Gaming Then and Now

[Blazestarre]

Gaming has changed a lot over the past decade, not just in the actual games, but the culture as well. You have to remember that gaming is still a rather young form of entertainment. Video games began in the early '70s, but consumers really didn't get to experience them until later in the decade. So, as a consumer product, gaming is just over thirty years old. When it was just getting started, gaming interested people because they were controlling something on a screen with just a touch of a button. No one had any expectations for what a video game was. Game designers could make anything and as long as players had fun, it was successful. When you combine an easy-to-please audience with an extremely creative group of designers at Nintendo, you get amazing games.

Technology, of course, has become more sophisticated and in the '90s, that lead to more diverse games, especially with the introduction of 3D. I know I don't need to remind anyone here of the innovation OoT made. All the innovation in games made it fresh and gamers judged a game by their overall experience. Of course, this is also the decade that began the intense console wars and, unfortunately, introduced the fanboy mentality.

I don't know when things began to get nasty (for lack of a better word) in the game world. In the past ten years or so, gaming is finally settling into an entertainment medium that can stand on its own. It's no longer a weird but intriguing piece of technology or a toy to occupy children. However, this also means it gets subjected to the same problems as other art forms, the main one of course being creativity vs. consumerism. There are so many gaming genres that people now expect certain things from them and doing something extremely different is a gamble. Popular genres also make the most money, so game companies will produce more of that genre.

Really, when you look at it, the game industry is much like Hollywood, which means a lot of copy and paste happens. That's why first person shooters are so common. With the internet, that fanboy mentality I mentioned earlier spreads like a virus and makes a very volatile gaming culture. Essentially, people now actually have types of games they like now and so leads to diverse opinions.

When it comes to the games themselves, technology has really improved and so has increased what games are capable of. Personally, I also believe a possible con of this is the decrease of difficulty, at least in combat. More modern games seem easier than ones from the NES and SNES eras. It just seems with improved battle controls, it's much more difficult to create enemies that present a challenge.

Now, is gaming worst today than ten years ago? Well, I would say that it's neither better nor worst; it's different. Gaming culture has developed and the industry has grown more diverse. It also gains quite a few cons. Different types of fans have popped up, creating some discord when they interact (hardcores vs. casuals being the biggest). Annoying fanboys show up all the time and opinions will clash now that there is a wide variety of games to choose from.

* I'm not even bothering with online multiplayer. That is more of a result of our culture as a whole rather than just gaming.

 

[jugglaj91]

Being this seemed to be a year of remakes I have to say that some games are better now than ever before. I mean, who doesn't love packing everything up to go play at a party, or heading over to a friends house to play games. /sarcasm At any rate, just because games are getting repetitive doesn't mean they aren't still good. And to be honest, someone needs to fill the void while Nintendo is off making that next great Mario or Zelda game anyway.

Well to get to my main point, I don't think it is the games themselves that make gaming what it is today, but rather the developers and community. Most everyone here at ZD respects one another and their opinions. Even if it comes down to Zelda vs CoD. I say to each their own. I play some CoD, I play BF, Halo, Gears of War, etc. And yet I still play Zelda. But when the community takes such trivial things and blows them out of proportion, todays gaming is what you end up with. Everyone thinking they are the best and cussing up a storm no matter what. I try to take my old school mentality into gaming. I know I am nowhere near the best in any game, yet I play to have fun. I play online to have fun. Yeah I may let out a few swears when people camp, or do things I feel are cheap, or even when Link goes into a duh moment.

As for online gaming, I don't see a major problem with it, as long as the developer has it down. It also allows friends who used to play in the living room together with Mario Kart or Goldeneye to once again do so, albeit, in different locations. Most of my friends have busy lives now, so we can only manage to play together online if at all. (damn adulthood lol)

Even if quality and originality are going downhill, games are moving in a better direction due to new technology. Yeah old games have their vharm, and its nice to revisit them, but all in all to me it is a been there done that scenario. I like seeing older idea put to use in new ways. Well I think I said enough. Time to try and get some more sleep.

 

[AChrisToThePast]

I think local multiplayer truly died in April 2002 with the launch of Xbox Live.

Game companys are now focusing on the online more than anything nowadays(even as far as not even including the single player).Online removed all the REAL Social Activity from games.You played with people you know not some asian kid halfway across the damn world.Gaming was wayyyy better before the Dreamcast era.Games were more fn and story driven

I can agree but at the same time I will say online gaming did what it was intended to do. Make these companies some money. It opened up a whole new world of gaming that I'm sure had good intentions but online gaming as of now is just trash talk and finding the cheapest way to win a game. Well in some cases.

Gaming has changed a lot over the past decade, not just in the actual games, but the culture as well. You have to remember that gaming is still a rather young form of entertainment. Video games began in the early '70s, but consumers really didn't get to experience them until later in the decade. So, as a consumer product, gaming is just over thirty years old. When it was just getting started, gaming interested people because they were controlling something on a screen with just a touch of a button. No one had any expectations for what a video game was. Game designers could make anything and as long as players had fun, it was successful. When you combine an easy-to-please audience with an extremely creative group of designers at Nintendo, you get amazing games.

Technology, of course, has become more sophisticated and in the '90s, that lead to more diverse games, especially with the introduction of 3D. I know I don't need to remind anyone here of the innovation OoT made. All the innovation in games made it fresh and gamers judged a game by their overall experience. Of course, this is also the decade that began the intense console wars and, unfortunately, introduced the fanboy mentality.

I don't know when things began to get nasty (for lack of a better word) in the game world. In the past ten years or so, gaming is finally settling into an entertainment medium that can stand on its own. It's no longer a weird but intriguing piece of technology or a toy to occupy children. However, this also means it gets subjected to the same problems as other art forms, the main one of course being creativity vs. consumerism. There are so many gaming genres that people now expect certain things from them and doing something extremely different is a gamble. Popular genres also make the most money, so game companies will produce more of that genre.

Really, when you look at it, the game industry is much like Hollywood, which means a lot of copy and paste happens. That's why first person shooters are so common. With the internet, that fanboy mentality I mentioned earlier spreads like a virus and makes a very volatile gaming culture. Essentially, people now actually have types of games they like now and so leads to diverse opinions.

When it comes to the games themselves, technology has really improved and so has increased what games are capable of. Personally, I also believe a possible con of this is the decrease of difficulty, at least in combat. More modern games seem easier than ones from the NES and SNES eras. It just seems with improved battle controls, it's much more difficult to create enemies that present a challenge.

Now, is gaming worst today than ten years ago? Well, I would say that it's neither better nor worst; it's different. Gaming culture has developed and the industry has grown more diverse. It also gains quite a few cons. Different types of fans have popped up, creating some discord when they interact (hardcores vs. casuals being the biggest). Annoying fanboys show up all the time and opinions will clash now that there is a wide variety of games to choose from.

* I'm not even bothering with online multiplayer. That is more of a result of our culture as a whole rather than just gaming.

You make a very interesting point. As every piece of technology, gaming does continue to grow and grow. It kind of saddens me though because I don't feel like people really appreciate the value of the classics and how they play a role in modern gaming. I know people that are Zelda fans but they've never played a single game besides Windwaker or Twilight Princess. I'm not saying this makes them any less of a fan but it certainly doesn't show their full understanding of the series and what really set it off. I just wish some people would take a break from the modern day gaming for maybe just a day and really sit down to play a classic. They would most likely get a better grasp of gaming in general and appreciate the technology and games of today. It just seems like most people ignore the fact games had to start somewhere as well.