Are Video Games Just NOT Fun Anymore?

[@HeyPalski]

New video where I explain more on this topic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2nYpK2wpKqZjM0

[@jhufragio]

came across this and love the video, another point i see is that games focus on retaining players like a Netflix subscription and no longer focus on fun with daily missions/challenges, how battle passes reward coming back more then going all out on a weekend

[@brianleal87]

Dude, you're wrong, games ARE fun, just not the trash you play Are you really gonna leave out solid games finished on day one without microtransactions, and filled with exploration like Kirby and the forgotten land, mh rise, elden ring, borderlands, Zelda, star ocean, fenyx immortals rising, dark souls, sackboy a big adventure, smash bros, hell point, among other titles? Your whole vid categorized a handful of games like they take up the whole industry, so far the only genre screwed is sports titles, but it's been that way even under last generation, we have plenty of games like pokemon, Stardew valley, hades, I can go on but these games apparently aren't fun " anymore" cuz of trash 🗑️ like overwatch...give me a break

[@akashbhullar]

@@brianleal87 you must be jobless

[@longann7560]

I'm 49 and God I feel the same way ! We definitely witnessed the golden age of video games and it won't ever be coming back. I'm sad and happy I am not alone feeling the same way. Thank you for this !

[@zid9611]

Oh there be a new golden age. But not till we have a AAA crash. Which once enough countries make microtransaction illegal. Then it will happen. As there won't be unlimited money printers. And most of the CEO/Money folks will leave. They won't be able to compete with Indies as they conceited ground for way too long. But goings that each gaming age is 10-15 years. We're talking about a decade till then.

[@longann7560]

@@zid9611 I think so too. Question is: When will it happen ? I live in Québec Canada and we already launched an action lawsuit against Fortnite here recently. Hopefully it will soon become a political subject and they will ban microtransaction once and for all but other country will have to follow too. Maybe one day ! Meanwhile I went back to retro gaming. Oh well

[@NeinpinsSquare]

What about the Switch? Isn't the Nintendo side currently experiencing a golden age?

[@longann7560]

@@NeinpinsSquare Its funny you mention that because I also feel nintendo are the only ones making great video games lately. They kept that video game vibe we know and love, the Mario's, Kirby, Metroid, Zelda, so yes you could be right. However the situation is far from what it was 20 years ago. The gaming industry is kinda sick with Ninendo being the exception but they just don't pump out enough new games as they used to, and personally, I hate the way Nintendo handle their business model. They never drop prices. Their console specs are always a generation behind. All their games are F..ing expensive ! Try to get a Mario Odyssey and you will pay full price for it no matter it came out 5 years ago. It should be at 30$ now in my opinion but Nintendo are just greedy ! People will say, its the games that matters, not the graphics and its right. But imagine a Super mario Odyssey 2 running in 4K at 120 fps with ray tracing and all that stuff, who wouldn't be blown away ? That's whats missing these days, super fun and gorgeous looking games combine.

[@NexusARC]

I have a buddy who is 20, and even he agrees gaming has gone down. It's thanks to big money of course.

[@edalrivers1998]

For me one of the reasons is that pretty much every game now has some sort of crafting system in it. Games now tell you to pick up all the garbage scattered around the place and craft something with it. But after you pick up a bunch of garbage, you have hundreds of x and dozens of y but you need 20 more of z in order to craft something. There's always something missing. It's a chore now. Not fun.

[@snowballandpals]

There are too many games available and too many other options for entertainment available at our fingertips leading to dopemine overload. Also I think life these days are much more complicated and stressful than they were 10-15 years ago distracting us from enjoying games. Also since we have so many options are our fingertips, it's hard to commit time to play a game that takes awhile to learn the controls or get invested in a story.

[@h91rex100]

Is this for the folks with short attention spans? You literally repeated everything covered in the video lol

[@Gjhfggdyyg]

@@h91rex100 lmao

[@nickkerinklio8239]

Nah the games are actually worse now. When I play old games on emulators, I have more options than anyone on modern consoles. I never get bored of playing those old games (even ones I have no nostalgia for). Modern games are designed to have endless content, rather than fun content. AAA games do this with bloated open worlds and repetitive, copy-paste missions. Also slow progression from their pointless RPG mechanics. Indie games do this with rogue-likes and endless runners/shooters etc... Procedurally generates crap instead of actual game design.

[@saturationstation1446]

dopamine overload is pseudo science lol. its just that the people who consume those kinds of entertainment in adulthood are the type of people who prioritize feeding their entertainment addictions. there is only so much content to consume. when video games were in their early days (up to ps3) most people would only spend a few hours per week feeding their entertainment addictions. these days it seems like the only people consuming video game content who arent children are people who literally have nothing else to do and no desire to do adult things. so they have near endless amounts of time and resources to feed their entertainment addictions. we are witnessing the first widespread group of humans who have spent so much time consuming game content that they literally ran out of novel experiences to be had with the medium lol. im somewhat afraid of what people who spend so much time and effort in digital escapism are going to be capable of once games no longer feed their need to be entertained with minimum personal effort.

[@drb4074]

The original NES had a catalog of 720 games, a lifespan of about 8 years before it was totally supplanted by the SNES, so that's approximately 100 games a year. The PS4 has a current catalog of over 3200 games, a lifespan currently of about 9 years, so that's roughly 350 games a year. There simply are a LOT of games nowadays. Much more than there used to be. It's an embarrassment of riches. That's one of the big reasons players don't enjoy games as much. They are constantly moving on to "the next big thing" and it's nearly every week now. Whereas in the 80s/90s, you might see "big" games a few times a year.

[@luismiguel-dt1ge]

I think the difference in game-making philosophy is whats killing gaming for me, in the past developers were the ones in charge of making the games even the companies as a whole and they had complete control over their artistic output, but as games became the biggest form of entertaiment companies began to be run by analists and managers putting money first and games second, shitty games have always existed moreso in the old generations were the number of games released were insane, but those games were the cheap ones made in a rush, nowadas big triple A games are generic trash, i dont get why playstation exclusives get so much praise, they are overproduced common denominator games made to catter to the biggest number posible of people , i dont care how pretty the graphics are, how realistic the animation is or how they tell the story at the end of the day its a game and if the gameplay is boring and generic the game is bad, even whats supposed to be the biggest game of the year elden ring, got me down, its just dark souls in a open world, so yeah i think most of the problem with gaming nowadays come from the corpotation of the industry, unfinished games, microtransactions, bland insipid gameplay with pretty graphics, no real developer would like to make a game in those conditions. But what i think is the biggest problem is the unispired games part, as any industry goes big their products start to become more generic to appease the masses, tv, movies, comic books and now videogames they all go the same way, the last big game i can think of that has good gameplay is returnal, if you havent played it, go and buy it, its damn good.

