Every once in a while, I am often asked why I don’t delve into modern video gaming stuff. Whether it’d be playing the current games, following the current trends, or just trying to keep up with all the current happenings in the modern video gaming scene, there seems to be the occasional inquiry about why I lean more towards classic/retro/vintage/ancient video games from decades ago.
It typically boils down to two things:
A) I prefer the older shit. Not just with video games, but a lot of entertainment media in general, whether it’d be movies, comics, television, or whatnot.
B) I genuinely, honestly don’t give a shit about the current scene.
A lot of point B stems from a lack of interest in what’s available on the market that’s considered the standard offering. Your so-called AAA offerings that are high in production values, marketing bollocks, and other such things. A lot of that stuff simply doesn’t interest me enough to fork over money and on the few occasions that I do dive into the modern scene, it’s only for a fleeting moment before I go back to something old and ancient that keeps my attention for a little longer.
But another part of point B also stems from the fact that… well, let’s be honest. The current gaming scene is a bit of a mess… and I’m not sure that I’d want to be part of that in any way, shape, or form.
Now, let’s be fair here. The only way to truly wash one’s hands of this business is to ditch it altogether and I don’t think I’m at that point. I don’t hate the current scene enough that I’m going to ditch it entirely. I do own a Switch, I do plan on getting the next Nintendo console if it’s worth a damn, and I may even invest in a new Playstation or Xbox console if it proves worth my while. And while I’m largely disinterested in the modern gaming scene as a whole, I do occasionally check the news (or what passes as news these days) to see if there’s anything that may or may not pique my interest. If I find something, cool, there’s something to look forward… and then you wonder if it’s going to be any good or if they’ll find some way to fuck it up.
It’s part of the reason why I’m not a fan of pre-orders, especially in the digital age. In the past, pre-ordering meant you had your physical media copy (be it a game disc, movie DVD, etc.) reserved so that when it was released, you can either pick it up from the store or it would be mailed over to you. This way, if a certain thing is a hot seller, you’re very likely to get a copy before stock is completely sold out and there’s a waiting period… that was the general idea. But with the digital storefronts, you’re downloading this media onto your storage device (PC, game console, etc.) and thus there are no limited copies of games. Nothing is sold out or out of stock because there is no stock to be had; just a piece of code that can be downloaded many, many, many times until the server that hosts said code is gone.
Pre-ordering in this day and age means nothing. There’s nothing to be gained by pre-ordering a game now when you can just wait until it releases. So these companies decide to introduce incentives; a minor discount here, perhaps a bonus piece of content there, or sometimes you’d get early access before everyone else. It’s a neat little trick used to incentive gamers into jumping the gun in their purchasing habits. I mean, you could wait until release date and let word of mouth dictate whether you spend money on this thing, but if you do a pre-order, you get an exclusive hat for your avatar.
Yippee.
Of course, when it comes to the early adopters who pre-order these things or buy them on release day, they assume another role that is often unadvertised; unpaid guinea pigs and test subjects. Oftentimes, games released are riddled with bugs, glitches, and missing features. In the past, games had to be as close to perfect as possible before they were printed to media because that was the game that would last for all time on your disc or cartridge. Sometimes, games would be delayed due to last minute changes or bug fixes. This resulted in giving the player a freshly polished game right out of the box.
But nowadays, whenever you buy a game on release day, more often than not, you’re left with a game that is often half-baked… and sometimes, even THAT is being generous. Now granted, there’s no wrong with post-release patches. Patches can be used to fix things that were either discovered late in the game or after the fact. Sometimes, they can be used for general improvements. Patches like these are fine, but patches to fix things that should have been fixed before release is really pushing it. And when word comes out that these things were released unfinished, the general consensus seems to be “Well, wait it out for a bit and they’ll eventually fix it.”
I cannot and will not subscribe to that notion, primarily because there is never a guarantee that a game shipped in such a shoddy state will eventually be fixed. Trust me; if I buy something on day one and it doesn’t work, I’m not waiting for someone to fix it. I’m returning it for a refund. This attitude of waiting for the game that just got released to be finished via patches is not only encouraging this sort of stupid behavior, but actually rewards it. The only time I’d be fine with this is when something is in Early Access – a state on Steam where a game is released while still in development, allowing player to play and provide feedback for the developers to fix things. Early Access is the two little words that advertises that the product you’re purchasing is a work in progress – buy at your own risk. And so if this is going to be the case for everything, might as well call it Early Access for everything.
