Old School Vs New School Gamers, Who's Better

I was born in the 80's and grew up playing consoles that if you asked kids these days if they have ever heard of them they would look at you like you were from a different planet. I like to think I grew up in an era where the video game industry was making its biggest gains and it shaped the way the video game industry is today. I will stand by this statement and say that my generation is the BEST gaming generation of all time! BOOOOYA!   Kids these days will not know the struggle of what we all went through. First off we all enjoyed playing outside before we sat down and played games. Yet we logged fewer hours in  gaming and managed to become gods of the gaming world.  As I got older and got into online gaming, we didn't have these lavish download speeds and high-speed internet. We had that lovely 56k modem set up where if someone picked up the phone your connection online was lost! Do you know how many times I raged while I was playing Counter-Strike on PC and my mom would pick

[TwoForce]

Well, it's depend who better. Old Gamer is much more experience than new gamer aka noob. But for me, I'm a hyprid gamer.

[JROCKNXL]

you could be a new breed of gamer then?? lol

[TwoForce]

I'm enjoy old game and new game.

[JROCKNXL]

but us old gamers are more adaptable to gaming I think.

[darthv72]

Funny thing is there is an idea that being old means set in your ways...

In gaming, old means more open to things. Us old timers have experience playing the field and not staying tied down to one company because we know gaming is meant to be enjoyed on all fronts.

New gen gamers seem to be more closed minded, entitled and most of all just rude to other gamers who have a differing pov. No sense of appreciation or respect of the roots of things they take for granted.

[raWfodog]

I also believe us older gamers don't get caught up in graphics debates as much as the younger generation. In general, of course, older gamers tend to be more concerned with gameplay over graphics, especially when you can have fun playing with two white lines batting a square ball back and forth across your screen (Pong for those who don't know). I have seen people criticizing games for having 'last-gen' graphics and I automatically think that they are teenagers or young adults.

[nitus10]

@SolidStateSnake

Basically, handhelds have predominately been Nintendo since the late 1980's.

As for multiple consoles, there was initially a two horse race with Nintendo and Sega competing from the mid-1980's to the mid-1990's so I am only talking about the NES verses the Sega Master System followed by the SNES versus the Sega MegaDrive (Genesis). It was only with the introduction of the Sony Playstation in December 1994 that we had three seriously competing consoles. Even going into the new minimum after Sega dropped out and Microsoft took over there were only three competing consoles for each generation.

I am aware that other gaming consoles did exist (eg. Neo Geo) however they could not serious compleat due to lack of support from developers.

[rainslacker]

As an older gamer, I think I'm actually more impressed with just how far gaming has come since the old days. I won't state it as an absolute, but I have a greater appreciation for the games that actually have some sort of technical achievement than a lot of the "newer" gamers who often seem to only look at the graphics, or get too much into the marketing hype, and suddenly claim something is revolutionary because of those factors. I'm also more skeptical of the marketing hype...mostly because I've had so much of it disappoint me in the past.

[Segata]

Games are easier today. I don't think todays kids would do as well with Mega Man or Alex Kidd or Battletoads. We had to develop lightning fast reactions. We also got maybe 1-3 games in a year so replayed them a lot. I also doubt many kids would invest the time in a game like SMT or Dragon Quest where they are a really slow burn. Minecraft and mobile game don't use much in game design. I can easily play new and old. I don't need a tutorial,most games control similar to their types. I grew up into both.

Oh and that header image is old with PS1 controllers lol

[WeAreLegion]

Today's kids still play those games.

Where do you people come up with this stuff?

[mcstorm]

I agree. I am 32 and have a brother who is 24 and 18 and my 24 year old bro plays classic games with me all the time as I have an Amiga32, Mega drive & N64 to name a few but my brother who is 18 won't play them as he tells me they look pants and he can never win to which he hates. Give him a game like Cod and he loves it and is not bad at it but give him a game like Sensible soccer or the chaos engine and he can't do it.

[USMC_POLICE]

I like both but my heart is always with PS1 and PS2. I think call of duty has ruined the new generation of gamers.

[Kiwi66]

I started gaming in the mid '70s so i'm gonna say old school as some new school gamers are more worried about their kill/death ratio in CoD instead of just enjoying the pastime

[GreenUp]

New gamers better be better in certain circumstances like reflex and reaction times. Older gamers better be better at flanking, and using team work to take an objection. Depends on the game really. New gamers are faster, older gamers know how to get shit done efficiently.

[rainslacker]

Guess it depends on your definition of old and where you cut things off. Personally, my old is before using team work, flanking, and taking objectives were a thing, or even possible. Personally, I find today's games much more forgiving in terms of reflex and reaction time compared to many of the games I played back in the early 80's, which more often than not landed you in a hole and starting the level over if you weren't quick enough.

