The best part of video games back in the day was making memories with your friends, now it all feels like structured fun. “This is how you play the game and this is when you are supposed to have fun” Idk if that makes sense.
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Most aren’t. Some great ones do come along still, like Hades, Stray, Elden Ring, or Tears of the Kingdom. The problem is obviously the end goal is to make money, but the methods for making money are infringing more and more on the escapism and games are trying less to hit that fun button and no more to hit the addiction button.
Depends on what you’re playing, and you might have burnout.
I got sucked in by TOTK and Elden Ring so I can’t say I’ve had the same experience. I basically haven’t played a multi-player fps since I graduated university though, so that must count for something? I played a ton of those back then.
This is a common thread and question that I’ve seen pop up all over the internet since I first joined message boards in the early 00s. It’s you and I dont mean that in a judgmental way, but it sounds like you’re probably burned out or being brought down by other factors in your life.
I said it in 2002 on gamefaqs, I said it in 2005 on my small local game message board, I said it in 2010 on reddit, and I’ll say it again. The best time for gaming is now. Because there are still good games coming out regardless of the bad contemporary trends, and the indy revolution of the 10s has only made that more true. On top of that all the classics you know and love are still behind us and playable.
I think you need to take a step back and try to figure out exactly what it is about gaming that you used to enjoy and try to figure out why you may not be enjoying games anymore. It could be the type of game youre playing, it could be that you’re just burned out, and it could be external factors in life.
Did you used to play games with friends and family that have drifted apart as you got older? Does work leave you drained and with little time and energy to play your long playsession single player experience? Is the game that you’re playing one with a toxic community? Do you feel unfulfilled in other parts of your life and feel guilty that instead of working on that you’re engaging in your hobby? Are you experiencing other mental health issues like depression or anxiety that might be tinting your enjoyment of things?
There are a number of reasons you might fall into and out of gaming. I’m in my 30s and I personally go through seasons and times when I play a lot of games and when I focus my hobbys on something else. Ive felt like “maybe I’ll never get that immersive feeling again like I did at 18” a bunch of times in my life and then picked up games I couldnt put down. Once you find out the why you can try and tackle the problem.
I’m not OP, but I feel like I want to add on to this if that’s alright. I think it’s often easy to get into this mindset when a trend seems to overtake a lot of the industry. For instance, personally I’ve noticed a common game that seems to get churned out a lot in recent years: it’s open world, but has nothing in it and is given light RPG elements that don’t really add anything. That doesn’t mean every game is like that, of course, but I think it can be easy to fixate on what we’re tired of seeing. Eventually, someone will come up with a new trend, and the empty open world games will fade out, and the cycle will continue as it always has. It’s also interesting to point out that humans tend to remember the past more fondly, so it’s easy to remember old gems and ignore the flops. Anyway, thanks for entertaining my ramble.
I understand where you’re coming from when you look at the games with the most marketing, but we also live in the age of Minecraft, not to mention the countless games and genres it inspired. The stuff you’re looking for is out there.
Depression has definitely made it extremely hard to enjoy gaming these days. It was so easy to hop on the pc after class in high school/college, and jump into a game with 8 or so friends, playing all night. Now in adulthood, there are no friends to play with, and such little time to actually play. Not to mention games have become about milking whales with microtransactions, and less about a fun experience. Combine that with the world’s downward spiral, and it makes it very hard to be a happy gamer.
/rant
There are way more games than ever before, and even in the AAA space there are more options for varying games than ever as well.
The best part of video games back in the day was making memories with your friends…
Is the issue with the games themselves, or is it an issue of getting older and not being able to connect with friends in the same way as you did when you were younger? If your goal when playing games is to feel like you did when you were a kid, I have some bad news for you.
People are going to be pedantic about this one, because it’s not ALL games, but what you’re seeing is real. Game design, especially corporate design, has changed to accomplish two things:
- Engagement
- Accessibility
Games are designed to be playable by as many people as possible for as long as possible. Some would say this is just Western AAA games, but lots of anime games have been doing this nonsense for decades - games with 10 hours of baby’s first JRPG tutorial and 80 hours of grinding and filler. Many of them critically acclaimed games that fans would flog me for if I actually named one of them.
There are indie games that help you escape this, but many take that accessibility-first approach that requires everything to be very structured and corral you toward the right direction.