What’s being said here is nothing that you, the typical video game player, don’t already know. This isn’t unearthing trade secrets. This is common knowledge. Chances are there’s a gaming trend you disliked. One of two things happened. Either you went along with it and accepted it because if that’s what you needed to enjoy the newest games, so be it… OR you resisted the urge, went for games that didn’t support these practices, but eventually, sooner or later, this trend became a fact of light and your only options were to either accept it or quit the hobby altogether. Pre-orders, games tied to storefronts like Steam or Epic Games Stores, unfinished game releases with “promises” of future fixes that may or may not be fulfilled. And then there’s the idea of storefronts taking away the games you purchased because they’re no longer licensed and that money you spent on said game is gone and never coming back.
“Well, let’s go buy physical! Physical is still da king (or queen or whatever)!”
Physical games in this day and age are a joke. Bad enough that physical releases are often barebone affairs – cover art, a couple screen shots and quick blurbs with lots of tiny text that tell you nothing about the game… oh, and also no instruction booklet to tell you how to play the game… sometimes, they’ll just sell you an empty box with a piece of paper containing a download code, so you’re not even getting a game in that case. But then you have companies who will make an announcement that they’re creating physical packages with collector’s editions and all that jazz, but only while supplies last and for a limited time.
And once you’ve got your pre-order in, you’ll have to wait MONTHS or even YEARS before your physical package finally arrives… all the while everyone else bought their game off the digital storefront and have been enjoying this all this time, along with the three or four DLC packs released along the way that your spiffy physical package lacks. And if you want those wonderful things, you’ll have to buy them digitally because nobody is updated those carts or discs with that extra content. So, yeah, sure, go ahead and buy that physical copy of a potentially incomplete game where the first thing that’ll happen when you pop in your disc or game cart is that the game will download a patch to upgrade your game up to whatever version is available. And then when that server goes out, those physical discs and carts will contain the original, bugged versions… or even worse, the incomplete versions with missing stuff.
Stuff like this is what irritates me about modern gaming… and the reality is that things will get worse. New stupid trends will be a thing, the hardcore gaming community will cry foul, and then they’ll just go along with it because they need to support the devs or something… no. No, you don’t. You don’t need to support the devs with your patronage as if it’s your civic duty. It’s not. You should be supporting the devs if they’re producing stuff you enjoy. And if they develop something that you don’t care for, then don’t bother with it. Nobody’s feelings will get hurt. You’re not a charity for these developers. You’re not giving them free money. They have to earn it. If you don’t like something, then don’t support it. Don’t promote it. Just move on to something else.
This whole thing feels like I’m blaming the gaming community for letting these go the way they did and to be fair, there is some minor blame to be had here. This isn’t out of malice and let’s be honest; I’m not exactly blemish-free here, either; I’ve resisted the whole Steam thing for years; preferring to get my digital goods from GOG.com (DRM-free and you can download the install files as well as other assorted extras, allowing you to create your own physical media of sorts.) Eventually, it got to a point where the games I wanted to play were only going to be available on Steam, so I jumped on that ship. I’m not going to say that I regret it. I don’t. I’m not thrilled with the whole DRM/always online aspect of Steam, but it’s an unfortunately necessary evil to enjoy some games that I wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise… and that’s part of the reason why we put up with this shit.
Because at the end of the day, it should be all about the games.
I know people would prefer that I talk about drama… but that would imply that I follow drama. I don’t. The closest thing to drama ’round these parts was during the whole angry internet reviewer phase in the 2010s, but that was mostly for shits and giggles. The current drama in gaming seems much more sinister in comparison and while I roll my eyes whenever someone tosses the word “toxic” to describe a portion of the online discourse, in that regard, I could think of no other word that perfectly incapsulates that atmosphere… but that has more to do with social media and anything involving social media is automatically awful.
That’s why I make Youtube videos about old games. That’s why I mostly stick with Youtube channels talking about old games. That’s why I have a blog talking about stuff that don’t matter in whatever political climate exists. That’s why I’ve completely lost track of what I’m trying to say here.
And that’s when it hit me… what am I trying to say in all this madness?
The name of this piece is “My Disenchantment With Modern Video Gaming” and that’s pretty much what this whole thing is about… but I also said that modern gaming didn’t interest me, even though I dabble in it. That ties back to the first point; I prefer the old shit. On my Switch, I’ve got digital compilations released over the years; your Legacy Collections, Anniversary Collections, compilations of classic games from years past. My PS2/Xbox/Gamecube collection has a sizable number of classic game compilations, including those from Midway, Capcom, and Taito. A good chunk of said collection are consoles and games from the 80s and early 90s. Hell, even recently, I’ve started into collecting Famicom titles, which I didn’t think was possible… and I’m doing it through eBay; another thing that I’ve long resisted in the past.
I’ve got plenty of old gaming shit to keep me busy. And there’s a lot of it that I’ve yet to experience. That’s the stuff that gets me excited. The modern stuff… eh, I can take it or leave it. I enjoy some of it, but it mostly annoys me.
dtm666 