Crispy™ Is Discussing Games Nowadays More Fun Than Playing Them?

[Machocruz]

Bard's Tale 4

Did you post your thoughts about this? Had my eye on it before it came out, but I got caught up in other games when it did, also heard bad word of mouth. It looks cozy though and I was tempted to get it during the last sale, but I dunno.

 

[Falksi]

Bard's Tale 4

Did you post your thoughts about this? Had my eye on it before it came out, but I got caught up in other games when it did, also heard bad word of mouth. It looks cozy though and I was tempted to get it during the last sale, but I dunno.

It's fucking brilliant.

A bit bloated, a bit janky, combat is easy on standard difficulty, and it's very puzzle-heavy so you have to enjoy that shit (and I do) but just a wonderfully absorbing dungeon crawler with some great humour, and the combat system itself is great.

 

[StaticSpine]

Social media do weird shit to your brain, but that's not a surprise. You get all sorts of anxieties and FOMO. You should fight it cause I believe this can actually kill your enjoyment of gaming.
Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.
Though this is still different with us, forum dwelling weirdos, with our 1000 hours spent on map painting in HoI, compared to normies discussing their recent AAA.

However, the bane of the times is there are new games popping up every day and they are more available than ever.
The time between clicking "buy" to "play game" on steam (or from clicking the magnet link, to install/unzip, to play game if you swing that way) can measured in minutes.
For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever. And yet, our brains can only properly process things at their own pace.

About social media - yes, and I deleted and deactivated all my accounts except LinkedIn which I use for work and check once a week, and I discuss games only here and with a select group of friends who have distinct tastes

Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.

For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever.

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

Nope. In my childhood in the most ordinary school in Moscow, we talked about games all the time, exchanged CDs, etc.

 

[Red Rogue]

Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.

For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever.

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

I don't think they were talking about defining oneself via entertainment.
I agree with your statement, tying your identity to a piece of entertainment is a horrible idea but discussion=/=defining.

 

[Humanophage]

Discussing politics > playing games > discussing games.

 

[jaekl]

Discuss shit games, play good games

 

[Necrensha]

The brain is like the head of Human Resources. One moment she's smiling at you, and then you turn around and she throws a tomahawk at your neck.
You have to bound and gag that son of a bitch or else you'll be the one nailed upside down to the wall while reciting the entirety of Moby DIck backwards.

 

[spectre]

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

I don't think they were talking about defining oneself via entertainment.
I agree with your statement, tying your identity to a piece of entertainment is a horrible idea but discussion=/=defining.

That's another modern disease, this need for fierce tribalism over every little crappy thing. Hurr durr, I am a gamer, therefore I must like all gaymer things. PC master race for life, RGB components give you +10 everything, hurr hurr.
People with no personality will use it as a prosthesis.

What I was referring to is making small talk. Sure, if you're among ~40 y.o. blue collars, there won't be much discussion about gaming, but if it's something like IT or a zoomer working working environment, there are higher chances
vidya or the recent tv series to turn up among topics of conversation. It's a bit of a trap though, if someone's sporting Witcher merch it's still not okay to sperg out at lenght about which is the best romance option.
it's still normies, after all, the social code is to validate if you're with the current thing and filter out if you're not that weird guy.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

I noticed I enjoyed talking about games more than playing them like 20 years ago. That's why I was so prevalent on gaming forums and IRC channels.

Thanks,
Pooper

 

[Lucumo]

Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.

For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever.

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

Nope. In my childhood in the most ordinary school in Moscow, we talked about games all the time, exchanged CDs, etc.

