Changing perceptions of gaming over time

[DrSpike]

From another thread:

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
I don't "acquire" games anymore (I did in the nineties), and I'm thinking to simply skip Civ5, may be abandon the series entirely. I already didn't get my money's worth from Civ4, not because it's that bad, but mainly because my interest has shifted.

I decided to never sell my soul to a game anymore. Even the MMO I'm playing now I play at most 15 hours per week (thats nothing for me).

Originally posted by Jon Miller
Similarly, for me, I hope to never play more then 10 hours a week on a game again (and really hope to never spend more then 20). Now, I see nothing wrong with buying a video game that I play for 20 hours total...

JM

Like Ralph, I don't really get into games in the way I once did (and it stands out more if you were someone happy to spend a very high proportion of your free time on MP FPS, RTS or MMOs etc). I used to specifically seek out games with the depth to really immerse myself in, but like John I'm increasingly happy to play a game for a few weeks, finish it, and move on.

Partly this is due to gaming changing, not me. The golden age of MP FPS and RTS games is passed for now. On FPS the focus has changed from duel/FFA skill based games to team based shooters, which require a different skillset and are more dependent on luck (unless you play with organised teams, which has it's own drawbacks). The genre peaked with Quake 3, which is over a decade old. On RTS the best competitive games are (even more laughably) almost 10 years old and over 10 years old.

But I know that if I really wanted to, I could find games to play the way I once did. I just don't want to - my life has rebalanced somewhat compared to 10 years ago, and this is probably true for most people between 20 and 30 I'd guess. Not sure what accounts for Ralph's change of heart though, as he is an oldie.

No seriously, if you have a good run of gaming experience (around 10 years or more if possible), please share how your perceptions have changed over time.

[UnOrthOdOx]

I don't get the headset wearing squad action control freak organization gameplay either. I get that at work, don't need it at play.

Well, I was ranked in the top 100 back on Myth II, was fairly well respected on the original Shogun, and had more than one character in the top 10 of the HC ladder back in Diablo II prior to the expansion. Hope that's enough 'experience' for you. Never really got into MMO's or FPS's. Prior to these, I played virtually nothing at all.

Other than going through spurts of activity on Guild Wars (face it, it's not an MMO, especially with Heroes), I don't really get too aweful involved anymore. And typically only buy 2-3 games for 'me' a year. Yes, the kids get a few more that I might tinker with from time to time. This shift has happened in the last 5 years.

But, it's not so much that my perception of games has changed, or that games themselves have changed. It's that games filled a gap for me. Prior to moving into our first house, I spent most my free time working on Halloween. Building haunted houses professionally at the time. The market for new haunted houses dried up locally, and I had no interest in only maintaining older ones, and with a wife working nights, no kids, and no traffic on halloween making it useless to build my own in my yard, games filled a gap for 10ish years there.

Then add in a child, then another, and free time began to diminish. Then we moved into our new house 5 years ago and now get plenty of traffic on Halloween. So I've reconnected with my original passion and prefer to work on Halloween stuff than to play games usually. Plus we have a 3rd child now. (NO MORE, barring some medical miracle/screw up on the operation) So, with having less free time, and my preference on spending that building things rather than gaming, it's natural I don't play as much. I typically only play when I either can't afford, or can't think of, something to build.

[Nostromo]

I've been playing games for a long, long time. But I completely stopped about +/- a year ago. And I didn't have to make myself stop: it was effortless. I just feel they're generally a waste of my time, not only because they tend to make me less productive, but most importantly because I'm barely having fun playing them. They're a lose-lose, as far as I'm concerned. I moved on, I guess.

[ZEE]

Oblivion is the only game i play anymore, simply because of its sheer size, open-endedness, and endless character generation combos and replay value.

I have 2-3 Characters running at the moment, a completely good character where i finished the main quest, and several other questlines...

and a totally evil character where i have not even activated the main quest yet as i am having fun randomly going around murdering people and stealing stuff.

No other game even remotely interests me, as i have erased them ALL from my PC, even STALKER (too limited for me) and Civ (Id rather gouge my eyes out with hot pokers), except Oblivion... the last game standing.

Oblivion is, for me, quite simply the best video game ever invented and the only series i will follow and the only company i will buy games from (Bethesda.)

[Standup]

I play games a lot less than I use to but that doesn't surprise me really. 10, 15, 20 years ago I was living in rented accommodation, a job with nights and shifts so lots of time off with nobody around or before that a job where I could stay up all night playing X-com and still function.

