Game content: Are we to blame?

I have a serious topic I want to discuss amongst the gaming community. Some of you may not care, and many may even disagree with some of what I have to say. But I think it’s time that we, as a group, have this conversation posted somewhere. So this will be on a few forums. What is the real reason that games over the last few years have been so disappointing to gamers? Is it really the lack of content that we keep hearing about? Glitches? Bugs? Lack of feedback from developers or publishers? Not really. At least in my opinion anyway, but we’ll get to what I think soon.

To understand a bit about me and my time as a gamer I will tell you that I’ve been gaming my entire life, I was raised on video games. I remember when Halo: Combat Evolved came out, I played the SOCOM series all the way through many times and of course, I also played the Spyro and Bandicoot series. Since then, like most gamers, I went through the Halo franchise, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Star Wars, etc. In more recent years many of us went into things like the Division and Destiny, whilst continuing to commit to games like Battlefield, Fallout, and Call of Duty.

Some of these games we like, and some we don’t. We all know how intense game title feuds can be within the gaming community, not to mention the conflicts between PvP and PvE groups. As gamers we play and play, each with our own game that we love more than any other, yet we still sit on forums and complain about them, mainly about content (or the lack of). But is content truly the core issue here? As I said before, I don’t think that’s the case. Now that you know a bit about my gaming experience, I feel that it is fair for me to voice my opinion. What I think, specifically from what I’ve seen and heard from others; is that we as gamers are the core problem. Maybe it’s because of the modern gimme, gimme attitude that society has developed, or maybe it’s due to our inability to focus on a task for longer than 5 minutes. The world has sped up around us, yet gaming has felt like its slowing down. But again, is that really the case?

No. From what I’ve noticed (which is a big part of why games feel so short or simple) is that more gamers spend time looking up walkthroughs and how to guides on google than actually playing through the game and experiencing the challenges. A big part of gaming now is solving riddles and puzzles while in a combat scenario; which is sometimes too much for some people I know, but personally, I love it. I will use Destiny as a reference for this part (as it was my go-to game since its launch).

My clan was dedicated to helping less experienced players go through the raids and end game puzzles of the first Destiny. We started as a close group of real-life friends, over time expanding into an international clan involving gamers from the USA, Canada, and the UK. But looking back to D1, I really start to see how things have changed. We would go into the raids blind, spending hours attempting to learn how they all worked, this is something that we still do today (we don’t look anything up unless we literally can’t solve it after many attempts). Back then as I said though, we would have gamers ask us if we knew the raids and if we could teach it to them. So we would walk them through it, explaining each encounter as we went; letting the new guys and gals learn the mechanics. But then on Destiny 2 when someone would ask us to take them through the raids for the first time, they’d tell us that they’ve seen all the videos and guides on youtube, showing all the easy ways through each encounter, they just needed to get a team to help them through. Same goes for things like finding collectibles or discovering locations and lore. More people use guides to get everything in the first couple of days after a game comes out rather than actually spending an hour each day and searching through a region. Most people would send me links to pages for that kind of stuff, which I still never used. You see the difference though?

Immediately I was able to find why gamers are so desperate for new content, and that is only two examples of a thousand that I could write up. We have become so lazy with wanting to put in the effort for a challenge that we just look up the easiest strategy. This attitude towards gaming is causing an implosion on itself. We as gamers are taking the worst approach to games and then complaining about them later. It really is a sad reality. Is it possible that it’s the streamers and YouTubers that are a big problem here? I wanted to be one of them, I play so many hours in a month that I could do it easily. But then thinking about it, do I really want to feed that source of problems? Racing to post secret areas and new walkthroughs first? Do I want to support the cause of many of our issues in gaming? As it turns out, no. Why would I?