I mean, and you know better than I do, Russia (obviously around the "culture centers" aka big cities) was pretty Americanized in the 90s and even starting before that already. I'm from the countryside in Eastern Germany and after school we went to the...after-school care center (doesn't seem like there is a proper translation for that) where we would...you know, play outside. Or play card games inside, do homework etc. Even when we were old enough to not be there anymore, we would play hide'n'seek or something, despite the kids having consoles/gameboys/a PC. The biggest "culture" thing was doing Mystery Gift for the second generation Pokemon games before school...for like 2-3 weeks. We didn't talk about any entertainment media. We just played whatever was fun. Some were also in clubs (I myself tried out several but none would really stick).
And that didn't change after elementary school. We didn't talk about upcoming game X, despite most of us reading some PC gaming magazine. Some guy would download some game and would share it with others. I remember getting that brutal The Punisher game but it definitely wasn't given to me along the lines of "super cool, super brutal game, so radical blabla". It was basically given with a nod, acknowledging that it's something worth playing. Same with all the other games. I don't think any of the guys cared about movies. Stuff like Star Wars completely passed us by, despite being in the "right" age for it.
I remember some movie podcast where a guy (from West Germany) recollected from his youth that he and his friends watched Terminator in the cinema and afterwards they would all march to the McDonald's and gush about it. That's very Americanized for instance.
Exchanging CDs or having discussions about something of interest is normal. However, doing that to get a "sense of participating in a culture" is weird. There is a difference between discussing or doing something because it's interesting and discussing or doing something because it's new, shown on TV, some ad etc. The so-called "summer blockbuster" when it comes to movies is a perfect example. Imagine going to see something because it's a "summer blockbuster" and not because it's very interesting and reputable people have vouched for its quality. That's the difference between "participating in a culture" what you said and the natural interest aka what's normal. The former also isn't a basic need, unless one has absolutely no self-esteem at all.

Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.

For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever.

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

I don't think they were talking about defining oneself via entertainment.
I agree with your statement, tying your identity to a piece of entertainment is a horrible idea but discussion=/=defining.

Doesn't have to be a piece of entertainment but entertainment media in general.

This is already highly questionable:


Same with the people who bought WoW on midnight release. You know, the kind that pushed each other so hard that the people pressed against the glass made it burst. Too many anime fans fall in that category too.

 

[spectre]

Well, this is consumerism driven to the extreme, an unfortunate American invention, although I have a stinking suspicion the propensity towards this has always been there in the back of the human psyche.
We have all kinds of examples of Roman decadence, the crazes surrounding chariot racing in particular is something to look up for perspective.

 

[StaticSpine]

Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.

For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever.

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

Nope. In my childhood in the most ordinary school in Moscow, we talked about games all the time, exchanged CDs, etc.

I mean, and you know better than I do, Russia (obviously around the "culture centers" aka big cities) was pretty Americanized in the 90s and even starting before that already. I'm from the countryside in Eastern Germany and after school we went to the...after-school care center (doesn't seem like there is a proper translation for that) where we would...you know, play outside. Or play card games inside, do homework etc. Even when we were old enough to not be there anymore, we would play hide'n'seek or something, despite the kids having consoles/gameboys/a PC. The biggest "culture" thing was doing Mystery Gift for the second generation Pokemon games before school...for like 2-3 weeks. We didn't talk about any entertainment media. We just played whatever was fun. Some were also in clubs (I myself tried out several but none would really stick).
And that didn't change after elementary school. We didn't talk about upcoming game X, despite most of us reading some PC gaming magazine. Some guy would download some game and would share it with others. I remember getting that brutal The Punisher game but it definitely wasn't given to me along the lines of "super cool, super brutal game, so radical blabla". It was basically given with a nod, acknowledging that it's something worth playing. Same with all the other games. I don't think any of the guys cared about movies. Stuff like Star Wars completely passed us by, despite being in the "right" age for it.
I remember some movie podcast where a guy (from West Germany) recollected from his youth that he and his friends watched Terminator in the cinema and afterwards they would all march to the McDonald's and gush about it. That's very Americanized for instance.
Exchanging CDs or having discussions about something of interest is normal. However, doing that to get a "sense of participating in a culture" is weird. There is a difference between discussing or doing something because it's interesting and discussing or doing something because it's new, shown on TV, some ad etc. The so-called "summer blockbuster" when it comes to movies is a perfect example. Imagine going to see something because it's a "summer blockbuster" and not because it's very interesting and reputable people have vouched for its quality. That's the difference between "participating in a culture" what you said and the natural interest aka what's normal. The former also isn't a basic need, unless one has absolutely no self-esteem at all.

You're responding to two different people.

I didn't say anything about participating in a culture.
But your point about 90s Russia being Americanized is interesting, I never reflected on that. However, my childhood was not so different from yours, we also hung out and played soccer outside, and games were just one more common ground for everybody. Nobody considered themselves gamers, but everybody played games and discussed them.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

It's not that discussing games is more fun, it's just easier. I can pop on here for a few minutes during a lunch break and get something out of it. Games, especially RPGs, take investment. I might not even get to a battle in 15 minutes in an involved RPG. It's usually why I tend to play games in pairs. One RPG for a weekend and one action/arcade style game for a quick session on the weekday.

