Difficulty Curve? Attention Spans changing?

[oxymoron]

This kinda pertains to this topic cause i'm on the younger side. Is it just me, or is Journey To Silius hard as hell? Idk if it's cause I've been pampered with regenerating health and crap tons of check points for most my gaming life or it's just hard all around?

[oxymoron]

No, I totally understand that. Truth is, I play Online Multiplayer games as well. If its something you genuinly enjoy its not a waste of money. Its a waste of money to the thousands (millions?) of people who play it ONLY because a website/commercial/magazine said it was good. I can attest to personally knowing many people who admit they dont really like it but they play it because thats THE online game to play.

I play Borderlands 2. I waited outside for hours to get it, and Ive probably put in at least 1000 hours on it. I play it online multiplayer. BUT, the fact is I genuinly love that game. Its probably my favorite modern game of the past 5 years. Someday, when they stop supporting Online Multiplayer on it, I could still happily play single player on it. Its a good enough game to me, that even if/when Borderlands 3 comes out, I will still play Borderlands 2, because the single player is still a good game.

Im not arguing against COD, honestly Im not. Im arguing the fact that COD is purportedly this uber game, and it gets undeserved popularity. I think all games are good in there own right. If thats what you like so be it, but when so many young players are blinded by media BS that suddenly crap games are good and good games are lame, there is a problem.

I think COD is a type of game breed from the new generation. Multiplayer Online is sort of becoming it's own genre. With internet being available in most home and the fact that we LOVE to compete with our friends, it's the perfect time for it to become a genre. That said, i think you should judge in that perspective.
Also a majority of the consumers for COD are casuals. I don't mean it in a degrading term either. I mean people who just want to play with their buddy's or a pick up and play. This game is perfect for that. It's easy to learn, has simple gameplay mechanics and match's are fairly short. So for them its worth well over $60.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Just speaking from experience introducing peers or casual-gamer adults to retro:

I think the main issue is that players raised on modern games do not learn from their mistakes, and they never consciously try to improve their skills. While they are more complex to control, most new games are very forgiving towards mistakes and their challenges are easy to overcome. Even if they're very smart in solving problems they're used to dealing with, they don't apply their skills to video games immediately. They don't pay close attention to what is going on, and usually give up before they've gathered enough information to win.

When introduced to an old-fashioned game, that type of player will often become frustrated trying the same thing over and over again. It's not just for games that control poorly or are designed to make you cautious - something easier like Mega Man or Super Mario Bros is often too much for them.

Because of my habits, I'm usually able to catch up to a friend who has been playing a game much longer than me. Well, in fighting games, rhythm, racers, strategy, and such. In a game where level memorization is key, it would obviously take longer. I don't think I'm particularly talented, just that these habits are important to learn. My neighbor beats me at all the games we've been playing together since childhood.

This applies to all of my friends who didn't grow up playing retro games. I've never met anyone who learned to love them later.

tl;dr - Most teen gamers are quitters who don't know how to adapt.

[oxymoron]

Just speaking from experience introducing peers or casual-gamer adults to retro:

I think the main issue is that players raised on modern games do not learn from their mistakes, and they never consciously try to improve their skills. While they are more complex to control, most new games are very forgiving towards mistakes and their challenges are easy to overcome. Even if they're very smart in solving problems they're used to dealing with, they don't apply their skills to video games immediately. They don't pay close attention to what is going on, and usually give up before they've gathered enough information to win.

When introduced to an old-fashioned game, that type of player will often become frustrated trying the same thing over and over again. It's not just for games that control poorly or are designed to make you cautious - something easier like Mega Man or Super Mario Bros is often too much for them.

Because of my habits, I'm usually able to catch up to a friend who has been playing a game much longer than me. Well, in fighting games, rhythm, racers, strategy, and such. In a game where level memorization is key, it would obviously take longer. I don't think I'm particularly talented, just that these habits are important to learn. My neighbor beats me at all the games we've been playing together since childhood.

This applies to all of my friends who didn't grow up playing retro games. I've never met anyone who learned to love them later.

tl;dr - Most teen gamers are quitters who don't know how to adapt.

