5 Things I do not miss about old school gaming

So, inspired by @whatageek 's article about 5 things he misses about old school gaming, I have decided to give you the other side of the story, and list 5 things that I do not miss about old school gaming.

1. Tape Machines
   
   Yes, in the olden days, we had to load our games using an old style tape deck. This was less thane reliable. I would estimate that I would manage to get the game to load less than a quarter of the time, always having to precisely twiddle the little tuning knob with a screw driver... And let's not forget, tapes stretch easily.

2. No Saves
   You die, you go back to the beginning. That is all.... No matter how much effort and time you have spent, it can all be taken away from you in a flash. Of course, the games at the time did not have randomly generated levels, which means that each time it was game over... You had to go through exactly the same thing over and over again.

Later, saves got added. But you had to actually remember to save. If you forget for a while.... Too bad.

1. Loading Times
   To give the tapes credit, at least the game would only load once. As things advanced to floppy disks, you would have to wait in-between levels... and wait... and wait... and wait. I actually used to keep a book to read while playing, just for the loading screens and times.

2. Copy Protection
   While the actual bits that you received in the box were undeniably cool, the copy protection they were often used for were not. Every time you started the game, you would have to look something up, or use a wheel to get symbols lined up... That kind of thing. If you lost the manual or the gadget.... Too bad

Some games, actually tried to incorporate it into the game itself, with less than ideal success... It really takes you out of the suspension of disbelief when the wizard asks you to tell him the 4th word on page 63, so that you may pass through the gate...

1. Comparability issues
   I remember that I would hear about an amazing game, just to discover that it was not available on my Amiga... In days past, every system had completely different standards, and different games got released for different systems only, with a port needing a lot more work, and rarely getting done

2. Disk Swapping
   I remember playing Monkey Island, which came on 8 disks, and having to shuffle and look for the right disk, when I entered a new area, so that I can allow it to load... I think I spent more time shuffling disks than playing the game. Of course it was not the only culprit. Many games came on multiple disks, and with no hard drives, it meant a lot of swapping.