I think it's a matter of aging. Stuff loses excitement after you've been around it for so many years.

Though it does seem now, a computer is a computer whereas in the 70s, 80s and 90s, computers were more diverse and went through significant changes every few years.

The current state of the PC gaming industry has taken a toll. Just because you bought something doesn't mean you own it any more. Now it's like you've rented a game and need permission each time you want to install or play it.

Developers are focusing on online experiences over single player. DLC is often something that was taken out of the main game so to charge a little extra for it. Unlocking achievements is something that takes the player out of the experience when gaming was once about immersion.

I have to say that computing has become less fun now that it is no longer personal.

20 years ago kids were playing ball in elementary school classes that declared everyone was a winner. Birthday invitations had to be passed to all or none. If a kid was Jewish, no classroom Christmas party! We were taught we're all special no matter what and that self esteem is way more important than practical skill.

Now, thanks to this, you can't get good service at Taco Bell because the prick behind the counter has this mentality that he gets paid the same if he does a decent job or not, video games are about achievements, and a department store simply won't make a sale if the customer isn't convinced the item is normally higher priced.

However, I think on computing, this mentality has had impact but that's not what killed the excitement. Just like then, now, some games are good and some aren't. Facebook and Myspace and other "me" sites flourish but you don't have to be a part of them and it's not like they've taken away your favorite fish and chips fan site.

If anything, I think the biggest impact would be a simple lack of compelling, new ideas and a general loss of passion. Computers have simply become an appliance much like the television or stereo system.

As one of the few people still actively pursuing "shareware" game development, I can safely say that the times have changed dramatically, but then this is something that happens with every generation really. No doubt, 20 years from now the people of the current generation will look back and think that things have changed for the worse from what they have now.

About the only constant that has been and always shall be epic is classical music. :P

I still focus on selling my software without Steam and XBLM and other online game services because I feel that so long as my software is good, and I don't attach strings, people will spend money on it. I don't make many sales, but the fact that I make any at all is hopeful and puts me steps above even some people who use those additional services.

For me, I'm going to stick with nostalgia. The world of gaming has changed too much for me to really get back into the full force of it, so I'm going to continue to focus on the aspects and ages of games and game making that mean the most to me and see where I end up. :)

Short answer: NO!

Seems like all the games now are much like canned soup, easy, quick and boring. Seems all we get now are FPS games, which all feel the same, some are just placed in outer space instead some war on earth... Where are the new and wacky ideas? Games nowadays take your imagination, beat it dead with an axe and show you a nice semi interactive movie, why is that? Money can´t be the only reason, I would buy a lot more games if they all weren´t the same stuff in different pacage... Of course there are a few good new games, but almost all of them independently made.

I guess it depends on your perspective.

I started really programming on an old commodore 64 - I got really good at assembly language. Back then you could buy magazines with type-in programs.

Then I moved into PCs. Programming-wise, it takes 10 times as much work to do the same thing. Magazines like PC magazine didn't have type-in programs, but they were filled with hints and tips for making things work better.

Now - what can I say. The computer magazines are like comic books.

Seems like the trend has been towards being less and less hobby and enthusiast-oriented. Used to be one person could make a contribution. Now it takes a group of programmers years to make a game.

And it has been more and more towards control - with all the product activation and online delivery. They're trying their best to sell everybody on this cloud computing model - which will turn the PC back into a terminal.

I have lost interest in some aspects of computing but found new areas. Same with video and computer games. I do wish some genres would come back but they would just not be the same anyway I fear. And I also know that my interests are different from 10-20 yrs ago regardless of nostalgia coloring things.

Getting all ultra jaded is too easy. You just need to ignore the media and do whatever you like. Like play Master of Orion in DosBox on your modded Android tablet 🤣

I liked the old shooters being very fast paced AND original. Playing modern day shooters to me is like playing in slow motion -_-.