[@xenxander]

an AAA game back then was a huge deal. Dialbo , Warcraft 2, Homeworld (favorite of the 90's). I'm in my 40's for perspective. Now when I see a new one being released, the first thing you see is the store front. Pass. There's no point in even playing. Games like 'Hand of Fate' are fine, or 'stardew valley' for experiences you can enjoy.

[@as7river]

I think Adrian Perez said it best back in the day: the game has to be fun before it's pretty. Halo Infinite is gorgeous, but it's very monotonous and dull. It becomes boring too quickly. It has no soul. That's what games are lacking today, soul. A reason to stop doing what you're doing and play. A reason to seriously ask yourself, do you work on your daily responsibilities or play video games? It's not worth it anymore.

[@mytruepower2]

Gosh, is that ever true. When administrators whose concern is their own bottom lines, reputations and careers take over, every person working under them suddenly stops building something they're passionate about, and starts building a money-milking machine, with the result that really great, classic games like Diablo II, Day of the Tentacle or Star Control 2 simply aren't allowed to be made by major developers anymore, because neither the happiness of the developer or of the customer matters, when the option exists to just convince people to impulse-buy micro-transactions instead.

[@phaeton01]

theres a homogenous quality to games now, 15/20 years ago it was easier to innovate. back in school youd have conversations like 'have you seen that new game that lets you explore a whole city? or dude that new game looks awesome, the one where you can climb up walls'

[@HeyPalski]

This is a really good way to think about it. Just how back in the day the concept of “open world” was mind blowing. But now almost every game is open world.

[@seanwilliams7655]

This is like the fourth or fifth video I've seen made like this. IMO, Josh Strife Hayes got it right. He said that games have always been a business about making money. But that the interests of the gamers and the interests of the developers were the same back in the day. Gamers wanted to play great games, and the way developers made the most money was by making those great games. Now, it's different. Now, gamers still want to play great games, but developers are incentivized to make games that are primarily a vehicle to sell MTX. The games only need to be good enough to keep you around so they can continue to try to sell you MTX. That's also part of the reason why games feel so generic now. It's better to play it safe and get a decent sized user base for MTX vs. trying to be revolutionary and failing. The huge increase in cost to make a AAA game compared to 20 years ago also contributes to this.

[@ogre706]

Seen that video as well and the point is spot on. The industry has become a virtual casino.

[@toongrowner1]

And it's mostly something that affects AAA games. If you look at smaller companies and indies, you can still find a lot of fantastic games.

[@brett6239]

Switch player and I noticed I value physicals more than other games. Something about taking it off the shelf and just playing it, finishing it, putting it back on shelf, walking by and thinking about it now and then. This really matters to me. While with digital games it's out of mind forever once it's finished. Collecting seems critical to my overall enjoyment.

[@pierrebeneby4120]

Hey great video. I first started feeling this way about games sometime after Halo 3 came out. Games made by "western" companies focus more on the money than your immersion and enjoyment. I have found, personally, that games made by Japanese and Korean producers are much better. For example I have a subscription to Final Fantasy 14 an online MMORPG. The storytelling and writing, the maps, characters, and music is simply amazing. The boss fights with 4, 8, and sometimes 24 random people (or guild members) still gets my blood pumping. And when the producers make a mistake or miss a deadline, they admit it. The company leaders have a public conference and apologize to the fan base, ask for their forgiveness while bowing (they are Japanese). It's not about shaming the leadership because they made a mistake. It's accepting an apology from fellow game lovers who acknowledge they have not lived up to their own promises and to the expectations of the fanbase. They are less arrogant and do not rely too heavily on paid for 'journalists' to hype up unfinished games. They take advice from the fans and make improved decisions. Great video. It may be hard but try to stay consistent with uploads. It will help your channel tremendously. God bless.

[@HeyPalski]

Thanks for the well thought out comment. I don’t know much about Japanese developers, but judging by what you said, there’s a massive difference between Western and Japanese developers. American developers just shake it off and go dark and make no apologies. I’d rather they just came out and explained why they missed deadlines, didn’t include content, didn’t listen to feedback etc. Instead we just have to accept it and hope that they listen. I think this just means I have to play more games not declined by western companies. And I will certainly keep uploading! Thank you!

[@kenshinhimura9387]

FFXI is far superior to 14.

[@AlastorShadow0]

I pretty much agree! I have always strongly preferred Japanese games, I rarely ever play, or am interested in western games.

[@yol_n]

I couldnt play final fantasy due to the graphics

[@AlastorShadow0]

@@yol_n which one? The first one?

[@jetkirby]

I like how you covered several reasons why games may not be fun anymore instead of just saying it's one thing I never got the hype around call of duty or any games where you connect your microphone to random strangers on the internet, I grew up in the 90's and completely missed out on that 2008-2012 era of gaming where you open yourself to toxic people on battle arena voice chats, I'm glad that's going away I agree with you on the micro transactions, the growing older thing, the depression angle, and that they(mainstream) don't make games like they used to There is always options out there but they are few and far between

[@hepwo91222]

yeah, I remember in the 1990's arcade fighters were all the rage and trash talking a stranger in an arcade generally wasn't a good idea. Maybe it was better at home with your friends playing on a couch. But fighters became generic clones so less of them were being made after some years. FPS's for some reason for the last couple of decades still sell really well despite offering almost nothing new in that time frame.

[@mytruepower2]

​@@hepwo91222 Actually, I remember there being a ton of good fighting games, back when the games were pretty similar; two fighters, one-on-one, health bars at the top, timer in the middle, and maybe a minor gimmick or two to spice things up. That was when we got King of Fighters, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, the Marvel fighting games, the crossover fighting games, etc... Capcom moved away from fighters after a while, then grudgingly moved back when they realized they could still make money off Street Fighter, but in the meantime, Super Smash Brothers had come into existence, changing the whole formula into more of a sumo contest that was about forcing your enemy out of the arena, and other companies tried doing the same thing, making fighting games that defied the old formula, to varying degrees of inevitable failure. The problem is that the companies themselves have changed now, and are run by administrators who don't play or like games, or want to make customers happy. They just want to get as much money from those customers as they can, without doing anything risky to their perceived reputation (like an actually-new Darkstalkers game.)

[@trillmixin6999]

im 25 and miss the days of halo 3 and mw2. i really only play games from the mid 90s to the mid 2010's now. everything new is just a chore to play. would much rather ride my motorcycle or workout after work than frustrate myself with a dead gaming sphere

[@xXxGlitterGirlxXx]

You pretty much said it. I've been gaming for 32 years and they just don't make them like they use to. It's why I'm highly selective about the games I play and keep my expectations in a reasonable range.

