Top 8 Things I’ve Learned from Last Generation’s Video Games
I love the video games! I’ve grown up with them for most of my life. This past generation was the longest one in video game history. Video games have woven their way into my writing and I’ve learned a lot from them.
8. OPEN WORLD GAMING
Open world gaming has exploded this past generation. When I was a kid, we all talked about how great it would be to explore some of the video games we were playing. The closest we got were The Legend of Zelda and Metroid. Unfortunately, what I’ve learned from having a huge sandbox is that I hate it.
Stories in video games are sorely lacking, but being able to wander about to do pretty much anything feels boring to me. There’s no climax or tension because I can get to it at my leisure. I can also level up with all the side quests and get some badass equipment before I rush off to fight the boss or dungeon thereby making those fights extremely easy.
And with worlds being so big and having so many things to do, rarely do people ever finish the game.
7. NOT FINISHING GAMES
When I was younger, I wish I had more video games. I didn’t so I’d have to play the same game over and over again. I got really good at the ones I owned. It probably helped that games were a lot tougher back then than they are now. I would also trade and borrow games from my friends. Of course, with me having less time then back in the day, I know I can’t finish games.
I hate having unread books or comics, unwatched TV shows or movies, or unplayed games. Unless they’re bad, I want to finish them. I try to take the games one at a time and only borrow or buy them when I’m ready, but even now, I have a backlog of games. Why get games if I can’t finish them?
6. NO NEED TO SPEND $60
When I first heard how console games were going to cost $60, I remember thinking it was a ripoff and that I would never pay $60 for a game. Luckily, I have friends that work in the industry so that’s been mostly true. Of course, what I didn’t think was that companies and stores themselves would train you to not spend $60 on a game.
The older I get, the less time I have to play video games. Something about growing up and having a lot more responsibilities. These days 8-10 hours is the sweet spot. Anything longer and the game will sit on my shelf. If it does that, I will hate the fact that I just wasted $60 on a game.
Price drops were inevitable but the rate at which they happen today is amazing. Two to four weeks and the game will drop to $40. If it’s a game that hadn’t sold well, it could drop even sooner or less. After a month, it could be part of some buy X, get X free deal. If you wait even longer, companies will bundle games and downloadable content into one complete game into a Game of the Year Edition.
5. GAMES ARE EASIER
They used to throw you into a game and beyond the instructions telling you how to play, you didn’t know what you could do. That may be why we spent a lot of time smashing crates and rummaging through bookshelves. These days, they give you tutorials, spell things out on the screen, brighten areas, or have an AI yell at you. They also save the game every two minutes so you can go back to where you were.
Of course, replaying old games is harder because we’ve gotten used to how easy they are these days. Or we’re just old or we suck. Probably both.
4. DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
I both love and hate downloadable content. On the one hand, being able to continually play a game I enjoy is great. I don’t have to let it sit on the shelf after I’m done with it and can continue to immerse myself in the world. On the other hand, it seems that more frequently, downloadable content is used to have people buy stuff that should have already been in the game.
I like the idea behind it, but as more companies sell an incomplete game for $60, I’m slowly going against it. It’s just a way of milking more money out of consumers.
3. MICRO-TRANSACTIONS
Speaking of milking money, as bad as downloadable content can get, sometimes it’s good and is even free. Micro-transactions ALWAYS costs you money. A lot of these games you’ll see on the iOS where you have to pay money if you want to recharge to attack more than once a day or get more gems. While I don’t understand the less than 2% of people that pay money for these transactions, they make up a significant portion of the company’s profits. And that just validates the company releasing more games like this.
2. FIRST-ADOPTERS
I have never been much of a first adopter. Maybe it’s because I’ve been poor most of my life. Maybe it’s because I’ve never felt the need to have the shiny new toy right away.
The problem with consoles and most electronics, is you never know if the system will work correctly. For some strange reason, instead of putting out a perfect product, they rush it out and patch it later. However, the biggest reason to not buy an early console is that there will be price drops and deals.
Now, there’s always been price drops and deals, but the previous generations were a little different. You’d get a price drop and a game, maybe an extra controller. The redesigns of smaller models didn’t come until way later. However, if you wait long enough, you’ll get those smaller models and even a different color.
1. DOWNLOADABLE GAMES
The reason I bought an X-Box 360 was because of the game Castle Crashers. It was then I learned that on the Xbox Live Arcade there’s a slew of great games, most of them were under $10. No longer did I need to get $60 games with their micro-transactions and downloadable content. I could now get awesome complete games that had the same spirit of the video games I grew up playing.
I also think those cheaper, downloadable only games saved the video game industry. A lot of indie developers came up with some awesome games and didn’t need to spend millions of dollars on marketing or development.
Those are the lessons I learned last generation. What have YOU learned?
Marc Johnson