Another reason I feel gamers are the issue is the skipping checkpoints strategy in missions. (Again a Destiny example) In strikes, which are essentially side missions involving a few defend mechanics as you work through a linear route to a boss encounter; players often run passed many of the base level enemies that were supposed to be fought, rushing straight to whichever mechanic held them up for a duration of time. This is a frustrating group of players to get stuck with because of course, they’re usually the ones that run ahead and kill nothing, but then end up dying in a respawn restricted zone alone (which auto restarts the checkpoint even if the rest of the team is still alive). These players are, from what I’ve seen, the ones that complain about the lack of content…which I find absurd. And even if they aren’t always complaining, they are still ruining the fun for those that want to actually enjoy the game. I mean sure, maybe some games do need to buckle down with some new ideas, but it’s unrealistic to complain about content if you’re not playing the content that IS there. Games are meant to be played through, fighting the enemies, using your abilities to have fun and work together. What makes a game good should not be its abundance of content, but rather the amount of time you can spend playing it without losing the fun. I have logged thousands of hours on Destiny, Fallout, Battlefield, etc. Each game I play I commit to, and I have fun even after completing everything. It wasn’t until recently that I, as well as my friends, started to fall into this “more content” trap that gamers have set. I literally even found myself wanting more even though I was happy with what I had. It took a conversation with the clan for us to really realize the spiral of BS that gamers and streamers have been feeding the forums.

Moving on, I will use an example from a new game. Anthem. For most gamers, this was a let-down, which I fully understand. When it was first released in February, it was buggy as all Hell and basically unplayable. Loading times were too long, audio cut out, the servers would crash, etc. All of this is just the core game alone, not even to mention the drama going on within the studio (if anyone read the article about it). Essentially Anthem has been seen and rated as a failed game. Its lack of content is driving players away. But realistically, (as an owner of the game) I don’t get why. Personally, I feel that the story of the game was interesting, maybe lacking a concrete direction they wanted to go for sure, but I loved it. The mechanics feel amazing, the events are fun and new, and the flying is, simply put, next level. No game that I’ve ever played has felt quite as smooth as the combat and flying of Anthem. You feel like a genuine badass ripping around in an Iron man type suit (called a Javelin). The graphics are absolutely stunning and the potential for the games evolution and expansion is infinite. Bioware can literally do a million things with the game they have created, and now that they seem to have some sort of idea on a direction, they can do it successfully. What’s a big part of why I enjoy it over most games right now though? Customization, pure and simple. Changing your armor to look however you want with NO penalty to level or power is something I think all games should have. Being able to colour each part of your armor how you want, making each part metal, cloth, leather or whatever you choose. Even the ability to create your own colours for a truly unique look. This is something that matters a lot to me, as it in itself creates a lot of content. You can spend hours in the forge creating custom suits or grinding to purchase new armor.

We are also way too fast with jumping to conclusions about games. Anthem’s launch was a colossal fail yes, but immediately everyone said the game was the worst they’d ever played, yet it has been thoroughly patched and fixed, making it a truly wonderful experience. Destiny 2 had the same issue with things like the Black armory. Within 1 day of the content release, people were furious that they couldn’t beat the 1^st forge challenge. They were actually mad that the first challenge required a bit of levelling up (Which should only take a few days). On that day, people were in the forums saying it was the worst content ever and Destiny was dead. With 3 more forges, an endgame puzzle, exotic quests and a raid still to come, they had decided that the first day dictated the entirety of the future of the game. How silly is that, honestly? Unfortunately by this point Destiny actually was dying out, but not simply because of the content, I truly believe the community was eating itself alive. The constant feuds between players and the toxicity in the forums was utterly ridiculous, putting me off of the game. That’s when I got into Fallout 76, another game everyone was upset about simply because of issues around launch. The Division 2 had a smooth launch which is why everyone raves about it, yet it is basically the same as the first game. Putting mag after mag of ammo into a single rifleman, bullet sponge the game really, but who am I to judge? It’s simply not my thing. And yes I know most games are like that now, but in sci fi or fantasy, it fits better than a modernish styled game.

Anyways, now I have to ask you as a gamer; what is it that makes games less fun or playable than back in the day? I want to know. Is it really content? Or is it the lack of focus you can have on a single game nowadays? Or maybe the constant potential that keeps getting missed and lack of customization? Please inform me of what it really is that’s dragging the gaming world down because I really want to solve this problem, or at least shed some light on what many gamers might be overlooking.

XBL-ArmagedonActual

Big thing is all the micro transactions/DLC. Also companies like Ubisoft and them basically release the same game every year and people just keep buying it. I'm thinking about investing more into indie games. There is quite a few good ones out there that aren't afraid of trying new things which a lot if AAA titles wont experiment too much for fear of rejection and less sales. I do like a lot of modern games though. I did have a lot of fun playing Red Dead Redemption 2. I don't buy many brand new games though and still go old school for the most part. Good discussion topic man.

What is the real reason that games over the last few years have been so disappointing to gamers?

I think you need to rephrase the wording here dood.

