Reasons Why Younger Gamers Don't Get Older RPGs?.

[Nifft Batuff]

Kids think that reading the manual of a game is like cheating.

 

[Chippy]

After reading much retardation concerning the venerable IE games and how modern gamers "Can't into them" it struck me that there may be a reason(s) beyond decline, lowered IQ, and general spastication.

My main conclusion is this: I doubt modern gamers have read a book in their life. I had an entire collection of books (from pocket money and jobs) when I was a teen. It developed my imagination. So when I played BG, I wasn't playing a RPG with 'barren maps and no feedback' I was playing a game with a character that represented my alter ego in the FR. And a character that I built within it. That character was built around characters I had identified with in the books I read.

Without writing pages...you'd get it if you're my generation or older. And read books as a kid. But younger gamers seem to need that...prior imaginative blueprint. Like flashing images and 1 sentence responses from social media that continuously tell them who their character is.

And without that - they think older games are boring.

Ya man I think this is part of the issue. It has compounded with the younger generation, as when I was young not only did I read and play outside and with my imagination, even when computers came around it was a skill to learn. Even games were a console you plugged in, and you only had the games you had. With smart phones none of this applies. There is unlimited access to content and games. There is no typing. They ruin the development of imagination, attention span, and obviously contribute to maladaptive behavior. My 2 step children are having significant issues socially, behaviorally and academically. They can’t play or entertain themselves, before I was in the picture they just zoned out on tablets all day. They can’t pay attention to even learn the rules of basketball. It’s not fast or attention grabbing enough. In short they are shit kids. My daughter has more imagination and a better demeanor at 18 months old than they do at 10. The step boy and girl will end up in jail and as a harlot most likely. The youths in the school and neighborhood are similar. Unfortunately it fucks up much worse than game taste.

Serious question - why did you marry her?

Obviously I care about the bastards or they’d be long gone, or I wouldn’t care about them falling behind. I definitely care for the mother of my daughter, though it is very hard because she has borderline personality disorder and serious addiction issues. Horrible mood swings, trusts no one, verbal and physical abuse, the works. I have desperately wanted to help them from day one, but now I’m seeing that much of my effort has been futile. But at this point, I don’t think it’s responsible to break up. Even if I did that, I would have to maintain all the kids myself, which is basically what I’m already doing. Not many good options at the moment.

Dumb question; but have you tried the classics like Lego and building stuff?. Like if the opportunity is there, get them to build a tree house/garden shed/castle thingy. It's about getting them to make something useful, and then see its application as fun so I'm told. Even something like painting a room.

I briefly taught teenagers (had to for a few months) and painting really focused their minds. Then worked with adult offenders and they really woke up after they made a door and thought "Wow, I made this door and now I'm walking in and out of it".

But the actual concentration of doing the thing is supposed to be the brain training part. Especially if they start with something easy and simple. Anyway, I don't have any kids so don't know WTF I'm talking about.

 

[Basshead]

After reading much retardation concerning the venerable IE games and how modern gamers "Can't into them" it struck me that there may be a reason(s) beyond decline, lowered IQ, and general spastication.

My main conclusion is this: I doubt modern gamers have read a book in their life. I had an entire collection of books (from pocket money and jobs) when I was a teen. It developed my imagination. So when I played BG, I wasn't playing a RPG with 'barren maps and no feedback' I was playing a game with a character that represented my alter ego in the FR. And a character that I built within it. That character was built around characters I had identified with in the books I read.

Without writing pages...you'd get it if you're my generation or older. And read books as a kid. But younger gamers seem to need that...prior imaginative blueprint. Like flashing images and 1 sentence responses from social media that continuously tell them who their character is.

And without that - they think older games are boring.

Ya man I think this is part of the issue. It has compounded with the younger generation, as when I was young not only did I read and play outside and with my imagination, even when computers came around it was a skill to learn. Even games were a console you plugged in, and you only had the games you had. With smart phones none of this applies. There is unlimited access to content and games. There is no typing. They ruin the development of imagination, attention span, and obviously contribute to maladaptive behavior. My 2 step children are having significant issues socially, behaviorally and academically. They can’t play or entertain themselves, before I was in the picture they just zoned out on tablets all day. They can’t pay attention to even learn the rules of basketball. It’s not fast or attention grabbing enough. In short they are shit kids. My daughter has more imagination and a better demeanor at 18 months old than they do at 10. The step boy and girl will end up in jail and as a harlot most likely. The youths in the school and neighborhood are similar. Unfortunately it fucks up much worse than game taste.

Serious question - why did you marry her?

Obviously I care about the bastards or they’d be long gone, or I wouldn’t care about them falling behind. I definitely care for the mother of my daughter, though it is very hard because she has borderline personality disorder and serious addiction issues. Horrible mood swings, trusts no one, verbal and physical abuse, the works. I have desperately wanted to help them from day one, but now I’m seeing that much of my effort has been futile. But at this point, I don’t think it’s responsible to break up. Even if I did that, I would have to maintain all the kids myself, which is basically what I’m already doing. Not many good options at the moment.

Dumb question; but have you tried the classics like Lego and building stuff?. Like if the opportunity is there, get them to build a tree house/garden shed/castle thingy. It's about getting them to make something useful, and then see its application as fun so I'm told. Even something like painting a room.

