Are modern gamers getting worse at video games?

[Blitz 'n Burst]

I used to make fun of my nephew for being terrible at any of my games I let him play. Platformers, fighters, RPGs, etc. I would beat him at any game we would play unless he somehow got lucky. I thought he was utterly terrible at video games and didn't take him seriously when he gave any excuses

 

Then he challenged me to a game of CoD and completely owned my ass

Edited October 27, 2013 by Blitz 'n Burst

[Candescence]

Concerning the whole CoD thing, most of CoD's audience is composed of people who play CoD, Madden and maybe Halo, and literally nothing else. In other words, most of the people who buy CoD are fratboys, which was something that was pretty obvious to begin with.

 

I think much of what could have been said has already been said. The problem is, the mechanics of modern games and the controllers involved are becoming increasingly more complex. That's why motion controls caught on so successfully this generation, they enabled control schemes that incorporated natural movements. 'Hardcore gamers' will rage at motion controls, but they're one of the few control methods that actually make it easier for 'casual gamers' and 'non-gamers' to actually understand a game's controls without having to rehearse upwards of ten buttons. That's kind of a big deal.

 

The same thing applies to touch controls, which utilizes natural finger movements. And you wonder why Angry Birds was so successful - the control scheme is incredibly simple to understand and yet requires precision in order to master (doesn't excuse that it's essentially  glorified flash game and a shameless clone of Crush the Castle, but still). The problem with touch controls on their own, especially on smartphones, is that they are terrible for anything more complex.

 

Gamers can adapt to simpler button controls, even up to the SNES gamepad, perhaps, but... Then I recall the miiverse posts about people getting stuck on the opening stage of Mega Man X1, a stage outright designed to teach the mechanics without the need for a tutorial, and I lose all hope in humanity.

[Chaos Incarnate]

I don't like judging the modern gaming community as a whole, since no one has the exact same taste in games, but it seems like everyone I'm surrounded by at school plays nothing but COD, Battlefield, Halo, and other FPS's. There's nothing wrong with that, as I myself am fond of Halo, Left 4 Dead 2, and the campaigns of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games. Speaking as a Modern gamer myself, I'm very bad at games and usually play on Easy mode if there's a difficulty select. I admit  people that only play games like COD are very skilled at them, even though the fanbase gets on my nerves a lot of the time. That's fine if you want to go around bragging about how skilled you are in COD, but don't go around dismissing other people's tastes in games. A lot of modern gamers like to ridicule me for playing games like Sonic the Hedgehog, which I don't understand.

[Sami]

The people who only play Call of Duty now are no better than the people who only played DDR back in the early 2000's, who are no better than the people who only play Madden, who are no better than the people who only play Angry Birds.

 

The kids who love games and devote their time to gaming as much as we did back in the day will be just as good as we are. It's a matter of investment of time and how much you care, not what era you were born in.

[GreatAndPowerful]

Here’s how I see it: Longtime gamers have had more experience with games. The ones that grew up with them had an easier time learning the controls due to simpler--but not necessarily easier--gameplay and less buttons on the controllers. They have had the time to adjust to the various changes that the gaming industry has gone through over the years. Today’s newer gamers may be used to games they play on their iPhones and iPads and could be confused when suddenly thrown into a world that requires a lot of button presses. This could also apply to people who have not played video games for a long time, or ever, and are out-of-the-loop with today’s games. This is why I think today’s games should have detailed tutorials that get newer gamers used to how to play and what to expect. Perhaps make them skippable for the more experienced. Although, that could cause problems for those who skip it just because they don’t want to sit through it or think that they are good enough to jump straight into the game when they actually need the help. Making games easy to grasp while still having a deep gameplay experience can help ease newcomers into the “loop” while keeping the older generation satisfied.

 

Another thing is difficulty settings. While I think it’s a rather cheap way to address the situation, it can still provide a solution where both experienced and inexperienced gamers can play through the game at a challenge level that’s right for them.

