The state of video game "culture" for you

[Dan]

I feel myself loosing more and more interest in video games as a whole each year. I rarely have time to play them now and when I do its just not as fun. Every time I start playing one I get a sickly feeling and my mind is telling me to do something more productive.

All in real life friends moved away from video games and I'm left playing with faceless people online who are rarely fun to converse/connect with due to gaming culture consisting of many ill people (sociopaths, depressed, bipolar women, people that don't get out much etc) which can't be helped due to those sets of people needing the escapism.

I think I was very lucky to grow up in the golden age of video games. Back then developers were trying to be as innovative as possible trying to get around hardware limits and make their vision of a video game they truly cared about, that passion bled through and could easily be seen by the consumer. 3D was also new at that time so there was a lot of new genres making use of the 3rd dimension in interesting and sometimes terrible ways. We were all on our seats to see what they could do and what would come out next.

Most video games now are rinse and repeat so I end up playing old games or whatever remake is hip this year.

The only breath of fresh air in the cringe video game scene right now is VR which has kept video games alive for me, it signifies new grounds and innovation that will hopefully keep evolving for years to come.

What do you think of video game "culture" right now?

 

[Castle]

Yeah it's a total wreck now. The Golden Age of gaming happened back when video games were still a niche, a little club as it were but not one built on exclusion - it's just that not that many people had developed an interest in video games... yet.

That all changed with the 7th generation of console hardware. The XBOX 360 and PS3 finally brought near photorealistic graphics to the mainstream. Now video games could be movies! They could be bloody! They could be mature. Games like Halo and Call of Duty attracted the dude bros and the 8-12 year old whiners spouting racist and homophobic slurs over their mics because they've never had a minute of parental supervision in their lives. Smartphone gaming brought video games to women and kids. Corporate publishers began baking on this new mass market audience at the expense of their core audience, often going so far as to display outright ignorance and contempt for their most dedicated and passionate consumers. The corporate publisher's numerous attempts to outright screw over consumers is well chronicled.

HEAVY SIGH And then, of course, the sojus warriors invaded. Whatever you call them. The SJWs. The twitter ****s. The tumbrlinas. The cultural Marxists. The video game "journalists" and the hoard of everyday armchair activists disrupted and harassed and intimidated gamers, developers and publishers from the safety of their ad sponsored web domains and their social media spheres like they do and made video game culture hazardous. They defamed, demeaned, debased and slandered until we could no longer make and play games in peace. When enough gamers had taken enough abuse, gamergate happened. And of course the only response the sojus mob has to opposition is to label it a hate group. Gamergate was largely successful in dispersing the media attack dogs. You can tell, because the remaining sojus warriors on the internet continue to invoke gamergate long after it stood down and continue to blame every imagined terrible offense they concoct on it.

Even recently, Good Old Games felt they had to debase themselves before the internet sojus mob after it got riled up at a tweet GOG sent out announcing the release of Postal 2.

Now we're at a point where AAA developers and publishers are entirely cynical and clueless. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know what players want and they're completely devoid of any and all creativity. All they want is $$$. Corporate game development drove off all its creative talent years ago. The major hubris is that they've driven up the cost to develop so high they cannot afford to produce games for the production quality and hardware specifications they've spent the last 20 years hyping to death. And that lucrative mass market they courted so shamelessly? It wandered off and lost interest as casual mass market consumers tend to do. Now the video game mass market doesn't account for a fraction of the ocean of consumer dollars it once did. The corporate hacks dug their own grave by ramping up the cost of production to unsustainable levels, engaging in aggressive mergers and acquisitions that drove off talent and ruined once successful studios and IPs, and by actively spiting their core audience and aggressively ripping off consumers in general.

But take heart! For the video game renaissance is at hand! Indie development is at an all time high and we're deep in the midst of a middle market resurgence thanks to digital distribution platforms like GOG and Steam and funding through Kickstarter. We're currently seeing the resurgence of genres and styles of games once thought to be long dead, and old school master devs of those acclaimed games from yesteryear we all know and love are entering the fray once more! It's good to be a gamer again.

But we must keep a close vigilance for more attempts from the sojus mob. Pressure any company who capitulates to them and reward those who defy them with your currency of choice. Outright abandon and openly scorn any company or individual who throws in with their lot or these maniacs will continue to make gaming insufferable for everyone.

 

[Dizzi]

Games were good when we were younger thats why re-realses do well

 

[the8thark]

What do you think of video game "culture" right now?