"disappointing for people who are constantly gullible to buy from Ubisoft, Activision, Bethesda Studios and EA like blind sheep" I think is the real cause

The publishers above reek of shady business and only Bethesda is a good one in one aspect, when its not developed in-house (Bethesda is a fine publisher but a terrible developer by 2019 standards).

Had a blast with many games for years and its because I see a stinker from a mile away. One can usually tell with how a game is marketed.

Yes it's the industry's fault be we gamers are to blame. Square-Enix won't make a crap like Left Alive if they know that no one wants to buy it. Instead it sold like hot cakes anyway despite having bad reviews. Electronic Arts won't forced Bioware into making a multiplayer-only game like Anthem if they knew it going to be a disaster. Activision may not going to publish any more Call of Duty games if gamers boycotted it after Modern Warfare. The list could go on.

Singleplayer games are better then ever however MP games these days are garbage tainted by microstractions/lootboxes for me MP gaming is ruined forever I don't see the greed going away ever. Also on a subjective note MP games where better back in the day especially on PC you had strong communities that would make mods,maps, and have scrims. These day most MP gaming you are not allowed to mod I'm looking at you Battlefield the magic is gone at least for me the golden era of Multiplayer games are over thanks to greedy publishers that just make these games to squeeze every penny out of you.

Sitting here playing the awesome multiplayer game Monster Hunter: World with tons of free DLC. . .

Splatoon 2 is also awesome despite Nintendos online being pretty garbage.

But no, let's assume games like Anthem and Battlefield/front are the only multiplayer games worth mention. . Despite selling less than the above two.

I mean honestly. .

I said it was subjective.

@warmblur: That was a different part of your paragraph, and seemed to have been a different aspect of multiplayer interest. In some regards I agree past multiplayer games are great compared to many modern counter parts.

But assuming they're all bad lootbox garbage is the same as stating all modern single player games also suck; because 'hypothetically' they're all QTE cinematic games with no gameplay to someone being irrational.

I can't defend MP gaming today I'm glad you can enjoy them but to me honestly I was only really into old school FPS MP games the last great one being Battlefield 2 but that's just me. As for singleplayer games QTE's don't bother me as much as they do for other people. I just see Multiplayer games as cash grabs these days GaaS really are the worst and COD of course. MP gaming is just not for me anymore the old days before COD4 ruined everything is gone that game tainted the FPS market with it's DLC and shallow gameplay and now the industry is even worst because of it. I'm sure there are some games that maybe they don't try to sell you stuff but those seem like a rarity these days the damage is done for me.

@warmblur: Not sure if you are misunderstanding.

The case I was making was throwing every game in the same boat. It's not a practical way to think.

I'm very much in agreement with disliking multiplayer games with lootboxes or a service model, but not all games do that.

I'm sure there are some games that maybe they don't try to sell you stuff but those seem like a rarity these days

I've probably noticed it less than you have because those shilling developers/ publishers never interested me. EA and Activision have long been after our wallets even before the likes of Modern Warfare.

MP games the last great one being Battlefield 2

All opinions dood, I was always more of a Quake player myself when it came to competitive shooters in 2005. If you're simply fatigued and long for a simpler time that's very different, can even relate with some franchises/ developers.

To me, it's unfinished games (looking at Anthem for example), overpriced season passes/DLC & gaming community's toxicity. In short, everybody (publishers, developers & video game community) is the blame for why today's video games being the way it is.

OP, you have to understand the online environment in cooperative play. For years, particularly on PC, there has been this mentality of "i shouldn't have to teach you how to do this; you should know before you join the group." People get kicked from groups all the time because they haven't watched the video and very few players are willing to take the time to explain mechanics to players, creating an environment where people are not willing to admit ignorance for fear of being denied a chance to play and sent back to the queue. Overtime this has a deleterious effect on the playerbase, leading to fewer players engaging group and endgame content, which means players moving on to other games faster. Devs can't make people on the internet nicer, so to address this unwanted turnover, instead they've altered their games, making them more "accessible," particularly for people who don't come into a game with an established group of friends with which to play.

There's also the "Burger King" mentality amongst gamers out there - a reference to the paper crowns they used to hand out to toddlers in Burger King. A lot of younger gamers have this mentality of "I showed up; where's my reward?" So if they're not hitting the level cap or getting the best loot, or reaching the top of the leader boards within an hour of sitting down, the game sucks. Gone are the days of Everquest where your level was an actual achievement - it showed you put the work in. There is no "putting the work in" anymore, because kids are royalty, my daddy told me so, gimmee my loot. Enter accessibility, and now you have max level MMO characters within the first week.

