The worst advancement in gaming
Everyone will have a different opinion about this, but to me, the worst thing that ever happened was...
The industry took an arrow to the knee
Games got popular. Mass adoption changed the industry. The priority of AAA studios has swayed into “quality of life” instead of game immersion, challenge, mechanics and even content, simply because the average “gamer” nowadays will whine if they don’t get what they want with ease.
Every World of Warcraft expansion beyond The Burning Crusade proved this time and time again. “Legit” gamers prefered having to gather friends and anyone interested before walking all the way to a dungeon entrance, even when it was very likely they’d all die and have to start again from miles away. They feel it’s even more rewarding.
There are other types of gamers, both completely casual and everything inbetween, but as one in the first group, big games nowadays are completely disappointing to me. Specially when we’re talking about MMOs.
It might sound selfish to you because if games were tailored towards my gaming taste, they wouldn't appeal to you. But the opposite is also true, so let me rant to my heart's content. I miss the good online days of old.
[image source: killyoverdrive's dark alchemyst]
Thank you for reading!
Nice post and I totally understand your opinion. I have always been a gamer (started playing my first video game at 6). I think that what you are expressing is definitely true and it's due to a combination of reasons like you pointed out (the market got a lot bigger, they have to produce games that please everyone etc ...).
In my opinion (not only for MMO games) I think that there are positive and negative consequences to this. I think that there are still a lot of new games out there from big studios that will really challenge you, and there are lots of Indie developers who make that kind of games too. Also, today a video game is clearly a piece of art. This is clearly due in part because of the insane hardware performance that allows more creativity and more collaboration between different industries to make a video game. I think that in the long run that is very helpful to video games because it democratize them (remember like 10-15-20 years ago when people always tried to bash video games). But I agree with you that in the long run developers have to put the gameplay aspect of video games at the center of everything and make more games challenging like they used to do.
But yeah nice post! :)
Focusing gameplay wouldn't work out well for making money because most "gamers" nowadays are just more casual players.
It's the same difference between an actual reader who devours at least a couple of books every month and someone who reads 2-paragraph news online. The average blog makes a lot more money than the average novelist.
Well actually yes and no. You are definitely right in the sense that at first it could be a brutal start. But if focusing on gameplay can be done without affecting the other aspects of what makes a game appealing today may be it can work (but may be I am too optimistic) ? Also, I think that gamers adapt to what studios produce. In other words, if studios produce more challenging games (again without forgetting other aspects of what makes a good video game), people will adapt (people are smarter than they think).
Yeah I see your analogy for sure, and you are probably right. I just like to be optimistic :) .
A 40yo woman who plays Candy Crush won't ever adapt to World of Warcraft, just like most WoW players nowadays wouldn't adapt to the vanilla experience without any expansion packs.
However, some people go as far as paying the monthly WoW sub but only playing on vanilla, expansionless private servers. Challenging gameplay might please some gamers, but it won't necessarily please me or you just because we like challenges.
Old school gamers like me are left to bite the dust, except for some indie titles.
Yeah you've got a good point my friend. Can't challenge the facts :D
Hard games are a niche nowadays
And all efforts are whined upon.
But I think the main reason for this is that now the most of gamer userbase is composed of adults. Adults have less free time, so when they play, they mostly have just one try to play each level. If they don't beat first try, they will probably go do something else.
I disagree on both things you've said, though. Most gamers are still teens. The majority of teens and adult gamers nowadays are a lot more casual. Read my whole opinion on this in this post, in portuguese.
I've once came across a research which concluded the most of the gaming public has been a gamer since videogames got popular. They said the the average gamer was 17, and he was playing since he was very young. This was years ago. So I conclude, that if the former applies, most of these gamers are adults or young adults right now. Hence what I said.
My point exactly, this was years ago. I play games since I was very young and I'm 29. Things have changed.
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