[Solkia]

It's kind of pretentious to assume all modern gamers have the same skill set. Or old school gamers for that matter. Hell, I'm 22 years old and I suck so hard that I can't get past World 2 in SMB.

 

Some are better at shooters.

 

Some are better at platformers.

 

Some are better at fighters.

 

Hell, some are even better at retro games.

 

Besides, assuming we're talking about the younger audience, did you have an easy time with games like Mega Man when you were a kid? I doubt it.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Solkia

[Candescence]

Besides, assuming we're talking about the younger audience, did you have an easy time with games like Mega Man when you were a kid? I doubt it.

Yeah, but even I didn't get stuck on the intro level.

[Chaos Warp]

It's not that they are worse, but I think gamers these days expect the mechanics of the game to be outright told to them in a tutorial, which is why they struggle with a game with an intro stage naturally designed to teach the mechanics without outright telling you, like Mega Man X (see stupid kid Miiverse postings) because they can't grasp the concept of experimenting with the controls. There are only so many button combos...........

[Solkia]

Yeah, but even I didn't get stuck on the intro level.

 

I'm not sure I follow. Only 7 and 8 have intro levels. I was refering to 1 or 2.

[Wraith]

It's not that they are worse, but I think gamers these days expect the mechanics of the game to be outright told to them in a tutorial, which is why they struggle with a game with an intro stage naturally designed to teach the mechanics without outright telling you, like Mega Man X (see stupid kid Miiverse postings) because they can't grasp the concept of experimenting with the controls. There are only so many button combos...........

 

The control schemes are WAY more complex now. Having the controls outright told to them makes sense.

[Solkia]

It's not that they are worse, but I think gamers these days expect the mechanics of the game to be outright told to them in a tutorial, which is why they struggle with a game with an intro stage naturally designed to teach the mechanics without outright telling you, like Mega Man X (see stupid kid Miiverse postings) because they can't grasp the concept of experimenting with the controls. There are only so many button combos...........

 

Do we even know how old that kid was?

 

Being an ass to a 6 year old isn't going to help him get any better.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Solkia

[Tara]

I suppose now is a bad time to mention that upon my first playthrough of Mega Man X, I thought the intro stage was pretty difficult.  Getting used to the feel of the controls and understanding how the game works takes a little more time to understand than others.  Granted, once you did get it down, it was pretty much effortless, but I still think that the intro stage can provide a decent level of challenge, which in my opinion is one thing that makes the game so great.

[MegasonicZX]

Looking at this discussion it gives me this evil idea to make everybody try out god hand on the easiest difficulty setting (which is still pretty darn hard) huehuehue...just kidding.

 

On a more serious note: I agree with the fact that most of the gamers today probably aren't as keen to hooking onto new things that aren't what they are used to and yeah even when I was a kid it was kind of hard to teach people that played the sports games and other things how to play stuff like crash team racing with me (to this day no one I know can beat me at it) but it honestly  doesn't bother me much if at all. Though I will admit, it does become really hard to find somebody to play some multiplayer on anything that isn't a shooter/simulation racing/sports game.

[Chaos Warp]

The control schemes are WAY more complex now. Having the controls outright told to them makes sense.

True, but there's a point where you don't need to be told how to do things that only require one button to preform, or very basic things like fucking moving around with the left stick, yet modern gamers expect to be. Things that require more then one button/input to perform: at that point  I feel it needs to be taught blatantly in a tutorial. Because anything that only takes one button to preform, can just be found out through experimentation and the game subtly teaching you, ala Mega Man X. 

Do we even know how old that kid was?

 

Being an ass to a 6 year old isn't going to help him get any better.

I wasn't targeting one specific kid, I was just saying in general how many stupid Miiverse posting are made in regards to Mega Man X by kids. I apologize if it came across that way.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Ghostly Warp

[Kuzu]

It might help if didn't call then "stupid"

[Chaos Warp]

It might help if didn't call then "stupid"

Fine. Does "Really bad at games" better suit your fancy?

