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Video games are kinda boring

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Re: Video games are kinda boring

#21

Post by kbenson »

bloodyplonker22 wrote: post #20
strken wrote: post #7

I used to think I wanted a higher purpose in games, but what I really wanted was a community with some kind of large-scale competition. The MMOFPS Planetside 2 gives me that, but I get the impression you can also get it from Eve, from competitive gaming scenes, from traditional MMOs, or even from older things like MUDs. Friendly competition with and against thousands of other people is like a higher purpose, but it's…

Play Rust, it will destroy your faith in humanity.

Play Tarkov, it will destroy your faith in the concept of faith.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#22

Post by karpierz »

This reads like someone who only watches Marvel movies complaining about how they've lost interest in movies because they all feel the same.

If you don't branch out and expand beyond the bog-standard, yeah, eventually it'll all feel the same.

Edit: Some recommendations below. These aren't even wild experimental/arthouse games, just slightly more creative.

- Outer Wilds

- Disco Elysium

- Rhythm Doctor

- Return of the Obra Dinn

- Death's Door

- Hotline Miami

- The Talos Principle

- The Witness

- Into the Breach

- Invisible Inc.

- What the Golf?

- The Forgotten City

- Frostpunk

- Slay the Spire

- This War of Mine

- Hades

- Dead Cell

- Elsinore

- I Am Dead

- Subnautica

- Gunpoint

- Katana: Zero

- Hollow Knight

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#23

Post by kaladin-jasnah »

I think that only storyline-driven games are interesting since I have a thing for appreciating good stories. As a result, I find that most games are boring since they heavily depend on lore or don't directly present a clear story (eg. Elden Ring or BoTW). I'm not really sure what the last two paragraphs of this post are trying to get at, but I also fail to see the enjoyment of multiplayer games, since I only find video games another medium to tell a story. If they aren't for stories, I can't really find any enjoyment from them.

What's the purpose of playing a video game, or slaying an enemy, or exploring a world if I don't have an intricate plot that supports my actions? As such, I see no fruition in most games. The only games I've enjoyed playing in the past four years is Persona 5 (and now Yakuza 0) since they are extremely plot-driven and my gameplay is a means to further a story. If there isn't a purpose to my playing, then I can't play.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#24

Post by ian_lotinsky »

koof wrote: post #19

I've carried around a certain kind of disappointment about video games ever since I was a kid. I knew I really liked them as a concept, but few stuck and I liked reading game magazines more. I started playing TTRPGs like D&D with some friends about a year and a half ago. They feel closer to the ideal of what my brain wants from at least some kinds of games. Somewhere between TTRPGs, reading (esp. fiction), and embrac…

Totally with you, koof. I think I’ve always enjoyed most write-ups and trailers of games and films more than the actual games and films. Only a few truly deliver.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#25

Post by beebmam »

thesuitonym wrote: post #3

It seems like what the author really wants is not to play a video game, but to participate in society.

I think this sums up this article perfectly.

There are big social problems among Millennials and younger (at least in the West); many of them are desperate to participate in their societies meaningfully and be rewarded (individually or collectively) for doing so. The "I want a big picture, a grand goal that we strive towards. Something noble that we yearn for" quote from this article sums that up perfectly.

I, thankfully, have this kind of satisfaction in my life, and it doesn't come from gaming. But most of my friends do not have this, and they desperately look for it in video games. Perhaps even this is the ultimate goal of Meta. I wish my generation and younger the best in their struggles to find meaning in life, and let's hope it's not anything too damaging to themselves or others.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#26

Post by Lamad123 »

tomatowurst wrote: post #10

I really do not like these type of articles. I did X, Y, Z and therefore it is justified enough for me to make overreaching claims. Video games are still very fun and very profitable for the rest of us. Wish I could mute HN accounts like I mute ppl on twitter, not enough to signal an explicit exclusion but enough for me to ignore whatever they have to say in the future because of misalignment of values in the present…

It's largely a matter of opinion!! For almost a decade, I've never played a game apart from that dinosaur thing on chrome when there is no Internet!

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#27

Post by crooked-v »

AgentME wrote: post #18

The model of game where there's a big shared goal among the playerbase that they can work together in is fun and can include stuff like easter-egg hunting, solving unsolved puzzles, figuring out speedrun strategies, etc. It's exciting playing a game knowing that if you figure something out or do things right then it could be what's talked about in the game forums among the playerbase and move things forward for every…

For anyone who likes that easter egg aspect and strategy games, I highly recommend the Anbennar total conversion mod for the grand strategy/kind-of-4X game Europa Universalis IV. The mod is more or less a 4X-game version of an extremely intricate D&D setting, and there's all sorts of content and interesting implicit setting elements you can only come across by trying out the many, many different nations, tribes, and adventurer bands in the mod.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#28

Post by ian_lotinsky »

Check out “Farhaven AR” in the Apple App Store. It was made as an immersive adventure with the player at the center to buck the trend in today’s games and return to the basics of enjoyable gameplay and storylines. It’s free right now too.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#29

Post by x3iv130f »

koof wrote: post #19

I've carried around a certain kind of disappointment about video games ever since I was a kid. I knew I really liked them as a concept, but few stuck and I liked reading game magazines more. I started playing TTRPGs like D&D with some friends about a year and a half ago. They feel closer to the ideal of what my brain wants from at least some kinds of games. Somewhere between TTRPGs, reading (esp. fiction), and embrac…

There is a lot more to TTRPGs besides D&D.

I play lighter and more narratively focused games where the focus is collaboratively creating worlds and stories.

Lasers and Feelings has been the biggest hit around my table but I also have a reoccuring game of Dungeon World every other week.

In just ten to fifteen minutes I can throw any random group of friends into a scenario that feels like a tv show.

Re: Video games are kinda boring

#30

Post by novotionworepr »

danielvaughn wrote: post #16
searchableguy wrote: post #13

What I want is some kind of stake in the game. I don't feel compelled to clear missions and help characters in game because its all fabricated without any consequences.

I'd love to see a buildable world where the things players create are the assets in the game, and once they're destroyed, they're gone. This would give players a sense of actual scarcity and I think it would seriously affect how they play and think about the game.

EVE Online is a bit like this.

There's a limited amount of building that players can do, but some things like space stations and large ships can take dozens-hundreds of players to create and maintain, and battles over them can span days-weeks.

It comes with downsides. Even mid-range ships are expensive enough that their loss will sting low-key players, and nowhere is truly safe. It's also possible to trade game currency to offset the monthly subscription costs, so well-off players can offset their losses with cash.

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