Video Games Have Lost Their Charm...

[Anonymous]

What charms me, for example, could be completely different from what charms my next door neighbor. Still, it’s hard to ignore the idea that games have shifted their focus from steak to sizzle.

For all of the advancements in technology, there’s one thing that many current games seem to be missing. It can be hard to place what that is because gaming, much like other forms of entertainment, is completely subjective

I remember the way my house smelled like Yankee candles. I remember my hands trembling from the faux-adrenaline I felt. I also recall it feeling like an actual achievement. Like I had REALLY done something. In hindsight, feeling that much pride about a game may have hinted I was a major nerd more than anything else, yet I find myself playing and beating games to this day, and rarely getting that feeling anymore.

The games look great, and many play great, too, but it just feels more cold and less personal. Though technologically speaking, games have never looked, sounded, or played better, it all comes at a cost. It is the same feeling you get when you go from watching a movie like Goonies to watching a movie like the most recent Transformers. It feels dead inside in comparison. It may be shinier, it may be faster and louder, but it is vapid. It is empty. It has no soul. As big and impressive as it may seem, it all feels like shine and no substance. And it is for that reason that I feel like gaming, as whole, has lost some of its magic.

I’ve come to find out that more factored into that conclusion than just the games themselves. Seems I am not aging as gracefully as I would like to think, and gaming held me up a mirror and showed that to me, whether I was ready for it or not

[lovelyhoneybones]

Most video games suck now-a-days. Just a few years ago you'd walk into game stop or a store and find tons of games that were actually FUN, now you go into the store and find 10 at most. And they're all the same concept and they suck. Games aren't even enjoyable anymore. Gaming isn't the same. I used to love my PS2, the games were much fun. You'd get lost playing the story mode, now they're over in less than 12 hours.

[clampfan101]

So have movies. People are focusing on visual looks instead of creativity for both.

[BrittBratt2416]

Dude there's a butt load of games that have been killed, dragged, and shredded thanks to these gaming companies these days. Mario party was my all time favorite game, I loved how it was a every man for himself type of game that things could go from great to worst, to completely unbelievable during the final round of the game. But now they changed it to this baby, everybody wins game, Mario party 9 was an absolute disgrace and I'm sad to see how that game has been killed. The sims is another game, the sims is fun but at the same time it was game never had a lot of options to begin with but what you had was great. Now EA has killed that game and doesn't help that people support EA doing it either. Just any game made by EA needs to be not taken seriously. But gaming is not what it use to be, it was about making a decent game from the heart and giving people entertainment and fun memories, now its pay 60 bucks for some of the game and will charge you an extra 20 bucks if you want to know how it ends. It just sad really.

[rjroy3]

Depends on what you liked about games to begin with, what games you're playing and recognizing that in general the older you get the smarter you end up. Games you played back in the day are not the same mental challenge for you now so the difficulty and sense of achievement that comes with it is not the same. I remember playing Halo 1 and it was so hard. Played Halo 2 and it was easy. Halo 3 was easier still. Cleared 2 and 3 on legendary. Friend and I just tried out gears of war for the first time. Cleared the whole campaign in under 2 hours on the hardest difficulty. Played Black Ops for the first time with no sights against a guy who played every black ops til that point. Took all of 15 minutes for me to start destroying him and he couldn't beat me at his own game after that. It's not that the game changed. I just got better so a difficulty that would be fulfilling at one time isn't now, because i'm better.

You can look for more difficult games or more thought provoking games like Mist or mystery games. Something that provides a challenge and still has a story to it. a lot of games now are more akin to Smash. It's about that immediate high and jolt of fun that you can get in and get out. I don't play games as much as I used to, just because that's how life goes. But there are some games that still have some fulfillment in conquering. I limit the number of games I play tho. I never get into more than 2 games at a time and both stay on the backburner to life responsibilities. Otherwise I can't enjoy the games, because I know what I should be doing and i'm not getting work done.

[Ron_NM]

I think games were funner when they were not so technical, sure some were tough and you needed keyboard shorts for like flight sims. It seems to me game are pretty and colorful but just not as fun. Oh you forgot to get this item 100 hours later playing the game you realize it nothing you can do now except start over... that just one example. depending on type of game there are things like you can't get past level until you figure out trick, I rather have an easy mode and get past and have fun
I still like a challenge from a game but sometimes they get to a point i do not have all day to figure this out just let me shoot something

[Izumiblu]

I never thought of video gaming as "charming"... sure there are some video games out there that have some "charm" to them.

Games now are more social than ever before. They span technologies and interfaces. They span the gamut of terror, to puzzle, to RPG , free roaming, shooters and platformers. If anything, the market is over saturated, but i would never look to a video game and ask to be given charming unless I'm looking to spend 5 or 10 dollars on simplicity. And by the way, the indie market has never been better than what it is now.

[DairyCow]

Perhaps there's some nostalgia to it, but I agree with you.
I remember the original Pokemon games and how exciting it was to play them. How much I really loved my little sprites and wanted to look after them, how proud I felt when we finally defeat legendary 4.
I still have them all saved and I can't bring myself to start a new game to play it again lol when my brother first got me Pokemon crystal, I could hardly read. That game taught me to read believe it or not.

