Do you think that gaming is going downhill?

[Ian_Stark]

Yes

No

[NamerOfStars]

I do- but I don't think it's a particularly recent thing. I got started in video gaming by watching over my brother's shoulder, and he eventually led me further in on my own. The age difference between us is big enough that we didn't compete over much, and I got started playing stuff he'd already finished. And I maintain that gaming peaked in the 90's (so far, at least), when you had the tech to make deep experiences, but the industry wasn't NEARLY as corporatized. As a result, you had a lot more creativity.

You also had lower budgets, which meant less pressure to sell a zillion copies, so things weren't as flat and lifeless. Think of movies: international markets make a HUGE portion of Hollywood's revenue, but translating complex character interactions, or even in-depth humor, across cultural lines is often tricky at best, so most big movies these days are all about shiny things, boobs, and explosions. And I like all three of those, but "Shiny Boobsplosions 4: The Revenge" won't be more than mindless action, even if it's NOT directed by Michael Bay, and gaming is no different. There's always the Indie scene, which has some of the best stuff (true in probably ANY industry), but even at it's best, it's vanishingly rare that it can produce anything on the level of a Darklands or a Grim Fandango.

[Ian_Stark]

Tell me some good indie games on ps2 and beyond

[MCheetah]

Anyone remember Big Rigs Over The Road racing from 2005? That's LITERALLY the new normal now. Fallout 76, WWE 2K20, Cyberpunk 2077, and countless others. And then these fucking dipshits have the GALL to try to charge $70 for games now? The games are literally un-fucking-playable without an internet connection and 10 fucking Gigabytes of free space for day one patches and they're STILL a buggy mess!

The worst part is, this is solely gamers fault for putting up with this bullshit! It's like being in an abusive relationship and begging for more punishment. I myself haven't bought a game brand new since 2015 and that was the $20 Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell. I haven't had a home console since the Xbox 360 (aside from a potential Switch Pro, none of them are worth it). I've never even been much of a PC gamer and I don't even like Steam with all it's bullshit updates and spying on you, but it's plain idiocy to still be a console gamer in 2021, let alone buying games new, or PREORDERING them! The newest game I own on Steam is Cities Skylines and that's from 2015.

Gaming has become a shitshow. Like "The Last of Us II" levels of shitshow. I was REALLY hoping E3 wouldn't come back this year, post COVID, but it did and it was as shitty as ever. Even the Nintendo one. Wow, a new Metroid platformer and a tiny peak at Breath of the Wild 2 and that's it.

At least, it's not just the gaming industry. The American Comic Book industry has become a nuclear swamp of toxicity from woke cunts to the point it's dead now. And Hollywood is killing itself by raping Indiana Jones with Kathleen Kennedy's 12 inch strap on. TV is just as trash now. No industry is still good anymore.

[MCheetah]

I didn't even get into Lootboxes, Pay to Win, Twitch becoming softcore porn for minors, and Tencent mobile trash in any of this, either.

[DeeDeeDeVour]

I haven't paid any attention to the industry to determine that it is going downhill. It's probably slumping but I believe it's still gonna remain lucrative.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Do you think gaming is going downhill though? (as in the quality of games, not sales/profits)

Typically the games that make the most money have are casual games filled with microtransactions, and objectively speaking, games like that are the worst in gameplay quality, so since they are creeping into every genre, gaming js objectively getting worse.

[just_a_potato]

What do you mean? Gaming is still very popular and makes a lot of money for the people in the industry. I'm alittle confused on the question sorry lol.

[TheSpaceGnome]

usually when people ask this question its meant to declare a drop in quality, not profits.

typically in the gaming industry higher profits and popularity are associated with low quality games that cater to casual gamers and whales (whales being people who spend tons of money on microtransactions)

[TheSpaceGnome]

Yes.


1. gaming is a lot more restrictive these days when it comes to user freedom, both in the games code and features, and for the consoles and computers they run on.



2. games with stories are typically a lot shorter and less fun, interesting character archetypes and interesting situations to play in are being replaced by boring people with no personality, and character development instead of story development.


3. games are less and less challenging as open worlds and hand holding become more widespread.


4. most modern games are buggy


5. most modern games are unfinished upon release, and "games as a service" is taking over. Which users hate because of wallet rape, and developers quit over because of crunch time.


6. third party applications and products that enhance games longevity and complexity, or just improve the experience, are being pushed out by legal teams.


7. less and less games release on consoles each year, and most of the best genres have the least amount if titles.

[Ian_Stark]

I want to try out some great indie games, do you have any suggestions?

