Why Games Are Not Entertaining Anymore?

[andylee]

Dunno whether you guys have the same feeling with the player. I do, but dont know why.

> When we only got the Nintendo FC, we could enjoy the Super Mario all day long, even forgot food and sleep.We would gather at someone's home and try to complete each stage and to dig out each hidden element.
>
> But when we have plenty of games now,with better graphics and complicated elements, we just try and quit, again and again. It's really so hard to find a game we could totally enjoy it, not to mention being addicted.
>
> So we grow up and lose the passion? I don't think so! We still keep browsing the fansite, searching for the new game info.Then why? why games are not fun anymore?
>
> My friend and I just got the basic conclusion:
>
> 1\. We could not find the initial quake;
> 2\. We start to split hairs;
> 3\. The companies pay more attention on making money. They could never make a game really for gaming and fun.
> 4\. In the past, we need the fun of playing games, but now we need more, such as interaction with other gamers. The feeling of belonging to a community is very important, but actually many ppl has ignored this.
> 5\. More and more facts

Source: http://forum.mmosite.com/topics/54/201004/21/12945,1.html

[Robin]

That guy's writing is atrocious. He barely puts his points across at all.

Anyway, here's what it is; Nostalgia goggles.

Everything is better when you're a kid.

[shadoweight]

Games aren't fun anymore then why the hell i am playing fallout 3

[Sheezer]

I don't really understand people who tells that games are ,,Not entertaining,, So why the Duck all playing them?
Go to heaven,take a brain and then make threads (Im telling to the guy on MMOSITE)

[Dark Crusade]

@Robin:

> Everything is better when you're a kid.

I agree.

I've recently hit a phase where I have no interest in video games… it's quite bizarre. I've lost interest almost completely; I've got Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age which I've barely played sitting here collecting dust. I have no motivation or interest of playing them. I've become a casual gamer, occasionally I'll play a simple and fun SNES sidescroller like Super Mario or Donkey Kong. I even recently replayed Banjo Kazooie and loved it. I wish there were more games like this today, I played some New Super Mario wii with my girlfriend and enjoyed it, and am curious to retry Mario Party 2\. xD

I used to always love playing games like Neverwinter Nights, Company of Heroes, and such but nowadays I've lost interest. In truth though, I reckon I'll enjoy Diablo 3 when it comes out, simple dungeon crawling fun. I wish there were more commercial 2d games though.

[Robin]

I go through huge stages of that, Beau. Recently I've only really played a few sandbox games. It's always fun to attach a car to a helicopter, jump out of the helicopter, grapple on to the car then drop it on some poor old woman.

It's times like this that you realise true classics aren't good because of their latest 3D engines, or their bump-mapping and normal maps and HDR.

It always comes down to gameplay.

[andylee]

> Everything is better when you're a kid.

Perhaps you are true. It is hard for me to accept new things.I got very nostalgic every time I play the game.

[viciousdead]

Perhaps your growing up?  :rolleyes:
I mean I'm losing my interest in gaming as well.  :lipsrsealed:

[shadowchris]

That's cuz you make them boring wit that attitude. " oh holy I just blew this kids head off(with boring voice)
what the heck do you expect?  Nintendo games sucks the way they make them. Ps3 and xbox360 makes it live.

[Dark Crusade]

@Prince:

> Nintendo games sucks the way they make them. Ps3 and xbox360 makes it live.

Lol at your bias. Nintendo games are the only ones I play atm, because they are simple casual fun. <3 Nintendo

[Kusy]

> 3\. The companies pay more attention on making money. They could never make a game really for gaming and fun.

No seriously, does this make any sense at all?

[viciousdead]

@Sir:

> > 3\. The companies pay more attention on making money. They could never make a game really for gaming and fun.
>
> No seriously, does this make any sense at all?

-Trys to understand- -consentrates- No I got nothin.

[Guacamole]

> But when we have plenty of games now,with better graphics

As stated before, all that matters really is gameplay. I couldn't give a shit about graphics.

> and complicated elements

I dunno about you, but last time I played my SNES, I raged so much at Super Mario World… I also recall getting stuck on the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (I understand you're talking about the FCTwin, but it was still a decent game) for days. In my opinion, the games are no longer challenging in the sense of making you think, or use some skill to play the game. Now its just, "Here! Take this automatic weapon and go shoot these 100 people. What? You need a challenge? Ok, how about 200 people?" They've turned a challenge into simply killing more enemies or giving you a weapon that's not as good.

Honestly, because of these things, I have not played console video games much anymore.

[Kusy]

@Guacamole:

> 

Urge to kill… rising.

[Dark Crusade]

@Sir:

> > 3\. The companies pay more attention on making money. They could never make a game really for gaming and fun.
>
> No seriously, does this make any sense at all?

No. How are they going to make a lot of money? By making a good game of cause. Derp.

[yorty]

@Kreator:

> @Sir:
>
> > > 3\. The companies pay more attention on making money. They could never make a game really for gaming and fun.
> >
> > No seriously, does this make any sense at all?
>
> No. How are they going to make a lot of money? By making a good game of cause. Derp.

Yes, heres whats become a generic example: Modern Warfare 2\. Activision is a money whore, and wants your money, not your love.
Oh, and Blizzard.

[azure]

Personally I view all games with even joy. I love every game I've ever played(for the most part) with a furious passion. I play games like tetris and space invader just like I play Jade empire, or Soul calibur 4\. All games (excluding ET) are great in their own little way. (Damn I'm sorry I can't accept ET as a game… at all).

Anyway it is true that only games guaranteed to make money are being made, but in one sense it's better for we the players. :D At least there will be more good games and less bad games. There's nothing like buying or renting a game just to find out it's total crap.