Now as a I've wandered into middle management I find work takes over, I need my sleep and I generally have to be reasonably on the ball to function.

I think also there's an element of no longer finding games new. CIV was fun and possibly the best of the series (if it gets patched) but it doesn't compare to the first time I played Civ 1 on my Amiga. And that's probably the case for most genres and games I play.

My view is that its me who's changed - I'm turning into my parents a bit and going on about the rate of change and this from someone who's job involves technology.

[Wiglaf]

I refuse to play games unless there's at least 1 person I can play it with (Company of Heroes would be useless without this) or just something monumentally awesome about the way things explode on a good television. I am always up for a good explosion in a videogame, Call of Duty 4 had some of these though it could use even more.

[Kinjiru]

Like most of the others here, with increased levels of responsibility at work, and a family to take care of/be involved with, there simply isn't the kind of time available for games that there used to be.

I generally travel during the week, and have for going on 12 years now. In my 20's, I could travel, work, stay up late gaming and still be okay. That started to change about 5-6 years ago, where I could stay up maybe 1-2 nights a week and still be okay.

Then came my WoW addiction. Everynight, up late, even when at home. The wifey got fairly annoyed at this, so I started to skip playing much on the weekends - which just made me stay up even later during the week.

Fortunately, I ended up switching to a project where I was not going to have internet access at the hotel. So, I quit Wow about 3 years ago and haven't gotten really obsessive over a game since. I got into LOTRO a little bit, but never felt the need to stay up late playing, or sacrifice other social time for hte game.

I'm actually looking forward to the Conan MMO, but more because I think it's an interesting universe to play in and they are trying somthing a bit different with the combat. I do not anticipate a return of the Wow timesink factor.

Interestingly enough, I actually do spend a fair bit of time thinking about the games I am playing, and going to Poly and other such sites. But I don't tend to actually play so much anymore.

In the end, gaming has become a hobby, like any of the others in my life, instead of the sole leisure activity.

[vee4473]

I can't get into a game like I used to a decade or more ago. In my case meaning total absorption into the world on a real, immersive level.
Unlike spike, I think it's beacuse of gaming staying too much the same, with most of what's changing being graphics oriented.

Sure, i've changed but so many games these days seem to be riding the coattails of others, standing on the shoulders of giants...that sort of thing. Playing it safe, not really attempting to evolve any genre other than graphically.

So many games that drew me in 10+ years ago have not had the type of evolution that would re-create that type of feeling. Civ is a great example actually. It
embodies everything that I think this thread is about. The original and sequel grabbed you like no other. Was it because of uniqueness? the gameplay? the setting of the world? who knows. But all civs since have been like a new flavor of diet soda. Something that's a new version of what you love but leaves you with an aftertaste. Enjoyable to be sure, even some improvements that the others needed....but makes your mind wonder what happened. That sort of thing.
As Spike says, is it you or them?

But, everything released now seems like a faint copy trying to just cash in on an established genre. They all have some new twists to the originals, but they all still seem so far from anything that can spark the desire to dive into them like before..

Civ4 is good, but it's nothing that grabs you like before. For die hards it does at first because of the love for the game, but for me it's just been a bit old. I've bought every civ released because of my love for the game, but like others I wonder whether the next will get my bills. If they just shuffle governments and civics, add a new type of wonder mechanic and make a great new hi res 3d map, i wont buy it.

I think we're in a technological "mine is bigger than yours" age now, where all that matters is what you can do on screen, instead of anything else. More power, more graphics, how real are those bullets and blood and boobies on your screen, etc...rather than focussing on the game itself. And as such, that means more intense, but less replay. Maybe that's where it's going....

You blow your wad, but then it's over. But man that was a good blow...

I guess that's because good looks can cover alot of blemishes. It can.

Please dont take that to mean that graphics are not important, i'm of the mindset that thinks gameplay and graphics are a marriage, not mutually exclusive. Meaning if I have a choice between 2 rpg's...one has text describing a battle and the other has great graphics depicting the battle, I choose the depiction.

This is a great topic actually, as i've not had the "play 'til the wee hours of the morning" sensation for years. I suspect it's as much me as the games.


off to play smac guys!

[Asher]

Quibble, but Quake 3 came out in late '99...so it's not over a decade old.

[Asher]

My tastes have changed over time...

When I was a weeee lad I played video games all the time...Atari, NES, Genesis, N64...and PC of course. Got massively addicted to Civ 2. And a bunch of other games (including MMORPG like Asheron's Call, then World of Warcraft, etc).

