Video Games Are Boring • Hacker News Board

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#281

Post by leggomylibro » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:12 AM UTC

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

It also has an open-source re-implementation of the engine in the works which is currently playable, and a graphical enhancement program which adds distant land to the game along with some nice optional shader effects like sunrays, depth of field, better water, etc. Also, there's a mod similar to Skywind for the Oblivion version of the engine.

Plus there are some enormous mods such as Tamriel Rebuilt, which aims to add the entire province of Vvardenfell, and Skyrim: Home of the Nords, which aims to depict Skyrim during the game's time period.

The amount of content that has been made for that game, even beyond normal mods, is kind of staggering.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#282

Post by enraged_camel » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:13 AM UTC

Mithaldu wrote: post #280

notgood wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>>I know plenty of mature people with great families and careers who appreciate games like Fallout 4 and many others.

Yeah, but compared to younger people who appreciate video games, they are few and far between.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#283

Post by extr » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:14 AM UTC

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…

You hit the nail on the head for me too, exact same thing happened to me at age 18. I used to be such a gamer as a kid, and now I can hardly stand to even pick them up. I've continued to some play multiplayer games (mostly shooters and FIFA), but even that has trailed off and my Xbox One is mainly used for netflix. Unless there is an aspect of socialization to it I just don't find it a rewarding use of time. Even something like this, browsing HN and writing a comment, is more interesting to me at this point.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#284

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:14 AM UTC

shanusmagnus wrote: post #224

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…

This is exactly how it is for me too. When I was younger I would feel so connected to the game world, and the wonders of exploring the game world were real wonders to me. Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. A finder of something. If it was important in the game world then it was important. These days it falls out just like you wrote: if I try to play a game, I mess around fo…

[deleted]

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#285

Post by enraged_camel » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:16 AM UTC

shanusmagnus wrote: post #224

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…

This is exactly how it is for me too. When I was younger I would feel so connected to the game world, and the wonders of exploring the game world were real wonders to me. Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. A finder of something. If it was important in the game world then it was important. These days it falls out just like you wrote: if I try to play a game, I mess around fo…

I'm the same way, although my thinking is more along the lines of "man, instead of playing this game I should go meet girls so that I don't die single." :P

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#286

Post by egypturnash » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:18 AM UTC

arkitaip wrote: post #8

This captures a lot of what I've been feeling lately. I can't stand most games, they just make me anxious and I will quit playing them after a few hours or even minutes. Too much stress and surface experiences has had me looking in the other direction. Take, for example, GTA 5. I've probably spent more hours riding cars and bikes in GTA5's beautiful countryside and outback than playing actual missions. Just hours and…

Have you tried No Man's Sky? Once you get the initial couple of hours of "game" out of the way, there is pretty much absolutely nothing to do except hop from star to star, land on planets, and wander around them looking at the prettiness. I sunk hours into it. I wish the PS4 version had a cheat I could enter to completely turn off the "survival" mechanism and the HUD so I could just put it up on my projector, find a nice view, and have a living painting on my wall.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#287

Post by gohrt » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:26 AM UTC

shanusmagnus wrote: post #224

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…

This is exactly how it is for me too. When I was younger I would feel so connected to the game world, and the wonders of exploring the game world were real wonders to me. Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. A finder of something. If it was important in the game world then it was important. These days it falls out just like you wrote: if I try to play a game, I mess around fo…

Videogames (and most art and literature) are at there best when they can expose you things you couldn't imagine without them. When you are a ~teenage, old enough to understand things, but still inexperienced enough to not understand so much, they are a font of mental stimulation.

Videogames taught me (some) history, geology, geography, chemistry, phsyics, math, psychology, anthropology, etc, etc.

But as I got older (and as Internet got better), there were more and more real things to learn about, and life skills to work at (earning real money, doing real exercise, meeting real people), and a lot of videogame tropes stopped being novel. So they hold less appeal.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#288

Post by gohrt » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:27 AM UTC

Rumudiez wrote: post #274

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…

The arbitrary mechanics of chess and poker (to name just two) haven't changed in over two months.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#289

Post by jdietrich » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

I think we need to distinguish between video games as "multimedia entertainment experiences" and video games as play.

Minecraft is essentially computerised Lego. There are few higher accolades I could pay to any game, because Lego is a phenomenally deep plaything. The more semantic meaning that the designer of a Lego set provides, the worse the play experience becomes. A bag of plain bricks can become anything, but a dragon molded as a single piece can only ever be a dragon. Likewise with Minecraft - Story Mode is a brief, dreary and hollow experience compared to Survival or Creative.

Each football match or chess game tells a unique story. The players create a spontaneous drama using the particular interplay of their skills and ideas. Infinite variety emerges from a leather ball and two sets of goalposts. A box of crayons and a piece of paper are in themselves meaningless, but create boundless meaning in the hands of an imaginative person.

My gripe with most modern games is that they try too hard to tell a story. Designers in the AAA and indie space are often preoccupied with emulating the attributes of other media, rather than exploring the unique possibilities of video games. Any modern gamer is familiar with the "movie with quick-time events" trope, games that shoehorn meaningless interaction into linear storytelling. A game can (and perhaps should) be a blank canvas rather than a work of art.

If you can't find meaning in a boxing match, if you can't grow and learn through playing Catan, if you take no joy from a lump of modelling clay, then the problem lies with you. We have many media that are infinitely better suited to depicting relatable characters and portraying the real world. The unique strength of games is play; games are at their best when they emphasise this core strength.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#290

Post by hyperdunc » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

eridius wrote: post #269

TrevorJ wrote: post #266

I agree with the general thesis of the article, but I don't buy the cop out that things are the way they are because the creatives in the industry are white men. That wouldn't be an acceptable thing to say about (insert any other gender/race combination here) so I don't think it's an acceptable excuse or reason here either. It's clear that the industry sorely needs some new thinking and new creative ideas, but I beli…

The fact that the video game industry is dominated by white men is a bad thing. But you're saying that pointing that out is bad, and that seems completely backwards to me. If you don't acknowledge the current reality, things will never get better.

The culture of video games, particular the working environment, is largely influenced by the people who created the industry: white and Asian men. This isn't a problem because there is no discrimination against ideas coming from other demographics.

Anyone who likes video games and wants to make it their career is free to do so, but shouldn't expect to be able to strong-arm others into their way of thinking.