Satoru Iwata and DOOM did more in my opinion to improive this culture than anyone or anything else. Iwata famously pushed the idea that anyone can be a gamer, it's not a niche hobby, everyone can take an interest in it. DOOM back in the 90's did this as well. ID was so successful at this, that more copies of DOOM were sold than Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. ID basically advertised that everyone can play and enjoy DOOM, not just gamers.

This has worked. We have so many different types of games now to cater for everyone. it's a great thing. That's why I think the best time to be a gamer is right now. Even for Australians ) When mario is the centrepiece of an Olympic Games opening ceremony, you know gaming is finally a mainstream thing. I don't think gaming will go the same way the mainstream media has post 2000, all politically correct and biased. There's more oppotunities than ever to find the games you want and more opportunities to play them how you want to. Pseudo 4K? or actual 4K? or portablely on places like the train? or Virtual Reality? it's all possible now days.

On the develoepr side, it's easier than ever to make games and sell them. The SDK's that the big hardware companies are putting out make the process so much easier. Even Apple's SDK's and Swift tuorials make it easier for iPhone game developers. The better indies do get great sales as well. Also we have Unreal and Unity that most people use as a stating point for their games. SO you don't have to create your own game engines anymore, though you still can if you want to.

Also the whole royalties issues has been worked out so it's no longer as expensive to get games published. Also there's the digital stores to the customers have that as a way to purchase games as well. Add in the fact that the speed runing and retro gaming scenes are as strong as ever. All good signs.

The only down side is related to the older gamers. They are older (obviously) and have less time to game. Also their priorities in life in many cases have moved away from gaming to other things in life. It's harder to stay hyped for soemthing we've been into for decades. We often fall into the nostalgia trap and stop looking for those new games that really interest us. It takes us more effory to get hyped these days, but we need to keep doing it as it really helps. We like games, we should make the effort to find the games we would like.

I think the culture of games and the industry overall has never been better than it is now. I think one recent game that really proves this is Octopath Traveler. Not the game itself but why it was made. SE wanted to make a game with adults as it's target audience that had new elements and also added in a little feeling of nostalgia as well. That was the aim of the game before any code was written. Proof that games developers these days are trying to cater to everyone. There really is something for everyone, which was not the case in the past.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

For me it's not that I've lost interest in games, it's just that now that I'm an adult I don't have the spare time to play like I did when I was a kid and teenager. I still play after work and my courses sometimes if I can, or on weekends, but since I don't put much time into videogames anymore I'd say I'm just a casual gamer now. I used to be a hardcore gamer.

 

[YIGAhim]

I mean, I'm 15, and I like to game. I'm not too particular about them. I never used to be able to sit down and watch TV because it wasn't interactive enough and I wasn't required to do it like school until recently when I finally learned that video games are not productive and get the same amount done as watching TV. It was all about that hardcore grind, but not anymore mostly.

I get out a lot. It's why I'm not fat, and most of my friends live a fair distance away where I can't just go out and play a 5v5 Basketball match every day I want to, so I can game.

Yes, it is losing creativity and becoming rinse and repeat, but they always change stuff. The story, the music, they add different gameplay functions. Even if that's not enough, just try a new genre.

I'm fine with where I am at.

 

[Dan]

But take heart! For the video game renaissance is at hand! Indie development is at an all time high and we're deep in the midst of a middle market resurgence thanks to digital distribution platforms like GOG and Steam and funding through Kickstarter. We're currently seeing the resurgence of genres and styles of games once thought to be long dead, and old school master devs of those acclaimed games from yesteryear we all know and love are entering the fray once more! It's good to be a gamer again.

I will take heart! I do like seeing what indie developers have cooked up but **** me in the eyeballs is Steam a mess right now with bad indie games. Modern times equips people with tools that make it easy to make a video game see unity, game maker etc. Don't get me wrong some really good games have come from those engines but most of them are as cool as modern day Simpsons. Every time I click new releases I'm puzzled how some of the games got through to steam.

If you're into weeaboo low testosterone anime games I guess the upcoming games selection above is a blessing.

Oh and speaking of tools that let you easily make games! Can't wait to see what gets greenlit from this.

 

[Quin]

Yeah, its pretty terrible. Just play single player games so you don't have to deal with those people.

As for the state of games itself, I don't see much difference. We got lots of bad games, as usual, but enough good games that shine trough as well.
Steam lets every pile of **** trough their gates and are doing so for a while now so don't be too surprised.