 

[GamerCat_]

Being a gamer for more than 30 years my thoughts nowadays:

1. Not many games to be excited about, most of the time you've already seen all that, you're jaded
2. You value your time more the older you get to tolerate slop (most of the games hugely overstay their welcome)
3. Discussing games is usually more thought-provoking than playing them because you see other people's perspectives
4. I see several people here who either do not play new games or do not play games anymore at all, though still post

I might've been afraid to admit this several years ago, but now I understand discussing games is at least as fun as playing them, maybe even more fun.

Many "games" we don't primarily engage with as "games". The "game" element in a "video game" being the contrived challenge, of whatever kind. I still play games. But generally games are pretty well refined now to the point if you want a "game" experience, something really lean, mean, and purpose oriented exists for what you desire. I've been playing 'Tactical Nexus' lately. Can get dozens of hours out of that game alone. My point. Playing "games" is its own class of activity distinct from a lot of other things we can enjoy about video games. What I would call the more primary human elements.

To me video games, pop culture, and art in general are all about people. People expressing themselves, making things, other people making what they do of that. The world is a hall of mirrors.

Point 3 is largely correct I think, the perspectives of others are great and interesting. Just what's missing is that by playing a game you're also doing that, if you're appreciating with it, engaging intelligently, able to build a mental picture of the minds at work who made the thing, what they were looking at, and so on.

I don't play too many new games because there's a definite bad shift in popular culture and mass media production right now towards massive, impersonal projects optimised to have as little personal touch to them as possible. The consistently burned Starbucks coffee effect, or something like that. I try to pin everything to an analogy for you people. I understand keeping up is hard.

Avowed was made on like four different continents by hundreds of people with no element that could be called central or justifying for the entire work. I don't think any of you really got the point of my zuckerberg joke post about that. There is no human interest in Avowed. If I am interested in people and their works I will find nothing to appreciate there. The only reason one could play that game is a general interest in stock video game activities rendered in an unambitious and unoriginal way. You might as well be looking at AI generated drawings of your favourite video game character. I would call that a more human and justified activity than playing Avowed. Wanting to walk forward in first person and throw fireballs at goblins, you might as well be mowing a lawn.

If I'm giving my time to a video game in 2025, it's either a real deviously optimised bastard of a game that can engage the mind really well (like Tactical Nexus), or it's got some kind of rich human character and presence to it which I can enjoy on its own, within the game, and with others.



This game was considered bad when it came out. More than 20 years later I celebrate it with my artfag friends. It has outlived its contemporaries which had more sound execution of less interesting parts with less personal purpose and intention behind them. What's the lasting interest in a stock premise executed well? How do you convince someone to play Avowed 22 years from now? I get fancy people with lots of free time and taste interested in Evergrace 2 by showing them Kota Hoshino's music. And the beautiful key visual art on all of the secondary materials. The bizarre fever dream high sentimentality writing. Beautiful stuff. People put their souls into making this game. I played From's pre-Miyazaki catalog just to listen to Kota Hoshino's music in context and discuss him with people.

I am enjoying another person's perspective. Hoshino's. What does he think video games should sound like? Fantasy? Science fiction? "Indigenous" aesthetics? I've read interviews with the man. One of my friends found all of the samples he used to build his work.

If you develop a sincere appreciation for people and their works the world can become endlessly interesting. It's the hall of mirrors effect. You watch people watching people watching people... And some people are now even interested in me, as a people watcher of note. One worth watching.

Discussing games is awesome. Playing games is fun as games. It's also great as a form of discussion. Let the creators talk through the work to you.

Discussing games is usually more thought-provoking than playing them because you see other people's perspectives

Good luck finding a post with an actual perspective. Most of the time it's "I loved X, while Y wasn't to my taste". No value, meaningless posts, written by wastes of human skin. I like elaborate opinions, but they're rare.

You ought to read my posts.

 

[luj1]

Being a gamer for more than 30 years my thoughts nowadays:

1. Not many games to be excited about, most of the time you've already seen all that, you're jaded
2. You value your time more the older you get to tolerate slop (most of the games hugely overstay their welcome)
3. Discussing games is usually more thought-provoking than playing them because you see other people's perspectives
4. I see several people here who either do not play new games or do not play games anymore at all, though still post

That's a good thing

We lived through the best period for gaming (1996-2004), for all games and not only RPGs. We have seen it all. Of course that I am more excited about discussing games and making games now.

