"Modern Gaming", or at least this generation of it has to be the worst generation of video games I have ever lived through (I started at the tail end of the 2nd console generation, and really got hooked with the 3rd). Yes, the games are "prettier" but at the expense of nearly everything else. This maybe a bit disjointed, but the following are a collection of thoughts as to why this generation of gaming is terrible:
Anti-Consumer Practices
- DRM - There are many forms of this, and all of them bad. It is supposed to hurt pirates in theory, but in the end it only hurts the consumer.
- Online Passes/company specific sign-ups, Day 1 DLC, Pre-order "bonuses" - All of this is to prevent "used games" as if it were a problem.
DLC
- Yes, it can sometimes be used for good, to "grow" a game, but rarely is it used as such. Mainly it is used as a vehicle to nickle-and-dime consumers into spending more on a game then the original asking price by cutting content from the original game. Yes, some is simply "superfluous" products, like costumes and such, but much is not. Rmemeber when things like that used to be included in the game you bought and you "unlocked" it through game-play, at no extra cost!
- It is being used to fuel Day 1 sales and preorders, again by cutting content from the original game, only to sell it to you when you buy the game, or to offer it as a "bonus" if you buy the game new to prevent re-selling.
- Being used to sell Collector's Editions.
- How about remembering games years down the road?
Digital Distribution
- Why does it cost as much if not more money to get my game without a "physical copy" as it does to go to the local shop and pick it up?
- This is being used as a form of control. What happens when the company goes belly up? Will I still be able to get the game? We have already seen examples of product that was already purchased being pulled from online "stores" so that you can't get them anymore.
- This is also tied closely with:
Online Connectivity
- I have to be online to play a single-player game?
- If their server pukes, I can't play the game!
- "Updating" the game no longer becomes an option, and particularly sucks if it removes features.
- Patches not being used to fix the game, but rather just to attempt to curb piracy
Multiplayer
- I have no problem with multiplayer in general, just how it is being implemented in the current generation. Local multiplayer is almost dead (that of the split-screen or local hot-seat style of play), mainly being moved to the "Online multiplayer" option or the "Everybody needs to own a copy of the game so we can sell more of them" mentality, at the cost of the social aspect.
- Multiplayer being shoehorned into almost every game, when it has no need to be there, other than to "capture" an audience, and for what? For the servers to become a ghost town when the next big thing is released? Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted, Mass Effect, Bioshock - all examples of games that did not need multiplayer and yet had it implemented in order to capture the "Call of Duty" crowd. If I wanted a multiplayer shooter I would play a game that was designed for such!
- On the flip side, not encouraging multiplayer of a different sort or offering options for gameplay. I want to play through campaigns with a partner both online or split screen. How about split screen actually being optimized for gameplay on these new-fangled high definition televisions that we all have now! Why does split screen still suck?!
Pricing
- How come every new release is priced like a Ferrari? What I mean is why is every game priced at the highest end they can charge especially when most games are not worth it? Why do people buy used, or trade in games to get others? Because of the price!
- This is tied to the digital versions being out of whack with reality as well.
- Boxed games are coming with less and less content. I remember when games had manuals and stories within their cases, maps and such. Nowadays, those are being relegated to "Collector's Editions" with behind the scenes DVDs that are often short and vague, as well as some useless nick-nack that doesn't really add anything, like a crappily made figurine or a coin or some such. and then being sold for inflated prices.
- Games coming with less and less content only to sell it to you later as DLC, inflating the price of an already inflated game.
Unfinished Games
- Games are released before they are finished and "patched" later. Maybe. Dependant on sales.
- Games that aren't tested enough for bugs, or the bugs are ignored, deemed "not important".
- Content being withheld or "sketched out" only to "flesh-out" and sell later as DLC.
- Games being short story-wise, but the "padded" with "side quests" or "time sinks" just to lengthen it without having to add actual content.
Lowest Common Denominator
- Games being made for stupid people! Games are being designed as if the developers are afraid that someone will fail.
- Games being made for consoles when they are on the PC. Skyrim's UI is a perfect example of lazy good-for-nothing developers.
- Linearity being over-emphasized in almost everything.
- Little risk or innovation being taken by anyone.
I remember thinking that the advantages to being online could be huge, that companies could innovate and grow this industry into something amazing with it.
That sports titles need not release every year, that you could pay for a "roster update" and just download those stat changes for a token fee in whatever sport game you have. That these roster updates could be "selectable" so you could choose to play the "2012" version of the Jets, or the "1983" version.
That DLC could continue on for years on a title, keeping it alive for a long time rather than releasing more and more incremental sequels that don't change much. This DLC would be moderately priced and selectable, so you can get the thing with the parts you liked, or the whole shebang if you were so inclined, essentially replacing the need for expansion packs as well. Where are my new map packs for Resistance 1? Or how about new add-ons for Smackdown vs Raw 2008?
That games would continue to be tested before launch and bug fixed, but if on the off chance that something did make it through that bug could be caught and fixed right away, that there would be no more game-stopping bugs.
Boy was I wrong. This is why I hope that the "gaming industry" crashes and burns again. Maybe then they will learn, because it's obvious by their actions that they haven't yet.