[balliztik1]

@Kreator:

> @Sir:
>
> > > 3\. The companies pay more attention on making money. They could never make a game really for gaming and fun.
> >
> > No seriously, does this make any sense at all?
>
> No. How are they going to make a lot of money? By making a good game of cause. Derp.

Gaming has become so mainstream that they don't even have to put out a lot of effort and make a good game to get sales. Like Yorty mentioned, Modern Warfare 2 was a shortened, highly gutted version of an FPS, yet it still made tons of money. _Farmville_ has more users than World of Warcraft, and Farmville can't even hold a candle to something like Harvest Moon, which came out years and years ago. I tend to agree with the OP that games are getting more about making money and less about making fun gameplay. There's no fun in sitting around, waiting for your crops to grow. Throw on a level system, and now people are grinding boringly just so they'll be a higher level, then have to do it all again, anyway. It's more about restricting the player so much that they feel like they have to spend time playing to have fun, instead of, you know, having fun.

[IceCream Tuesday]

The Farmville example only puts convenience into the matter.
Social Networking site + Semi entertaining time occupier is going to of course SMASH harvest moon, and all of its Expansions.

[cheatking]

Old-school games are better. I wasn't really that into games until lately and I find playing my stepfathers Commodore more fun than the PS3 or Wii.

[java]

I think the real question is… why did the topic start with A Title Like This Comitting Grammatical Murder?

[balliztik1]

@Olliepop#20:

> I think the real question is… why did the topic start with A Title Like This Comitting Grammatical Murder?

Haha, I commented on that to my friend when I saw the topic.

But no, that is not the real question, hence why this is off-topic. Stay on topic, bro.

@IceCream:

> The Farmville example only puts convenience into the matter.
> Social Networking site + Semi entertaining time occupier is going to of course SMASH harvest moon, and all of its Expansions.

I think it's still a legitimate argument. He asked why games aren't fun (or, uhh, as Ollie pointed out, he kind of didn't ask anything…sort of). Farmville is guilty of what can basically be considered marketing exploitation. They make a game, then slap it on a popular site, and even though it's pure rubbish, it becomes one of (if not) the most popular games around. A lot of game companies are doing similar things, to lesser degrees. Gaming has a huge MMO or FPS trend currently, so a lot of companies are pushing out substandard games pf these genres because they know people will buy them. My point is that gaming has become so mainstream, they'll make sales as long as the game is decent, so why would they care if it's entertaining?

Of more recent games, these things fall into 2 basic categories: grind or gimmick. Some games have a LOT of content, pushing people to play more/subscribe longer. These are grind games. The appeal is not that the game is better than others, but that there is more in that game, and there's more competition. It's about who can play the longest to be the best. Whether or not grinding through that is actually fun or just work doesn't really seem to matter much to the developers. Other games tout one feature and expect it to drive a game. Most often seen, this is graphics. Game developers try to constantly improve upon a game series' visuals, which is fine, but that shouldn't be the ultimate driving force to sell games. Either that, or the games are piggybacking on a cultural trend, etc. Sometimes these both happen at once. It's nice that a game might be "the most visually captivating FPS of 2010" or something, but is it even a good game? Some games use both of these concepts, too. Maple Story is a big example of this, I feel. They constantly pushed that they were "a 2D sidescrolling MMO" and such, just to give them that unique factor, but then the game was just a grind.

Once the novelty wears off a game, it should still be able to be considered fun. If, after getting past the graphics, after giving a game a try, you're not having any fun, that's a problem, and many times that is the case with games I've played recently. Old SNES-era games I don't really mind replaying because I always seem to have fun with them. They aren't visually impressive, usually (though many are quite amazing in the pixel art department), but most are captivating and fun, which should be of the greatest importance.

[Kusy]

What annoys me is that "gamers" expect developers to be nonmainstream and charity, and whenever a company makes a move that is oriented on cashcowing - everyone is hatin… And it's just funny. If you don't want your money to be pumped in the machine don't put it in there. Nobody tells you to get the DLCs, to buy the expansions, or premium content. You buy it if you want to.

And let's not discuss companies like Activision shall we?

[chiccora]

lol, that was one of the worst things I have ever read.

Anyways, I hear quite often how game developers only focus on graphics and are only in it to make tons of cash blah blah blah. Games are not as good as they used to be blah blah.

1) When I was a kid with a SNES, my dad used to think THAT system was too complex. He used to play Commodore back in the day.

2) Game developers have always been in it for the money. Although, they wanted to make a product, there were tons of games back in the day that cost quite a bit of coin. For example, when Final Fantasy II came out in North American for SNES (aka FFIV), it was going for $100 U.S! Now, this was back in the early 90's so keep in mind inflation rates.

3) If games are not entertaining nowadays, then why has the game industry being blooming in recent years, with ridiculously high games sales. People obviously find games such as Call of Duty entertaining otherwise they would not be buying these games.

I am still not sure though why the OP posted some random forum persons rant about video games though  :lipsrsealed:

[azure]

chiccora makes a valid point. If the games suck so much then why are they raking in the money? I do believe anything with a good gimmick will sell, but if the game sucks and enough people agree it won't do well. Like the game Bayonetta, It was a raunchy game that had nothing going for it. It didn't sell well. Gun on the other hand had an epic story and great game mechanics, and it was the number one game that year. I agree that like everything else in the world video game development companies(EA) have become soulless corporations, but who are we to complain it's our fault. If you want to change this cruddy pattern just do your research before you buy a game. At least then only the good games will be bought. Honestly I think that's all any of us "real" gamers can do.