Are Video Games About Having Fun Anymore?

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
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I've noticed this trend with the younger generation. You fall into two catagories.

1. Get the game as fast as possible beat and unlock all secrets within the least amount of time possible so you can show everything in a stream or uploaded video and make money.

2. Get the game. Realize it takes time to learn everything. Go online and pull up how to beat it easily. Beat it and never play it again (or if it has online features learn the cheapest bullshit and spam to make yourself feel like you accomplished something amazing).

I've had talks about having fun w/ people like this and the responses sound like they come out of Conan the Barbarian.


So, am I missing something, or is the video game industry heading somewhere annoyingly bad judging by the attitude of the new generation?

get the game fast and unlock everything fast because the point system and only competition will steamroll you if they get a leg up.
 

Mr Bakaboy

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^ I have to admit I've seen that a lot, but mostly in the 360/PS3 generation. I don't know how many times someone annoyed me to help them unlock "X" achievment. Saddest part it a lot of them were my age or older even.
 

smokehouse

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^ I have to admit I've seen that a lot, but mostly in the 360/PS3 generation. I don't know how many times someone annoyed me to help them unlock "X" achievment. Saddest part it a lot of them were my age or older even.

The drive to get an achievement/trophy has always been something that I really did not understand. I guess that I really do not get the allure to doing that. Its annoying when the game will throw constant "trophies disabled" warnings when you're not connected to the network, or you enable certain game settings.
 

Rocko

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Most games have competitive elements these days. I get the feeling that if you don't win or rank up, many people do not think the game is any fun. Just participating isn't enough. Coming from a generation when losing/dying in games was the norm, this is very different.
 

FAT$TACKS

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I've given up on modern gaming and most gaming in general.

I don't find the current market of games interesting or entertaining and I've already had enough of most of the experiences I want from older games.

It stops being a game when you have psychologists on staff to help design your play mechanics so as to encourage people to spend more money.

I'm no longer the target audience for modern games, so that's just one less thing for me to waste my money on. Anyhow, having given up on modern gaming, I now have more time for shit posting and other hobbies.
 

rarehero

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I think the worst self aware thing I could identify is that I've been playing fire emblem heroes on the phone for about a solid year now. It's fun, but its just grinding, earning new characters, and getting story elements at a snail's pace. I'm going to have to move onto something else if i can pry myself from it.

Pre phone stuff, I've always been a fan of pick up and go games. Arcade fighters have always been competitive and typically were low commitment time wise.
 

Heinz

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Mario 64 pretty much defined 3D gaming.

giphy.gif
 

Flagshiphero

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Funny stuff, but it really did. Zelda BotW revitalized my gaming habits, I played it for months, stopped at 200+ hours.
 

J-P

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I ended up playing BotW on my Wii U - was an okay game. I beat it in a week though as I hadn't played anything in ages (it was not particularly challenging); then regretted rushing it. Shortly afterwards I realised that it was pretty formulaic in it's structure, refined and pretty yes - but ultimately similar to many other modern games maybe I've played too much Zelda. I'll give it a while and start afresh possibly - didn't help that I found the hero shield really early on.

Regarding the whole 'new gamers' thing. I realise that my approach has changed over the years. I played a lot of JRPG's like FF and Breath of Fire III/IV back in the day, but honestly I don't have time for that now. It feels like endless repetition with little challenge. So maybe that effects how I look at modern games... quite a lot of the time they seem to be asking for the same tasks to be performed and the same kind of rewards/progression are given.

I also find that with the current kids, what I thought of as 'fun' or 'pick up and play' arcade stuff (like Mr. Do or even Magical Drop or Puzzloop) are kinda lost on them. They either don't get it, or get bored or scared off... not sure if it's because there's no 'hand-holding' - apparently figuring shit out is too much to ask. i.e; bubble bobble mechanics or getting your brain around a character's move-sets. Or actually whether it's the lack of eye-candy and flashy 3D nonsense. They also don't seem to be willing to understand various scoring mechanics.