The only games I bought in recent years were Grimoire, Underrail and Knights of the Chalice. Pefect.

 

[Salabon]

I play games when I want to play games. I discuss games when I want to discuss games. There are stretches of time, some long, some short, I do neither.

When I find enjoyment in either, I enjoy. When I find boredom in either, I am bored. Both are fleeting emotional states I pay no mind or heed to.

Any further rumination only adds clouds and obscures the slivers of clarity that still occasionally come through.

 

[Lucumo]

Now, the social part of discussing games is undeniable. We do it to get this sense of participating in a culture which is a basic need.

For better or worse, some of the magic of bringing a boxed game home is gone now, but IMO the real threat is the constant need to keep up with the new thing,
because theoretically speaking it's easier than ever.

Is it though? Whenever I see that I get the feeling it's more of an American + Americanized thing. Where I'm from, we didn't discuss any movies or games or whatever. Even in elementary school, when probably every boy watched DBZ, we didn't discuss episodes, characters etc. Defining oneself via entertainment media is completely alien to me.

Nope. In my childhood in the most ordinary school in Moscow, we talked about games all the time, exchanged CDs, etc.

I mean, and you know better than I do, Russia (obviously around the "culture centers" aka big cities) was pretty Americanized in the 90s and even starting before that already. I'm from the countryside in Eastern Germany and after school we went to the...after-school care center (doesn't seem like there is a proper translation for that) where we would...you know, play outside. Or play card games inside, do homework etc. Even when we were old enough to not be there anymore, we would play hide'n'seek or something, despite the kids having consoles/gameboys/a PC. The biggest "culture" thing was doing Mystery Gift for the second generation Pokemon games before school...for like 2-3 weeks. We didn't talk about any entertainment media. We just played whatever was fun. Some were also in clubs (I myself tried out several but none would really stick).
And that didn't change after elementary school. We didn't talk about upcoming game X, despite most of us reading some PC gaming magazine. Some guy would download some game and would share it with others. I remember getting that brutal The Punisher game but it definitely wasn't given to me along the lines of "super cool, super brutal game, so radical blabla". It was basically given with a nod, acknowledging that it's something worth playing. Same with all the other games. I don't think any of the guys cared about movies. Stuff like Star Wars completely passed us by, despite being in the "right" age for it.
I remember some movie podcast where a guy (from West Germany) recollected from his youth that he and his friends watched Terminator in the cinema and afterwards they would all march to the McDonald's and gush about it. That's very Americanized for instance.
Exchanging CDs or having discussions about something of interest is normal. However, doing that to get a "sense of participating in a culture" is weird. There is a difference between discussing or doing something because it's interesting and discussing or doing something because it's new, shown on TV, some ad etc. The so-called "summer blockbuster" when it comes to movies is a perfect example. Imagine going to see something because it's a "summer blockbuster" and not because it's very interesting and reputable people have vouched for its quality. That's the difference between "participating in a culture" what you said and the natural interest aka what's normal. The former also isn't a basic need, unless one has absolutely no self-esteem at all.

You're responding to two different people.

I didn't say anything about participating in a culture.
But your point about 90s Russia being Americanized is interesting, I never reflected on that. However, my childhood was not so different from yours, we also hung out and played soccer outside, and games were just one more common ground for everybody. Nobody considered themselves gamers, but everybody played games and discussed them.

Hm? Oh, right. I actually knew that at the beginning of what I wrote, you and him being part of the discussion. At the end however...just ignore the "what you said" in the last sentence : P

Yeah, I heard about that from two Russian guys doing a podcast. Usually, one would have thought that only happened after the dissolution and with the talk about the iron curtain and the stories of how the license to Tetris was acquired etc etc, it reinforces that. But American "culture" already heavily seeped in during the 80s and things were breaking down. Apparently, censorship was also gone and you could write whatever you wanted. Praising Hitler for attempting to destroy the Judeo-Bolshevist state aka the Soviet Union? Not a problem. They also detailed the attitude towards Americans over time, with it being extremely positive during the 90s, collaboration with the US after 2001 on the "War on Terror", sobering up during the 00s and then growing more and more negative.
And that is certainly normal. I just stressed the difference between that and what spectre said.

