I’m sure some of you will want to reply to this post and say “don’t you really mean single player games are dying ?” While that’s partially true I think there is more to it than that.
Games use to made with world building in mind. Characters , stories arcs maybe in some cases a message to share. Games did this with a combination of a story and a single player campaign to get you acquainted and a multiplayer component to keep you coming back. Yes in many cases multiplayer was just tacked on but in many cases it added value and further established world building. In the end you’ve at least experienced a cool story.
To me these days most games are made in service of a battle pass or an excuse to release a permanent “early access game”
Oh look a new battle royal survivor game with the unique twist of combining other games mechanics into one. You can play with your friends ! You can farm things and make things ! Does making these things really move any needle in any significant way? Does the farming open up new locations and enemies to fight ? Or better yet special story moments ? Most of The time nope. And the worst of times you just get a shiny new hat!
I see little value in investing time into another game when I can see bar move another 3 percent. I understand there a social aspects but I’d argue the games do little for them and those social aspects can be had without the game to begin with. Or everyone playing their own game. To me all you’re doing is killing time with yet another run of the mill game.
I’d like to see a resurgence of games made with a singular intent and purpose. In service of telling a story and building a world. And seeing profits come in from there. No battle pass no service …
No nothing was ever perfect and there was always junk games. To me now it just feels like it’s getting worse.
Any way I’ll go back into my retirement home now and stop yelling at that cloud…
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1970s: Space Invaders comes out with deep, story-driven world building
1980s: Super Mario Bros comes out with deep, story-driven world building
1990s: Mortal Kombat comes out with deep, story-driven world building
2000s: Counterstrike comes out with deep, story-driven world building
2010s: Minecraft comes out with deep, story-driven world building (this one is funny because you dig deep and build worlds)
2020s: There are no good games that really build a world with a good story! Definitely not Elden Ring, BG3, Ghosts of Tsushima, DOS2, Clair Obscura, etc…
Obscure *
They are not “most games”. They might be most games you’re aware of, because those games spend the most money on marketing. The type of game you want is downright abundant, and even some of the games you’re ranting about have more substance than you give them credit for, though they may not be your cup of tea.
From last year, check out Split Fiction, The Alters, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (it has a season pass, but you can take it or leave it), Dispatch, or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. From this year, I can recommend Escape from Ever After first-hand, and I’ve got plenty on my radar that I hear good things about.
4 good games doesn’t make up for 500 other absolute trash ones.
I did say it was a hot take didn’t I ?
You’re not playing 500 games per year. Realistically, you’re playing a dozen or so if you’re a real enthusiast. Focus on the ones you like, support them with your time and money, and the market makes more of them. There are so many good games coming out in a year that I can’t keep up with them; I’ve got a spreadsheet and something resembling an Agile planning methodology to get through them more efficiently, and I still don’t have a chance of playing everything that looks good. Hardly any of those have any microtransactions (I definitely don’t buy them in the ones that do), and none of them waste my time.
Hot take: This post belongs in unpopular opinion. While I don’t agree. You’re entitled to your opinion. If you’re enjoying spent time I don’t think it’s wasted. If you enjoy sitting for hours waiting for fish, even though I think it’s a waste of time, it’s time well spent for the one spending it.
This sums it up perfectly. No point arguing about the objectivity of something that is subjective
Hotter take. ALL games are designed to waste time.
Games use to made with world building in mind. Characters , stories arcs maybe in some cases a message to share.
My first videogame console was an Atari 2600, there wasn’t even a single thing of your list in any game there
Do you still play those games? A lot?
No, very sporadically, then the nostalgia hits me hard enough. I was just ponting that maybe your nostalgia is kinda skewing your viewpoint too.
Is every leisure activity not just wasting time if viewed through this lens?
There was a big boom in games based on movies during the 80’s, 90s, and 00’s. The majority of them were likely a waste of time. For every Goldeneye 007, there were several E.T.'s. (OK, maybe not that bad)
Metaprogression is the same, in many cases. You don’t advance because your skill is increasing or because you’ve accomplished anything, it’s essentially “you’ve played for x amount of time, we’re going to create the illusion of progression by allowing you to upgrade your stats”
Yes. Games like “Oregon Trail” or “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” are probably a thing of the past.
I look at the Death Stranding games as a modern Oregon Trail.
I think you’re right. The pure percentage of shovelware that is just designed to show ads, collect revenue, and suck time is higher than ever before. There’s less money in blockbuster games from major studios, too - I think - and they’re trying to sell subscriptions and loot boxes.
You could also take it a step further and say “all games are just tech demos”
Like all they exist to do is proof-of-concept type stuff showing off what people can do, instead of making a piece of entertainment for the people.
At PAX 2017, I was disappointed by the overwhelming number of battle royale games. There were a handful of games that stood out for story or in-person party play, but the biggest booths were all for MMOs and battle royale games.
I’ve long said that MMO games are so common because storytelling and world-building are hard. Also, Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is shit.
I’m guessing the downvotes are because people fail to see or deliberately ignore the generalization. Of course there are stellar story-driven, single player games still coming out, but 90% shit is to be expected.
My only shred of disagreement here (more of a qualification) is time-wasting. Of course games are for sucking down time. It’s one of the circuses in “Bread and Circuses.” But the same applies to novels, hobbies, and lush green lawns. :D
Another qualification I’ll add: I think we’re just getting more of everything with better coverage and more ubiquitous advertising, so it’s easier to see the shit games. It’s easier than ever to build a game, so of course the tide of garbage rises. But so do the standouts, unfortunately in roughly equal proportions. :D There have some great story-driven games recently as one other commenter noted. For me, “The Expanse,” “Cyberpunk,” and “Become Human” leap to mind (yes, I’m a very late adopter). Two of those are basically visual novels with choices, but the stories hit hard and get into complex moral and social issues.
When you’re ready, I’ll be out on the retirement home patio with a cold one waitin’ for ya. We’ll gripe about it some more.
I’m glad a few people are willing to see through specifics and look at the outright trends. And you are right algorithms and current social media make certain things more apparent then others.
But my general point still stands, it feels like there is more garbage than there has ever been before.
As for the wasting time, I see people are taking this too literally. I’m taking about (subjective) worth for putting time and money into a game. I feel like the ratio of value to time in modern games has drastically gone out of balance at least for me personally.
Yeah it’s a shame how hard lemmy shredded you. The trends are apparent to anyone who has been around for a while
Care to give few examples of what games irk you?
Really any “service” games. Or for that matter any game that’s just looking to copy the newest hottest MP trend.
Yeah. I think you have some kind of frequency illusion situation going on.
Like many have pointed allready there has been many great single player games relased in few past years.
