I came across this article not to long ago, and I find it
interesting how disconnected from the mind of the average gamer it really is. Look
what this person says,
“A reader worries that retro
gaming is become more mainstream and is encouraging publishers to take less
risks in terms of making new games.
I have watched the circus
surrounding PS Plus Premium with some amusement for the last few weeks and,
like everyone, I’ve been confused as to why it seems so rushed and poorly
thought out. I was curious only out of a general interest though and not because
I had any intention of paying for it. I realised a long time ago that I have no
interest in retro games and I’m genuinely surprised to find anyone else does.
A lot of it is nostalgia, I
realise that, but I remember when Microsoft started pushing backwards
compatibility and I was excited to put in some of my old OG Xbox discs and see
how they looked and… I wish I hadn’t because it killed my sense of nostalgia over
them. In short, they looked terrible and, in general, they played worse, even
with enhancements.
I’m not surprised that PS
Plus Premium has relatively few PlayStation 1 and 2 titles, as games from that
era just do not stand up, as far as I’m concerned. I think that’s perfectly
understandable, given their age and how quickly the games industry moves on but
rather than actually doing that it seems we’re spending more and more time
looking backwards and I don’t like it….
…And in terms of remasters
and remakes, well… it’s obvious why companies do that. Remasters are cheap and
remakes have a built-in audience that ensure the game will always be a hit to
at least a certain degree.
In other words, retro mean
easy money and minimum effort, which is the perfect combination as far as any
business is concerned. But I worry that it’s starting to have an increasingly
negative effect on gaming, in terms of being able to move onto new ideas and
make things that are more than just sequels or rehashes…
…The more retro gaming is
idolised the less urgency there is to make anything else.”[1]
The reason retro gaming and remasters are so popular
right now is two-fold. Firstly, many, many, many modern games suck. Think of Concord,
or any other number of Fortnight/Call of Duty clones, or a host of other titles. There are so many games
that come out that just are not that interesting. Then there is all of the DEI[2] that is forced into video
games today. The memes are legion making fun of the fact that so many western
game developes seem to go out of their way to put unattractive people on the screen
for people to both play and watch in modern games.
Just take a look at this image here and note how many of these women in western games are given masculine chins and jaw lines. It is off-putting and enough to throw you out of the game. Of course, the way some people get obsessed over sexualizing characters in games is a problem all of its own. But no one wants to spend their time looking at imaginary people that are simply unpleasant to look at. That is just not how the human mind works. We want our fantasy worlds to be fun, fearsome and attractive.
Think of how remarkable and notable every character in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the beauty that is on display all
through that movie and the variety of ways it is displayed from the high elves
to the scenery, to the beauty of life in the shire. There is a reason those movies
capture people’s thoughts and imaginations, still to this day. Jackson took Tolkien’s vision and made it look incredible on the big screen. Those movies are
filled with the good, the beautiful and the true and people love that. Even the
Bible comments on the beauty and attractiveness of many of its characters,
because this stands out to people, even prophets. It does not do it in a sexualizing way, but
it does account beauty as a notable thing. Western game creators are going out of their way
to present uglification with their characters, in much the same way that modern
architecture has uglified our buildings, and modern deconstructionism has
uglified our literature. This is a pervasive unattractiveness and it drives
people away.
There are other reasons why modern games are not always
that great either. They have become too simplified, too repetitive, too big, too
focused on graphics and not game play. But of course, not all of them are bad.
There are stand out exceptions like God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn and
Spiderman, but those games are not really new anymore, are they? They all came
out in the last generation, and for the latter two their sequels are filled
with DEI nonsense. The Chinese made game Black Myth Wukong is a good example of
a high quality modern game, and Ghosts of Tsushima is a modern stand out. But good
games just don’t seem to be coming out at the same rate they used to.
But the second reason that retro-gaming is so popular is
because Millennials are coming into their middle ages and have successfully
built some disposable wealth, and many millennials are stuck in a nostalgia
loop. There is nothing wrong with liking old movies, music and video games, but
millennials seems to be more prone to this kind of nostalgia in all these areas
compared to other generations. Think of the amount of remakes and sequels to
older movies there are at the cinemas. This phenomenon is not just limited to
video games.
When you combine these two things together, the fact that
modern games are often just not as good and that many millennials are longing
for the fun they had back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, you can understand why
this phenomenon of old games being resurrected is so popular right now. Of
course, there is a positive side effect of this too, because even some of the
largest game developers that have gone woke are starting to go broke (look at you Ubisoft), and as
video gaming is one of the easiest things for people to personalize and use to
ignore the modern narratives in this world, we might just see gamers lead the
way in bringing down some of the worst woke companies out there right now. Who
wants modern games to succeed if they are simply cesspools of DEI? Not me, and
not most gamers. Gamers just want to be left alone to play stories they like
with mechanics they find challenging and interesting.
It is not just nostalgia which is drawing people to
older games as well. No matter what console or PC you have had to play games on in
the past, in whichever generation it is you can think of, there is an endless
library of rolled gold classics that most of us have never played. Why would you pay
top dollar for a modern, unattractive game that preaches nonsense to you, when
you can pick up any number of console or PC games you have never
played and avoid all of that and have even more fun? Most members of the PC master race have a steam library that adds up to hours to be played far beyond their natural lives. Gaming is not just about the
latest and greatest thing. It is about relaxing after a big day, or having fun
playing co-op with your kids. If gaming companies go woke, that is fine with
many gamers, because these companies will run out of money, before we run out
of older games to choose from.
List of References
[2]
DEI, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
The idea of "taking risks" is a female phrase. The sooner it dies the better.
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