The Decline of Video Gaming: A Brain Dave Rant

[Cereb Daithi]

Well I started out responding to a post on another forum about a complaint with a certain game.... it turned into something more.

What I miss most about gaming is the main focus. It has shifted. Back in the old days (I miss my colecovision by the way) games had to be good to succeed. You couldn't hide behind a fancy new graphics engine. You were forced to focus on fun gameplay and a challenging good time if you wanted to succeed. Now I feel like developers feel like you have to hide behind amazing graphics to sell your game. Which sadly is kind of true.

I truly believe the majority of gamers have lost sight of the POINT of video games. I have heard it countless times, one of the first things people say when talking about a new game is 'oh man the graphics are so amazing!'. If I wanted photo-realistic graphics with virtually no entertaining gameplay I'd look at a photograph. Video games have become so cosmetic. Fancy pretty facades with hollow and unrewarding interiors. You might argue with 'oh but such-and-such is a very rich and rewarding gaming experience!' and it may be true. A good video game is not an impossible feat to create. But the track record is pretty shoddy as of late. I'll take a fufilling game expereince over flashy any day. Same goes for women. Only difference between games and girls is if you choose the flashy sell-out mainstream whore game you don't end up having it burn when you pee. At least most of you get the analogy I hope.

Speaking of sell-outs. Another thing. Publishers. Go screw yourself. I'm looking at you in particular EA. Wrecker of some of my most memorable franchises. Entertainment and big busiess are not a good mix. You cannot trust your entertainment to a business who's prime directive is making money. It falls apart. Things are sacrificed to make deadlines.

Another belief I have which I'm sure will be controversial is that the internet ruined gaming. I hate internet gaming. I think it's a terrible idea to put into most games. Essentially what you are trying to do is turn a solitary pastime into a group event. I always though of games as a form of escapism. Similar to reading a book. A way to help you forget that bad day at the office or that annoying 10 year old kicking the back of your seat on that 18 hour flight. Now though you get to listen to that same 10 year old squeak out a "newb!" at such high frequencies the neighbors dog starts barking as he invades your happy world and imposes his digital existance upon your own. Come to think of it maybe I should mod one of thsoe massage chairs to simulate a size 5 Heely punching repeatedly into my lower spine just to simulate fully.... only then can I complete the illusion that I'm actually not having fun. Oh wait. That isn't an illusion. My ears are bleeding afterall.

While I'm still on the topic of online gaming. SINCE WHEN DID IT GET SO DAMN COMPETATIVE!? What rule says that it has to be competative? Where does it say that? WHERE? Why must everything be vs and have a score? Even with co-op stuff half the time you are trying to get more points than your teammates. It's like high school gym class all over again. You are supposed to be having fun but everyone is too preoccupied with the score and there's always that one guy that takes it WAY too seriously and ruins it for you. If you want to compete in something get your lazy ass out and join a sport.

Ok enough about online crap. I have to say something right now. Sega. What the hell? You went from one of the most promising companies out there with a beloved franchise and even developed (arguably) the best console ever made in my opinion. You went from THAT... to making cheesy gimmick video games for the Wii starring your cast of stars that have been ruined in recent games. I mean.... has anyone actually played sonic and the secret rings!? You DRIVE sonic... he freaking runs automatically and you just DRIVE HIM! LEFT AND RIGHT! I put the controller down once and actually made it though half the level... just watching.. I mean at least that level in mario that can play itself is actually clever. This is just stupid!

That's only a chunk of what I have to say about the software side of things. I'd type more but its almost time to leave and I have to wrap up a few things with some of the ERs before I do. It has been a crazy night. Feel free to comment on my rant if you like. I might come back and edit and update with more later once I have some sleep.

[chicken n waffles]

i had an in-depth reply countering every point you made, then firefox decided to shit the bed.

anyway, i couldn't agree with you less on almost every point you made. graphics improve. that's what they're supposed to do. nobody would pay $50 today for ms. pac man. it's not gonna happen. video games are supposed to grip onto your senses and never let go until you press power. they're supposed to immerse you in another world. there's your "escapism" for which you long.

i'll agree with you on publishsers. see: sierra and what they did (or tried to do) to valve.

as far as internet gaming signaling the downfall of gaming, my god you're the polar opposite of correct. it's escapism blended with a sense of togetherness. it's exactly what gamers have wanted for years. they can escape their true selves, and find a group of other escapees for digital interaction. digitally shooting someone in the head is FAR more satisfying than shooting an AI controlled character. millions of xbox live users, steam users, gamespy users can't be wrong.

i could go on and on and on about how misguided your stance on this industry is, but meh it's your opinion and you're entitled to it. plus i have eggs cookin'.

cliffs notes: you're wrong

[Mr Kleen]

as a certified "old man" i have to say i get a real gut-laugh when young people try to talk about the good old days...

