Well this entry probably isn't going to connect with everyone, but it's a conversation I've found myself having over and over, and I'd love some feedback.
The issue is of gaming.
And no, I don't consider myself to be a "gamer". (though I can be found playing hours of Madden)
And no this isn't a criticism the violence, sex, and drug use in video games "brainwashing" our children into making babies at 13 and joining games.
(Not yet......)
I think in order to talk about my issue with today's video games, I need to take y'all back to a simpler time. Not the times of pong (I'm not that old). I'm talking about nintendo, super nintendo, and n64. You see, back then, and still today, my father ran a pawn shop. So I, being the envy of my friends, got to use my dad's store like a library. I swapped out games and movies as I pleased.
Unlike my friends, I was never really into games like Zelda, or Mario Brothers, but I never really knew why.
But now I think I do.....
You see, looking back on what my favorite games were, it was always things like Super Smash Brothers, and Goldeneye. And no it's not because I'm particularly into violence, it's because my memories of those games always seemed to share one common theme.
Hanging out with my friends.
I loved having all of my friends sleep over, playing video games til 5 a.m,. drinking soda, eating snacks, laughing at each other, and having a great time.
So what's the point of this entry? Forcing others to read about your reminiscing? Well that'd just be cruel.
I was in my dad's store the other day looking at games (I don't get them for free anymore....) when I realized something. Not a single ps3 game on the shelf, there were about 30, was multiplayer.
Sure there were plenty of games that you could play against your "friends" online, but no games that you could play with someone sitting right next to you.
Who made that decision? That no gamers had friends? That people don't like to sit around next to eachother and play video games anymore?
Sure, I have friends that it's cool that I can play games against them when they live in other cities, states, countries, but it's sort of irrelevant if I never played against them when they were sitting right next to me.
I am one of those people that unfortunately believes that one day society will be made up of people sitting in their own houses doing everything from their own computers. Every action from a single chair. Never moving.
But today is not that day.
We have to stop buying these anti-social one-player games. That's the only way to let the game makers know.
If we want more multiplayer games, we have to do something about it! I refuse to resort to going back and buying the old systems and the old games. Whether or not people want to believe it, the prices on those have started going back up.
However, if things don't change I'm pretty sure I have an old n64 in my parents attic. It might just be time to dig that old thing back up.
N64 is the best! Mario Kart is where it's at. It's definitely more fun to play those games with friends, though as an only child whose friends didn't live near by, I played mostly with my dad, and a lot by myself. It could get lonely after a while, but I have to say, because the games I played were mostly races and stuff, it was never soul sucking. Whereas with RPGs, even Pokemon, it absolutely got lonely and depressing.
ReplyDeleteA person does plenty alone: watches tv, does a crossword, whatever. It's great, maybe better, to make video games a social thing, but they're fine alone, too. I don't think the problem is the lack of multi-player options so much as it is the Role-player game fad. RPGs get you to invest a lot into false realities with on going plots, which can be isolating in a way that simply playing short races and challenges doesn't seem to be. That's my experience, at least. But really, games that are just short races and such usually come with the multi-player option anyway, so you're right.
that is a quality comment haha. Ya, I mean I won't lie and pretend like I didn't LOVE pokemon. I never felt the lonely feeling playing it, but I do worry that multiplayer games don't exist any longer. Even racing games these days are only multiplayer online, at least on the playstation system. I just have no idea what kids these days are even playing. Ya I know they need to get outside and play, but in the middle of the night and their friends are sleeping over I hope they aren't just watching movies. Seems anti-social
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