Issues Of Modern Gaming
Broken gaming
Ok, so I have been gaming for a long time, my gaming history begins on the commodore 64 when I was a mere four (4) years old and spans the decades moving forward to present day. That amounts to a thirty three (33) year history of gaming. The console wars? Yeah I was there, front line in the trenches. Got a high score you want to show off? Send a physical photo in to a gaming magazine. Need a cheat? Call a hotline in the back of one of those magazines. Birth of console internet gaming? Yes saw that come about too… why do I mention all of this? Well trust me it’s not to show off my age by any means, but it’s to establish that im no spring chicken when it comes to gaming and I have seen quite a bit in my time. My gaming friends range vastly in age from teens to 40 plus and among the many conversations we have regarding gaming I have seen particular trends when discussing complaints about contemporary gaming vs old school/retro gaming. These are some of the highlights of the many conversations I have had with others.
C64 in all its glory
Console war recap
Blinded by the wow factor
No doubt that we have come a long way In graphics, modern games are astonishing in appearance and this is fantastic for game immersion. However, this focus on graphics has seen a downfall in some other very important aspects of the gaming experience.
Graphics old vs new
The stories being told have taken a big hit in gaming. Much like the Hollywood blockbusters that spend crap loads on special effects and big explosions, but skimp out on everything else. We get copy and paste storylines with minimal effort put in to really engage gamers so they actually care about characters and what is the driving force behind their autonomy. Now don’t get me wrong, there are modern tales which do hold up, but few and far between. It’s as though the graphical advances have become an excuse for complacency.
Hey let’s make the same movie, more than just one example of this
Difficulty
There was a time when games were hard, like really hard. Yeah you had your casual games out there, but in general games had their physics, controls a steep learning curve and all you could do is adapt and that was it. If you managed to master the elements and complete the game you had the honour of seeing the end credits and finishing screen. If you were lucky after this you may be given some cheats or alternate costumes to help you on your next pass at the game. These days we get participation trophies, we gain achievements for loading the game disk. We have our hands held as we play through and if it gets too tough don’t worry because you can just pump in $20 and buy some upgrades instead of playing the game and earning it.
Gamer kitty gets upset when the game gets hard
Developer greed
Gaming has become a massive industry and the market saturation has been abundantly clear. This has created various issues in quality game development. It seems that we have to contend with quantity over quality and this equates to having to choose the lesser of two or more evils or not play at all.
Graphs and stats always make things look more professional
A common trend is releasing unfinished games, like seriously? we have gone to midnight releases of games and rushed home to play the first level before catching some sleep before work or school only to have to do hours of mandatory updates… to a brand new game we just bought on release!!! What if you don’t have the internet ?
Only 3 minutes, this guy is lucky
Leaning on this same concept let’s look at Micro transactions, again, really? So not only are we sold incomplete games, but now we have to buy the rest of the game in small segments to have the complete experience? Some of these parts of the game are “game changers” and cannot be attained any other way, this also goes back to the difficulty argument where we can pay to advance and make the game easier. Now developers will tell you that this is to keep people coming back to the game, but let’s be real here, if the game as actually good you would come back regardless of these “extras” that really should have been in the game in the first place.
What it feels like to many
Cash injections, just pay to win
Indie games were a fresh rebuttal to the giants pumping out the same thing every year with mild tweaks, a new cover and new price tag. Indie games aimed at bringing gaming back to its roots and providing content that was meaningful and efficiently packed a punch, showing it wasn’t big budget graphics but intelligence of design and gamer engagement which won us over. Even the simplest of games with some real thought put behind them had long lasting effects imprinting themselves in our minds forever. However, just like the industry as a whole, it was not long before the love of money infiltrated the indie games field and again we had the copy paste mentality and the release of lots of re shelled crud then ensued.
Back to the AAA’s though, many of these changes have led to the destruction of franchises who alienated the very fan bases which made the franchise flourish in the first place. Of course things need to grow and evolve, but let’s have a good look at how we are doing that and make sure it’s positive for the industry and its consumers.