Had a guy over from my work recently for some beers and he was marvelling at drawers filled with 'cool' retro stuff - but when I plugged some in (Elevator Action returns, Bubble Memories, Garou / Last Blade and some Outrun) he didn't seem to be having any fun (he also invariably died horribly). I asked, and his jam is Splatoon and Smash Bros. (I hate SB).

They ain't all like that - but it does make me wonder.
 

oliverclaude

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I also find that with the current kids, what I thought of as 'fun' or 'pick up and play' arcade stuff (like Mr. Do or even Magical Drop or Puzzloop) are kinda lost on them. They either don't get it, or get bored or scared off... not sure if it's because there's no 'hand-holding' - apparently figuring shit out is too much to ask. i.e; bubble bobble mechanics or getting your brain around a character's move-sets. Or actually whether it's the lack of eye-candy and flashy 3D nonsense. They also don't seem to be willing to understand various scoring mechanics.

That's spot on. Don't throw in the towel yet, though. Handhelds are the way to introduce arcade & classic stuff. Designed to address younger generations, they are destined for pick up and play games. It's a pity, that the Nintendo's DS line was replaced by the Switch, but such a compromise is better than nothing. Hopefully this won't turn into just another vulgar mobile/tablet gaming.
 

Fygee

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I've given up on modern gaming and most gaming in general.

I don't find the current market of games interesting or entertaining and I've already had enough of most of the experiences I want from older games.

It stops being a game when you have psychologists on staff to help design your play mechanics so as to encourage people to spend more money.

I'm no longer the target audience for modern games, so that's just one less thing for me to waste my money on. Anyhow, having given up on modern gaming, I now have more time for shit posting and other hobbies.

This, and its only going to get worse from here. AAA title publishers not named Nintendo are all about maximizing profit no matter what damage it does to the game, and do so with predatory mind-fuck style gameplay with loot boxes and microtransactions.

SW: Battlefront II showed that there's still some hefty resistence from the gaming community for these practices, but make no mistake, creep will continue, gamers will get used to it, and the complaints will go away. You can already see it with the multitude of mobile games were whales explain their habits away by saying they have to spend lots of money, otherwise these poor developers and publishers won't have any money to keep developing the games they play. It's classic Stockholm Syndrome added with gambling addiction. These publishers are wiping their asses with the money you give them.

It will become the norm to spend $60 on a title, then require a minimum of hundreds of dollars to play the game in any way with how it's intended to be played in terms of content, balance, and advantage.

Honestly, it's only a matter of time until the government gets involved and starts regulating it to put the kibosh on some of the abusive practices. They've already done that in Japan. It's weird to say this, but we need a Joe Leiberman style hawk to go after video games companies like they did when Mortal Kombat made parents shit their pants.
 
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NeoSneth

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Let's pause for a little devil's advocate.
It is amazing that games are still only $60 retail. I remember seeing Chrono trigger and Phantasy Star 4 for sale over $60 at launch. Games have never changed price with inflation. People are unwilling to buy games at $80-$100, so DLC is how to recoup that gap in earnings.

That's no excuse for $10 save slots and loot boxes. But DLC is almost required for AAA to exist.

Mobile gaming is a sham. there's no devil's advocate there. They are designed for transactions to progress. If you want a mobile game, then you need to look at stuff from 2-3 years ago or more. Back then , premium edition meant you got rid of the banner ad at launch.
 

FAT$TACKS

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Game price and inflation I don't think even works as an argument for game costs. As many things that have increased in price for the production of a game I would believe as many or more have reduced in price. So much of it is just needless inflation if the production anyhow, the advertising budget spent to try and force a game to be a hit with money thrown into promotions and endorsements, but then comes the influx of cash from product licensing deals, and so much other crap that goes both ways. The problem isn't that they can't make games sell them for 60 bucks and make a profit, it's that they can't make games and sell them for 60 bucks and make the most money possible. It's all or nothing, if you cant make all the money then it's not worth spending the money to make it, their cash is an investment, if they can earn a greater return with that cash then that is where it will be spent. The AAA game makers companies are always going to do what is in the best interest of their shareholders, as that is what the business is, I think the whole can't make games and sell them for 60 dollars so we need all this other shit is a complete and total lie.
 

