. And I actually do kind of need it. Because LCDs are still vulnerable to what is a less serious, less permanent version of screen burn-in, that being image persistence, but it is just as easy to get as it is to get rid of. Screensavers can actually help remedy or prevent it and due to how little time it takes to get image persistence, I have my screensaver turn on after just five minutes of inactivity. And by the way, modern Windows can still at least run some of its predecessors' screensavers, as long as you copy them over from an older version of Windows. So you can get 3D Pipes on Windows 10!

You sir are excellent at being profound, I'm sure if you talked about something as simple as shoes you could give me goosebumps

Amazing video! 😮

Such an interesting video! I have never watched anything like this. I've always gotten a weird feeling from screensavers and this video has perfectly described that feeling! It almost feel wrong to be there, knowing that you are in a place that in between on and off. Probably the last screensaver that I really enjoyed looking at was the bubbles one that originated from Windows Vista. Right now, my "screen saver" is just a big flip clock. I remember going to the shops and my brother and I would just stare at the pipe screensaver on the computer while my parents would talk to the employee.

Liminal spaces are my favorite. I always remember them, 100% of the time. I am actually less likely to immediately forget them!

Honestly I just fuckin love your videos, they have a certain energy to them that I really really like. Minecraft mysteries are cool, but videos you're passionate about are way cooler. In my opinion, anyway.

16:28 YOU CAN’T HIDE THAT DOOM TEXTURE IN THE BACK FROM ME, RETRO.

do y'all remember when the rainbow bubbles filled up dad's desktop and just sorta bounced around?

I could sit and just watch screen savers for hours. 😂

screensavers always look nostalgia since they feel pre rendered, even though they seem not to

I love this channel.

Oh man I used to be obsessed with Organic Art when I was a kid! It was our first PC around 1998. It had belonged to one of my uncles who was into computers and sold it to my dad. It had a bunch of programs installed, including an emulator for the SNES, the entertainment pack thingy (I forgot the actual name), some educational games, Encarta and Organic Art. I remember there was this astronomy program which had very cool music, an atmospheric kind of music, and I used to have it playing in the background while I watched the cool screensavers from OA. I used to spend hours doing that lol, we didn't have internet back then. This video sure took me back. I wish I could have OA again. I use Linux now and I use XScreenSaver, and it has been like being a kid again in a way.

Screensavers may come back albeit minorly if OLEDs become popular enough since burn-in is once again a problem for them

I have always thought of screensavers as the dreamlike state computers have when they're resting, the surreal imagery of the screensavers similar to the surreal imagery of our dreams.

so i heard the overall map of the maze screensaver is always exactly the same. and it's merely the positions of objects and start and end locations that are changed with every iteration

That Screensaver in 1.59 i was have but blue one in Windows XP its feeling nostalgic.

Wow i actually love screensavers. Something about it is so unique as a concept. Its the computer analogue of dreaming.

This video sent me down a rabbit hole learning about Terry Dorff :(

you're like sunnyv2, you take the most random thing and make a great video about it, while he talks about people you talk about ideas, overanalyzing something stupid like i do sometimes

6:24 I’m reminded of the idea of having a use. A lot of the liminal spaces were familiar with have specific uses, and aren’t filling those uses; the Backrooms is basically an infinite yet empty office space, for example, and an empty airport or shopping mall is the classic example of a liminal space. It’s eerie to see these places totally emptied of people, which contributes to the “liminal” effect 11:30 oh. Yes, exactly.

I don't remember subscribing to you but I love this video

LES GO ANOTHER VIDEO

Yay an rgn video 😊

Very interesting! I _still_ have Flying Toasters screensaver on my computer, it's a classic.

The maze unlocked some core memories right there