How often do you buy/play games?

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1304 posts

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#554992 7-Dec-2011 13:46

beaverusiv: What do you guys reckon the slowdown is because of?

I used to play an insane amount when I was at Uni, but that was because we would all get together in a small dorm room and play Dungeon Siege or Age of Empires II. Nowadays, my friends that I used to LAN with have moved abroad (pretty much all of them in Aus) so my gaming has been a single player affair. It's not as fun when you don't have anyone to enjoy your hobby with.

My LAN gaming stopped when everyone got so busy with their lives it became impossible to co-ordinate times to play. Since I prefer single-player for most games (and won't play multiplayer online - no interest) it means the sociability element has gone but nevertheless, I still love gaming.

Greatest single cause of the slowdown for me is the lack of good single-player RPG's. RPG's have morphed more into FPS or action and away from immersion into great stories. Coinciding with this is the tendency for game studios to develop games for console then port them to PC. This makes for dumbed-down games with poor controls and graphics that are just so-so.

Games were much better when they were first developed for PC then dumbed down for the console market

Studios also seem to want to focus on instant gratification. Almost gone are the days when a game could almost drive you nuts with its challenges and leave you with an enormous sense of satisfaction as you met the challenge. It's almost as if they don't believe people can strategise, plan, and think things through. I know I'm not the teenage-boy-hack-and-slash-and-get-through-a-game-in-two-hours market.

garvani

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#554995 7-Dec-2011 13:50

Feign ignorance at those games? Unfortunately if you want to play ANY decent games your going to have to change your attitude towards Steam/Games for Windows/EA Origin, because they all use one of the mentioned utilities. I have all three installed and have purchased games through all three, they all have ran from day 1 without a problem, not 1 single issue (apart from origin and the BF3 standard/limited edition fiasco). Steam had a bad reputation when it launched quite a few years ago where it was very unstable and unusable, but since then it has become the largest digital distributor, and i cant say ive heard of anyone with a problem lately.
What do you mean about to much work? Create an account on the website, download the client, sign in, done! Purchasing a game through steam is a 1 minute process too. You should take another look at it if you havn't in the last few years!

garvani

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#554999 7-Dec-2011 13:53

Elpie: SNIP:

Studios also seem to want to focus on instant gratification. Almost gone are the days when a game could almost drive you nuts with its challenges and leave you with an enormous sense of satisfaction as you met the challenge. It's almost as if they don't believe people can strategise, plan, and think things through. I know I'm not the teenage-boy-hack-and-slash-and-get-through-a-game-in-two-hours market.

I dont know if you have seen this video, but it pretty much sums up what your saying!

Hammerer

2476 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#555006 7-Dec-2011 14:07

Elpie:
beaverusiv: What do you guys reckon the slowdown is because of?

Greatest single cause of the slowdown for me is the lack of good single-player RPG's. RPG's have morphed more into FPS or action and away from immersion into great stories. Coinciding with this is the tendency for game studios to develop games for console then port them to PC. This makes for dumbed-down games with poor controls and graphics that are just so-so.

Games were much better when they were first developed for PC then dumbed down for the console market

Studios also seem to want to focus on instant gratification. Almost gone are the days when a game could almost drive you nuts with its challenges and leave you with an enormous sense of satisfaction as you met the challenge. It's almost as if they don't believe people can strategise, plan, and think things through. I know I'm not the teenage-boy-hack-and-slash-and-get-through-a-game-in-two-hours market.

I've observed the same. But I think that with people in general having a shorter attention span the game makers are often meeting the market.

My kids spend ages on RPGs - they're giving Skyrim a good run at the moment - and spend a lot of time in online/LAN parties.

I like dumbed down as I play when I'm unwell. It takes my mind off the discomfort/pain but I can't cope with complex challenges. I have played 80 hours in a week but most of the time not at all. I don't buy them anymore because my kids are old enough to buy them for me. My kids get annoyed, and I deliberately do it, because I play one game at a time, usually not the one they're playing, and usually not the game mode they prefer - it gives them something to moan about.

The games I like to play are usually major upgrades of an initial release or the first expansion pack. The bugs are worked out and the game-play improved.

beaverusiv

49 posts

Geek

#555008 7-Dec-2011 14:12

@garvani: I was saying hard work to remove said programs from your games, I have Steam now and all it requires is some cursing and telling it to stop updating my games.

As I mentioned the last game I bought was in 2009. I might not even get Diablo III, but after that I will stick to my current collection. No more purchases.

I'm with Elpie, RPGs these days just don't work the brain as much as they used to. I lament the simplification of levelling systems... how are you supposed to replay when you can't really choose anything different?

