My Declining Interest in Video Games

Also, so everyone knows, I made this video awhile back but never uploaded it due to audio issues (which I have fixed). Since then I have played the new Zelda game. It's pretty good. Nintendo continues to try hard to create good game experiences, even when their hardware is weak. Worth thinking about.

Games up until about ten years ago were brimming with character. One series that started this way and ended up soulless was Fable. The first one (which is probably one of my favorite games ever) had SO MUCH character and life to it that its sequels simply lack. That's how most video games used to be, they felt like labors of love. Now it seems developers just want to make Hollywood Blockbuster versions of video games, and all other attributes (gameplay, story, music) are an afterthought compared to that. Shame.

I think as we get older the stress of life hits and when you finally have time to play a game you realize you can be doing something more productive that has meaning for your life

Mainstream video games have, sadly, gone the same route as mainstream music, film and television - all front with no substance. I feel that more and more developers are no longer concerned with making games that they want to see and love, but rather conforming to the publisher's standards and making a product that will generate profit and a sequel. The Last of Us and The Witcher 3 are the most recent games I played that I really really enjoyed and felt were made by genuine gamers for gamers.

Older games were like juicy, stacked-high homemade burgers with amazing toppings. Modern games are like heat lamp travesties from McDonalds.

This mirrors a lot of my thoughts about modern gaming. I also think it's a lot of the same process that has made modern RPG design for table top so awful. But then again I've seen kids raised on video games that can't play table top because there isn't a reward after every encounter and a constant level up thrill to be had.

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Do you ever play any of the Dark Souls games or Bloodborne? Miyazaki has to be one of my favorite developers of all time.

I have the sensation that the peak on everything in modern life was around 2005. This includes videogames, music, motor, and many other worlds. It's sure that many good things are yet to come but I have the feeling that we lived the best creative era already and also the era where we really felt FREE. We can feel lucky about it.

In my case, I started playing videogames as a way to get away from life. Eventually I matured and stopped running away from life itself, and I kinda stopped enjoying them as much as I did before. I like videogames, they're just not a fundamental part of me anymore.

I'm upset I bought my first season pass ever for halo wars2 thinking that that extra 30 bucks meant I'm going to get all of the extra content. But apparently season pass is meant literally and if I want the entire game it's going to cost like 110-120. I've been playing more steam. 20 bucks and I get a fully functional game mode.

This man is spitting PURE FACTS. I miss storytelling. Actually no, that isn’t it. I miss substance in general.

Yep, I've been feeling the exact same thing. It used to be that every console generation brought something new to the table. Now it seems like the better the hardware gets and the better the graphics get, the worse the gameplay gets. I got the new deus ex on pc and holy crap, it was so boring i stopped about 4 hours in and never touched it again. The other thing is everyone is on the photorealistic graphics train, but good artstyle trumps photo realism every time. Games with super realistic graphics look stupid within a year or two, but something with good artstyle lasts forever. A good example of that is the zelda games or mario. Another thing is studios focus on multiplayer and microtransactions at the expense of story. What happened to games like half life that sucked you into an intriguing story? Or your excelent example of the elder scrolls games? I was a huge halo fan when it first came out, but i remember thinking after halo 3 that i didn't give a single shit about any of the characters since. Some of them being so annoying i was glad when they died but then had to sit through a cutscene about how terrible it is they're dead. Another example: the new starwars battlefront game. It had like 4 maps, no story, no space missions, a stupid system to get vehicles. The old game was literally better in every way except graphics. And they charged 60 bucks when swbf2 came out. It's like 90 bucks where i am for a AAA pos now. The only good games these days seem to be indi games. As for AAA? Press 'F' to pay respects. Edited for readability (im on my phone)

It's even more true in 2020, for me at least. Most of the new games are just dumbed down, boring, uninspiring, chore, busy work. I actually have stopped buying any new game recently. At first, they look promising, nice graphics, a bunch of things to do, but sooner than later you realise you don't want to play them on. I still DO play video games - The Witcher 3 was good, Metro Exodus was OK-ish (though i liked the first two better), i hope Cyberpunk will be good, i hope Hangar13 doesn't fuck the Mafia remake up - but i always end up replaying good ol' games. Like i just started to play Oblivion again... after 13 years and i'm genuinly enjoying it.

I have felt the same way for a long time now, a long time. I find myself playing my Sony Xperia with old SNES games more than my Pc/console games. And playing them eagerly, not just casually. That said, The Witcher 3 is the last truly great game I played, and have recommended it to many friends and they have also come to love the game-play and story. I would suggest you try it out. I don't even like fantasy settings, but this one is genuinely above par.

After about 60% of game playthrough, they become repetitive. You find yourself becoming annoyed with completing missions, just playing to reach the end. Sometimes even getting mad when the end doesn't happen after a near end mission. The game becones more of a chore than fun.

I'll give you an example of bad modern design: I'm playing Resident Evil 7 and the game has an "auto-flashlight" feature: basically the character automatically turns his flashligh on and off depending on the location. The reason is because they couldn't be asked to code the AI to react to your flashlight during the stealth segments of the game, so they don't allow you to turn it on. To an old school PC gamer that is unacceptbale, it feels railroaded and immersion-breaking.

I feel much the same way about video games now that I'm in my late 30's. They just don't satisfy me as much as they once did, and I don't necessarily think it is the game's fault either. Rather, I think my changing as a person has more to do with my growing disinterest in video games than the games themselves. For example, Just Cause 3 is a AAA game that I was very excited about playing. I had a lot of good memories of playing Just Cause 2 several years ago, so naturally my anticipation for the sequel was very high. But once I bought Just Cause 3 I played it for a grand total of about 10 hours all within the first 3 days after buying it and didn't pick it up for several months after that. The new game, while technically superior to the old, just didn't provide the same level of satisfaction that I so fondly remembered. I think as I age and grow into a different role in life as a father and husband my idea of life satisfaction is changing too.

Maybe connected to attention span decline of population so games are developed with less depth and more wiz bang?

Very very entertaining video, i am not sure if I saw it before, but it feels and sounds very fresh. I wish people would create such videos on such topics more often.. to see where some industries are heading.. and that developers can take notice. :-)