I briefly taught teenagers (had to for a few months) and painting really focused their minds. Then worked with adult offenders and they really woke up after they made a door and thought "Wow, I made this door and now I'm walking in and out of it".

But the actual concentration of doing the thing is supposed to be the brain training part. Especially if they start with something easy and simple. Anyway, I don't have any kids so don't know WTF I'm talking about.

I think you maybe onto something here. I was somewhat of a little rogue, getting kicked out of schools, sent to be yelled at by murderers with life sentences; here they are called alternative schools. They teachers are allowed to use force to break up a fight but they look the other way on smoking, getting a little high etc. In turn more was expected academically and behaviorally. It was a good system and I greatly enjoyed it over regular school, because I could play guitar and record songs all day. In the old days I would have just been expelled and my educational career ended. But thanks to this I was able to university where I excelled. Mine was not a problem of stupidity, but for a lot of the students it was. Along with any other abnormal student you can imagine where their condition effects their schooling.
I have seen many ideas applied to varying degrees of success. In general, you have to find what works best for a particular individual. The autist/adhd/sociopathic son does well with legos. But in turn it can be negative because although he loves remote controlled vehicles and the like, when he gets them he dismantles and breaks them in literal minutes. So it is very much a struggle because he does not grasp the concepts or treating anything with care, not touching things that don’t belong to him, personal space, doesn’t get that people don’t like being lied to, etc. In short, it’s all very complicated. Oh well. Going to get some gaming in whilst my baby is asleep . My youngest is truly the light of my life.

 

[0sacred]

Kids think that reading the manual of a game is like cheating.

if his was true they'd be doing it thoroughly and repeatedly

 

[ukdouble1]

My son is 11 years old. I can't get him to read or even listen to audiobooks. But he finished both Legends of Grimrock and tons of hardcore mods for them. He sat behind the Into the Breach for several weeks. He loves the first and second Gothic, but he cannot look at the third. He does not like Skyrim, but is infatuated with Enderal. He only plays on the highest difficulty. He does not care about the manufacturability of graphics, but he is rushing from design. When he saw the Darkest Dungeon, he was delighted. And he has many friends with similar preferences.

 

[Rahdulan]

My son is 11 years old. I can't get him to read or even listen to audiobooks. But he finished both Legends of Grimrock and tons of hardcore mods for them. He sat behind the Into the Breach for several weeks. He loves the first and second Gothic, but he cannot look at the third. He does not like Skyrim, but is infatuated with Enderal. He only plays on the highest difficulty. He does not care about the manufacturability of graphics, but he is rushing from design. When he saw the Darkest Dungeon, he was delighted. And he has many friends with similar preferences.

Sounds pretty based, yo. Ask him why he prefers first two Gothic games over the third one. I want to hear the rationale from modern youth.

 

[GaelicVigil]

My son is 11 years old. I can't get him to read or even listen to audiobooks. But he finished both Legends of Grimrock and tons of hardcore mods for them. He sat behind the Into the Breach for several weeks. He loves the first and second Gothic, but he cannot look at the third. He does not like Skyrim, but is infatuated with Enderal. He only plays on the highest difficulty. He does not care about the manufacturability of graphics, but he is rushing from design. When he saw the Darkest Dungeon, he was delighted. And he has many friends with similar preferences.

Sounds pretty based, yo. Ask him why he prefers first two Gothic games over the third one. I want to hear the rationale from modern youth.

I actually like Gothic 3 TBH. I had heard all these awful stories about it for years. Finally tried it a couple years ago and thought it was better than Oblivion. Faction system was really cool.

I don't hate Gothic 1&2, but I think both of those games are overhyped for what they are. They both feel like a Fable variant to me. World feels too static, closed off and on rails imo.

 

[Max Damage]

I'll be honest with OP and everyone else, never once did I care about walls of text in any Bioware game or other RPGs, neither did anyone I know IRL, if you can LARP up backstory for you character(s) - good for you, but from my experience most old RPGs have bad UI and pacing, with none of the upsides more modern releases bring. There's little reason to give them a try in first place over any contemporary game barring some experimental titles that may tick your fancy. If you want good story or characters, there're always same few titles everyone ever mentions, because everything else is dreadful.

 

[ukdouble1]

And yes, questions were raised above about external manuals for the game. Now he plays Enderal, and for all his dislike of reading, he has 21 tabs open in his browser with reference materials about spells, materials, etc. In addition, he has an Excel file open where he plans the development of the hero.

Ask him why he prefers first two Gothic games over the third one.

I already did it. Unfortunately, he is still a child, not a representative of the youth, and he formulates with difficulty and somewhat abstractly. Here are some of his claims to Gothic 3:
- This is not one game, but many uninteresting little games, each about a different city.
- There is no challenge in it, the hero can immediately kill the orcs.
- Friends from previous games are fake, they are other people.
- Combat has gotten wacky with one enemy fighting while the rest wait in line.
- There is nothing to strive for in the game if your hero is not a mage.
- Combat with two weapons should have been allowed to study after the final credits.

 

[0sacred]

10/10, looking forward to his retrospective review on Codex frontpage

 

[octavius]

Here are some of his claims to Gothic 3:

- Combat has gotten wacky with one enemy fighting while the rest wait in line.

And it's not even a turn based game...
It sounds like bad fighting movies like Blade.