[@TheDoctor1225]

Well said. When all else fails, I'm grateful for emulators and collections of old classics. As another poster said, I don't have the time to drop hours upon hours upon hours into a game. I limit my time, personally, to games in which I can literally save it, get up, and walk away at any point (or in the case of older games, the collections and emulators that come with the ability to create save points)

[@saithvenomdrone]

I remember doing all sorts of challenges and achievements in Halo 3 to unlick all the armor. Those were the good days.

[@Zen-rw2fz]

Age might be one way to say it but I think back in the days videogames were also kind of a novelty, being able to immerse yourself into completely different worlds was a unique and somewhat new experuence that hadn't existed before. These days we allready hVe dozens of games, they're also popular enough that it's nothing special anymore.

[@michaeljeffreyjordan4966]

Idk why this channel isn’t bigger, consistent based takes

[@HeyPalski]

Thanks man! I'm going to keep it up

[@nickkerinklio8239]

If anyone’s got depression from playing games, don’t tell them to go to a therapist. Therapists are worthless and can’t help you. It’s a spiritual issue you’re facing, not mental. Go see a priest.

[@Nalters]

you know modern gaming is depressing when the only game I find that hypes me to play it is from 1995 - lets go Chrono Trigger, bring back that magic for me

[@dangerdingle900]

I fear that the reason games aren't as fun for me anymore is because at 50 something I am reaching adulthood.

[@billyd5917]

Do you still enjoy the old stuff? Of course as a child your able to get lost and enjoy things more, as you get older it becomes harder to do that.

[@nickkerinklio8239]

@@billyd5917 it’s not age. There’s people from 12-60 in the comments sections that all feel the same. Games are worse now. Playing an old game that you have no nostalgia for can still be a lot of fun.

[@saturationstation1446]

you have likely played well over 40k hours of video games if you are even placing any level of importance on video games at your age lmao

[@saturationstation1446]

@@nickkerinklio8239 games arent worse. people saying these things are literally digital addicts who feel like they NEED to be playing video games. yall act like there is vitamin entertainment and vitamin videogame putting oxygen in your blood stream lol

[@kenshinhimura9387]

@@saturationstation1446 you are insanely ignorant if you think games aren't worse now than in the past.

[@kevingoodwin9204]

Seriously, everything you just said is spot on. I am 35 and have been playing games since the early 90's. At this point in my life, I have 2 kids, job, bills, house work. I definitly have far less time to play games anymore. I get bored pretty easy with a lot of new games and just won't play many because of how broken they are or how aggressive the micro transactions are. I find myself going back to older titles more often from 2005 and earlier.

[@HeyPalski]

Same here. I made so many friends in Halo 2 because everyone had mics, no one was in a party chat, and people wanted to communicate. Great times but like you said, it seems like that time is long gone. They should have never gotten rid of open chat lobbies especially for games like Halo.

[@jaredweiman2987]

Because you’re getting old and jaded or you’re not taking advantage of the nearly infinite options on PC. You can play literally any of those games you did enjoy years ago, right now. The real culprit is choice paralysis.

[@OsirisVas]

there are so many great single player games that are fun : Ruiner , the ascent , doom eternal , fist forged in shadow , psychonauts 2 , hitman 3 , ori and the will of the wisp , devil may cry 5 , nioh 2 , wasteland 3 and many more

[@jermainejones1560]

I thought i was the only one that notice gaming isnt fun anymore 🙁

[@Zipperskull_]

Many people on KZbin are making videos on the subject so you're not the only one.

[@NukaMilk]

I don't think its us getting older. My kids only seem to like to play the same games that are good. When I play an older game they love to play it too. My boy just beat Breath of the Wild and he told me all about it. He apologized cause back when I first got it on my Wii U . He would often save over my game because he was just little and didn't know what he was doing. Just running around fighting bad guys. So after awhile I got fed up restarting and just stopped playing. Well he beat it on his Switch and had a lot of fun. Good games are good games. They're definitely ok with microtransactions though. Give them $15 for a specific game and they are so happy to go and buy cosmetics or whatever.

[@phaeton01]

5:46 same, when i turned 30 i fell out of working in games dev and moved into architecture and i quit gaming for a while and i felt ashamed id spent so much of my youth gaming then after i got back into it i realised id gamed right through the golden years and got to see it all as it happened. its probably how people who grew up in the depression felt about the 20s

[@mytruepower2]

The old games I liked back then remain as much fun for me as ever, and certain indie games still give me those same feelings. There are other things I like to do and accomplish as well, but I never really got into online gaming, or multiplayer gaming that didn't involve someone else being in the room with me, and those are the kinds of games I still share with my younger relatives when I can; the clean, fun, single-player experiences where games were fun, and were products; not marketplaces. P.S.: I actually do find it immersion-breaking for a real-life company to request real-life money from me while I'm trying to get immersed in a game. Can't imagine why.

[@bodasactra]

There are so many great old games everyone should have a sweet list they missed out on waiting to be played. I am doing GTA5, Skyrim, Witcher, Red Dead, etc. Great video.

[@nuclearpugg]

The fact these are considered old blows my mind

[@JeremyBX]

The personal reason why I find it hard to enjoy VGs now is because all my favorite publishers dont feel like they want to give me the most grand gaming experience anymore. Theyre more inclined to throw me at the gift shop at the end of the ride than to give the ride a memorable level of quality. So i switched to indie games. They're way more fun and true to heart........ however... because they're not ran by big publishers who can offer packed online lobbies, crazy industry leading graphical details, and massive array of weapons, etc., there's only so much wonder that an indie game can provide... It's kind of a one-and-done thing for each indie game I play... So now im at a standstill. Ravenfield is amazing though thanks to the modding community.

[@thomasdarnall8912]

I personally think that RDR2 was the last decent AAA game of this decade. That's just my opinion. I've never got into MMORPGs or games like Diablo, FF, etc.

[@jdl9679]

I think for a lot of us older folks when we played online gaming it was actually online. We talked to people from across the country or globe we heard trash talk racial slurs etc we had people deck it out for competition and rag on each other for it. Nowadays you get none of that it’s like it’s own little echo chamber with you and friends if you have any to play with. It’s just not the same before I could join games solo and make friends or enemies have convos and release stress about my personal life and that’s all gone now. So to me this was a big part of why we played for hours and we had fun because you were involved in so many other peoples bs that it made it exciting. Yeah age plays a factor and I can’t just play all damn day like I use too but even if I did I’d get bored quick because that communication just isn’t there. Also games aren’t as cool as they use to be because I also was apart of the pre live era with the ps2 times and even then gaming was fun.

