Author Topic: Dwindling interest in gaming  (Read 6805 times)

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Offline BloodEagle

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
I'm going to move on with this under the assumption that all of the hostility I was seeing was based solely on my mood, and thus a misinterpretation of the text as it was meant to be understood.

#1. Things (usually slowly) suck more as you get older.  This is fact.

No. As your taste in media becomes more firmly based as you age, the eternal progression of media content will move beyond you. By the time you're an old man, you won't know what the **** is going on, and hate every second of it. If only these people had any taste and did things the way they did it years ago.

As the discussion was based on the subjective perception of and the related interest in games, I figured it was implied.  But I'll go ahead and edit it so it's easier to pick up my meaning.

#1. [Your perception of] Things (usually slowly) [will have said things appear to] suck more as you get older.  This is fact.

So.... Yeah.

#2. Games (, the majority of them,) actually are getting worse with every "generation".  You can prove this to yourself by: (a). Missing titles when they come out, and (b). playing new releases before the ones you missed.

No. Again, you losing interest in games =/= games getting worse. There have been some phenomenal titles this year, and last year, and the year before that. Yes, there's more **** out there nowadays than when I was a pup, but that's because the industry is expanding. We're seeing both ends of the bell curve expand outwards.

Second sentence, don't ignore it.

#3. So. Much. Filler.  Game's nowadays are so much slower, and have so much more combat to the area explored that it can take (I'm looking at you, Dragon Age: Origins) hours to complete one area, without increasing the 'reward' to account for the time spent.

No. Games have always had filler. Yes, current industry trends have resulted in a significant amount of padding in games to extend play, but if anything it's been a bit on the downslope thanks to the rise of online multi. After all, why justify that AU$100 price tag with a 20-30 hour single player experience when you can just as easily make it a 6-hour campaign with online multi to "pick up the slack". :doubt:

#1.  Wait. What?  Did you just agree with me, then contradict yourself to disagree with me?

#2.  Most online multiplayer is padding.  Adding more padding != less padding.  And furthermore, plenty of games that don't have multiplayer (e.g., the example I listed) are the worst offenders.

#3.  Wow.  You guys really take the shaft on game prices.  :eek:

==============================================

TBH it's been a while since I used DOSBOX (never heard of Dropbox) and the compatability issues usually stemmed from setting up GLIDE type games, always got lots of artifacting and display errors.

Dropbox is a file / group sharing website / software, with (very) minor SVN capabilities.  It is not an emulator.  :P


I never said it was, MatthTheGeek did. I just thought it was an updated version of DOSBOX because of his reply!

The smiley was directed at him.  :P (@ you, this time)

I simply had the description as a response to your quote because you stated that you had never heard of it before.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
games are a lot cheaper today than they were in the 90s from the consumer end

 

Offline TwentyPercentCooler

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
I know I read an article on this a while ago, probably on The Escapist, that covered this. What it really boiled down to is...those of us who are growing older, we have to realize and accept that we are NOT the target audience for games anymore. 12-17 year old males are still the target for most games made by anything resembling a mainstream company and a lot of us are way outside of that age range now.

There has always been crappy filler in games and there have always been a lot of crappy games. Remember all the terribly broken, unplayable, hair-pullingly frustrating NES games?

 

Offline Mikes

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
Mhhh wondering... have you started the Witcher 2 or Alpha Protocol?

Like a good novel... I found them very hard to put down.



But yeah... most mainstream games (looks at Skyrim, Assassins Creed, etc.) I found to become a chore long before you finish them.

I know I read an article on this a while ago, probably on The Escapist, that covered this. What it really boiled down to is...those of us who are growing older, we have to realize and accept that we are NOT the target audience for games anymore. 12-17 year old males are still the target for most games made by anything resembling a mainstream company and a lot of us are way outside of that age range now.

For the "mainstream" that may be true... but for games in general it couldn't be further from the truth. There are plenty of games for different (and more mature) audiences.

 

Offline Flipside

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
Last game I owned that held my interest for any length of time was Supreme Commander 2, and that was only till I reached the Cybran campaign.

Nowadays, other than Dwarf Fortress, I don't really play much. Would like to get back into Minecraft, but it's too much of a time-sink right now, maybe in a few weeks :)

 

Offline FireSpawn

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
I'm only 19 and I've found myself using my pc primarily for reading and playing SNES games. I've played so many retro RPGs that I think that I could beat Lavos, Akuma and the face on the Moon.
 
Though there are three xbox games I keep on finding myself playing.

*Way of the Samurai 3
*Soul Calibur 4
*BlazBlue

And as much as I loathe to admit it, I'm rather looking forwards to Naruto: Generations, if only for the large character diversity and graphics.
If you hit it and it bleeds, you can kill it. If you hit it and it doesn't bleed...You are obviously not hitting hard enough.