[GreenUp]

I've noticed this a lot since SOCOM. The first online shooter game on consoles pretty much, and compared to games worth multi millions of dollars, it's not even skillful. No skill needed in todays games. Aim assist, integrated wallhacks (pulses that will show heat signatures through walls or dots above heads) and so much more. It's so watered down everything is become alike.

[rainslacker]

"It's so watered down everything is become alike."

I kind of agree with you on this. It's not that simpler games can't be good fun, or that they require less/more skill though. It's that while trying to open up the market to more people, they made sure that no one is left out due to learning curves.

The homogenization itself doesn't have to be due to the complexity of the design though, as there are plenty of ways to be complex or simple depending on what the dev is going for. I feel that that is more to being less risk adverse in the actual design, and trying to give people what they want, instead of letting them experience new things which they may like better.

[Der_Kommandant]

I'm 35 years old and i've been gaming since i was 8, i really don't know why this must be a competition, who cares about who's better, we're all gamers.

[NukaCola]

Whether you are an older or younger game, play MGS, Chrono Trigger and Link to the Past.. experience everything you can.

[Hoffmann]

Old Gamers. It's not even a contest.

[WeAreLegion]

I can't believe you all are taking this seriously. Good Lord. Who's better? Nobody. They're just gamers.

[Edito]

New gamers are close minded and it's not their fault in our time the youtube was in the infancy i played sillent hill and resident evil with physical dictionary asked friend called people now the solutions are on our smartphones... and all this PVT trend was non existent... i'm glad i played since back in the 90's the first time i played Tekken in 94 damn, Final Fantasy, Gran Turismo, Soul Blade... Nostalgia 110% my gamer hearth is with the PS2 and PS1.

But i hope the new gamers have the same love for the game.

[VJGenova]

27" tube tv!? What luxury is this!? I remember playing goldeneye and mario kart 64 huddled around a 20"! Shoulder to shoulder on the long bench in my cousin's patio. Wish local multi-player would make a resurgence. I have played 4 way goldenaxe, spelunky, gang beats and a couple others recently, but on the whole the medium is dead. It is sad. Long live N64, Gamecube and Xbox! Best 4 player systems ever! I will give the dreamcase an honorable mention though. Powerstone is still the balls.

[JROCKNXL]

that 27" was a hand me down from my uncle. but we did only have 1 loveseat to share between 4 of us gaming. fuck man those are the gold ole days eh!

[Segata]

Main room I have a 40 inch HDTV and in the Retro room 1 Sony 27 inch Trinitron and a 20 inch Daewoo and a Sony VCR with the old systems hooked to it. ooh do I love it :)

[rainslacker]

I had a 13" TRS-80 monitor my dad gave me I hooked up my NES to. For it's time it was awesome, because it was a heck of a lot better than a CRT TV. Had a table to the side of one of the rooms in the house we kept it on(vanity if I recall), and I would pull up a chair and maybe sit a couple feet away.

When friends came over for the night, we'd pull out the sofa bed, and just sit there playing all night. Had a nice 2" speaker in it though.:)

[Imalwaysright]

Considering that Souls games are considered to be extremely difficult I will have to say old school gamers.

[Segata]

They are challenging but totally fair to the player. A game like Castlevania Bloodlines totally fucking hates you as the player and it's brutal. Souls like for example you can tell a mimic by the chain. Souls telegraphs even if subtle. CV. It just dares you to complete it and mocking yout he whole way and it's great. I wish we would get some old games that just hate the player like that. (in a good way)

[rainslacker]

Christ, don't even get me started on how unfair Gradius was back in the day. The original Rayman was brutal for a platformer. Terrible controls, poor collision detection, and things happening so fast that even if you reacted, you'd just die from something else on the screen.

Still both games were fun as hell.:)

[JROCKNXL]

Like Kiwi said above these new school gamers just care about gamer scores and k/d. Me I play games to have fun and relax and shoot the shit over game chat with the guys or girls. Nothing more. I will always be a gamer and enjoy all games. I can't stick to one game need a good variety and I still play my old consoles all the time.

[Bass_fisherman]

who´s better? really dude?

[TyrantSoul]

The one having the most fun wins obviously

"Above all, video games are meant to just be one thing: Fun for everyone" -Satoru Iwata

[VJGenova]

I don't always have fun playing video games. I may have smashed a few controllers back in the day. Luckily the NES controllers are basically indestructible. I slammed those like it was no one's business!

[Saryk]

Old gamers don't whine as much, unless we are losing capabilities/options!

[Tzuno]

Old school - Snes-PS1 era New-School = POkemons

[JROCKNXL]

You hit the nail on the head with that comment Tzuno lol

[JROCKNXL]

I find that old school gamers tend to be more involved in the gaming industry and shaping it for the better. new school just plays COD lol or like Tzuno says Pokemon