[Aj_]

From Gamespy, Fargo reports on research that finds a lessening of interest in games.

Originally Posted by Fargo

According to the latest Forrester research -- and blogged about here on Joystiq.com -- 43% of those surveyed in North America admit to playing games less than they did a couple years ago. (Only 34% say they're playing more.)

Personally, I think these numbers reflect:
- the end of the console cycle
- a slow year for PC gaming (compared to last year's Half-Life 2 and World of Warcraft releases)
- a lack of originality on the shelves right now

...but I don't think they show some sort of doomsday trend where the industry will collapse like 1983. I think interest in games will rise and fall periodically as hardware comes and goes, as different devices become 'cool,' and as influential new games come along to shake things up.

But I wanted to hear what you guys think! Are you playing games more than ever? Or is your passion cooling off? Speak!

I'm playing games much less, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines were the only games that captivated me to play for any length of time. Before then, perhaps Max Payne 2. I haven't been enticed to buy a (new) Adventure since The Longest Journey (I bought it twice). I'm going to try Oblivion and Dreamfall, that's about it. I think games are losing their depth for me, I find I'm waiting for something to happen, but it hasn't happened. Anyone lost interest in games recently?

[Gabe]

I think games are losing their depth for me, I find I'm waiting for something to happen, but it hasn't happened. Anyone lost interest in games recently?

I think games never have any depth even theytried or pretend to be and i dont think expecting things beyond entertainment value will be overestimating them finding any kind of depth should be far more demanding than playing games dont ya think?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Aj_

I'm playing games much less, Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines were the only games that captivated me to play for any length of time. Before then, perhaps Max Payne 2. I haven't been enticed to buy a (new) Adventure since The Longest Journey (I bought it twice). I'm going to try Oblivion and Dreamfall, that's about it. I think games are losing their depth for me, I find I'm waiting for something to happen, but it hasn't happened. Anyone lost interest in games recently?

I haven't been paying much attention to adventure games because frankly they're boring to me. The same formulas, the same puzzles, same story conventions, etc. And the quality is weak.

Testament to how awesome a game is to me is replay value. I still can't believe I played Knights Of The Old Republic at least 4 times, and Jade Empire at least 3 times. I'd love to replay Deus Ex if I can figure out how to run it on XP. Personally I want seriously substantial content and quality in my games, especially since they're getting more expensive and I'm poor anyway.

[Jeysie]

Well, that's a two-part question for me.

I'm still very interested in games in general. I love playing games, and there are more than enough older games that look interesting to keep me busy for quite some time.

However, I don't have a lot of interest in newer games, no. The two most popular types of games, those that have a lot of action and those that focus on multiplayer, I have no interest in because I generally suck at them. The few games that don't require twitch reflexes or spending time finding well-behaved and well-matched human opponents to play with seem to focus a bit too much on pretty graphics and a bit not enough on story and gameplay.

As such the number of new (or somewhat recent) games that interest me is pretty small. The price of having non-mainstream tastes, as always.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Jeysie

The price of having non-mainstream tastes, as always

In this forum I think it´s more non-mainstream to like Myst and pretty graphics. To even mention that F.T is a pretty boring game make people post like crazy.







EDIT: And yes, I´m only teasing you.

[Spiwak]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. there is at least a few every year that are simply great or fun to play. 2005 had Psychonauts, God of War, (supposedly Shadow of the Colossus ), and I'm about to play Resident Evil 4 soon which also is apparently great. 2004 had Half-Life 2, WoW, GTA:SA. 2003 had KotOR, Beyond good and Evil (which I just started playing today, yay), etc etc etc. It's the same for the year in movies. Most aren't worth remembering but there are always a few every year that are.

Adventure games are a whole different story, though. I'm siding with trep in that they are becoming boring for me.

Originally Posted by Gabe

I think games never have any depth even theytried or pretend to be

I don't know if that's true...games are different from "finer arts" in that they have to hold someone's attention for a lot longer and thus tend to be shoved aside as "entertainment," but I don't see how it would be impossible to create something "deep" out of interactivity. I've played games that had stories that beat a lot of good movies (not to mention books) out there.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

Adventure games are a whole different story, though. I'm siding with trep in that they are becoming boring for me.

For the most part, anyway. For me a lot of the bore comes from the lame, unimaginative writing and quality of gameplay. I mean, I think KOTOR had far superior writing and interactivity, that's why I played it and loved it.

Psychonauts was the same, it was incredibly rich compared to most adventure games, there was always something to do and things to see. I'm just seriously sick and tired of slideshows where there are only what, 4 or 5 things to click on.

[insane_cobra]

I'm playing more and more each day. I haven't been playing that much in the last few years so I'm catching up. Seems like I'm always playing something.

I should probably slow down a little, actually.

Are people less interested in games? I don't know. I do know "gamers" my age aren't, but they're noobs. Who cares?

Am I less interested in games? Not really.

[jjacob]

Well, speaking for myself, I'm definately losing interest in games; Oblivion is the first game in a year that I've been able to play for more than one hour a day (though not every day, sometimes I don't feel like gaming at all), and even in Oblivion I've found myself becoming slowly bored by tedious subquests and corny plot devices, also, it's a very shallow game compared to some other games I've played (which I believe is a trend in gaming; instant gratification).