[Celestia]

I kinda feel like this is a massive generalization, for one. Plus, I highly doubt most older gamers these days were experts when they were like, five years old, or even ten. Keep in mind that you might be looking through a nostalgia filter when you go "Hey, I never had problems with that game, why is this kid on the internet I've never met not blazing through it within a few hours?!??"

 

That being said. What's so offensive about kids--or, hell, players of all ages--"not being good at games" or mostly being focused on one series? Does it really matter? Does it effect older gamers' lives in any way, shape, or form? I can't say seeing a kid fail at Sonic Adventure 2 (a very important game for my childhood, mind you) would make me upset. If anything I'd try and give 'em tips and stuff. Same with much older games, for that matter. It's just such a weird thing to be up in arms about.

 

Hell, I still suck at games! But I have fun with them. That's kind of the point. I wouldn't want anyone to be turned off of gaming entirely because some jerks on the internet are snickering at their Miiverse posts or because they mostly play CoD.

 

Ugh. This topic baffles me whenever it comes up in conversation.

Edited October 28, 2013 by ElementofChaos

[Nepenthe]

That being said. What's so offensive about kids--or, hell, players of all ages--"not being good at games" or mostly being focused on one series? Does it really matter? Does it effect older gamers' lives in any way, shape, or form?

 

I feel like there's this exaggerated ideal of the older gamer as being some diligent hero with an amazing work ethic while modern gamers are lazy, slackjawed idiots, based only on the output of the developers during these two time periods and not any real confirmed or acknowledged belief on part of the gamers themselves. Basically, it's misplaced nostalgia and anger at the success of games people don't like, and somehow this has led to a complete dissonance in terms of how we view games and those who play them.

 

For instance, I've never seen a group of people willing to despise Skyward Sword's hand-holding, note that most people despised SS's hand-holding, even people who liked the game, read that even Aonuma himself thought that sometimes he made Zelda games easier to the detriment of the game, and then go on to say that this is what most gamers want anyway and continually chastise them as idiotic morons who can't tie their own shoes. It's almost like a weird self-internalization or something, and to be honest it's kind of annoying and disgusting, again as someone who plays these games.

 

It also completely ignores the success of a lot of the indie games on the market today: you know, those face-smashingly difficult puzzlers and platformers like Hexagon and Super Meat Boy that we all download and love on so much. It's difficult to explain the success of those games in an environment that I'm supposed to believe is just brimming with nothing but horrible gamers.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Necropenthe

[Jet Prower]

As think someone mentioned before, some of this goes into games we don't like being so popular these days and then these kids acting like total jerks to anyone that doesn't play that game and only that game. This is a theme that seems to be coming from a lot of the "gamers" , not younger or older, that play these FPS games. We always hear about these people that play these games that just do nothing but trash talk and play only these games and then pick on the people at school and such that don't play only these games. It is almost like CoD, and Halo and other FPS games are becoming associated with the games the bullies and popular kids play. Thus, they get a bad reputation with other kinds of people, because that fanbase now has the reputation attached to it that alot of the players are jerks and not good people. Yet, a lot of the time, this is true. I played some online Halo at a friends house long ago, it wasn't a pleasant experience. These people are all like gods at these games and do nothing by trash talk all the time.

 

Same thing with modern and older gamers, is I'm not too sure some gamers are mad at the gamer generations, is that they are mad at the hand holding these newer games keep wanting to hand out. When the older games were a lot of the WTF do I do, until you start getting to the snes and n64 era games, and now the games flat out tell you where to go with no way to explore and figure things out without the game just telling you, can you blame people for thinking newer gamers aren't that smart or good at games now?

 

A lot of this just comes down to reputations, perceptions, and other things like that. At least, that's how I see it.