[@Kalleosini]

good games are still out there, few and far between. the problem isn't that we're old or that tiktok is more rewarding. the problem is that games aren't passion projects anymore. Big Money got their sights on the videogame industry after the initial success of WoW and triple A has never been the same since. today when I think "triple A" I don't think high quality game, I think: "pile of shit dressed up to look nice and spices, condiments and water is all paywalled" enjoy your meal.

[@charleschristianson2730]

Love how at the end he sells a game that is "specifically non-toxic." The "toxicity" is a huge part of what made games in the past great! They didn't push any kind of agenda. Occasionally someone would throw out an N-bomb or whatever, and it was no big deal. We all just laughed and got on with our lives. These days they act like it's the worst thing ever.

[@hunterxgirl]

Well thought out video. You speak pretty well with logical arguments with good sense of humor, love it : )

[@HeyPalski]

Thank you so much!

[@tedlogan4867]

This is because bean counters and marketing consultants are structuring the way games are developed. All the new stuff is built around monetization and cash flow models, from micro-transactions to time-gated subscription based, to overpriced "exclusive" cosmetics to blatant P2W mechanics. The last consideration is gameplay, writing, player engagement etc.

[@andreasfernandez1548]

PS2, PS3, XBOX 360,Game Cube, Nintendo Wii ,will always be the Retro vintage Golden Age.

[@benthanos91gaming]

I feel bad for you to not growth, love your mindset about video game man. I subscribe to you for more honest content and not a clickbait. Congrat man

[@IsisLBz]

Good vid! I'm 45 and I've gaming since the Atari 800 xl with my brother and sisters, it's was crazy watching games go on, and on get better and better, going from Atari Basket ball, to my first play of Space Invaders at the local youth club and number of years later and it is P.O.W in the Pizza takeaway, playing Wrestle fest or Bad dudes vs DragonNinja on the cabinets in the video store [U.K] near my school, afterschool, sneaking off to Arcades to play Double Dragon 1 and 2, playing E-yaa Kung-fu, Hyper Sports, Barbarian, Bomb Jack on my brother mates zx spectrum, then sneaking of again to the arcades with my brother to play Street Fighter II, R-Type, Commando, Operation Wolf, Chase HQ, IK+, Cabal, a crazy amount of Neo-Geo games in the Arcade, Starblade, Carrier Airwing, Final fight, Growl, Damn Capcom's Alien vs. Predator!! Marvel Super Heroes, MK1, MK1, Sega's Virtua Fighter/Racing/Cop/On, Sega Rally Championship, Daytona USA!! Super Everything on snes Tennis, Mario Kart, Cybernator SF II: Ultra Edition, Super Mario World, I even had a Sega Saturn, played "Nights" on it constantly, Panza Dragoon, SF Alpha 2 with Evil Ryu, Sega's Robotica/Daedlus, Guardian Heroes, S I can remember when I earned enough for Ps1 holy shit I played the crap out of Vagrant Story, and Siphon filter 1+2 Grand Turismo [Starting an endurance race sunday night, pausing it to go to sleep, go to work on the Monday and then carry on with the race when I got home lol] 1+2 , all the Resi evils, FF7, FF8, Raiden I+II, Brave Fencer Musashi from a U.S copy, Driver... my word Driver, what a brilliant, yet very simple game, Soul Edge, Tekken 1, Battle Arena Toshinden, Metal Gear Solid, playing Fzero on the N64, I remember my eyes watered from the from how fast I was going on a track, having 4 T.Vs' and four Xboxes/s' at my mates place, playing pvp on Halo, snipers only, with no shields, on Blood Gulch...wow!! they were just crazy games that just took me away, once I turned on the few consoles nothing mattered...games today [sigh] just remind that I've got stuff to do around the house... Games back in the day....they were an brilliant event, every. single. time, game studios wanted to blow your mind, to completely immerse you. Games Now: they've become a chore. a reminder that you're time could be spent better doing something else. Just as random I played these two tracks to see what my response would be from Dayton USA...yep! still the same! 102 Let's Go Away ~ADVERTISEMENT~ 105 The King of Speed 😄😄

[@clairobscur_7985]

1. Games have always been buggy. Paintings are never finished but merely abandoned. 2. I've never played a game with micro transactions. 3. You're old now and pure fun can get diluted through age 4. These vids always refer to triple a games. Don't follow the hype, follow your heart

[@hepwo91222]

actually back before games had online and patches, games would get panned for being buggy, so few were. Pop in any Gamecube game for example, no patches, game needed to be good on launch.

[@peperomero8064]

Even tho I agree with some of your points, I only apply them to AAA games. I hate when people talk about modern games as only the ones from big studios, when there are hundreds of MODERN indie games that are masterpieces, trying new things since they are made by small studios, so they don't have to be safe and can experiment with gameplay mechanics, visuals, music, etc. Games like Ultrakill, Risk of Rain 2, Pizza Tower, Terraria, Project Zomboid... just to name a few are fantastic games that doesn't have any microtransaction or a broken state like most AAA games, even when some are still on early access. I really recommend people who don't find games fun anymore to try indies, they may not look as realistic, but they have sooo much more value by a lower price most of the time.

[@HeyPalski]

You’re right. It does mostly apply to AAA games but it ruins long standing franchises. It is great that we have such a vast array of games (some great) which is a huge advantage of the era. I’ve kind of been thinking about this a lot given all the criticisms on this video. Which is why I’m going to make a video looking at every gaming era (arcade/classic, 90s/2000s, and modern) just to see the benefits and cons of each one.

[@LanceAdvanced10851]

That's how feel most of the time. I have games across Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Xbox 360/One, Steam, and Epic, but i end up either playing something for about 20 mins, and turning it off, or just scrolling through, and not feeling up to playing something that I probably wouldn't enjoy anyway. I haven't truly sat, and just gamed since the 360 era.

[@BigBrudda42]

Oddly enough, this topic brings a song to mind. "Just take those old records off the shelf. I sit and listen to them by myself. Today's music ain't got the same soul. I want that old time rock n roll!" I think it boils down to games made as an art form vs games made as a business model. Case in point, a number of independent creators make games that are lower priced but immensely more entertainment value for the amount paid.

[@saturationstation1446]

20 years ago, being a gamer meant you were intelligent and unique and only sometimes well off. these days being a gamer means you are well off enough to not have to work to stay alive or are a child lol. everything is too accessible and affordable for there to be a subset of people who can be called "gamers". because everyone with disposable income plays games or finds ways to steal from people with nft "games" . its mostly con artists and frauds in the mainstream of the community. just a bunch of rich kids who saw gamers being a part of an elite group of the human species and decided they would buy that image for themselves to make up for their support of the status quo.