Again, I think people are going to be dismissive, but you’re right. It’s a tough world out there for someone who just wants to play a game and not be suckered into a live service engagement trap, or ladder system that hides your real MMR to keep you grinding up an imaginary points system. It’s not like the old days when you can just pick something popular, you have to discriminate and carefully judge what you buy now.
Define “accessibility”, because it sounds like you’re describing a game trying to give a certain experience on a budget
I should put “accessibility” in sarcastic quotation marks. Here, it doesn’t mean adding options or features to assist someone with different handicaps or needs. It means making the game so easy that anyone, even a toddler or game journalist, can finish it without having to learn from mistakes or think about what they’re doing.
Particularly with regard to excessive guidance. Varying degrees of “mobile game that makes you click exactly what it says for 30 minutes to prove you played the tutorial.” Those games may be the worst offenders, but less-dramatic hand holding happens in console and PC games too.
Nope. Just had an 8 hour session (with breaks in-between) in Civ 6 last weekend. Still as find gaming, with the right games that is, as fun as ever.
Maybe try a different genre, or even a different format. Instead of multiplayer fighting games, try a social deduction game.
I think you’ve just played too many games. You know how they work now, you have a sense of what’s behind the curtain. You can see the way the dev is trying to talk to you through specific camera angles and lighting placements, and you resent it and wish for the days you didn’t notice that stuff.
I get it. It’s valid. But it’s a personal thing. Games didn’t get less fun, you just aren’t enjoying them anymore. They’ve always been like that.
May I suggest cheating? No, seriously: Download some mods, cheat tables, or trainers. Play the game the way you want to play it. Break out of the devs’ carefully-packaged little box, even if it makes the game easier or makes people sneer at you. Go out of bounds. Give yourself infinite health and see how long it takes to beat the last boss naked and unarmed or using a DDR pad.
Don’t cheat in multiplayer though. There’s a special hell reserved for those who ruin others’ experiences.
This is a good idea! Go nuts for a while, see how you feel.
I’ve been cheating since the days of hand writing them from the internet for snes games. Once it gets boring, fuck it. But wholeheartedly, DO NOT CHEAT IN MULTIPLAYER. There’s just no reason, either you like playing or you don’t. I’m trash at Siege, but I still play without hacks cuz I still find it fun even when I lose.
Learning about the concept of enshittification (https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/) made me suspect that this might be going on with games too. I mean these always online and monetisation trends seem to suggest so.
Though for me it‘s also the age and work, quest logs remind me of ticket systems and grinding of more repetitive work and it all lost it‘s shine. I enjoy games still, but less often I would say.
It strongly depends on what kind of person you are and how you get your enjoyment out of things. If you understand this, then you can find games that fulfill that.
For example, some people get a dopamine hit when they see numbers go up. Be it level grinding, kill/death ratio, optimize builds. Others like the feeling of exploration. Others want immersion/role-play.
It has nothing to do with “today games bad”. Part of that is childhood and nostalgia. You won’t get that back.
Figure out what you enjoy. If you like social games and making friends, then you need to lean towards that style of game. RuneScape 2007 is still very much alive today.
I might offer a slightly different take on this than you tend to see. Yes, it is very common for enjoyment of entertainment to be based on external factors (free time, friends, family). But the modern gaming landscape has changed overall quite a lot. It is entirely possible that the type of games you truly enjoy have gotten lost in the sauce, and just aren’t made as much these days. Likely a combination of the two, but if you’re having the feeling, trust it. That feeling is valid, and claims that everything is the same, you just have external differences feels a bit gas-lighty. Good luck out there~
I quite like your answer and tend to agree. Just wanted to add that while popular games have changed over time, the sheer amount of games that get made these days is insane. I would recommend to see what strange indie stuff is being made, this is something that helped me when I had similar feelings. When not bound by large budgets or investors, really awesome experiences are still possible.
Examples: A Short Hike, Vampire Survivors, Outer Wilds, Undertale, Stardew Valley, Rocket League …
Any imaginable genre is still getting new and interesting stuff IMO, it’s just that mainstream gaming has gotten worse (again, IMO).
But it is true that you shouldn’t simply discard what you’re feeling! I really love that about your answer.
The small indie titles are what is saving my passion for gaming since quite some time now. It’s also what’s saving my wallet as usually they focus on good gameplay more than flashy presentation which helps in not having to spend a ton on a “competitive” hardware.
Burnout is definitely a thing. Try cutting back, taking a break or switching genres. Dust off that real-time strategy that’s been gathering dust in your library, or try something completely new. Take care of yourself my guy.
