I don’t understand why a “sport” like yoyoing doesn’t have a big playerbase like say bridge. I mean it’s fun, exciting, and visually appealing. Why don’t people get into this?
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Because its nerdy, and generally, people don’t want to be considered a nerd.
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How the hell is yoyoing nerdy? I used to be considered a nerd but the moment I showed my yoyoing to my friends I didn’t get called a nerd anymore
Somehow…
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Oh, it’s nerdy alright.
Nerds are also more interesting than other people, so it’s not bad at all to be a nerd.
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That literally contradicts your first point
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I agree with Glen…I think it’s considered nerdy by the general public.
It’s also a skill based hobby that takes a ton of practice and effort to really start getting into. Most people aren’t willing to dedicate themselves to pushing through the early hurdles and frustrations. They pick a yo up for a week, get frustrated and throw it in a drawer or closet.
At least I think this might be happening haha…I’m just guessing.
Besides…there’s really only a very small portion of society that is as cool as us yo-yoers!
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heh… I’m actually quite bothered by the fact that literally the nearest yoyo club/community is more than 1,200 KM away all the way at Singapore, the Indonesian yoyoing community is basically non-existent because they only do some events almost twice a year at most. LOL
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It doesn’t contradict, actually.
Nerds are simply people that have more than a passing interest in things that people usually just walk on by.
I am very glad to be a nerd.
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This is a pretty big one. We live in a world full of instant gratification. Yoyoing is far from that.
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I agree with that. You only start having fun once you master the basics
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yep goes to show that yoyoers have way more patience
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I understand the appeal of a large community, but honestly i love the togetherness that a small community breeds. I like that i recognize your pickle jar, i like that i can expect @Glenacius_K 's unapologetic frankness, that @twitch77 only uses green yoyos, that @RyoCanCan pretty much only uses super wides and makes franken Dv888s, that @Legit_yoyostrings is a friendly dude who makes his own strings, among other unique traits that belong to people outside of this thread.
Any time someone posts, (exception being they’re new) i like that i know who It’s coming from to some degree. That’s something that can be lost if this community was to explode to a mainstream level. It keeps it so that the only people we general run into are just as interested in this as we are.
I think It’s a great + 
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Can’t say I know a bunch of people who regularly play Bridge lol.
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Nerds read, read, read, think, think, think, and may send rockets into space, invent useful items, or create vaccines that save lives. Among other things.
The great explorers might be considered nerds. A lot of research went into a travel.
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I can think of a few reasons:
- The obvious: it takes a lot of time to get good at
- It is not a video game
- It is not Netflix
- It cannot be played on a smartphone or tablet
- Most people don’t know a damn thing about modern yoyoing
- Duncan Butterflys in general suck to learn on and are about the only thing widely known/available
- It has the stigma of being a kid’s toy
- It is a niche nerd hobby with the minimum requirement of having nerdy tendencies
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I think there is a current climate of clique-ishness among the top throwers and some manufacturers that is not helping.
The top sponsored throwers (some, not all) are on social media and all they do is interact with their little clique of top players and barely interact with the average thrower… until it’s time to sell a new yo-yo, and they all of a sudden are super accessible.
It’s the same with some companies treating us more as fans than customers, they act like they are doing us a favor by selling us a $120 YoYo. “Hi Sir, I would like to buy [yo-yo X] but can’t find any.” “Well I think I have an old beat up one that we’ve been using as a doorstop, I’ll let you have it for $110” “OH WOW THANK YOU SIR IVE BEEN HOPING TO GET ONE WOW THIS IS AMAZING YOU ARE SO KIND!” “Sure. Hey that is $110 PLUS shipping by the way.”
Contrast that with people like Andre and YYE that bend over backwards for their customers and do all they can to get you the stuff you want.
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I think that the community is the right size for a hobby of this type. The same reason why pop music is widely more appealing to the general public than, let’s say, progressive metal, hobbies that require skill-building ability to enjoy are going to be much smaller than things that have a lower barrier of entrance.
Take it from my place. r/Throwers has 19.5k subscribers, but only 200-300 of those are daily-active members. That means that there’s a lot of people open to accept the hobby as something worth to watch and appreciate, even if they don’t get fully into it themselves.
I think yoyoing has a very natural, organic type of growth. It is not forced into the society’s eyes, but it is also not hidden, so whoever encounters yoyo and decides to try it, will most likely stay with it.
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I blame genetics. My parents and grandparents are all pretty small.
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I’m pretty sure it’s suppressed by an international cult based conspiracy.
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Yoluminatti
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