Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Video Games Are Boring

gamesindustry.biz

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 342 posts

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#271

Post by jwagenet »

notgood wrote: post #260
Mithaldu wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Growing up You might want to edit that to "people change", since that's what it sounds you meant, instead of a phrase that evokes "becoming more mature/adult".

Nope. Its "growing up", most people who did skateboarding at their teens don't do it after growing up; saying "people change" is too vague, if you say "growing up" you are clearly pointing out that it was something they did as youngsters but not any more; and language exists for the sake of clarity and communications, so "growing up" is a good choice here.

I think to say that people stop doing things like skateboarding or video games because they are "growing up" condescends to these activities. I understand that people move on, but to "grow up" may imply that these activities are childish. I disagree with this sentiment; people get older and priorities change to family, work, physical health, etc.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#272

Post by vlunkr »

overgard wrote: post #253
nitwit005 wrote: post #232

Those "white men" (I guess Asian gaming isn't a thing?) are apparently doing a pretty good job appealing to women as some studies have suggested they're roughly half of the game playing demographic: http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/adult-women-largest-gaming-de... It may be correct that women want something different than men, but I don't think its true in the way they imagine. A lot of women seem to have enjoyed "The…

Maybe I'm cynical, but I tend to be skeptical of art that's more about a cause rather than about the art itself. I'll give an example: christian rock. I have no problem with christianity, or with rock, or with rock that is about christian themes or ideas. But I think we all know there's also a subgenre called "christian rock", which is generally a tacky, pretentious and overbearing imitation of the above things in th…

Couldn't agree more. Minecraft comes to mind. I haven't personally played it a lot, but obviously there is some magic in that game that kids can't get enough of. And although it was certainly experimental in nature, it wasn't "artsy"

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#273

Post by jdietrich »

quickConclusion wrote: post #230

Addiction. My main gripe with video games is that they're addictive. Boring or not, they push you to play another 5, 10, 60 minutes... before you know it, you ruined your evening, and wasted your time and the next day at work... Kudos to the artists, developers, psychologists who can build that. And probably I am weak. At the end of the day, they are very successful in making me addicted, that's why i am staying away…

A good book has exactly the same effect; the primary difference is that all books are finite. As a child, I would read books under the bedcovers by torchlight. I'd stay up all night playing chess against my little Saitek. Is Fallout 4 or Hearthstone an objectively worse use of time?

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#274

Post by Rumudiez »

tomdell wrote: post #219

One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return. They'd rather spend their time socializing or doing something that will improve them in an obvious way. A personal anecdote - I loved single-player video games until I was 18, but I stopped cold at tha…

And here I am, acting in reverse. I loved multiplayer games much more than single player when I was in my teens, but since graduating college a couple years ago I've only been drawn toward single player experiences.

I don't care about beating other players or grinding out at some arbitrary mechanic that's going to get patched in two months just to be "better" than my friends. I'd rather sit back and enjoy a well made game for 40-100 hours and talk about my experiences playing it later.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#275

Post by dr_zoidberg »

shmerl wrote: post #258

> The most important thing is that they think video games lack depth. They say things like, "Unlike books/films/podcasts, with video games I don't learn anything or change as a person". Which is somewhat surprising, since as with any art form, there are games which are masterpieces, and there is mass market junk. Why would people specifically not like games "because they lack depth", but have no problem reading books…

> I'd say the last good game in the series was Morrowind.

Which why people still play it, and there was even work in bringing Morrowing to the Skyrim engine[0].

[0] https://tesrenewal.com/skywind-faq

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#276

Post by RGamma »

jylam wrote: post #10
baldfat wrote: post #2

single player games are boring. EDIT: I am a competitive person. I rather play against a human being and see how I can improve then get stuck into a math/algorithm battle vs programmers. Solitaire is fine for a bit but all single player games feel like solitaire due to my desire to compete against others and myself.

Multiplayer games are also boring. I just bought Battlefield 1, because I read there was a great solo campaign. I hope it will be fun, and I've no intention to multiplay that. I'm 36, and I really did like war games before they were that much multiplayer oriented. Call of Duty and Battlefield series had great solo campaigns, jadis. Then for a decade, there was this multiplayer trend. Being obliterated by teenagers, c…

BTW TotalBiscuit has absolutely slammed the Battlefield 1 (there's gotta be a prize for worst video game titles) campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkDysHo83lw.

In short: Generic modern military shooter #123781 that completely misses the point of idiosyncrasies of the one thing that somewhat sets it apart from the rest of the bunch: The fact it is set in WW1. Look at Medal of Honor (well, it's WW2 and therefore somewhat of a Nazi popper, but what do you expect) for a decent WW shooter campaign; I actually don't recall any significant WW1 shooter at the moment...

And as someone who is decently competent in competitive shooters (~2000 hours of Counter-Strike Source): Yeah, competition can be fierce even on "normal servers", but if you can keep up you'll get rewarded for it with a mixture of familiarity and challenging gameplay. And playing in "rough environments" has battle-hardened me I suppose. Dieing 10 times to superior opponents in a row barely moves me at all anymore, so if you don't get discouraged too quickly you may well find your frustration will wane with time.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#277

Post by shmerl »

dr_zoidberg wrote: post #275
shmerl wrote: post #258

> The most important thing is that they think video games lack depth. They say things like, "Unlike books/films/podcasts, with video games I don't learn anything or change as a person". Which is somewhat surprising, since as with any art form, there are games which are masterpieces, and there is mass market junk. Why would people specifically not like games "because they lack depth", but have no problem reading books…

> I'd say the last good game in the series was Morrowind. Which why people still play it, and there was even work in bringing Morrowing to the Skyrim engine[0]. [0] https://tesrenewal.com/skywind-faq

I'm more interested in OpenMW personally: https://openmw.org

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#278

Post by jprzybyl »

shmerl wrote: post #270
jprzybyl wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is indeed good! (I actually have the soundtrack on my phone.) But I suggest playing the game and letting the soundtrack surprise you. It really is worth a play.

Yeah, I usually avoid listening to the soundtrack before playing some game, but I've heard Bonetrousle somewhere, and couldn't resist buying the whole OST on Bandcamp :) The game sounds somewhat controversial with some liking it a lot, while others quite disliking it. I might give it a try at one point.

I really liked it! Then again, I played the games it was (obviously) inspired by, and I liked those games too. I understand if people don't like it - it's pretty personal, in the way that it's targeted directly towards the niche the creators love. Those things tend to be rather splitting, so it's unsurprising, in retrospect.

It's kind of like bad shark movies - there is a group of people who love them, and everyone else is fine not being in that group. It's not that either group is better or worse, it's just a niche.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#279

Post by vlunkr »

I disagree with the notion that because life is hard video games should be easy. I think lots of people vent frustrations through video games, and get a sense of accomplishment when they do hard things. It's one hard thing in life you can get really good at. And it doesn't mean the game has to attack you. The game Fez comes to mind. Nothing in the game can harm you, but there are tough puzzles.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#280

Post by Mithaldu »

notgood wrote: post #260
Mithaldu wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Growing up You might want to edit that to "people change", since that's what it sounds you meant, instead of a phrase that evokes "becoming more mature/adult".

Nope. Its "growing up", most people who did skateboarding at their teens don't do it after growing up; saying "people change" is too vague, if you say "growing up" you are clearly pointing out that it was something they did as youngsters but not any more; and language exists for the sake of clarity and communications, so "growing up" is a good choice here.

Alright. In that case you are simply wrong. I know plenty of mature people with great families and careers who appreciate games like Fallout 4 and many others. Nothing to do with youth.
Post reply on HN