Wouldn’t we like to know
This situation has led many, myself included, to disengage with the modern platforms for retro gaming experiences. Now many would call it the nostalgia and age getting the better of me, but I have had great challenges in retro games I have never played before and many of my junior gamer friends find value in doing this also. So effectively the nostalgia argument does not seem to be valid in the grand scale of things. I would argue that the game development at the time was more authentic, thought out, and aimed to provide a genuine experience with consumer in mind. In all seriousness though we have to admit that it is a sad state of affairs when a growing portion of the gaming demographic turns to consoles decades old to gain a sense of real challenge, authenticity and engagement from their gaming experience. Being able to experience a campaign not just online modes, Local LAN, Couch co op, the list goes on.
Retro consoles, a lovely sight for sore eyes
I often ask myself how we got here? how did gaming fall from grace and become this shallow, vapid industry so devoid of the experience I used to love? Well the long and short is that this is mostly on us, the gamers… we take it, we fall for the crap, we believe it’s good because we are told it’s good. We fork out our hard earned cash for the under developed, overpriced, manure and then that becomes the new standard for game development. We perpetuate the industries focus by purchasing their content. It is up to us to say no we will not go quietly into the night. To remove ourselves from their echo chambers, their cognitive bias and group-think mentality. We must awaken and realise we are suffering from a form of Stockholm syndrome and learned helplessness. bottom line its up to us to choose to stop eating the crap sandwiches that are being made for us.
Don’t worry it’s just Nutella, but you get the idea
Now this is just some of the basic data from the discussions I have had with my gamer friends over the past few years, these are the most discussed elements of the downfall of modern gaming in my particular sample of gamers. Now I put it to you to add to this list of gripes with modern gaming, are there other elements which are more prominent in your sample of gamer friends? or do you disagree with these observations completely?
The problem is that the people just buy it anyways. I know many people who just think it is normal to spend 10$+/month on FIFA packs or whatever. To them it is almost as normal as paying your phone bill.
If I play a game it is usually an old one - this is why I started a steemit league for the best RTS game ever - Age of Empires II.
Yes it most certainly is a big part of the problem. We the consumers just suck it all up and if we do complain it isnt anything more than speed bump as we still buy the next game. I don't think people realize that you don't have to eat that sandwich.
Retro gaming is definitely worth looking into for some serious challenge in gaming, at a reasonable cost and without many of the aforementioned headaches of modern gaming. i mention it in a more recent post i made.
https://steemit.com/gaming/@mfxae86/the-fall-of-a-franchise-socom-us-navy-seals-for-sony-playstation-consoles
i plan to cover that more extensively soon actually so stay tuned for that one :)
True, retro games for the win :)
I will check your article!
Retro life, lol. Thanks for checking out my other article.
If you like retro - did you play Age of Empires 2? :)
Yeah i have played quite a few games in my time, lol. played AoE & C&C, but my fave was the first two Warcrafts, spent many hours on those. i would even draw out the matches in the campaign by minimizing enemy troops to only one or two structures and some peasants, then stripping the remaining resources from the map... THEN finishing off the enemy. There was literally nothing left when i was done, lol.
it was actually part of my own rules for the game, if you pwned the game you gotta make up new rules to keep it interesting. you have any of your own rules to keep gameplay interesting ?
Pretty much this right here, many of the people I know, my own parent included, think that is is perfectly fine and even "good" for them to regularly be spending $40+ on a game per person, monthly.
And we all know that C&C Tiberian sun was the best RTS game ever.
We have been conditioned to accept this as OK, its really not. This is why i referenced some psychological conditions in the article, we are getting played... hard!!!
Oooh a battle for the best RTS game, this should be interesting... lol
@mfxae86 hi, Sincerely true, many times I have met people who pay a game without even knowing what to do in it. many times I have won battles in games or vs where players with paid items play with me against my items got in the game and still lose sincerely if the games were as before there would be no greed like many players to position themselves in the top being totally in the knowledge of the game.
