Perhaps this only grew on me recently, or perhaps it has been present ever since I started playing videogames. Quite possibly this is different for each and every person out there who enjoys to pick up the occasional game, but I recently became consciously aware that games have slowly become harder for me to enjoy.
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The main reason I play games these days is to establish some sort of emotional connection with them. Games have evolved a lot over the years and simply sitting down with an arcade shooter is something that I did a lot about 10 years ago, but is gradually fading from my gaming pattern. I have asked myself why this is, and time and time again I refer to the games that I do very much enjoy these days and compare them to the games that I should be liking, but somehow cannot find a connection with. What I discovered from these comparisons is that my personal taste for games is shifting. This is true for any gamer if they play games long enough, but I found the most singular and powerful reason for this shift to be that I want to be part of the games I played and I want to be able to care about what happens in the game.
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For instance, this last weekend I finally wrapped up playing through Fable 2, a game that kept me hooked for the last few weeks. I found it amazing how I found myself caring when my lovable little dog (Brutus) got himself hurt in combat and I had to heal him. [...] For that same reason I picked up Mass Effect again over the holidays. I really wanted to see the renegade part of the game [...]​