One could probably also take a deeper look into the whole issue. Like, the excessive advertising, leading to heavy consumerism, identification via what one consumes...does that destroy the self*? After all, what these people watch, play and do comes from outside influence. Meanwhile, a healthy human being develops interests and standards and watches/plays/does things according to those.
Girls/women, I would say, are generally more affected. Just look at make-up culture, buying shoes and clothes and the like. Our (male) chemistry teacher once asked the boys whether we like/find those extremely thin models attractive. No one did. And the girls were surprised at that. Imagine being so out-of-touch with reality already at age...~15? Now, sure, girls/women generally have a weaker self than boys/men but still. It's also an issue because later, mothers impose it on their children. My own sister is guilty of this. She bought my nephew a PS4, just so that he could play Minecraft and FIFA on it and wouldn't be "a weird one". Like...wtf?. Gifting something because others have it too is just stupid.

*Look at fandom wars, people becoming corporate mouthpieces etc. Actually, that gives me an interesting theory. Part of the "historical revisionism in video games"-thread are the Nintendo drones. We have asked ourselves why it's Nintendo fans in particular and not Sega or Sony fans. It's also not generally a thing here in Europe but the US specifically. Now, IIRC, the advertising between Sega and Nintendo were quite different there. Sega specifically targeted Nintendo while Nintendo ignored Sega. As such, kids who played on the Nintendo were always on the defending side. Due to advertisement/consumerism, some kids started to identify/define themselves via Nintendo. Due to constant attacks by Sega via marketing (and probably also other kids), they became very defensive about it. Many years later, it's still very much a part of them and since they identify themselves with Nintendo, they obviously buy a lot of stuff from the company and are still defensive about it. That's why they distort history the way they do. It's part of their self...which is corporate.
Now, this isn't specifically something only consumers fall for. If you work for a company, it can certainly happen as well. However, here, it can be argued, it's actually mostly natural. After all, working for a company is a lot more tangible than simply consuming a product from said company. (This, funnily enough, reminds me of how IBM used to have a company song book with songs about different members of the company.)

 

[Darkozric]

Bard's Tale 4

Did you post your thoughts about this? Had my eye on it before it came out, but I got caught up in other games when it did, also heard bad word of mouth. It looks cozy though and I was tempted to get it during the last sale, but I dunno.

It's fucking brilliant.

A bit bloated, a bit janky, combat is easy on standard difficulty, and it's very puzzle-heavy so you have to enjoy that shit (and I do) but just a wonderfully absorbing dungeon crawler with some great humour, and the combat system itself is great.

I second BT4, it has the best head-scratching riddles of recent years.

Answer

 

[Xelocix]

OOOOOOOOH FUCKKJKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK IM FUCKING SHITTTINGGGG MYSEEEEFLLLLLFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[Ash]

No. It can't compare to the joys of a top-quality game. The problem is there's a limited amount of them. Sometimes you only have half an hour so it's better to talk shit instead of investing in a play session. Sometimes I'm tired after work then gym. Sometimes I just make bad choices and log-in when I should have done something else instead.

Discussing what is great and what is shit is better than most games, but it cant beat top quality vidja.

To me video games, pop culture, and art in general are all about people.

You are a woman or a they/them for sure.

 

[Gregz]

Just play better games niggah.

In what alternative dimension are they being made?

 

[Abu Antar]

If i don't play games, I have no need to discuss them. I took a break from gaming, maybe for a year (many years ago), and I didn't visit any gaming forum during that period. No playing games = no discussing games.

 

[JarlFrank]

They still haven't surpassed the classics from 25 years ago so it's more fun to discuss what a hypothetical game that would actually build upon the design principles of those days would look like than to play modern games designed with shitty design principles.

 

[tritosine2k]

They still haven't surpassed the classics from 25 years.

Quite an understatement for capital letter RUT.
The whole medium might be flawed fwiw.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Being a gamer for more than 30 years my thoughts nowadays:

1. Not many games to be excited about, most of the time you've already seen all that, you're jaded
2. You value your time more the older you get to tolerate slop (most of the games hugely overstay their welcome)
3. Discussing games is usually more thought-provoking than playing them because you see other people's perspectives
4. I see several people here who either do not play new games or do not play games anymore at all, though still post

I might've been afraid to admit this several years ago, but now I understand discussing games is at least as fun as playing them, maybe even more fun.

In an era characterized by extreme disappointment from big-budget CRPGs, which are now mostly flopping, resulting in long-lasting studios being placed on deathwatch, the best we can do is to take enjoyment from the threads about them here at RPG Codex.