[Moray]

A good read. This is one of the reasons why I'm writing and want to create my own game for the future (an RPG though), with the key elements being immersive interaction in game, an immersive story, the game making it possible to truly bond with NPCs, and the game world really changing according to your choices in-game. I always feel there's not enough freedom of choice related to story in games these days.

[NaultD]

You cherry pick the memorys that you want to remember for a reason, all media has a lot of weak entry's. Im going to guess you have 10 year window of your golden age of gameing history, how many games made it in the hall of fame for you 7 or 8 but there was still like 500 games made in that 10 year time.

One argument that help keep older games more timeless is that the fact that the hardware and games where basicly set in stone. Modern games and hardware is always changing with the internet.

[GirlNextBored]

My husband is a gamer, and has tried to get me to play games with him, which I do because he wants me to. But they've lost their appeal somewhat. I used to play Kingdom Hearts because I'm a big Disney fan, but even that franchise has gone off the rails somewhat. It's disappointing, it's fun to play a game you enjoy for a little while and escape from life.

[Vyxzuw]

"In hindsight, feeling that much pride about a game may have hinted I was a major nerd more than anything else, yet I find myself playing and beating games to this day, and rarely getting that feeling anymore."

*cough* Dark Souls *cough*

Also, try less mainstream games.
Darkest Dungeon is pretty cool. Dwarf Fortress is crazy indepth if you can get past the almost lack of graphics.
And many mods for games (even old games, like the Piratez mod for XCom) can bring back some of the magic.

[Harry_Richard]

When companies like EA or Treyarch publicly tell their fans that they will not develop what the community wants because they are too big and fuck the fans...

There's something wrong in the industry. When DLC was allowed to take over the market that also killed a lot of development.

Games don't even take that long to develop anymore since textures and graphics are slapped over existing engines like Unreal or Unity. The content is the same template crap over and over with a different skin or animation.

When the industry decides money is more important than development, the customers lose.

TL;DR: $$$ > Development

[meatballs21]

As you spend more time with anything (games, movies, music, food, alcohol) you become more demanding and harder to impress.

If you are numbed to the same old genres, try something new. I am fairly cynical about games too, but there are still some out there that can surprise you and pull you in like the good old days (for me, that game was State of Decay)

[Kuraj]

I think you have just gotten older and spoiled, like most players.
Games of the past took weeks, months at best to produce and they were stuffed with shitty mechanics to artificially extend the play time.

Can't say those games had more soul than the modern games that take hundreds of people years to make without people realizing the absurd amount of work that goes into them.

[QueenViper]

I actually enjoy modern games such as Skyrim, Fallout, Grand Theft Auto, and Tekken. I can agree that some games HAVE dropped in quality (Tekken), but some long standing games are still pretty good. I still think the LOZ franchise is great, along with (some of) the Final Fantasy franchise. I honestly am glad that some of these games are still going (like Mortal Kombat), but some just feel... done (like Call of Duty, which I do not favor personally). Destiny 2 is coming out and it's literally just like the first... Well, that's my opinion.

[DizzyAster]

It's ok. I started to not like games more and more.
It's funny that the games are the best nowadays are the ones that used the old style of doing things, like Undertale or Braid.
Why they were good is because they were story driven instead of tech driven.

[RealDarkeyes]

The new ocarina of time on the 3ds is pretty good but the new one with the open world is complete BS
And Minecraft was better in the old days, now its just an update game and they must make new content instead of moving on and leaving their game to be good on its own
But not all games are getting worse
But i really do miss the mental challange in games instead of how fast i can move my wrist or my thumb (mouse and controller)

[RealDarkeyes]

Oh and FUCK pokemon go

[GayHowellMeme]

Same? I thought I was alone at that point A LOT. I played games A LOT when I was 8-11 and knew a lot about games and even all those characters. I still play old games I used to play on my xbox, nintendo sometimes and some of them are gone. Games have lost their charm :( but I do play on xbox still.

[Paul09]

Most likely because you play too much. You got use to it. Like with anything else. Frist cup of coffee got me so wired, now it slightly wakes me up. So. times I'm bored but don't feel like playing video games, another week I'll play video games every day.

[Arialouise]

For me Tomb Raider has lost its charm. I am a die hard tomb raider fan been playing them since the first came out but the new ones just dont do it to me. Lara doesn't feel like Lara not the same atmosphere or vibe and very different game play.

[BellumEtPacem]

Everyone has tastes in regards to video games. I like story driven games like Mass Effect and Life is Strange. I like open world games like Fallout and Skyrim. I'm not much of a fan for platform games like Mario. I'm excited for upcoming games like Far Cry 5 and Call of Duty:WWII. Games, for me, only get boring when I play for too long.

[Lukej044]

I loved the Nintendo 64 Golden eye and Star Wars pod racer was my fav. I love the x box one but Jesus Christ it's annoying trying load the game ( having to clear gb ) then having to have connect to the internet and then the email set up and if you forget the password it's sooooo F'ing annoying