The combined demand of instant gratification and streamlining content around the innate anti-social behaviors of the internet has led to a complete inability for developers to deliver content that sustains player numbers. Either we're making it work for the solo player or we're making it work for the kid that has to be the best right away, and so there's not enough meat on the bone for people that long to invest in a game the way they did a decade or two ago. You can't make content robust while making it doable for one person and you can't make content last if your playerbase insists on being at the end right at the beginning.

This is part of the reason you're seeing moves towards horizontal progression (Guild Wars 2, Torchlight 3, etc) over the traditional vertical progression style employed by games like Destiny, Anthem, the Division and most PC MMOs. It's a moving away from the concept of "levels" and "power" to the concept of in-game, long term accomplishments. The idea is that you give people the best gear and levels fairly quickly and without too much hassle, but you build content around mechanics and reward items based on achievement within that content. One of the greatest examples of this is Legendary items in Guild Wars which will not make you any more powerful but require you to engage every last piece of the game in order to create one. It's a symbol that basically says "been there, done that." It's not perfect, but ideas like this have kept GW2 relevant (was among the most active player bases last year), six years into its release into a very saturated MMO genre where most games fail within a couple years.

I just read this part, sowwy..

Games being worse today has to do with a lot of different reasons. Main reason is possibly that games are way more mainstream now. When something becomes mainstream, it also becomes worse, since instead of focusing on what it's good at, it'll change to focus on everything to suit everyone in order to get the most sales. That makes the game not stand out in any real way. Look at Ubisoft's games which have all been the same with the same formula for years. Look at the highly popular Destiny. The game didn't bring anything new to the FPS genre, and what it does many games before it did better. They just found a way to milk people out of money while doing minimal effort with game development. Look at Spiderman, which is basically an Assassin's Creed / Batman Arkham series clone with Spiderman. Nothing new, but sold like butter. It's like half the game is already done before they've even started development.

Today developers also like to get paid by things that were free in older games, such as new characters, costumes, weapons, even fucking colors. In older games, you unlocked these things by playing the game you bought. Now you unlock things by playing the game you bought, plus buying the characters, costumes, weapons, etc. on top of the price for the game. This makes me just ignore all games that do that. Other people, however, don't. So I see no reason why developers would stop selling games for full price and then sell digital items on top of that, when there are so many people that are ok with paying 2-300 dollars for a videogame.

Many great games are still being released without this shit, though. These are mostly indie games, but I'm fine with that since the indie scene has grown into a beast these past few years. It's just way harder to find good games today since there's so much shit you have to filter. Review websites does nothing to help with finding the good games, as the shitty games get great scores as well as long as they have paid the website enough to get a great score.

In the past, developers battled eachother by trying to outdo eachother with better games. Today the focus is on who can come up with the smartest (sleaziest) way to milk people of money.

I know this is going to sound like "holier than thou" assholery, but I'm actually being serious: I don't play disappointing games.

Ok, sometimes I do despite my best efforts. But I can count the crap I've played from the last 10 or 15 years on my fingers.

I don't pre-order. I don't day-1 buy. I don't buy games because they are "AAAomg". I don't buy games just because they are in sale. I don't care who the publisher is, or if there even is one.

There are great games coming out constantly. I save my money, read about them, finish the games I already own, and buy the games I legitimately KNOW I want. And this has almost never, in over 30 years of gaming, let me down.

I realize Halo is now, in fact, an old game, but when you've been playing since the 80s, you've seen a thing or two, and believe me, there has always been utter tripe to play. Buckets of it. If we discriminate with how we spend our money, disappointment will be rare

Gonna have to disagree with you their, at least depending on genre.

FPS when down the pan last gen, and even when,was no where near the quality of 90/2000 shooters.

Specific IP's like Starwars use to have some incredible single player games in the 90's and early 2000's, since Disney and EA took over, it's them just thinking of a cow to milk in the most cynical manner possible.

For me its the toxicity of the communities. I rarely play online for this reason because it is just so unapproachable. I also avoid games that are reusing the same open world mechanic, too much collectibles again and again, which is why I burned out playing Skyrim. It just feels so recycled to me. I still play it, but the game keeps on crashing. It must be a really big game.