Losing Touch With Gaming

Let me start out by saying that this blog is sort of personal. It's really just me venting about things that have been on my mind lately. So yeah, read it anyway and stuff.

I've been a gamer for a good thirteen years now, and I've done nothing but get more involved in video game culture. While I have many people in my life that I would consider a friend, I try to surround myself with people that are as interested in video games as I am, which is more difficult than it sounds. A lot of my friends are gamers, but none of them are as deeply invested in games as they once were. It seems that I am the only one out of my group of friends that is still in touch with why gaming is so special. I don't think it is just my group of friends that is losing sight of why gaming is so great either, but the majority of 'gamers' are also slowly fading from their origins.

Gamers all begin somewhere; whether their first game was Space Invaders or, like me, Super Mario World. As we get older, our minds develop further and we begin to play more elaborate and time consuming games. We become lost in the beautiful worlds that video games can transport us to. From there, we begin to take pride in solving the worlds puzzles and discovering its' mysteries. Then we get older and we get more responsibility in the real world, forcing us to make a decision. Do I continue to game at a sacrifice to other things? Or do I pursue other goals and give up my gaming habits? For most people, I think this decision is obvious: give up gaming.

When I was younger (younger than I currently am) my friends and I would solely play video games. We were content with sitting around our bedrooms, picking up a controller, and gaming until 4 am. Countless nights were spent playing games like Super Smash Brothers and Halo. Summer afternoons were spent at the park or playing sports, however, most were occupied with sitting around a bench and discussing video game strategies concerning Pokemon and Final Fantasy. Now though, I can see my friends slipping away from our old gaming habits. No longer do they take joy in the simple pleasure of sitting down and playing a game. Now, it seems, that the only game they are able to play is Call of Duty or Battlefield. But while they're playing these games, they don't seem to enjoy them, they just rage at and troll other players. When they see a game like Dishonored, they cast it aside, deeming it boring and slow. To me, this seems as though they've forgotten why they play games; to have fun.

It's such a shame that gamers have lost the love of games that they once started out with. It's an even bigger tragedy when it's some of my closest friends that have lost their gaming love. I am beginning to see though, that the people in my life right now will not be in it for much longer. My group of friends and I all have different ambitions, and it's becoming more clear that video games are not in most of theirs. I still plan to make video games an even bigger part of my life, and even though I'll lose some friends on the way, I'm sure I'll gain some new and interesting ones as well.

[Valenka]

I actually had to read this twice--given the title of the blog--as I thought you yourself were losing touch with video gaming. I was going to say, perhaps you aren't playing the right games, then.

I see your point and I do agree; some people only play video games for that competitive edge and bragging rights with Battlefield, Call of Duty, Halo, and the likes. However, there isn't really a right or wrong way to play video games. Video games are a form of entertainment and if people are entertained by trolling their teammates and rage at their enemies, that's their cup of tea. But if they're not enjoying them, then shame on them for wasting $60 just to get themselves aggravated at people across the ocean.

[imtheman2013]

Yeah this is definitely not about me losing touch with gaming. I just didn't know what else to title it that flowed as well.

I agree though. It's not like I don't play CoD or BF ever. But to me, those are just like filler games, if you know what I mean. I play them because they're mind-numbing. I don't need to concentrate to heavily to play them.

[TheFirstClassic]

Yeah I know what you mean. I have a lot of friends who I grew up gaming together. Not only did we play huge amounts of goldeneye, smash bros, mario kart, mario party, diddy kong racing, battletanx and so on (man the n64 really was a great party system) but we would play single player games together, I remember sitting in front of super mario 64 or banjo kazooie with a friend, as we would discuss how to get past whatever part we were stuck in. Games were like adventures, it always felt like we were exploring whole new worlds, and half the fun was discussing hints and tips with each other. Nowadays its like they have devolved, they play shooters and sports games; thats it.

I was born in 93 and my first game was mario 64. I miss the n64 days. Most people aren't even willing to play older games anymore, just the new gen games, which I usually find repetitive and boring.

[Sarick]

In my case its getting harder and harder to find interesting game. I'm more of a JRPG, and action adventurer type. Lately the new games just don't cut it and the ones that do are really limiting. I play for story growth and the battle systems.

A lot of the newer games move closer to FPS or pure combat strategy. Diasaga for one. I hated. IT just doesn't feel the same anymore. Whats sickening is when viewing games the companies try and give game trailers without battle systems.

Here are a few rarities I'm interested in.

http://www.newegg.com/Produ...

http://www.newegg.com/Produ...

http://www.newegg.com/Produ...