I'm much wealthier now and I'm pretty sure I've got a shorter attention span now as well as less free time...as a whole, I'm pretty erratic as a gamer. I play games on all of the consoles and on the PC, from a variety of genres...but no one game really hooks me. I find myself not wanting to play a single game longer than a few weeks at a time. If you look at my Xbox Live profile you'll see a whole bunch of games with like ~60% achievement points (usually 1 play through), then nothing else for it. I rarely get obsesses/involved with the game...if anything it's cause I've got so much more choices. In the old days I'd be happy spending months on Halo 3 online, but nowadays there's just so much other stuff for me to do.

It's a good thing, at least for me. I feel for PC gamers that are stopping gaming because they feel the market's drying up...it's not true, it's just that the games are all moving to consoles except for some niche genres.

[Kuciwalker]

Re: Changing perceptions of gaming over time

Originally posted by DrSpike
But I know that if I really wanted to, I could find games to play the way I once did. I just don't want to - my life has rebalanced somewhat compared to 10 years ago, and this is probably true for most people between 20 and 30 I'd guess. Not sure what accounts for Ralph's change of heart though, as he is an oldie.

So are you anyone over 25 or so is an oldie.

No seriously, if you have a good run of gaming experience (around 10 years or more if possible), please share how your perceptions have changed over time.

I just don't have as much time as I used to - I take a far heavier courseload in college than I could have in high school. Even so, I'll occasionally go for the 8-16 hour gaming stints if there's a significant lull in coursework.

Also, I've moved to playing less video games per se and spending more time playing games like A&A on the computer (even though it's not really a computer game).

Oh, and I play a lot more Guitar Hero-style games now than I used to, mostly because I can play just a few songs and then go back to doing other things.

edit: also, since coming to college I've started consuming a lot more passive entertainment, mostly TV and movies. Sometimes I'm just tired and don't want to deal with a video game that could frustrate me.

[DaShi]

I still play Guild Wars. Probably too much. A lot of it is because I have a cool guild. We don't do much pvp. No teamspeak and such when we do. But I agree with those who don't enjoy that as much. When I'm in the mood for pvp I tend to play the Random Arenas.

[pg]

For me personally I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I am grown up in thought and thinking. I find most games easy to understand now and even in multiplayer there usually isn't a huge challenge. Back when I was younger I'd have to struggle to understand gameplay. I really think the experience I gained learning was a lot of the fun I had. Now most games come out and I understand them in a few minutes and there is usually no learning process. In most games now I feel like I'm going through the motions and have a good idea what the outcome is going to be. The only real interest I have left in a big way is multiplayer FPS vs very good players.

[Krill]

Re: Re: Changing perceptions of gaming over time

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Originally posted by DrSpike
But I know that if I really wanted to, I could find games to play the way I once did. I just don't want to - my life has rebalanced somewhat compared to 10 years ago, and this is probably true for most people between 20 and 30 I'd guess. Not sure what accounts for Ralph's change of heart though, as he is an oldie.

So are you anyone over 25 or so is an oldie.

It used to be anyone over 20 was old...alas.

[q=Kuci][q=Dr Spike]No seriously, if you have a good run of gaming experience (around 10 years or more if possible), please share how your perceptions have changed over time. [/q]

I just don't have as much time as I used to - I take a far heavier courseload in college than I could have in high school. Even so, I'll occasionally go for the 8-16 hour gaming stints if there's a significant lull in coursework.

Also, I've moved to playing less video games per se and spending more time playing games like A&A on the computer (even though it's not really a computer game).

Oh, and I play a lot more Guitar Hero-style games now than I used to, mostly because I can play just a few songs and then go back to doing other things.

edit: also, since coming to college I've started consuming a lot more passive entertainment, mostly TV and movies. Sometimes I'm just tired and don't want to deal with a video game that could frustrate me. [/q]

Same over here, but the old classics are still used for MP play when a group of friends come over etc, in addition to po evo soccer etc.

[Zero]

Re: Changing perceptions of gaming over time

i agree with doc spike in that games have shifted focus. nobody really caters to our types.

It used to be great when player vs player was the focus until people got tired of getting owned and getting insulted by elitism. Now everything has to be team based or else people won't enjoy it. meh.

I've enjoyed playing fighters/rts/FPS and all that stuff on competitively while it was hot. And i do miss that golden age but Im getting old too anyway so whatever. It's time to move on.