[Nepenthe]

In my personal experience however, I have literally never come across a person in my entire public or private schooling career, in general social situations that include gaming, or even conventions, who is this so-called FPS fratboy who does nothing but play shooters, hates every other gaming genre, and lacks common decency to his fellow man. In all my years, I've never found this mysterious stereotype in any way, shape, or form. And all of the people who I know personally who subscribe to a shooter of some sort actually play other games in different genres; with the exception of my dad, but he's a 50 year old man who has no time for the petty politics of gamers.

 

Thus, I wonder how proliferate these specific FPS fanboys actually are, whether they're really some virulent scourge or a general boogeyman to help solidify the hate for the popularity of FPS games. It very well may be a little bit from both columns, but even then, this perception has gotten to the point that Sonic fans have given me infinitely more shit for admitting I play CoD, than CoD fans have given me for admitting I play Sonic! So if I were to go just on my basic experiences of interacting with the two groups, I would much rather play an online round of a shooting game- any shooting game- than hang with Sonic fans and all of their drama. =/

[Solkia]

I actually hear it's more common in the UK then the US, though I can't personally confirm that.

[Salamander]

Complexity and difficulty are not the same thing.  In addition, like simplicity and ease, they are not inherently good, either.  But aside from that, has anyone brought up the argument that "Modern consumers have so many demands on their time and attention that anything not immediately accessible or satisfying isn't worth the time investment"?  I think there's some truth to that.

[Nepenthe]

Media saturation and convergence does help explain why games have become easier or what-have-you, but I don't agree that more difficult experiences aren't universally worth the time needed to invest in them versus other forms of more disposable entertainment. I think that makes the mistake of assuming that the desire to be entertained means everyone will settle for everything that is merely entertaining. However, everyone has unique limits and desires that are dependent upon what they intend to get out of the media they consume, hence why content creation and advertising are a constant struggle. There is no magic formula or anything.

[Candescence]

In my personal experience however, I have literally never come across a person in my entire public or private schooling career, in general social situations that include gaming, or even conventions, who is this so-called FPS fratboy who does nothing but play shooters, hates every other gaming genre, and lacks common decency to his fellow man. In all my years, I've never found this mysterious stereotype in any way, shape, or form. And all of the people who I know personally who subscribe to a shooter of some sort actually play other games in different genres; with the exception of my dad, but he's a 50 year old man who has no time for the petty politics of gamers.

 

Thus, I wonder how proliferate these specific FPS fanboys actually are, whether they're really some virulent scourge or a general boogeyman to help solidify the hate for the popularity of FPS games. It very well may be a little bit from both columns, but even then, this perception has gotten to the point that Sonic fans have given me infinitely more shit for admitting I play CoD, than CoD fans have given me for admitting I play Sonic! So if I were to go just on my basic experiences of interacting with the two groups, I would much rather play an online round of a shooting game- any shooting game- than hang with Sonic fans and all of their drama. =/

To be absolutely fair, there has to be some kind of audience out there that plays CoD and little else, because most other publishers have been trying to chase after the CoD money after the Modern Warfare series inexplicably became a megahit, and all of them have failed miserably, especially Capcom, who jumped right in and broke their neck. Unfortunately, after the first Modern Warfare, the series' single-player campaigns went all-out with style over substance to the point where they're derided as being about as stagnant as the New Super Mario Bros. games. Fratboys are mainly one big guess at best.

 

Still, I won't disparage you for enjoying CoD, that's your preference. I'd still say there's far better shooters out there, though.

[Tornado]

In my personal experience however, I have literally never come across a person in my entire public or private schooling career, in general social situations that include gaming, or even conventions, who is this so-called FPS fratboy who does nothing but play shooters, hates every other gaming genre, and lacks common decency to his fellow man. In all my years, I've never found this mysterious stereotype in any way, shape, or form.

 

I have. He even drove a Wrangler. It was hilarious.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, gamers are definitely getting worse at videogames. I can't play Genesis-era titles for shit compared to how well I could 10 years ago. Especially the Ecco games.