There are definitely many issues with modern gaming and i have heard many a tale such as your own. the problem is that if you allow people to buy their way through the game it defeats the purpose of playing in the first place. when you play any game there are rules you must adhere to or else there is no challenge. allowing people to cheat their way into power reduces the longevity of the games interest and punishes those legitimately playing the game for what it is. lets hope there is some change in the future.
Wow this is a really good detailed article.
Gaming is nothing like it used to be that's for sure. I believe emulators of the older games still are better than new games being released as well, its like they stopped listening to the gamers and players and just went after the $$$$$
Yep, that's why we gotta speak up and see what others think and maybe... if we are lucky.... the gaming gods may hear us and send us the gaming messiah to fix this all up for us, lol. any gripes you can think of ? ways to make things better ?
It's too easy just to release a broken game. I'm into boardgaming, they have to be solid before realeasing, no chance of a day one patch.
I was going to refer to board games as an example, but it ended up on the cutting room floor. very true though of board games and pre-internet gaming consoles. In those times you had to do it right the first time, no chance for correcting those mistakes that break the game. the ability to correct mistakes is fantastic in concept. however, when abused this is what gives rise to complacency. the "release it now, fix it later" attitude
I really like your article. I know nothing about video games but I read it all the way through anyway. But I was wondering where you found the images...
Hi, thanks for reading through my article, i found the pics on google searching for stock pics through typing what i wanted to see. such as "retro gaming consoles" etc. i also have pic editing software on my phone so i can create images with writing n them as well then host them on Facebook and link to them.
Well, I liked your writing style. It's no easy feat to keep the attention of a reader even in a completely foreign subject. We love writers like you at The Writer’s Block on discord. ;-)
I have had Discord mentioned in a few comments so far, but im not sure what it is exactly, I may have to look into it a bit more... unless you would like to give me a quick run down?
I have to run but here is an article explaining what the Writer's Block is and how to get there. We're a community of writers but we're more than that, too. Almost like a slightly nutty family. ;-)
Also just in case I just got lucky here is a link to an article on i created with different subject matter:
https://steemit.com/animals/@mfxae86/how-taking-in-a-troubled-cat-helped-me-become-a-better-person
let me know if you think it holds up
It does hold up. It could use a bit of polishing, maybe, but the workshops at Writer's Block could definitely help you with that. The fact that you love animals enough to make that much of an effort for your cat, tells me you will fit right in. The person who basically holds us together as a community, @rhondak, runs an ARC in a very unfriendly environment, and we all try to help her any way we can, but she will love reading about Checkas. Pop by when you feel like it. ;-)
Thank you for the link, i will definitely check it out.
This is exactly why I am playing Sundog. Great write-up.
Thanks mate, yes as i said i have noticed the trend and those that i mention it to also tend to make the switch quickly once they are aware that better old games are available.
Amazing, thank for sharing
Thanks, anything to add to the list of gamer gripes?
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Wouldn't it be great if we had communism? No pay-to-win, no silly DLCs to get the complete game after a purchase of 60 buckaroos. Dare to dream!
Im not sure what your angle is with communism, but when i purchase something i would like it to be complete, particularly as that is how it is advertised when it is bought. and as far as the pay to win, if its things like extra costumes then i guess that is kind of passable, still crappy though. but when noobs can buy a weapon (or what have you) that trumps anything available by playing the game then that is just a hack driving out actual long term players of the game and rewarding the demographic which will leave the game as soon as the next shiny thing catches their attention.
Congratulations @mfxae86!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
Thanks for putting me in the running for this :)
Honestly, this is why some people stick to their old games instead of moving on. Your article does make sense. Comparing the Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and the one for Nintendo Gamecube it makes sense why Super Smash Bros Melee is worth at least $200.
Thank you for reading my article and commenting, Yes that is an area i was going to cover here, but decided it would be best in another article im looking at putting together a little down the track. The fact that some old school consoles and games collect such a high a fee is quite interesting, part of that could indeed be nostalgia. however, for the most part it is because the game just holds up.
Nice post it's good idea.but i think it's more to time vaste.
which idea is that ? i am telling my story and asking for opinions, do you have any gripes you can think of ? ways to make things better ?