I miss the 1990's when we wouldn't argue features of a game.

Maybe by trying to reach for the weights near my computer, I should probably exercise with them and I should break free...from the digital life and get a real life.

I blame Xbox Live for the piss-poor state of gaming these days. If not for that crap we would have gotten a true sequel to Planetside, rather than this Battlefield/CoD/Planetside hybrid we have to contend with today.

Fact: Xbox Live brought a bunch of manchildren into online gaming who would be better off jumping Mario on their baby console machines instead of wrecking our glorious multiplayer deathmatches. Now, every online shooter has to feature MLG noscope swagswag mechanics to appeal to these simpletons.

Would it make you feel better if I said I just took a long *** road trip that took me two days to traverse the state and included dropping my buddy off on the far corner of my state and then going to another city and taking a beautiful girl on a date to her first American fair?

Because that was totally my Tuesday and Wednesday and I'm still exhausted from it.

It doesn't have to be that. It's just that devs are chasing the stick and should not do that. Instead, they should be inventive and not try to follow the heard. Be unique throughout the entire product and they will come!

I miss stats free games where it was all about chatting and playing...
The original Halo CE was a great game. There it was the true teamplay in CTF. Your driver rally across the map to bring the passenger at the enemy flag, the gunner keeping opposition back while you stolen it and back racing to base!

Not the current fake teamplay where all what counts is outnumbering the enemy to win...

There was a sort or permanent charm to cartridges. No load time, fired right up, and 9 times out of 10 the game was in a release state. And before anyone starts with the blowing thing.. that was a hardware malfunction on the NES, not a cartridge problem. A simple snip fixes that.

When games were released in almost completely flawless states because people hadn't a clue what the Internet was and it wasn't that easy to just 'fix things' in a program that had gone out to countless thousands of people whom you had no way of contacting.

**** it, I miss being able to walk into a games store and being able to buy a game off the shelf. I go into a local store now and all I see are boxes that contain codes for online downloads. And no, I'm not a dinosaur, I just miss the simplicity, the effectiveness and the reliability of it.

I also miss the 90s. When you could watch games get better and better every year, development and technology moving forward, instead of what we have now.
Its saddening to see games degenerate and going backwards. Just basic things like being able to move your hud around is something i miss.
I miss the times when they didnt pump out the same stuff every year.
I miss the large box with the 40 page manual you got with your games.

Sure. Hardware is still going forward, but (it feels like) things like graphics and innovative gameplay that can take advantage of it is pretty much at a standstill.
I suspect developers dont/cant take advantage of it because it "needs" to be suitable to run on the current/nex-gen consoles.
Because that's sadly a large portion of the market, so they cant just ignore it.
Its also easier and safer to make money on something you know works (like for example CoD or "CoD clones") instead of trying to make something new and innovative.

I think thats why people are so pissed off. Watching games get worse every year.
Watching games get "dumbed down" and streamlined more and more.
The "Cant have detailed information about things in our games, thats too complicated for people" mentality.
Its especially noticeable if you started gaming in the second half of 90s.

I may be wrong though. This is just what i feel has happened over the years.

Here we are talking about traversing a road trip, what a coincidence because I drive a Chevy Traverse!

People wouldn't argue and criticize game features because they had no clue how games were made and would take everything for granted.
Humanity is maturing and we are understanding more about entertainment value.
We are moving on.
You are welcome to stay in the past.

Well, most games from before 2000 were actually complete when they were released.

I also miss the old online gaming world because it was usually filled with more dedicated ppl and the games weren't made for the "I need achievements and time to react " crowd.

What a coincidental coincidence! I drive a '98 Chevy S-10!

The days of games being launched in a finished state are long gone. We're in the era of "we'll patch it later" and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

what i remember from older games like Counterstrike 1.6, C&C Red Alert, C&C Generals or Battlefield 2 is that i never ever questioned their completeness, game balance or any other aspect. i took them as they are and still had lots of fun with them.

but nowadays, i must admit i am pretty active on several game forums asking for new content, point out obvious design flaws/game bugs and occasionally also partake in balance discussions. not making a secret out of this.

i think this development is pretty much a natural product of two factors:

1) the technologization of society (cheaper computers, smaller devices like smart phones, growing network access, social media, omnipresence of internet) which makes us participate in internet activities more and more. the increasing shift of activities from real world to virtual world is not a myth, it's become a fact. that's why people tend to discuss their favorite topics on social media, internet forums, etc because these methods of communication now exist -- that wasnt the case in the 1990s.

2) the personal, emotional and intellectual maturity of a person: back in the 1990s when we were all young kids, we simply could not think beyond the game. we took it as a form of entertainment and didnt invest too much thought into it. but now that we are adolescent or grown-up, we finally have the capability to think and act in a logical and rational manner. we are able to question existing norms, think outside of the given system and also pour our own ideas into the product.
in short, our body and mind simply have grown up. you should not think of this as a curse but rather as a form of blessing. going back to the 1990s mindset pretty much equals saying "i give up! i dont want to think on my own any more. i want to lose all responsibility i have in my life and be a child again". sorry but that is nothing but mental degression in my eyes. it is fine to discuss one's favorite topics, no matter if it's on an internet board or in reality. in fact, many people probably resort to the forums because their reallife friends dont play the same games or no games at all (as in my case ;_; ). trying to oppress intellectual exchange between persons is like attempting to censor freedom of speech.


TL;DR: it is a natural development that we discuss our favorite topics on forums. because we have the technological prerequisites as well as the intellectual maturity to do so.

BS Oddjob is so goddamn OP. Nerf!

Buff Jaws.

You must have not have read/participated in the slew of discussions around Planetside 1 held by the players. The balance arguments were plentiful for it on the forums. Not all of us were children back then either. *Of course, PS1 wasn't released in the 90's so sorry about going off topic a little. But I think it still applies to the discussion. There wasn't much online PC gaming until the late 90's anyways.

The customer base was limited back in the day for computer games due to the infancy of broadband technology as well as the gaming PC not being as prevalent in homes. Move forward a decade+ and homes have these things readily available and due to free-to-play the customer is everyone who is interested with no one blocked behind a pay wall. In my eyes the reason they do this now is to allow the customer to give them the most info about what they want so the developer can create what the customer wants. The problem is developers are still trying to transition themselves to align with this new method of developing games.

I think people should have their real name and age posted with their forum profile. Verified by Credit card or drivers license. Also no one under age of 21 should be posting as they have no clue about life and or business.

That's not true and a large portion of the customer base is people under 21. You'd probably be surprised at the age of some of the people who post. Everyone operates at different levels of intelligence, regardless of age. No one should be limited to forum discussions. It allows people to become better at communication (spelling, typing, sentence structure, debate methods, etc).

They say this world, in the far future when it's possible, is going to be fully automated by robots and society will only be the internet, connected to the robots in a way you literally won't have to move a muscle. The daily routine of waking up, going to work, eating, entertainment, going to bed, will be all relied on internet and robotics, again, no muscle movement. Is this a good or bad way of human evolution?