[chicken n waffles]

one more thing:

What I miss most about gaming is the main focus. It has shifted. Back in the old days (I miss my colecovision by the way) games had to be good to succeed. You couldn't hide behind a fancy new graphics engine. You were forced to focus on fun gameplay and a challenging good time if you wanted to succeed. Now I feel like developers feel like you have to hide behind amazing graphics to sell your game. Which sadly is kind of true.

your sweeping generalizations are funny. basically you're saying that game developers used to focus on gameplay and gameplay only. then you say that games today 'hide' behind fancy graphics. i don't mean to attack you but this is ridiculous. let's break down how wrong you are.

1) games back in the day were state of the art, fancy schmancy graphics for their time, and we ate it up. the 'gameplay' on them was about as simplistic as humanly possible. 16 colors, 2 dimensions, little to no story, little to no action aside from moving a blob of color that vaguely resembled a protagonist in whatever form the game forced him to take. why did we buy them? for the same reason we buy games today. they were amazingly fun and interactive, and we thought at the time that the graphics were stunning... at the TIME. fire up some of your ol' coleco favorites and tell me how many seconds it takes for you to roll your eyes and turn it off. a child wouldn't be amused by them. not all of them, however, were fun. every system has had its duds. every single one.

2) if we bought games for their gameplay, and gameplay was so undeniably awesome back in the day, what reason would there have been for coming out with bigger and better graphics engines?

3) how do you explain deadly towers (google it), infamous for being the worst game ever made? horrible graphics, retard-level gameplay. did they divide by zero and rip a hole in space-time?

4) i don't know which game or series of games has recently swayed you to believe that every game these days is just a graphics engine powering a horrible game, but you need to branch out and try some other ones. is the halflife series just a fancy window dressing on top of crappy gameplay? if anything i'd say it's the opposite. tried left 4 dead yet? the metal gear series for ps1/2/3? paper mario? metroid prime? any of zelda's latest iterations? need 4 speed? gta4? give me a break.



ps - you're too young to remember colecovision

[WRXWagon2112]

Many games in the Atari age were absolute crap. There was a rush to flood the market with anything and everything just to "move product". I think I heard a stat that more Pac-Man games were manufactured than there were known Atari console sales. Now why would someone do that? Publish more games than there were consoles? Clearly marketing / management types weren't thinking, but it also points to the same old mindset that humans will always have - if a product / service is successful, flog it for all it's worth. As I said, most Atari games were absolute crap. We all know and remember the great titles, but most of the titles were laughable at best.

Dave - you state that the focus of games used to be on gameplay. While I do think that game designers / programmers of old had no choice but to focus on gameplay due to the limitations of graphics and other aspects of the hardware (i.e., memory limitations), I think that current designers and programmers would prefer to focus on gameplay where they can. After all, they are gamers too and they undoubtedly recognize what makes a game great. Unfortunately, they are up against the same battles the ye olde gamers faced way back in the day - the business end of the industry wants to make money quick. That means getting people to buy games that are cheap to make. Which means fancy graphics, product tie-ins, in-game advertising, etc., etc. And just as in the Atari age, some games rise above all this to be truly memorable while the majority are crap.

It's easy to pine for the good old days, but I have to say that not much has changed over the years.

--Alan

[Cereb Daithi]

What the hell.

I dont know what provoked me last night. I hadn't slept in 3 days and was going insane from having to keep an ER from going to code black then shutting down last night because people are idiots. Now that I re-read some of that even I disagree with some of my points. Although some of your points were equally silly.... damn now I'm embarrased.

I guess it's the penalty to pay for posting while incredibly stressed, angry, and not thinking straight. When you singlehandedly have to keep 15 hospital radiology departments working smoothly as well as being on the phone with all their ER docs all night things start to get to you in a very serious way. Guess I'll take this one on the chin.

[sirwilliam]

I am sick today and started playing this game this morning:



If you don't have it, get it. Awesome. I managed to get it for $39.99 shipped last week...$59.99 was a little much for me...just keep an eye out for price drops at Amazon.

[Sabre]

If you don't have it, get it. Awesome. I managed to get it for $39.99 shipped last week...$59.99 was a little much for me...just keep an eye out for price drops at Amazon.

Agreed, this game is just way too much fun!