Yes in olden times things were much better... This will always be true for every generation of old farts.
When you reached a certain age, accumulated a certain amount of experience/knowledge, you will find yourself saying something like "years ago this used to be much better".
Get over it and instead of thinking of old times, enjoyt he new ones... 😉

Tetrium wrote:

I liked the old shooters being very fast paced AND original. Playing modern day shooters to me is like playing in slow motion -_-.

Oh boo hoo. Quake Live is waiting for you. Beware, the insanely good players are still there. 😉

I am woefully out of date on games - the last one I played was unreal 2!
(Basically I refused to buy windows XP)

ncmark wrote:

I am woefully out of date on games - the last one I played was unreal 2!
(Basically I refused to buy windows XP)

Are you sure that it wasn't Unreal 2 that killed gaming for you? 🤣

I thought it was okay - but definitely not as good as the original

I think Halo is what killed gaming for me. Though at no fault to the game as it was pretty good; the fans made me hate it. When it was popular, I'd hear so much and have it thrown so much in my face by the end of each school day, when I got home and saw the xBox sitting in my living room, I wanted to punch it. Talk about a game people couldn't shut up about.

Fan boys do for good games what Trekkies did to Star Trek.

I would love to play half-life 2 or even doom 3, but I don't have the system nor do I want to spend the money for one.

Dominus wrote:

Yes in olden times things were much better... This will always be true for every generation of old farts.
When you reached a certain age, accumulated a certain amount of experience/knowledge, you will find yourself saying something like "years ago this used to be much better".
Get over it and instead of thinking of old times, enjoy he new ones... 😉

Exactly 😀

If I want to play some old game, I just go ahead and play an old game!
I wouldn't want to live in my old days (only 1 rig...ugh!!. And no internet for me back then! Dial up!!! Horrors abundant in the old days.)

I know theres still games around like Quake and such, but I don't like the stupid steam thingies that often come with them. I wouldn't want to live in the old days, seriously. The only thing I kinda miss is being able to find tossed 486 systems on the streets 😁

One thing with "nostalgic memories" is that the mind hangs on to the good memories, but forgets the bad ones.

Not everything "just worked" back in the day, and the general feeling amongst consumers was pure confusion when they wanted to purchase a computer. Not to mention a lot of shonky computer shops who sold you overclocked gear or Cyrix machines, telling you they are "just as good" as the stuff from Intel.

Hardware got out of date much much faster than now. You supa dupa single speed CD-Rom, soon was too slow for the latest games. Not to mention just how much progress there was in regards to processing power, memory and storage capacity.

It felt like a black hole, sucking on your wallet.

These days, gamers complain about internet activation or using GFW, back in my days it was all about finding the most annoying copy protection. Wing Commander was quite full-on, asking you to pull out the blue prints and look up technical specifications. Some had a whole booklet, a wheel or were printed on dark brown paper, so it was hard to copy, but also very hard to read and some came with a red thingy to look through.

IMO that was heaps more annoying than having to (once) activate a game online...

Installation times of games was another issue. I mean these days it doesn't take long to install a game, maybe to download it, but back in the day you had no choice but to purchase a physical copy. When it was out of stock (this happened very often), well too bad...

Wing Commander 2 came on a bunch of floppies and then had to uncompress some files. It took quite some time and (back in those days) filled up almost a third of your harddrive 🤣

Or Monkey Island 2 on the Amiga with 11 floppy discs 😵

I wouldn't want to miss the free development environments and endless documentation the Internet gives nowadays. Back then you could only buy books, and as a pupil without own income this would have been rather limited.

Gaming for me has become quite jaded these days... Years ago I used to buy games and literally couldn't wait to play them! But now i buy them, play them and i'm like 'meh'... I can't even be bothered to complete some games and still have quite a few that i've never even opened (bought them in sales etc...).

These days a game needs to be very different (original) and look very interesting to really catch my attention. The only new game i'm waiting for now is Deus Ex Human Revolution.