The decline of your gaming.

[Caligulove]

when I see some bad trends and titles that just look half-assed... it makes me have some despair for the whole of gaming. But then that has been going on for longer than I can remember. With movies, too. And before that there have been shitty books.

I think I get the despair just because more and more of the games get more and more ad space than before. And they still will make money is what is sad. The trend towards vastly popular and lucrative shooters is not very surprising, though.

I remember playing things like DOOM and Quake when they were pretty new. And those games were the kinds that got instant satisfaction and lots of press for their controversy. That all gives them press and word to spread around. Not to mention the action makes it like selling an action movie. And a lot of them are quite good.

At the same time I do not think there is anything sacred about the old great games. They're old and they did it first. And they deserve their title as classics. But at the same time... many games to come after them are better. Because games are not not films in that time brings improvements that help games out in many ways. Not all are better than their older counterparts...

But for God's sake. Yes, Ocarina of Time is an amazing game. But I liked Wind Waker and Twilight Princess FAR more. because of the small things that change and other improvements in art and graphics. but they are ALL amazing!

 

[TheDustyBanana]

I started pulling away from games when I was a Sophomore in high school. Up until then I played games ridiculously regularly from the age of about 4 or 5. The last game I got really into was Twilight Princess (the Gamecube version). I haven't had any long-term interest in a game since then.

I pretty much don't even play games that often anymore and when I do it's usually something from the pre-PS2 era.

 

[Ophiuchus]

It's only recently that I've realised, but I've been stuck in a gaming rut for a long time now. For the past few years I've spent far too much time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band games... which are all pretty much the same thing. The only games that have really broken through and got loads of attention were Oblivion and Fallout 3... which, surprise, are pretty much the same thing. So really, I've effectively put 90% of my gaming time over the past two years into just two games.

Now I'm officially nearer to 30 than my teens, I've been gaming for 20 years. Combined with the above paragraph, it's no surprise that it's all getting a bit stale. I do have some other games - not a massive variety, but a bit different - but I just don't feel like playing them. For the first time in my life (apart from a year around 2005-06 in which I spent all of my time and money on a doomed long-distance relationship) I'd rather be doing other things than gaming. I find myself wondering whether there's anything I can do to change that. Worryingly, I'm increasingly sure that the answer is no. I find it hard to muster any interest in games outside of those two main styles, forthcoming or back catalogue... but of course I find it hard to muster any interest in games inside those styles too, since they've become so stale.

So yeah, I really don't know. I could make a point of playing games from genres that I've never had any interest in, at least they'd be completely new to me. Unfortunately that's likely to mean things like RTS and other simulations, arcade beat-em-ups and stuff involving cars or some other kind of motor vehicle that I don't care about. Maybe a little break from the things that have become stale would allow me to go back to them with a fresh interest.

 

[Emilin_Rose]

god yes this. I hate it. I get so bored. I can only ever afford games around just after christmas, and i end up trying to save it for something else only to have it get mysteriously "lost" on the few days i go somewhere outside of my room.

The only thing i seem to find are horror games, fps's, or horror/fps's, unless you count guitar hero and boom blox.

And while people tell me all the time to go try games like fable, morrowind, and even the .hack series, all of which does me no good since its nearly 3 hours to the nearest used game store and i never have money long enough to open a bank account because the nearest bank to where i live is in narnia.

 

[CuervoJoe]

I'm definitely not playing games as much as I used too, all the games seem to have the same basic premise and no innovation. There are a few games I'm looking forward to, but mostly I just play old games that I own, and I mostly buy second hand PC games, as they have that spark of brilliance.

I'm buying a Nintendo DS soon, because the games on that actually look fun, so maybe that will rekindle my love of games.

 

[R3dQu33n]

Can't say that I've experienced it myself. I've been effectively gaming since I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen or so. I'm not entirely certain on that, either way I am 21 now and have been a gamer for all of that time. I haven't felt such a feeling however, although now in the past year or so I've been gaming while constantly alt-tabbing in and out of it as I chat with friends on the internet.
I'm still an avid gamer, both PC and console (prefer the PC however) and I think I'm going to stay that way for the next couple of years at least.

I can see where you guys are coming from however.

 

[Low Key]

Life, growing responsibility, and the need to pay bills has made me limit my gaming. Best believe if I ever win the lottery, I'm going to sit on my ass for at least a couple of days and do nothing but play video games.

 

[A random person]

I think I've noticed myself drifting away over the past year or two, probably as a result of not really caring for the 360 or PS3. At the very least I don't keep up with gaming news so tightly anymore. Maybe I'll go play something on Steam or some game on the virtual console (I love me some 16-bit) to try to reconnect a little.

Wow, I'm 15 and I'm already feeling old.

Same here brother, I think it more of how much the quality of games have declined over this gen. I mean there are still some excellent games. I jsut miss the games like Jak or Sly, those were the high time of gaming for me.

As much as the "modern things suck" rhetoric annoys me, I'd have to agree somewhat, especially since you bought up Sly. It's a really recent thing, though (I was definitely into it in 2007 and some of 08), and maybe this year just wasn't good (would have gotten MW2, but the PC got screwed over).

 

[ohgodalex]

Happens to me from time to time. If I didn't have friends to demand my participation in their games, I might play quite a bit less.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

I can relate. Whilst I do still find console games just as fun as I used to find them, they don't make me want to sit down and play them anymore like they used to. Although I'm finding myself playing browser games a lot more now. They have kind of become my gaming replacememnt.