I feel you. I'm trying to make the transition from modern to retro. Your spot of with the frustration. You might laugh but at times Super Mario makes me want to blast myself. It doesn't seem like it's going to be easy for a while but I think I'll be around for the long run. For some reason I feel more comfortable and at home with the retro community vs the modern even though i didn't grow up with things like the NES and Genesis. One think i can say for sure is that I don't miss all the try-hard's and MLG's. To sum it up, i do think the attention span and difficulty curve is a BIG problem in today's gamer. I mean on the PS3 i could pick up literally any title and know for a fact that i'm going to beat it, versus here i really have to research if this it's in my league.

[isiolia]

I think COD is a type of game breed from the new generation. Multiplayer Online is sort of becoming it's own genre. With internet being available in most home and the fact that we LOVE to compete with our friends, it's the perfect time for it to become a genre. That said, i think you should judge in that perspective.
Also a majority of the consumers for COD are casuals. I don't mean it in a degrading term either. I mean people who just want to play with their buddy's or a pick up and play. This game is perfect for that. It's easy to learn, has simple gameplay mechanics and match's are fairly short. So for them its worth well over $60.

Online multiplayer is hardly new. For consoles, sure, it's something that really only took off this generation. FPS with a focus on online/multiplayer on the PC go back to the late 90s though. 1999 saw both Quake III and Unreal Tournament that chose to eschew the traditional single player campaign entirely to focus on multiplayer modes (also the release of the Counter-Strike mod) - and they did it because many FPS games had already seen a lot of popularity for multiplayer. Almost since the genre was really a thing.

Many great games fall under "easy to learn, hard to master". I can guarantee you my brothers and I sucked at Street Fighter II back in the day (objectively, I still suck at it ). That didn't keep it from being fun, and it also didn't mean the game lacked depth for better players.

[PinkPanzer]

Games are generally easier now, back in the day games like contra and ghouls n ghosts gave new meaning to throwing your system at your tv

Heck i think beating a game like contra without the konami code is more impressive than usain bolts 100m world records or Michael phelps 8 gold medals in 2008

[TheGregzilla]

Well, Im glad to see at least some of you get what Im saying. Its kinda funny because just last night somebody irl actually said something that reminded me of this thread, drove me nuts. I was meeting somebody new, and we got to talking about hobbies etc. I said I loved video games, later on they brought up COD as a game they liked, I mentioned that I dont play it...and i was met with "Oh, I thought you liked video games." This conversation quickly went south when I tried to explain games I liked. Anything older than PS2 had 'crappy graphics' and he seemed to have a 'newer equivelant' for every game I liked. Its just a really annoying way for people to think.

I can also agree I dont really like the idea of hardcore gamers. I don't agree with the notion of no casual gamers though. This is about how I think of it usually..

uber casual- Minesweeper,Solitaire

semi casual- People who only play cell phone games.

Casual- This is probably 80% of console gamers. Generally has only the current gen systems, plays one or two games at a time, a few hours or less a day.

Video game enthusiast- Somebody who plays a mixture of old and new games. Probably most of racketboy.

Video game fanatic- Somebody who is completely obsessed with gaming. 'That guy' that has facts about what seems like 'every game ever' memorized. Plays the most obscure titles.


Its not perfect, Its just a generality of how Ive always approached it in my head.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Games are generally easier now, back in the day games like contra and ghouls n ghosts gave new meaning to throwing your system at your tv

Heck i think beating a game like contra without the konami code is more impressive than usain bolts 100m world records or Michael phelps 8 gold medals in 2008

I don't think so. Besides having natural ability, you'd have to dedicate your whole life to a sport before you can excel like that. A 1CC on Contra is extremely difficult, for sure, but it wouldn't require you to make it a full time job!

few hours or less a day.

I guess I'm a casual too then.

[fastbilly1]

Games are easier since they are no longer made to suck your quarters away. Games like Contra, Gauntlet, and Ghouls and Ghost were made to suck away your money (Gauntlet drops your health as you play and health = money). So yeah, newer games are easier since they are focusing on people playing the game instead of trying to suck their money away at every step of the way. Is this bad? No. It is just different.

And 1ccing Contra is not that difficult, it just takes time to learn the patterns and know when to swap them up. While the common baddies spawn randomly, they have set AI routines they follow as soon as they spawn and as long as you know how that works you can make it through without too much trouble. Heck Ive beaten the game twice on 1cc, though the best I have seen is over ten without dying. But that guy is just insane.

[ZenErik]

Same. Few hours or less is average for me. Guess I'm not hardcore enough in my old age.