Rock Candy Reviews

Are we losing our drive to play long games?

The first game I ever truly finished by myself (no cheats, hacks!) was a Kirby game. Specifically the Kirby Superstar Ultra ds game. It took me a long while to unlock the True Arena, and conquer Kind Dedede’s version of Spring Breeze, but when I finally did everything the game had to offer, I wasn’t sad. I felt so accomplished, and I bragged about to my friends and family. Not only that, but I was ready to move on to the next adventure in my gaming life. No postgame depression, or reluctance to start anew.

This has always been my experience with almost every game I play. However, I was born in the early 2000’s. Things like walkthroughs and “let’s plays” were just getting their start on YouTube, and I could easily play a game without feeling pressured to keep up with trends, and avoid spoilers without too much difficulty. Nowadays, when a game is hyped up, YouTubers will upload full game walkthroughs within days after they are released. Especially if a game is a “slow burn”, a person can now just watch a video instead of putting in the time to play a game, challenge themselves, and grow attached to the characters.

Is this a bad thing?

Games should be fun to play, first and foremost. Yet, even learning controls and strategies seem to really push people’s patience. The fact that so many games that are story heavy, or character driven, get labeled as slow and boring, shows me that people are no longer playing games for the enjoyment of a well written plot, good level design, or even an engaging combat system. In today’s world, people play for shock value, and instant gratification. I think this a negative thing, because gaming might eventually just be seen as a quick distraction, rather than an emotional experience. Many people already see gaming as mindless addiction, and people getting so quickly bored of learning the mechanics of games or reading dialogue are not helping that reputation.

I understand that not everyone games for the same reasons, and not everyone has as much time as they would like to game. This is just a trend I have noticed and is concerning to me overall.

What are your thoughts?