[@metalgrinch]

Back in the day games were made with creativity and innovation in mind. These days it's 100% about profit. As long as we have loser kids whose moms are willing to pay hundreds a year for a gaming internet subscriptions so they don't have to raise their rotten kids, we will continue to have crappy gaming corporations. What we need a good CRASH like in 83' to get everyone's heads out of their a**es.

[@saithvenomdrone]

Oh my gosh, yeah. The open mic/proximity mic was soooo fun in Halo 2. I used to roll up on the enemy team with an empty warthog and tell them "hop in!" and a lot of the time, they would! Stuff like that doesn't happen nowadays.

[@gabrielfernandez33]

On a more optimistic note, games like Hitman World of Assassination and the new Dead Space Remake feel like a huge breath of fresh air. No forced micro transactions and Hitman especially feels very immersive and creative

[@saintsfan5379]

Play old 360 or PS3 games or older, you will find joy there

[@rockduck2210]

I do I don't miss the new shit

[@theellis8951]

micro transactions was the end of gaming for me

[@zhulikkulik]

My issue is the time games take to play nowadays. Old games were smaller. Even if they were big, like GTA, playing it for an hour seemed to have a lot more progression. I launch rdr2 or cyberpunk from time to time and with all the loading, all the walking and talking - one hour is like 1-2 quests/missions. And there are hundreds of them. Plus all the side activities, plus all the cutscenes. I was always bored if the game took more than a week to complete. And now I don't have nearly as much time as when I was a teenager, so two weeks is the most I can get. And in two weeks I completed like 40% of rdr2. And I also can't play the whole day, I've got other things to do so those two weeks are more like a week of spare time.

[@johntrass7402]

I agree with just about everything you said. My personal 2 biggest reasons are #1 games that have to be online/connect to a server. Because you never really own it and one day the game won't exist anymore and #2 the death of couch co-op outside of Nintendo is dead. I mean I can't imagine a game like Left 4 Dead being released today with a couch co-op in mind. And those are my best memories with games playing together with friends and family in the same room.

[@Corion2121]

Not to mention the advent of next gen consoles that offer little-to-no benefit of owning, apart from FOMO. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@hepwo91222]

yeah, better frame rates and lighting, thats about it so far 2+ years after they launched.

[@Zipperskull_]

Another problem is that small game devs dont put out enough content (nor put out enough quality) to gain viewership. They would simply put out 1 or 2 trailers of pre alpha gameplay, when they should've just made an intriguing concept animation, NOT a unfinished product of what they're working on, then decide to "cancel or shelved" the game due to poor viewership. It's better to release a teaser or trailer at it's BEST, rather then showing something unpolished. I seen games that had SO MUCH potential and The Amazing Eternals are 1 of them, I wish DE would have done better than shutting the game down, all because lawbreakers by a different studio wasn't doing well and that weren't getting enough players. These game companies and studios dont have common sense when it come to marketing. Just because you release 1 trailer and unpolished gameplay doesn't mean a bunch of people are going to get on it quickly and say its amazing.

[@jro1244]

The biggest change effecting gaming is the Games as a Service model and their monetization. We are just at that point in the gamin industry evolution and I don't think you can fix it. Similar to how the Golden Age of streaming is now over. There is no going back to Netflix having everything you could want to stream. The reason it makes games, even potentially good games, bad is because the design changes fundamentally when you have to support a game as a service and tie gaming features to monetization functions. It actually prevents dev from implementing fun things and instead locking things behind a battle pass or dlc to generate more revenue. Sadly, for younger generations, this is going to be their normal. It probably wont bother them as much as us older gamers because this is all the have known.

[@SayMy_User_Name]

Well the obvious answer is they’ve become so concerned with being realistic, or at least movie quality, they usually forget to be fun and practical as a game.. there r still some great games that r a ton of fun out there today but most triple a games miss the entire point of what a video game should be .. funnily enough I think cyberpunk is one of the most fun open world games I’ve ever played

[@petertorda5487]

No no, it is not by you, they really sucs. Just have a look to some old games, like Mass Effect 2 and then compare it to whatever new RPG, even to CP 77. Or for example I perfectly enjoyed Fallout New Vegas, but has been bored to death with Outer Worlds, and that's game from same studio. God of War 3/ Ascension, with a lot of changing epic environment VS God of War reboot (walking-talking simulator). But you can still find some good new games, for example I perfectly enjoyed Resident Evil's remakes, FF7 remake, both Palagues tales and Guardian's of galaxy.

[@fffrrraannkk]

In Hogwarts everything including cosmetics is unlocked by just playing. I didn't realize how much it sucks when they're behind a paywall till I remembered how much fun it was to unlock them.

[@MrSteve0311]

DRG has one of the best communities I've ever seen in a game. I had a blast with that game.

[@HeyPalski]

EASILY the best and least toxic gaming community. I love that game so much.

[@johnlucas2838]

The fact is, the games aren't as replayable anymore. The replayability of the game is what draws you into playing it again and in order for a game to have proper replayability it must have a sense of completeness which requires the game to be complete. We had sensible expectations from our experience in the past and our experience in the now is being soured due to the quality of the games company produces now a days.

[@RacerC45]

Hey! I enjoyed Halo Infinite. Especially the single player campaign.

[@hepwo91222]

yeah, single player game in Infinite is my fave Halo since Halo 3 which is a pretty long time ago now.

[@brendancampbell3827]

love your videos, are you still planning on making a deep rock galactic video?

[@princessmarlena1359]

Could this be another video game crash, such as the one in ‘83?

[@buxeny718]

Great points at first I thought it was all because of micro transactions but after hearing your take on old age I'd have to say that's probably the main reason having so much responsibilities just makes it hard for you 2 just sit down and lose yourself in a game plus I feel like friends are another big factor when you was young you would link up with your friends and play for hrs you just can't do that anymore as an adult or it's extremely difficult even if you do find the time to play who's the say the rest of the clan is available? It don't even have to be business someone's wife could just be mad he's on the game and he has 2 go its alot of factors but this video just made me feel old lol

[@karios9635]

For me personally, I do agree with pretty much everything with what you said, though there is one thing (for me personally) that I can argue with. With the whole age and distractions and real life responsibilities part, yeah, they def do affect me. However, ever since 2019, I've been playing a game called Ace Combat 7. Prior to this, I felt like games sucked for years (Halo 4 and 5, the whole BR trend, Black Ops 4, loot boxes, that general era). Having played Ace Combat 7 (a game series I never heard or seen before), I remember I was looking through the menus and sub menus if there were any microtransactions such as lootboxes or something ridiculous involving real life money. None. I played through the entire campaign, no bugs at all. This game actually made me feel like a kid again. To this day, while there is dlc content for the game, the game doesn't shove it in your face in-game, nor does it make the dlcs feel like they're a thing you need. The only time there was any "real" bug was when a skin for one of the jets made the entire aircraft glow, but funny enough, people actually liked this bug. The devs would patch it, but turn it into real skins you can buy with real money, and no one minded it. What I am saying is that if there is a game that is made just like the games of the past, we will like it or at the very least respect it. Though, I recognize that this experience of mine may just be an exception to a rule and not applied to the vast majority of people.

