In reference to topics like “OMG I’m bored already with this game, what should I do now, arrgggh!?”
In 2003 you would see literally 0 people would complain about PC/Console Games, because well it was a common knowledge that it was just games, not like your carrier or marriage situation. And any OK game, even with the capabilities of old GPUs would hold players for great amount of hours (2-3k++), while nowadays players get OK+++ games and they get bored within 200-300 play hours. Some even under the 100 mark.
I understand that there is such thing as progression of expectation and opinions with every passing year, and the market is hundred times escalated, but hey even with that in mind why should we fall into such hilarious states of existence, akin to descending from hоmo-sapiens to hоmo-complainincus?
Just enjoy what you have, lads. You won’t have the same thing twice, that is for sure.
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old games would hold players longer with less content/depth because everything about it was a new experience at the time for anyone diving into whatever genre game it was. these days games are far more advanced but only build upon each other in very small increments.
if the experience feels so familiar/predictable or just plain lacking based on the standards established by the years of content development prior to it, then the game wont have very good retention or value long term. this shouldnt be surprising or controversial to you its just how gaming has evolved.
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this. you had to use your brain too back in the days. no handholding and ultra casual mode.
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Yes, in 2003 most people were playing games and not reading about them or posting about them. Times have changed substantially. Having access to the internet, computers, internet-connected game consoles, smart phones, 2+ monitor setups, etc., have indeed made complaining on the internet more possible.
Honestly, your post sounds like old grandpa telling us about how the old times were better and more sensical.
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I agree in principle, however it was seldom or never that those games 1) cost as much as they do now (relatively) and only available while the company upheld the servers, meaning they will become useless once they are shut down; and 2) were released in a semi-beta state.
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you’re correct that the scene has changed and the audience as well. but a simple self-reflection of the same audience might help for a much better scene developemnment. i’m only surprised of the fact that the people involved obviously do not realize this, crying for small things over and over again, is actually harmful to the scene, and in the end to their own experience.
Was you even born in 2003? No way anyone that was actually gaming then would have that view.
We played games for 2k-3k hours because they were BETTER GAMES. And was not as many complaints because the late 90s and early 2ks was still an adult majority. But you still had the kids in games like d2 and yeah the forums were just as toxic.
You would not see this in a game like EQ or FFXI. Small community of like gamers who were ALL adults because no kid could get to max level much less play good enough to get a group.
I was 30 in 2003 just love people who were never there or were 10 years old telling me how it used to be.
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the small things in games matter. small details in games can be so useful or memorable that they make your entire experience & memories of the game better overall. likewise they can also be small things that frustrate you or bore you enough times that they add up to a negative experience and memory of your game experience.
when you say things only matter if they’re the worst thing ever or the best fun you could have you are drawing a line and saying everything past that doesnt matter and i dont know how you could be content living so willfully ignorant
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Yes, you are correct, now it is “more possible to complain on the internet”, and in a way it is becoming the “current social meta”, that is why I am a bit at unease. Imo, the fact that we have constant internet access does not mean that “now we have to complain like insane for everything at everybody”. Idk who created that meta, but I do not find it useful at all. Hence the reason for this topic.
You must really disliked my post to call me a grandpa. Just for the record, I feel like 17 and that grandpa all stuff, was kinda rigid to my ears.
Billions of dollars industry.
Billions of dollars company.
Thousand dollar expectations. 
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Some of the issues are just blatantly obvious. You could probably go back to the first beta and see some people predicting the issues back then.
Now it’s just hey wait until season 2 we will fix the issue!
Major yikes
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Young people being toxic on the interned is timeless, I agree. But my main remark is for the: complaining about the quality of the games. I personally don’t remember such complaints back in the day. Maybe we played different things, idk.
About being “BETTER GAMES”, that is purely subjective. I Also dislike how games developed, and I like the older game mechanics/ideas more in a way, but can’t really say older games were better. All games have their pros and cons, all are flawed, most of them are even with huge flaws. The one thing that is the same is the person who plays it. Games will develop even further in the future, but the people who play them will be still just people. So my message is to the people themselves, to ease their nerves and emotions a little bit and enjoy life as it is, because I don’t see how games will suddenly become “the most perfect thing in the world”, and complaining about totally worthless things is just waste of their time.
That is because games were made to be good back then. They actually had PAID beta testers and released finished.
You had devs that actually engaged with the players. Heck lot of games you had GMs that actually showed up in games.
Was actual innovation and Art in the making of games Devs actually made the decisions not the corporations.
Games are not supposed to be made for everyone. But that is the real issue. Noone focuses on making a great game for some instead they try to make a mediocre one for all.
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In old days, game devs made games with passion. Also not much complaining. If there were complains, they were constructive. Not like now, people complaining about teleport to entrance but not into dungeon…
Now everyone and their dogs got access to internet and just look at this forum man.
Devs should just focus doing their job and stop cattering to everyone. If people like their games, they will stick around.
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I can agree. But for example lets take Diablo 2 and look at it. In its developemnment process the had so many issues that I cannot even count them all myself. And even being content creator for d2 for several years and deeply loving d2, I can say it is grand disaster in many areas, looked objectively. Subjectively, yeah, it is the “goat” game of all times for ARPGs and is made with many good ideas, but ultimately it has much much much more flaws than d3 or d4, taken together.
So if d2 could be the “goat” game and d3, even being the boringest thing ever has many things put on the right track, why would not d4 be worthy of respect, when it literally takes best parts of both games + many hidden gems from other genre games and even mods made for the genre? I mean, yeah, I support giving a critical feedback for a game to make it better, but the constant wining that “PEOPLE LACK CONTENT” (forgive my caps), is just the most ADHD thing a person could post on an online forum.
The content is not about the game, the content is about you, Player. If you cannot find a happiness in a 2023 game, while many people managed to find x10 times such in really bad games from the 2000s, I am in really deep concers about you!
massively ignoring the fact that companies realised many years ago that they could monetise the happiness we get from games and artificially limit our enjoyment enough that we will spend time/money or both in trying to get to the part that felt like it was missing.
im sure everything looks great in your world if you’re peeking through the entire time period leading to this and ignoring any context
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I can agree 200% with you. And have nothing to say against.
Just maybe to add one juicy info, which many people will easily miss. Even the game being on the surface unsatisfactory, the devs delved very deep in the ARPG community before making d4. And this is nowhere advertised, nor even mentioned. Only people with advanced involvement in the field can see this depth, which for me personally was very surprising. I literally came with 2/10 expectations to d4, before playing past the beta and seeing the care about things that they neither “had to do”, nor “would help sell their game” either. Huge surprise, they did a ton of things the community was pushing in the past 10+ years. And packed it in a very convenient manner.
Does this make the game great or better? No.
But does it show care for the player? Yes.
Could they skip this job? Yes.
But did they do the extra work? They did.
Old games werent live services though
Its Blizzard the one that decided to go with this model, and live services come with constant feedback from the client that the product owner has to listen
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Blizzard is the one insisting on everything being an unfinished live service game. Then they take years to get their games finally to the point they should have been at when they released. We wouldn’t complain if they released finished and polished games.
You’re promoting toxic positivity. Your idea is that people are expected to ignore what’s wrong with the world and just be happy things aren’t worst.
We as consumers should hold companies responsible for giving us trash products. It doesn’t matter what old consumer behavior was like. What matters is blizzard gave me a terrible product in D4, and I’m going to make sure they know that.
Telling people that they should act more like gamers in the past, simply doesn’t make sense at all.
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