[TheSpaceGnome]

furi, aragami, cuphead, white noise, super meat boy, castle crashers, splosion man

[TwistedTube]

If you had asked me 2 years ago, I would have fully agreed. However, there seem to be quite some good new games out again as of late. And there is constant news of new amazing games that are in development. One thing though, we seem to shift away from big developers. More and more smaller developers and publishers seem to pop up that manage to produce Amazing games. I think that this shift is what makes people think it's going downhill, because these smaller developers aren't marketing as loudly.

[Lynx122]

Yeah I think quality is getting rarer. There's a few good games but a lot of crap. Japanese games are still pretty good and Sonys western games too. I like Riots games a lot the just seem to get how to draw you in. Their card gane Legends of Runeterra is one of the best card games I've ever played and the whole client and art is so nice and smooth. They made a great shooter game and auto chess game too and they're all good. People were laughing when they revealed all these projects but all of them delivered.

I still find some stuff on steam once in a while ai bought Othercide a while back and it was pretty good a turnbased game that's pretty hard and you have to think things through. I've been trying out turnbased games and Rogue Lites lately and found some good ones. You just have to be critical and wait for reviews and you'll still buy some games that you won't like but less of them 😛

[RXbbrt]

I mean I wasn’t very impressed with E3 2021 however there is still games I’m very excited for coming out this year for instance final fantasy 16 which will be the very first M for mature game of the franchise is coming out & it looks amazing & crimson desert is another Hack & slash, action & adventure RPG video game that looks phenomenal that’s coming out this year there’s more on my list like dying light two & deathloop but I’m honestly more stoked for those first couple of games coming out this year.

[Jaximus-Lion]

Yes and no. Yes! Because of dumb ass parents who think they know it all and blame gaming for violence bit never pit effort on raising their children and ignore their mental health. No! Because the industry is evolving all the time, unreal engine 5 is here, graphics are getting better, the tech is blooming and new great games every year with some ups and downs.

[AgentRED]

A lot of the popular multiplayer shooters these days really do lack mechanical input in favor of “hey I saw him/her first so I win!” Kind of deal.


I prefer the older arena shooter format like unreal tournament or Quake. They just don’t make them anymore and that’s just business unfortunately.


No ones gonna know what bunny-hopping down corridors at 900 mph or rocket-jumping through lava only to frag 4 other players with a grenade launcher in the next room above.

[TheSpaceGnome]

agreed, arcade arena shooters are much better than today's hand holdy overly scripted crap

[AgentRED]

And also things like pinging, loadouts, perks, abilties—-there’s no more even playing fields anymore, everyone wants to be better than you with cheap shit, not mechanics

[TheSpaceGnome]

yeah I honestly hate rpg elements in rpg games and would rather it have combos, so when they add them to shooters or fighting games or other genres it annoys the crap out of me.

[Gray-Wisp]

I would say yeah, it's not all bad, but overall it doesn't seem to be that well.

*Developers are just reskinning games and reselling them.
*DLCs are often 90% of a games content.
*Micro transactions are growing in popularity.
*Lower quality games are making their way onto Steam. Very little vetting.

[FruitAndBlueEyes]

For different versions of games like “deluxe, premium, and ultimate” yes. Other than that, no, not really. I mean it seems more and more games are coming out in first person, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I miss the days when FPS were you know, shooters.

[Still-alive]

yes sadly i do. its become more about profit for many of the big game companies than about how good a game is. Indie games and most nintendo seem to be the only ones to get unique gaming experiences these days

[TheSpaceGnome]

if Nintendo would just let me back up saves locally they would be the only console i played on.

[Shihab91]

Gaming industry is about profits no longer about fun, besides it's destroying your health if you are hardcore gamer who spend hours daily on gaming. I used to be hardcore gamer 10yrs ago it destroyed my life wasted my time and wasted my health.

[shortster]

Yes, too many game publishers have gone for the pay to win mold for a quick buck. Most games are released unfinished and then followed by a caravan of expansions and DLCs that would have been part of the original game 10 years ago.

[IAMNathanael]

I don't think so. I have a few games to be excited about. Why do you ask?

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Maybe it's because i'm just getting older but i'm not sure. I still play old games. The new games just seem to focus on graphics and trends with the lack of mechanics and narratives.

[Randalama]

To a certain degree. Too much Corporate Commander and too much identity politics. I still have fun with some of the motorsport games. If GTAVI goes woke I will consider suicide.

[Snakeyes7]

Not completely but I’m mainly against most games that come out because they require an internet connection to play because you MUST play with other people.

[JosyJosy]

Hm no, but blizzard sure seems to do a poor job whenever I see WOW videos.

[Andres77]

Nope, it's alive and well.
So many wannabes out there (fantasy is fine).

[Anonymous]

I think greedy money people, and activist zealots, do not improve the gaming experience.

[EnglishEuropean]

There's only one way to go after PacMan and that is downhill.

[Anonymous]

Yeah because everybattlefield game is only good for a year and honestly only 3 months if u dont get dlc. Its fking bullshit