[@MegamanZero410]

Elden Ring is a good example of a new game done right. It was a massive experience, with tons to offer, fun gameplay, and no money grubbing micro transactions in sight. There are games that come out that are like the good old days, but they tend to be made by indi devs. Bloodstained, Messenger, Shovel Knight, Hyperlight Drifter, Hades, and Ultrakill, just to name a few. The corporatization of games has taken what made them good in the first place. Fun. It’s a GAME, not a chore, not something I need to worry about, not something that I should stress if I bought a battle pass I NEED to grind the game to get the most out of the money that I just spent on the game. Play a few games by Devolver Digital and you’ll get the same fun experience you used to from games, because they’re designed to be fun first.

[@ZeSgtSchultz]

I hear you on this one. I've been so bored with new games that I'm coming up with pointless challenges to complete in old games (like beating CoD 2 without dying) Hell, the last game that I was actually happy to see come out was golden eye. Maybe I am getting old....

[@Kronikalrag3]

The immersion factor is just about dead that's why , no more experimenting or figuring things out for yourself when there are game guides at the press of a button , I like to compare the status of games to books they used to be "fiction" full of excitement , the grind was part of the story , and developers experimented , now days they are "non fiction" , genre classed you already know what to expect , stolen ideas or closely resembling other games , distraction from the game itself by design / season passes , micro transactions etc.....Games are supposed to be fun not resemble fun.

[@WolfyRagnarok]

Thought I was losing interest in gaming recently. I was playing games I absolutely love (Stellaris, Deus Ex, Dishonored) but just wasn't feeling it. Then I tried Hades a few days ago and realized I just needed something faster-paced right now.

[@rezistance6979]

I feel you man, im at the same age and ive been a gamer for a long time. I think we should be happy that we've been there in the golden age 😛

[@Isaax]

If it's old age, then this means my physical age is much worse than my real age. I'm in my early twenties and the lack of fun in games is really hitting hard right now, and unfortunately even for older games I don't have the patience I quite used to have. Then there's another thing that needs mentioning. It might just be because of this ungodly amount of abundance. So many games. So many consoles and emulators and indies and whatnot. New games, every day, and yes even really high quality ones (mostly indies), even if the average AAA game sucks balls nowadays. And if you're an adult with spending money, or anyone with just a PC, you can practically play all of them in mere moments, given you know where to source them and have a good enough PC. As a kid, getting a new game was a big deal. I remember sitting in front of my Wii wishing so badly that I could just have 1000 Wii Shop points to buy Cave Story. And once I got it after months, I hung onto that game for so long and sucked it dry for all its worth, and loved every second of it. Similar story with every other game I played during this era. There was little choice. You made do with what you had. And you appreciated it so much more for what it is. I always wished I could play more games and for longer - now this dream is fulfilled, and I have never felt emptier. It was like the monkey's paw, or more precise the pandora's box being opened, because this isn't something you can just step back from. Being an adult, you always know that everything is always just one PC and one internet connection away from being playable in your hands. It's awful. I hate this

[@zalybrainlessgenius503]

I think that's just because I grew up and I feel bad for wasting time on videogames when I know I should be doing something more important, but maybe that's just me. It's true I don't play modern games tho :D

[@mafiousbj]

Can´t believe I´m saying this...buy my Ps4 has been parked for a while know, I have no interest buying a PS5 but I´m having tons of fun playing...Nintendo games! Seems their first party titles usually don´t release unfinished and lack intrusive microtransactions (as long as you stay away from Pokemon or the latest Animal Crossing games). They are all very solid offerings. Hell, I loved Fire Emblem Three Houses even if it´s clear that game needed more time in the oven, and I hadn´t played a Fire Emblem game since the GB Advance days. Amazing that Nintendo despite being the shitty and anti-consumer company it is somehow still manages to look like a ray of hope in modern gaming. I haven´t owned Nintendo consoles since the 90´s but I regret not getting a Switch sooner ^^

[@chacazulo1987]

Thse days games release in a bad state, it kind of kills the hype you had for that game. Specially big triple A games. They fix the holes later down the road, which is ok, but the reason u bought it is because u wanted to play it with no problems day1. I don’t hear that happening with indie games much.

[@HeyPalski]

Yes this is one of the most disappointing aspects of modern gaming. Overhype and underdeliver. There have been many games I was so excited for, only to be completely disappointed at the broken state of them. Never finished a lot of games because of this.

[@OgamiItto70]

Many of your points are why I quit buying new games in about 2010. There was a new _Splinter Cell_ game out--a single-player stealth game that you had to be online to play. uh-huh, right. No thanks. I could see where that was going. "Revenue stream." Now the only "games" I'm interested in are simulators. Aerial combat simulators. Naval combat simulators. Close quarters combat and small-unit tactics simulators. Automotive racing and rallying simulators. And not "simcade" games like _Forza_ or _Gran Turismo_ or _War Thunder_ or _World of Warships,_ either. Simulation or bust. About the only actual game I'd be stoked to play these days would be _Stray,_ maybe. Since it seems to be self-contained and not a mass of game-breaking bugs and doesn't have any microtransaction gacha lootbox elements to it.

[@BluegrassBriar]

If you look at my library it consist of bioshock, gears of war, halo mcc. Borderlands and assassins creed. I stopped paying for gamepass/live. And I’m fine with it. Bioshock is a lot of fun. Got it on sale for the bundle of 1,2 and infinite.

[@toongrowner1]

what I always notice the most on these kind of videos, that these problems are mostly comming from AAA, newer games and multiplayer games. My advice: don't just go for AAA Market, the are a lot of great games from smaller studios and indy developers. Try some single player games. And also may replay or try some older games. Heck there are plenty of games why I still have my ps2 and ps3.

[@RestoTek]

I totally agree, im a millenial and I stopped playing games probably 5 years ago, just have so many other priorities and responsibilities but what I prefer to do with my time now is do something productive, do something that matters and not get a high score that no one cares about. Also I think my reaction time now is much slower so when I play NES games I now completely suck at it :)

[@HeyPalski]

Oh man NES games are a bitch lol so it might not be that you have a slow reaction time. They're just a pain. But to what you said about doing something productive, you're right. I sometimes feel like I'm wasting my time when playing video games (I guess I literally am just wasting time). But that's why I picked up making KZbin videos lol. I feel like it's kind of productive and if I keep it gaming related I can still play games and make it semi productive at the same time. Not sure this channel will ever go anywhere but I'm hoping!