I think games are becoming more widespread and at the same time (more) people are losing interest in them, or don't play as often as they did years ago; so while more people are playing games these days, more people also play less (methinks). Mindless sequels and very few *quality* releases in the past years may also have something to do with it.

[Aj_]

Originally Posted by Gabe

I think games never have any depth even theytried or pretend to be and i dont think expecting things beyond entertainment value will be overestimating them finding any kind of depth should be far more demanding than playing games dont ya think?

I have found many games in the past to have depth in gameplay, and content.

The gameplay was complex, and sometimes even hard, now everything is about simplification. Jade Empire and Fable are lousy RPGs, they're great Action-Adventures, but they're all style over substance. The style is great, but I don't care about the world, characters, or plot. Games used to atleast make me think about those things. I wouldn't mind that so much, but the gameplay is simplified and easy, it becomes repetitive, there's usually only one way to do things. It's just all style, and no substance.

Half-Life 2 had style, the world was rather depressing, but all the locations had details, a backstory. There's enough detail to find out about the world. The same with VtMB and WoW, some players probably blitz through, but there's just so much detail and backstory given to every place. The gameplay is varied, complex, and you can make it your own.

I remember playing far more games in the 90s, including Adventures, that made me think, got me absorbed in the games, allowed me to play how I wanted. I agree with jjacob, games are becoming very cheap, with instant gratification.

[avatar_58]

I play just as many, but I'm a little careful these days of what I buy. Thats probably due in part to having to spend my own money as opposed to being a kid back when I started out. Now if a game is going to cost me $50 CAD I had better get my moneys worth. I only buy the ones I expect to keep me busy.

Its a shame that the ones I buy are rarely adventure games anymore, but I guess my 'filter' is harder to use. I'm hoping Dreamfall will pass through.

[sethsez]

A couple years ago consoles hit their peak, and now those same consoles are on the way out. Considering how large the console market is when talking about gaming as a whole, the fact that the sector is slowing down enormously right now is obviously going to have an impact on how much people play games as a whole.

There's also the fact that "a couple years ago" was 2004, home to some of the biggest blockbusters gaming had seen in ages. The planets lined up in November of that year, and it's no huge surprise that things haven't quite measured up since.

[SoccerDude28]

I think the new attitude towards "badder, ghettoer, darker" is turning me off a little. It started with prince of persia, and now pretty much every game is going darker, even innocent platformers like Ratchet and Clank, Jak, or Sonic the hedgehog. In some instance it makes sense, but in most cases, it is just imposed to sell.

All the games I find awesome sell like crap. Prince of Persia: SOT, Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts, Dreamfall (who wants to bet it won't sell well? ).

Another issue is the lack of imagination, and relying on sequels and "established" franchises. For god's sake, please less shooters. I know I am somehow to blame because I buy some of them, but in some cases, there really isn't that much choice, because the vast majority are of that type. I don't mind having the good ones but why do we need like 200 WW2 ones, and another 200 crap ones, to get one Half Life 2?

There are a few games that still get me excited. Psychonauts got me excited a lot when it was released, so was Jade Empire although it was a small step back from KOTOR (it still was an awesome game), God of War was awesome, Indigo Prophecy was the first adventure I have enjoyed since Escape from Monkey Island. This year there is mainly Dreamfall and Okami. But overall, my level of excitement each year is going down. It could be I am also getting older and grumpier

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Prince of Persia: SOT

Actually I believe this game sold VERY well which prompted them to even bother to make two more games.

[insane_cobra]

It didn't. That's why they changed the formula in Warrior Within.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by avatar_58

Actually I believe this game sold VERY well which prompted them to even bother to make two more games.

From what I read, it really didn't, but they already invested a lot in the franchise. What sold though was bundling this game with Splinter Cell which was a million+ seller. So each time someone bought Splinter Cell, they considered that as a sale of a Prince of Persia copy. That's the main reason why I think they went with all gothic style dark prince in Warrior Within.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

It didn't. That's why they changed the formula in Warrior Within.

Everywhere I look says GOTY this and Best Seller that. Every review is the 9-10 category. I'm sorry but the impression I get is this game sold big time. They changed the formula because they wanted to try something new, in fact from what it seems POP:WW sold less than the first one. The third game shows that they tried to please all fans.

I don't see any indication that this game didn't sell well. Hell it gets patched meanwhile Beyond Good & Evil has similar bugs but doesn't, simply because its not in high demand.

[insane_cobra]

It earned great reviews, but didn't sell well, at least not on its own (read what SoccerDude had to say + it was bundled with some graphics cards and even gamepads; or maybe gamepads were bundled with it, whatever). It wasn't a Beyond Good & Evil-like flop, but it wasn't a bestseller either.

[Spiwak]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

For the most part, anyway. For me a lot of the bore comes from the lame, unimaginative writing and quality of gameplay. I mean, I think KOTOR had far superior writing and interactivity, that's why I played it and loved it.

Psychonauts was the same, it was incredibly rich compared to most adventure games, there was always something to do and things to see. I'm just seriously sick and tired of slideshows where there are only what, 4 or 5 things to click on.

Well that's what I meant. Not that adventure games in and of themselves are getting boring...just at the moment nothing great has come out in a while that justifies the adventure genre's existence for me. I'm hoping Dreamfall will revitalize adventure games for me and I'll play them again.