@Hammerer: I love patches if you can regress... Diablo II can be a completely different game depending on what version you play. 1.03, 1.07. 1.08, 1.09D, 1.10, 1.13... awesome times.

bLuNt

19 posts

Geek

#555977 9-Dec-2011 16:01

Not sure why all the hate towards Steam?

beaverusiv

49 posts

Geek

#556016 9-Dec-2011 17:44

I don't want to rely on anything to play my games. I still play Diablo & Diablo II. How screwed would I be if they relied on a connection to Battle.net? Or Age of Empires? Or the old SNES games I emulate?

I also don't like installing stuff I don't want (GFW Live, those crappy 'download managers' some sites have, crap that comes with printer/phone/webcam/mouse/keyboard drivers).

Steam isn't too bad, but that doesn't mean it's good. That's my reasoning, can't talk for everyone.

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Behodar

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#556018 9-Dec-2011 17:45

beaverusiv: Steam isn't too bad, but that doesn't mean it's good.

And in 20 years' time it may not exist. What happens if you want to play your paid-for games then?

beaverusiv

49 posts

Geek

#556022 9-Dec-2011 17:49

The worst part would be when you don't have a physical copy, then you can't even try to bypass Steam. Nowadays, with digital distribution, you're paying to rent the game for as long as the company wants you to.

PS: Just to remind people, I do buy things via DD and Steam, just wish there was a different way.

Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

#556181 9-Dec-2011 23:46

I have lost count at how many games I have gone through over the years but it would be in the 100's. I started gaming back around 1988-89.

Elpie

1304 posts

Uber Geek

#556401 10-Dec-2011 16:36

Drool: Not sure why all the hate towards Steam?

I don't "hate" Steam, I just don't want it on my PC. I don't see why playing a single-player game should need to use up my bandwidth. Nor do I accept that playing a game that I purchase the rights to play should necessitate any company knowing my personal details, including credit card or other payment data.

I don't want online backups, nor do I want social features, ability to upload screenshots or any of the other palaver. Steam uses its own DRM - how am I supposed to know if this will always be benign or if it will conflict in some way with other software on my system? I can't.

Digital distribution is fine, IF online activation/veritification functions don't interfere with game play. And IF personal data is minimal, securely stored, and able to be removed upon request (I like some semblance of privacy). And IF patches/updates etc are able to be fully managed to avoid untimely loss of bandwidth allocations. So far, none of the DD services meet my needs so I prefer to do without.

At least with a CD and license key you can keep playing games for as long as the hardware supports them. If a DD service decides to close down, or if a games studio removes a game from the service, you are outa luck and have no recourse - the license is only allowing you to play the game through their service and they dictate what you get access to.

I've got games here that are 20 years old. It's nice looking at the boxes and knowing I can play them at any time - even when my Net connection is down.

Ragnor

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#556763 12-Dec-2011 04:08

Behodar:
beaverusiv: Steam isn't too bad, but that doesn't mean it's good.

And in 20 years' time it may not exist. What happens if you want to play your paid-for games then?

Mostly likely if that happened and no one else took over the service then the DRM etc will be cracked by the community and the games will be available on abandonware sites just like early DOS, Windows, Amiga, Arcade and C64 games are now.

I think there will probably always be a market for "good old games"
http://www.gog.com/

Also for Steam, many of the points you mentioned don't appear to be valid, eg:

- You can opt out of updates for many games on a per game basis.

- You don't have to store a credit card, you can do one off top ups for credit like pre pay.

- Most games you still get a CD/serial key, you can view these and copy them to elsewhere if you believe will go out of business.

Me... I don't have a dvd/cd drive in my computer and don't intend too. Nor do I care much for physical boxes.

Unfortunately for you I'm afraid you are in the minority the convenience and pricing of Steam is compelling for the majority who are voting with their wallet and purchasing via Steam.

beaverusiv

49 posts

Geek

#556806 12-Dec-2011 09:48

Yup. It doesn't bother me too much as I don't see many games coming out that cater to me anyway, so I'm probably going to be an old-time gamer and keep with my current collection.

I know people complain on the Internet (Anonymity ftw), but as you said, people vote with their wallet and unless people backup their words with boycotts nothing will happen. I am reminded of CoD:MW2 or something, where there was a 'boycott MW2' Steam group. Guess what? Almost all of them were playing it day 1. lol.

garvani

1873 posts

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#556813 12-Dec-2011 10:03

Command and Conqueror Generals 2 has just been announced, as a PC exclusive! on the frostbite 2 engine no less.. I take it all back, i will happily shell out for this when it arrives (as long as it does the C&C name justice!)

Teaser Trailer with ingame footage

Also being an EA game, no dice unless you have origin installed!!

beaverusiv

49 posts

Geek

#556816 12-Dec-2011 10:09

I would LOVE another Generals game, but not getting excited until I see gameplay (and that means via demo or someone playing it right in front of me).

I just watched the trailer for the new Transformers game. Looks great! Will have to try get a friend to buy it.

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