Tel me why these types of games are so hard to find! It's just there is not much out there anymore.

[imtheman2013]

Ni no Kuni looks absolutely fantastic! One of my most anticipated games of 2013. But yes those games are really hard to come by.

[TuxedoMoon]

I sort of have the same problem. I love Japanese games, from Katamari and DOA to Valkyria Chronicles. I love the fantastical and colorful worlds Japanese games create. Hardware used to force developers to be visually different and creative to get their game noticed, even if it was just final fight with a new coat of paint and a single new gimmick.

These days, it's hard to find those colorful and fantastical games on the big consoles. There's still a slew of games I still need to try out on the handhelds and a lot of good RPGs are on the DS and PSP. Most of the western games, I have to admit, don't appeal to me. The worlds presented in a lot of those games are brown and grey and dull. They try to mimic real life, but I play games to escape reality.

This is kinda where friend's interests comes into play. They love western and realistic games, especially COD. I always tell them that I'm not really interested in those games, but continue to cause arguments over my opinion on certain games. For example, I absolutely hated playing through Dead Island. When I tell them what I thought of it, they would rage hard and start picking out games THAT THEY NEVER PLAYED THROUGH and try to apply my reasons for hating dead island onto them.

It really makes me mad when they look at the games I play and go "Like in every other anime game, A-B-C and D always happens." I can't disagree with that sometimes, but when I tell them the A-B-C and D trends of western games, they get ridiculously mad.
They love the crap out of God of War, but wouldn't give Bayonetta a chance. They grew up on most of the same games I played, so what happened over those many years?

I don't hate all western games at all. I thought Saints row 3 was a blast and Castlevania was one of the very few Japanese-to-west reboots that was amazing. Skyrim...I had to mod the living crap out of it (make it colorful) for me to play through it till the end. Those lighting and floral mods really make a huge difference for landscapes, NPCs, and towns.

[mamotte]

Men, I tought I was alone in this world. You're right, I have gamer friends, but they only play COD, Halo and that stuff, and give me a weird look when I say that I'm not interested in those games.

Except for Disgaea. Loved that game.

EDIT: You should add Tales of Xillia to the list, is going to be released this year.

[smashcrashbash]

The problem is that both gamers and developers have lost their sense of looking outside the box and those that do still have it are slowly losing the desire to do it.Before you could make a game about a chef, riding a dinosaur, with a pie canon, fighting rotten vegetable monsters from the center of the earth and people would say 'Wow that sounds interesting' and go out and buy it even if it is for the curiosity of how it is being played. But now if you do anything like that unless it is an indie game for five dollars it will most likely be ignored even if it better then any run of the mill FPS that gets crapped out every year. People claim they want innovation and imagination but turn their heads away the moment it is attempted.So all efforts to break the mold are ignored for something that conforms to the norm. And since it is ignored developers concentrate on the mainstream games and leave the inspired game out to dry and gamers do the same.I once saw someone complaining about next years games saying there is nothing else but mainstream stuff and never even mentioned Puppeteer or Rain even once. So even the people who are complaining about the monotony don't even know about the other games that exist. You would at least think the people complaining about it would know about the other stuff but even they don't know about it.So you wonder if they really care or are pretending to care. Many people claim to want different things but at the same time they still want everything to be the same.The only change they want is a few new guns, levels or MP maps but beyond that if you do any major changes.The developers and gamers are running in place and most people are okay with that. The interesting games are there but people seem to prefer monotony and endless grinding to anything else. We are going down the wrong path of gaming willingly with people wanting to eliminate SP, make more FPS,want to throw out consoles for phone games and ignore anything t

[Ethereal]

Can't agree with you more. Gamers have forgotten and new gamers have no idea.

[rainslacker]

It's not just games my friend. It's part of life. People change and grow apart. It will happen for years to come no matter what your or their interests are.

[Getowned]

Yeah some of my friends are like that, as we grow older other things become more important wife,kids,work.. most of my friends are older thand me so they are all mostly married or on to other things.. they still play but not as much, however I'm dating this girl right now who actually plays games!(not the reason I love her, but it's badass we can chop some zombie heads off in dead island and kill some skags in borderlands).. Really its just part of life and I'm sure some day you'll find more people with the same intrests as you.

[sitharrefus]

I agree with some points, i mean i am 22 and i have put time in games while balancing work/ social life. Sadly i love games but now a days friends dont play anymore. Me and a friend bought head sets to play games like 3 months ago and not once have i used it not sure if he has. As sad as it seems i feel like we are growing apart... Hope everything works out for you.