[@RestoTek]

@@HeyPalski same for my channel, I don't know if it will go anywhere but I'll just carry on doing what I like doing

[@HeyPalski]

@@RestoTek man it's actually criminal you don't have more subs! Just checked out your channel and I've ever seen anyone do builds like you're doing. I'll be subbing and checking out your stuff. Good luck!

[@RestoTek]

Thanks dude likewise I've subbed to you too, maybe this time next year we maybe at 1 million subs ... Well we can always hope 😂

[@HeyPalski]

@@RestoTek Lol true I'll hold us to it

[@Dadee3]

*As soon as you pulled out the XBox, I understood your dilemma immediately. The solution.... get a PS5!!!!!!!!*

[@eznosnopes5276]

Games are overly big, too open ended, bloated and complete grinds nowadays. You spend 50% of your time walking or looking for stuff.

[@kyoyameganebereznoff]

There is not a lower-cost handheld option anymore, so I am more afraid to try new games because they cost $20 more. Many games are going games-as-a-service and online-only and the online gaming spaces have become hostile to people who are not very good at the games (read: me). Micro-transactions suck and I feel like only indie studios are willing to try weird and different things anymore.

[@Nightlizard1564]

Multiverse definitely gals under this list honestly. Ofc people pull out “it’s still in beta” excuse but honestly I rather just have the game fully released than a game where it’s released half assed. The good news is that the devs listen to the fans directly and are actually making improvements to the game but we’ll see

[@shivan2418]

What is that device in the background?

[@ghost_to_a_ghost]

the most recent AAA game to really get me good and keep me engaged was DOOM Eternal. i did 100% completion on that one including all the hidden items. i've played through it twice now. before that, Stardew Valley really had me for a few years (yes, i know, totally incomparable games but....QUALITY games). Now i'm playing through older Wolfenstein titles and playing Tetris Effect, which is horribly underrated, when i want to relax. Games have gone waaaay down hill over the last 5 or so years. Sucks.

[@HeyPalski]

DOOM eternal is fantastic. I’m kind of like you where I play all kinds of games if they’re good lol. Stardew valley, Factorio, Lego Star Wars, and I just started the hogwarts legacy game which is amazing. There’s some great ones out there, but AAA studios continue to fail to deliver a product that doesn’t drain the consumer of their cash.

[@TonyTheTGR]

They're less designed for fun nowadays and more designed with addiction principles and skinner box mechanics in mind. That's really the long and short of it.

[@ajko000]

I used to think it was me getting old until I played doom eternal and elden ring. That's really it, and for multiplayer, the lack of voice or proximity chat really makes it bland.

[@shinmegamitalks]

Yep... turning 37 in two weeks and I've hit this hump. I think it's because games also cannot innovate the way they used to either. Nothing feels new. I think creativity in gaming as well as technology has kinda reached a plateau. That's my theory. Anyway great discussion

[@amalek.92]

Precisely why I mainly game on the OG Xbox and play older titles on PC, very seldom dabbling with anything newer.

[@Lucky_9705]

Modern triple A games have a problem with succumbing to purple prose expectations.

[@xard64]

If games were compared to music it would be like that before we got full length polished album experiences from start to finish which were yours to keep. Now we got cheaply made disposable stream music keep you interested for at least 60 seconds and you'll lose it completely as soon as you stop paying the subscription.

[@HeyPalski]

A great, yet depressing, analogy.

[@growtocycle6992]

Play beatsaber in VR. So much fun, from an old time gamer ( 32 year old, Sega genesis/ PS1 / PC gamer)

[@HeyPalski]

I wish I had the room for VR! I totally would. I plan on buying a new house in 5 years so when I do that I’ll have a dedicated VR room haha.

[@nathanielburbery4890]

@@HeyPalski my quest 2 requires about 1.5m squared (5 foot squared, roughly). I strongly recommend you give it a go 🙂

[@HeyPalski]

@@nathanielburbery4890 oh definitely have the room then!

[@Thonato420]

nah nah, superhot vr is the real shit

[@DaweezMauiWowee]

VR games gave me a second wind and made me fall in love with games again.

[@dewulfe9913]

From a D1 and D2 vet, not to mention someone who got a PS1 when they were current, because Tomb Raider (!), yeah all good points. I'm still enjoying a lot of D2, and don't mind the seasonal costs etc (hey, I used to have a monthly WoW subscription, so it's pretty much the same thing). Tho yes, there's waayyy too much stuff that can only be bought with real dollars (and it generally all the cool stuff, very little of that can be bought with in game currency). But while annoying, that doesn't stop me from enjoying the gameplay itself. HOWEVER, I love action RPGs, eg. Witcher 3 was awesome and I sunk a lot of time into that with various builds, playing the expansions (which were great story telling), etc. SO, I recently tried Elden Ring, and I know this is just my experience, it's a much worshipped game by others...but for me it sucked. Playing as a melee character with a shield and sword, the gameplay just hasn't evolved the way I hoped it would have. A light attack and a heavy attack - that's it?! Yes there are various weapon arts once you obtain different weapons but I believe the base moves should be more interesting regardless of the weapon. Essentially Elden Ring is just following the Soulsborne formula. Grind to get levels, use magic to cheese things or turn yourself into a cirque du soleil performer (in plate armor?!?!) as you frantically roll and kill a massive boss by tickling his ankles with your pointy little weapon. It's not organic fighting, and I've beaten Nioh, so yeah I can memorise a move set if I have to - but that's not fun or engaging to me. It's something I've done plenty of times before, and I want something new, something closer to what a real fight is like (I grew up fighting 3 times a week in a martial arts dojo, and I want something that's closer to that level of unpredictability, which at the same time you can manage once you have developed your skill). So...on top of the things you've said, I'd suggest games aren't as fun these days, because they're not really making innovations in actual gameplay. For Cyberpunk I was hoping we would be mixing our various skills on the fly as we did things like run from a heist - imagine sprinting from a building and using your cyber abilities to identify a potential monorail train to flee on, then remote hacking a car from the train so when you jump out as you go over a bridge the car is already there and waiting for you. Something which allowed you to seamlessly travel through that metropolis while you used your skills to stay one step ahead of the enemy. Instead we pretty much got a GTA skin _sigh_

[@HeyPalski]

Great point! Are we really seeing anyone pushing the envelope anymore? Not to mention the constant remakes. It’s all kind of stale.