StevenK

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I don't mind the price of the game, as long as it's not insane, because on a price per hour of entertainment comparison video games have been the cheapest hobby I have ever had, hands down.

What I object to is an open ended price. When I buy something I expect to know what it's going to cost me, and not feel like I could be having a better time if I threw an extra 20 at it every week. Imagine if they did that with a movie, ten alternate endings ranging from total shit with loose ends hanging for free to 50 bucks and they'll wrap it up nicely with decent explosions.
 

Mr Bakaboy

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Let's pause for a little devil's advocate.
It is amazing that games are still only $60 retail. I remember seeing Chrono trigger and Phantasy Star 4 for sale over $60 at launch. Games have never changed price with inflation. People are unwilling to buy games at $80-$100, so DLC is how to recoup that gap in earnings.

That's no excuse for $10 save slots and loot boxes. But DLC is almost required for AAA to exist.

Mobile gaming is a sham. there's no devil's advocate there. They are designed for transactions to progress. If you want a mobile game, then you need to look at stuff from 2-3 years ago or more. Back then , premium edition meant you got rid of the banner ad at launch.

I've had this arguement more times then I'd care to. I have no problem if the company is up front wanting more for some dlc. $30 for Tekken. $40 for DBZF even Netherrealm games is a set price. However when they go a little crazy and lock up most of the game that's when it's out of line. Capcom Fight Money or not SFV deserves the hate it got. EA games deserves the hate it gets. Good game or not there should be a line in the sand developers dare not cross.

I hope Capcom learned it's lesson, but I doubt EA ever will.
 

Rocko

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One thing that has been getting better and better over the years though are story driven single player games. Some people don't like when games get to cinematic, but I really enjoy that. Games like God of War, The Last of Us, well...almost any AAA single player game from Sony, over the last ten years have mostly been awesome experiences.
 

Mr Bakaboy

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^ Yes. It doesn't mean there weren't shit games, but the main goal developers had before dlc was implimented was to make a game that offered the player hours of enjoyable entertainment. Hence for them to have fun.

If a game was completely mastered whithin a couple of hours it was considered a failure back in the day.
 

wyo

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^ Yes. It doesn't mean there weren't shit games, but the main goal developers had before dlc was implimented was to make a game that offered the player hours of enjoyable entertainment. Hence for them to have fun.

If a game was completely mastered whithin a couple of hours it was considered a failure back in the day.

Arcade games tended to be made primarily to make money but I suppose that went hand in hand with being fun to play.
 

Mr Bakaboy

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^Arcades had to make the player spend the money. In one aspect they were made to be enjoyable in shorter spurts, but if the player wasn't having some kind of fun playing it they would move on and the game wouldn't make money.

As you said the two go hand in hand. If players are having fun, then the players would spend money. The idea of the thread is if the gamers that are playing now don't play to have fun, what will the future of video games be like?
 

oliverclaude

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I don't mind the price of the game, as long as it's not insane, because on a price per hour of entertainment comparison video games have been the cheapest hobby I have ever had, hands down.

It didn't cost you too much time, either. That changed. Now it's 200+ hours at the minimum. But yeah, it's not like smoking -- you can always quit.

What I object to is an open ended price. When I buy something I expect to know what it's going to cost me, and not feel like I could be having a better time if I threw an extra 20 at it every week.

There's also the fact, that, if there's no end, you don't own it as a whole. When once the streaming takes over, you won't own any game.
 

Mr Bakaboy

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When once the streaming takes over, you won't own any game.

It's a valid point that it's probably going to come to that eventually. DLC is always going to be an issue, but it seems, for the majority, streaming entertainment is preferred. Though that may change when the pay to stream movies/TV market gets too crowded.

If people hate having too many subscriptions now what's going to happen if individual game companies lock up their video games for their specfic subscription service?
 
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