Greatest Pirate in all the Beach System.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

 

Offline Davros

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
I love my games


 

Offline redsniper

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
play Bastion
"Think about nice things not unhappy things.
The future makes happy, if you make it yourself.
No war; think about happy things."   -WouterSmitssm

Hard Light Productions:
"...this conversation is pointlessly confrontational."

 

Offline Mikes

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
Last game I owned that held my interest for any length of time was Supreme Commander 2, and that was only till I reached the Cybran campaign.

Hehe I played Supreme Commander 1: FA for years literally... still loading it up sometimes for multiplayer... and found Supcom 2 to be incredibly meh... limited and dumbed down compared to the first game :)

So ... maybe check out Supcom 1. If you liked the 2nd part, who knows, you may be delighted. If you like it... then that might prove that at least with some games it's not the gamers age but the fact that the newer game sucks lol.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2012, 05:49:58 pm by Mikes »

 

Offline Fury

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
Mhhh wondering... have you started the Witcher 2 or Alpha Protocol?
I have both Witcher and Witcher 2. Never finished either of them. Despite better writing and story than in your average game, they got boring half-way through.

 

Offline Flipside

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
Last game I owned that held my interest for any length of time was Supreme Commander 2, and that was only till I reached the Cybran campaign.

Hehe I played Supreme Commander 1: FA for years literally... still loading it up sometimes for multiplayer... and found Supcom 2 to be incredibly meh... limited and dumbed down compared to the first game :)

So ... maybe check out Supcom 1. If you liked the 2nd part, who knows, you may be delighted. If you like it... then that might prove that at least with some games it's not the gamers age but the fact that the newer game sucks lol.

I actually completed Supcom 1 some years ago, and the expansion, might well drag it out again because it was indeed a better, deeper and more epic-scope game than the sequel and, oddly enough, the old AI seemed to be considerably smarter than the new one, which just seems to throw aircraft at you like there's a sale on...

 

Offline deathfun

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
I love my games


I know someone who rivals your list
"No"

 

Offline jr2

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
For the people that mentioned DOSBox: D-Fend Reloaded (DOSBox Frontend Reloaded) - makes DOSBox easy as pie, comes with a multitude of preset game configurations, and includes a recent version of DOSBox with the installer (IIRC it also has a method for you to manually specify a DOSBox install).

D-Fend Reloaded also has more configuration options than you can shake a stick at.

 

Offline Wobble73

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
To be truthful, I have put PC gaming off for now. The wife bought me a PS3 for Xmas and I have been playing that loads now. She bought me a number of games, some I have had a quick shufty at.
Deus-ex Human Revoution, Prison Break, Assassins Creed - Brotherhood, Forza Motorsport 4 (IIRC), Fight Night Round 4 and some other Anime sword fighting game that I haven't even looked at yet. But the game I have played the most over the past couple of months is Fallout 3. Just loving that game at the moment! Maybe when I get a new laptop I might look into that D-Fend Reloaded, I do after all have boxes of old PC games, some of which I have never played (anyone heard of a game called Psychic Detective? It comes on 6-8 Cd's and has intrigued me since I picked it up at a car boot sale but have never managed to get it working due to it being a DOS game)
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
Early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
 
Member of the Scooby Doo Fanclub. And we're not talking a cartoon dog here people!!

 You would be well adviced to question the wisdom of older forumites, we all have our preferences and perversions

 

Offline FireSpawn

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    • Minecraft
Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
To be truthful, I have put PC gaming off for now. The wife bought me a PS3 for Xmas and I have been playing that loads now. She bought me a number of games, some I have had a quick shufty at.
Deus-ex Human Revoution, Prison Break, Assassins Creed - Brotherhood, Forza Motorsport 4 (IIRC), Fight Night Round 4 and some other Anime sword fighting game that I haven't even looked at yet. But the game I have played the most over the past couple of months is Fallout 3. Just loving that game at the moment! Maybe when I get a new laptop I might look into that D-Fend Reloaded, I do after all have boxes of old PC games, some of which I have never played (anyone heard of a game called Psychic Detective? It comes on 6-8 Cd's and has intrigued me since I picked it up at a car boot sale but have never managed to get it working due to it being a DOS game)

Your wife is epic.
If you hit it and it bleeds, you can kill it. If you hit it and it doesn't bleed...You are obviously not hitting hard enough.

Greatest Pirate in all the Beach System.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

 

Offline Wobble73

  • 210
  • Reality is for people with no imagination
    • Steam
Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
To be truthful, I have put PC gaming off for now. The wife bought me a PS3 for Xmas and I have been playing that loads now. She bought me a number of games, some I have had a quick shufty at.
Deus-ex Human Revoution, Prison Break, Assassins Creed - Brotherhood, Forza Motorsport 4 (IIRC), Fight Night Round 4 and some other Anime sword fighting game that I haven't even looked at yet. But the game I have played the most over the past couple of months is Fallout 3. Just loving that game at the moment! Maybe when I get a new laptop I might look into that D-Fend Reloaded, I do after all have boxes of old PC games, some of which I have never played (anyone heard of a game called Psychic Detective? It comes on 6-8 Cd's and has intrigued me since I picked it up at a car boot sale but have never managed to get it working due to it being a DOS game)

Your wife is epic.


