The Enduring Liminality of the Screensaver

Many of us have not thought about screensavers in years, but they are far more interesting than they might seem. They have a certain liminality to them that isn't quite matched elsewhere.
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"Within the Maze"
#liminalspace #weird #screensaver #computerhistory

[@slavprussiaottomanfinlandUSUK]

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

[@KyanoAng3l0]

It's a pity that there's no Windows version of that, thanks to Microsoft. I'm currently building my own archive of Windows stuff from childhood in the form of a Windows XP VM. A collection like XScreenSaver could've made things easier.

[@tendo649]

@@KyanoAng3l0 I think I may have found a Windows port of it actually, so while it may not stay updated it is still possible I think

[@slavprussiaottomanfinlandUSUK]

@@tendo649Thats good at least!

[@LoneStarPianist]

Another interesting note: The developer of Xscreensaver made netscape! That is also the reason there is no windows version, purely from (totally deserved) spite.

[@vapor404]

after dark is still a favorite of mine its just got that early 90s jank i love

[@wow-effect]

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

[@shardinalwind7696]

My god you’re right

[@elisabethfox1169]

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

[@stephaniethebatter7975]

If you still have an old computer with Windows XP, go get it, find the 3D Pipes screensaver and put it on a USB and copy it to whatever PC that runs Windows you use now.

[@undynlicia7554]

It was always my favourite screensaver

[@RetroGamingNow]

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

[@rexxe001]

:P

[@glitchy4043]

it's almost as if it was meant to be...

[@Hamza_Mansoor]

ModernReadingLater 😳

[@InventorZahran]

"I will make it legal..."

[@Kwauhn.]

Retro? Yes. _Gaming?_ Debatable, but who cares since it was a good video anyway haha

[@KyanoAng3l0]

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.

[@quantum5661]

huh, so it is. my monitor actually is a 4:3 hp1702 so i didnt even notice.

[@mattguy1773]

This guy manages to make the most minute things interesting

[@commandercody4927]

He can also make anything give me nightmares

[@gorejan1]

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.

[@Positroni]

Probably not, the best option still remains to turn the screen off, especially for batter powered devices.

[@Kwauhn.]

​@@PositroniDepends on the batter. I like pancake for performance, but brownie is best for preventing screen burning.

[@yosachaiko9969]

@@Kwauhn. I love silly humor like this. Heheh! Have you ever used angel food cake batter? I heard it has good ventilation. ',: D

[@DrSpaceman69]

@@Kwauhn. i laughed too hard at this.. lol

[@elizabethopoussm]

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

[@musingsofahomeschooler5332]

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

[@kremstoin]

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

[@olseaweedbeardye8622]

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.

[@salam-peace5519]

I feel the same type of odd nostalgia for the Windows default desktop images, specifically the "Bliss" wallpaper from Windows XP. Thinking that this was taken on some normal 90s day without anything feeling special about it, but almost 30 years later it feels like a window into another time. Especially because the sky has such a vibrant blue color you rarely see in the sky nowadays, I wonder if this is just because cameras back then took more vibrant pictures or if the sky actually looks less vibrant because of air pollution nowadays.

[@destoyerdj4486]

This’ll be a perfectly spooky video… right?

[@TheXell]

Boo.

[@3RR0RNULL]

@@TheXellAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[@retseekerreal]

@@3RR0RNULL Boo 2.

[@destoyerdj4486]

@@TheXell AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@Teraticala]

@@TheXell AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@lk_iron1220]

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

[@BeepBoopBee]

As someone who should've been asleep almost two hours ago, I feel called out 😅

[@Slummy7477]

you’re not alone

[@lalantes619]

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!

[@ItsJoeyG]

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

[@nubnerd.]

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.

[@salam-peace5519]

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.

[@tamatebako_yt]

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.

[@paulhudalla9527]

Art is simply the expression of human creativity, so this would qualify as art by that.

[@HungryWarden]

RetroGamingNow doesn’t upload often, but when he does, it’s always a banger.

[@turna1216]

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

[@ov-103]

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

[@PuppyLuver256]

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)

[@KyanoAng3l0]

I'm using the Matrix Trilogy screensaver on my Windows 11 machine, which I've been using since Vista, heh.

[@stephaniethebatter7975]

It's probably a good thing you still use screensavers. Because even LCDs and OLEDs can suffer from image persistence, which is far more common than burn-in, but thankfully temporary.

[@salam-peace5519]

I'm using seasonal 3D screensavers nowadays again just for the sake of nostalgia and the vibes. I remember installing these 3D Astro Gemini screensavers back then in the late 2000s which are very nostalgic for me now. Surprised no one mentioned them yet.

