A reader feels let down by modern trends in video games and feels that after a lifetime of being a gamer the pastime is losing its appeal.
I have been into video and computer gaming for as long as gaming has been around and I have seen how gaming has evolved and progressed throughout its existence. I have been looking at the last two gens of gaming and I’m thinking that gaming is devolving and getting worse, rather than evolving and improving.
It’s got to the point that I am slowly but surely falling out of love with the hobby that has been a lifelong passion of mine, something which would have been inconceivable to a younger me.
While it could be argued that games are a technical improvement, at least in terms of gameplay mechanics, graphics, physics, and budgets there are signs that gaming is going in a direction that is going to alienate me completely from it, should they happen.
Let’s start with features we used to have but don’t now. Split-screen gaming, one of my favourite gaming features, which allows us to play with people face-to-face (what a concept), seems all but dead. System link gaming on consoles also no longer seems to be a thing, what happened to that?
Games launching in a woefully bad to unfinished states, requiring patches larger in data size than the entire size of other games, and the emergence of the release now fix/finish later mentality of the games industry – making an early purchase and playthrough a flawed and worse experience. These are just things that crept in in the last generation, now let’s talk about gaming on the current and arguably worst gen ever…
Now we are seeing some games not releasing on physical format and when they do, increasingly more games are not even on the disc, or not installable from it offline, which I’d understand if it was online-only, but we’re seeing this with story/campaign driven games that do not need an online reliance.
This seems like spitefulness and anti-consumer by the games companies to me and I feel they’re trying to push people off physical games and into downloading or streaming them, with the latter being even more unpalatable to me and removing any choice.
it seems Ubisoft has already decided to make all its games going forward un-installable off the disc alone, removing ownership and game preservation on these games that we have paid for – which is why I will no longer be buying Ubisoft games if this is the case.
We are now seeing the free-to-play model used more, which usually equates to being more expensive than buying outright, and certainly a worse experience. These companies seem to be more focused on how much money they can squeeze out of us than making a good game.
Simple multiplayer capability is locked behind increasingly expensive game subscription service packages. You can’t simply pay a small amount just for online gaming capability if that’s all you need and this is going to hit player numbers online, which is self-harming to the service and online community.
To me, all the fun is being sucked out of gaming before my eyes, something that is supposed to intrinsically be about fun, and it’s heartbreaking to see as a long-time passionate gamer. Choice seems to be slowly getting removed, as these companies force the gamer to play the games they want to give us and in the way they want us to play them.
If this continues I will regrettably but surely be giving up a long beloved pastime, at least going forward. Instead, I will focus on the large library of games I already own and I’m sure there will be many others that feel the same way.
By reader Spartas Edge
The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
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