I know, that's why I married her!  ;)

Small Caveat.......She can't pick PC games for toffee, she once bought me a fighting game that you couldn't use a gamepad for, keyboard only and the 2d sprites could only push out their legs or arms to attack. Mind you, that was so long ago now and she has become more game savvy since then, she loves playing Juiced 2 on the Xbox with me (a previous Xmas gift).

We now own a PS1, PS2, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and a Ninitendo DS and two smart phones (Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Ace). We had two laptops at one point but she tends to throw them when in a temper (we've been through three in the last eighteen months) so at the moment I am PC-less, (I'm typing this in my lunch hour on my works PC).

I shall have to buy another laptop soon though seeing as WCSaga has just been released and there have been a couple of other FS campaigns been released lately that I haven't had a chance to play. I am missing my Freespace  :sigh:
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
Early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
 
Member of the Scooby Doo Fanclub. And we're not talking a cartoon dog here people!!

 You would be well adviced to question the wisdom of older forumites, we all have our preferences and perversions

 

Offline jr2

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
Get those laptops that you can supposedly run over, drop off a cliff, etc... Toughbooks?  I can't remember.

https://www.google.com/search?&q=toughest+laptop+tests    I read the first result; there are other tests, reviews, and recommendations.

 

Offline Nuke

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
yea, now find me a laptop that can both stop a bullet and play crysis.
I can no longer sit back and allow communist infiltration, communist indoctrination, communist subversion, and the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Nuke's Scripting SVN

  
Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
The last game I completed was Deus Ex HR. The last one before that was Fallout 3, but just barely. It's hard for me to play any RPG after you hit level cap, no matter the story.
I recently abandoned a game of Oblivion, because my super-wizard Argonian had hit the cap, and I had barely gotten into the main quest. I just finished the Kvatch gate, and the thought of going through even one more Oblivion gate made me find something better to do.
It's probably why I only got partway through Derelict before taking a break from FS2, stinkin' protesters in your made-of-paper Zod cruiser, why won't you liiiive *shakes fist*.

I think that as we age, our perception of time and its value changes as well. I just can't stomach the grind any more; if something is going to take too long without any sort of reward, I'll give up and do something more interesting. Pacing is much more important than a lot of developers seem to realize.

 

Offline TwentyPercentCooler

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Re: Dwindling interest in gaming
The last game I completed was Deus Ex HR. The last one before that was Fallout 3, but just barely. It's hard for me to play any RPG after you hit level cap, no matter the story.
I recently abandoned a game of Oblivion, because my super-wizard Argonian had hit the cap, and I had barely gotten into the main quest. I just finished the Kvatch gate, and the thought of going through even one more Oblivion gate made me find something better to do.
It's probably why I only got partway through Derelict before taking a break from FS2, stinkin' protesters in your made-of-paper Zod cruiser, why won't you liiiive *shakes fist*.

I think that as we age, our perception of time and its value changes as well. I just can't stomach the grind any more; if something is going to take too long without any sort of reward, I'll give up and do something more interesting. Pacing is much more important than a lot of developers seem to realize.

Yeah, pacing is becoming a huge problem these days when everyone wants "sandbox" worlds to screw around in AND demand a story worth telling. It's really, really difficult to combine the two, because a good story requires good pacing, and good pacing practically requires a certain amount of linearity. A great example, to me, is COD4. I'm the first to bash annoying FPS clones but I actually thought COD4 was excellent (if now suffering from major sequel-itis). A lot of people complained that it was linear, but I think they were chronically missing the point. It was supposed to be linear. You were supposed to be doing exactly what the game wanted you to do, when it wanted you to do it - some people may not enjoy being coerced but I'm willing to accept the game on its terms, IF and only if it gives me a good reason. In COD4's case, the set pieces were a good reason, and I found it compelling and exciting.

Oblivion...eugh. I left the irritatingly unskippable and tedious tutorial area designed by people who hate character indecisiveness, wandered around for a while, killed some wolves, and found myself thinking, "Where am I supposed to go now, and why should I care?" The game gave me absolutely no sense of urgency, despite the fact that supposedly the world was screwed because the gates of hell were open or something. If the story of Oblivion were personified, it would have been an extremely meek individual with a soft whisper of a voice, prone to saying, "Um," a lot. I knew, in the back of my head, that I was supposed to care, but the game didn't give me any reasons to do anything in particular. And there have been a ridiculous amount of games like this lately. ObliviSkyrOut 3 Vegas (it's the same game with different skins), Saint's Row 2/3, GTA 4...at least Minecraft doesn't even pretend to have a story so as not to take away from the true sandbox nature of the game.