[@cssmapping2010]

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 ❤

[@Buttonmasher50]

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.

[@LevitationMaster]

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

[@UltraCenterHQ]

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

[@AmandaC.]

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!

[@alessandropasquali3371]

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

[@denisekyles4299]

more of when you rub your eyes too hard

[@jamesr736]

I really like the unique screen ratio used for this video

[@vyce.]

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

[@Stoopdman]

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

[@memes4themasses365]

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

[@mina9e]

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

[@legion903rd9]

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

[@ElektrikaGaming]

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

[@metaworld567]

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

[@unglechips]

New RetroGamingNow video holy shit.

[@queenmelodee283]

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

[@user-nd7rg5er5g]

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.

[@SupersuMC]

Pipes was my jam.

[@herobrinevjwj8255]

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)

[@allconfusion]

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

[@paulhudalla9527]

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

[@salam-peace5519]

Screensavers were still a thing in the early 2010s though, even though most monitors already didn't need them anymore because CRT monitors were getting very rare already, but screensavers were more a thing of personalisation, comfort and digital art. I remember installing these seasonal 3D Astro Gemini screensavers on my computer in the early 2010s, they feel very nostalgic and cozy now. Actually nowadays I have 3D screensavers installed on my laptop again for the sake of childhood/teenager nostalgia.

[@Arrowloan]

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

[@user-is7xs1mr9y]

Me too, they are so soothing to me.

[@teaoftraffic]

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

[@thebrownfrog]

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

[@elanv]

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

[@gaku3725]

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.

[@szkraft220]

Wonderful video exploring a niche subject! love this to bits

[@CatVSDog.]

This video is pure nostalgia.

[@Footyboi1]

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

[@Vivat_Veritas]

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.

[@theslaya1576]

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

[@simonwillover4175]

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

[@MrBelles104]

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.

[@DracoFroggo]

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.

[@ashtondoublet8334]

"The occasional rat does little to soothe this feeling of isolation" Neither did the advertisement youtube played right after this line 😅

[@Untrustedlife]

This was both interesting and informative.

[@lau_taro0037]

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.

[@SimonsAstronomy]

Im so hyped for every video

[@ItsDesca]

I really enjoyed this. Great video dude!

[@WolfereenYT]

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

[@delxmos]

Really loved this video, cannot wait until the next one

[@jahmi4334]

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

[@sporeham1674]

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

[@tl4872]

Finally RetroGamingNow making a retro video.

[@tlpa]

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

[@WINDOWSXP9013]

Nice video! I loved it!😊

[@ozelhassan8576]

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

[@stephaniethebatter7975]

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!

[@mateoybizcochitos]

great video mate, keep doing the thing

[@markslenderman.]

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

[@tendo649]

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

[@stephaniethebatter7975]

LCDs tend to suffer, too. My gaming laptop is just a sucker for image persistence and screensavers help get rid of that.

[@tulpamedia]

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

[@R._.E._.A._.L]

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

[@wafity]

Great video as always!

[@ApocAnarchy]

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!!!

[@robotomo4249]

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.

[@CouscousEnjoyer]

Nice video, Retrodaddynow!

[@zakem]

great video! thank you

[@nathannightmare1604]

Your videos are the best!

[@XxguaxinimxX.]

What a introspect video! That was great!

[@CitadelBrulee]

Loved this video!

[@TylertheMiller]

that golden hour screen saver looks like some kind of lost gen z meme format

[@jakeviana8306]

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

[@sh0rt.curcuit]

you know its a good day then retrogamingnow uploads

[@rrruby1377]

Amazing video! 😮

[@JojiteFoxxo666]

istg half of the older screensavers look like earthbound battle backgrounds, and i love them.

[@deebte__]

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

[@FuzionTimmy]

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

[@gusty7153]

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

[@gauzyy]

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

[@TheGlader2]

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

[@b4thedinos]

There was one on my dads computer when I was younger of a guy on a deserted island and no matter how long I sat and stared he never got saved, I'd love to find it one day

[@b4thedinos]

It's Johnny Castaway! I looked it up and found it in one second lol

[@lonesome3958]

When I got this Video recommended I misread the length as 2:12:00 and I was fully ready to watch a 2-hour video on screensavers

[@Ashacarlosalbert]

Well, I have now confirmed that Id watch anything you produce. Anything.

[@grayire]

Homies out here making me feel like screen savers are the one that got away, damn bro gg

[@SleepyCoffeeCup]

The maze unlocked some core memories right there

[@SrCoco17]

I just found out Windows 11 does have screensavers thanks to this video i am speechless

[@ExploringNew1]

This was so immersive that I didn't even realise that the video was in 4:3

[@diegozepeda6556]

I love this channel.