[@MrProjo]

Just wait till WEF gets in control and you will never own the game and be f%#$ing happy

[@HeyPalski]

Oh god please no

[@vergesserforgetter2160]

ONE million DOLLARS per DAY just by microtransactions? then why by Holy God would they not make every game littered with microtransactions? it defies every reasonable practice of business.

[@FearNot777]

I find that I play mostly back compat games via switch nso, wiiu eshop titles, series x etc.

[@TheRonanSchuck]

They still make them like they used to, and that's part of the problem. Stagnation bad. Also, I kinda agree with everything, which is weird. My problem is I played some bangers without knowing, so the bar is sky high right now. I'd list them but I'd rather someone answers first.

[@anrojoo]

i disagree that video games aren't fun anymore, as right now there are numerous titles that 12 yr old me would just go insane playing. I think that it is just the fact that, being an adult you realize how video games takes your most important resource, which is your time, and kinda squanders it in place of you using that time towards something more productive. You can't help but feel that you should be doing something better with your time, and it kinda takes away the fun in some manner

[@kenshinhimura9387]

I've literally never felt that way. There might be something wrong with you.

[@anrojoo]

@@kenshinhimura9387 how arrogant and self centered of you, you must not have a very productive life if you still don't grasp the simple concept that your own time is valuable and you must choose wisely what to spend it on.

[@martinnevey7258]

Greetings from Scotland.....I wholeheartedly agree...I'm 50 and own a ps1 ps2 ps3 ps4 and megadrive ,and its the ps4 that gets used the least .....games all look the same to me nowadays and for an older gamer games seem to be just hectic from the start with the same generic gameplay just different skin...and i too feel that playing games always makes me feel like I'm just killing time(probably an age thing) I wish I didn't but it does....

[@andrewanderson3163]

It’s micro transactions, as simple as that. I really don’t understand how the gaming community made this thrive through out the years. I was always a big fan of WoW back in the early 2000’s but I would never say “hey let’s play WoW over any PS2 game“ WoW could have been way more greater than it was, but what ruined it? Micro Transactions. It’s cool if games released DLCs every 3 months for $30-$40 and allowed you to obtain more challenges that would then unlock more and all items when completing them. Just imagine how prestigious it would be if there were amazing skins that required you to obtain hundreds and thousands of kills to get them. There’s nothing fulfilling when you spend $20 for a rainbow camo operator with fairy wings, and a furry butt plug shoved up his behind.

[@RacerC45]

Hey! Video games are still fun. Control? Need for Speed Unbound? River City Girls?

[@TheSandkastenverbot]

I started gaming 2 years ago and already feel BORED OUT OF MY MIND by most games. The worlds are mostly generic. Enemies are all the same. NPCs are boring. Some games are filled with cutscenes. And pacing is just mindblowingly off. The first hours are either incredibly boring like picking up flowers or a "test of perseverance" where you have to fight the hardest boss of the game and can slack off afterwards

[@TrampyPulsar]

It might just be hindsight but we have 40 years of top tier games to pick and choose from to pick all the best games to play, but we ignore all the trash that came out throughout the years, even back in the early-mid 2000s we had angry nintendo nerd complaining about nonsense games. I will say though, online gaming has become a blight, 90s and 00s you could just join a game and play, none of this 'toxic gaming' nonsense, you played, you had fun, if you didn't, you switched games. Now everything is tiring, boring, and dull, even worse is the heavy push for esports where you can't just be one guy on a team having fun, you have to play to 'the meta' or else you're trolling your team, and its not just that this is a mentality of players, but its how games are designed now, if your support/healer sucks, or your mid feeds, you're stuck with a 15+ minute game of wasted time, unlike playing a halo 3 or counter strike lobby in 2008 where you just joined a server and had fun, and I think an extreme heavy push for ladders as well as invisible ranking systems pushed into casual match making ruins a lot of it, or even worse, EOMM, which isn't even an invisible rank, but a system designed to make you loose so you don't lose interest due to some weird MIT studies that win streaks cause disinterest, when the reality is that easy games cause disinterest, but artificial/stacked bullshit against you causes worse experiences Also the new era of live service garbage has robbed players of the most important thing when it comes to online gaming: community content. Dedicated servers are pretty much a thing of the past as now games must force you to play on their servers so they can enforce their microtransactions. No longer can you join a modded game and get something completely new or interesting, like how Halo 2 hackers made a zombie mod, same with counter strike and half life modders making team fortress and natural selection. And its not really about getting old, its about realizing our time is being wasted, and now more than ever games are designed to just waste your time. I used to be a massive MMO player, but I started to realize that the popular and new MMOs like WOW and its various clones are just there to waste your time with the promise you'll have fun at some point. Playing classic made me realize what I loved about playing WOW in the first place, which was achieving goals and helping friends, but in modern WOW and its clones, most of the game is trival, and the only thing the goal you have is to not lose your patience when it comes to waiting for your daily/weekly allowences of content, most of which only takes 5-10 minutes to clear as it is trival, but 100% nessisary to advance your character, but ultimately when you step back and away from the game for just a mere minute, you realize that you have no games in modern MMOs like WOW, that you're on a treadmill to make a pointless number go up, in vanilla, if you reach full teir 3 on any character, it was a massive achievement because of the journey required to get there, but in modern WOW, you can kill the uber hardcore super ultimate mega boss day one of the patch on normal mode, and all heroic and mythic does is increase the boss's health and adds in more instant one shot mechanics, but its ultimately the same boss in the same dungeon with the same loot that just has 3-5% less numbers, numbers mind you that are only useful to kill the same content slightly faster as they become obsolete in a single patch. Ultimately though, games are still fun, they're just rare, most 'games' now are really just scams that abuse your psychology and years of playing games competitively to rob you of your time and money with the vague promise that the game will become fun at some point. But even then, for every 50 god awful MTX ridden, gacha gambling, low effort garbage that gets spewed onto the gaming scene, we still get one good game occasionally. These days I find them on the Switch, Nintendo might be starting to dip over into the dark side, but even the base versions of their games are still absolutely wonderful. We just need to recognize the good from the bad, we need to shame people for playing trash, like Genshin or Destiny 2 or Fallout 76, and embrace the few good games that come out. And remember, never preorder, and never buy MTX.

[@spikeshartell4675]

One thing I miss is good campaign modes.

[@xenxander]

Yep. Warcraft 2 had a really good campaign. And the expansion just.. expanded the campaign and you wanted to play the story. It's tailored around the single player experience and playing online was a bonus.

[@Tyrth_Thegamer]

I think for my my love of videogames is still there i just dont rush out to buy the new thing. Afyer pokemon scarlet/violet even worse. I wanna see how the game acts and plays before i buy it. Is this somthing ill have fun playing? Abd this saves money and ensures i have the best time with my games