Writing The Wrongs

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Back in the days we...



Seriously, gamers need to realized they've grown the fuck up.

How often do you see people judging new games arguing that it isn't like the original, which they played for years and never stopped loving? How often is a sequel compared to the original in a fair way? Had the original and the sequel been released at the same time, the sequel would undoubtedly have been superior considering graphics and technology, but lets say we focus on the feel of the game and the visual appearance it projects, rather than the mechanics and how realistic it looks. And lets say you're 15. Yep, that's right, you probably were 15 back in the days of the original game, and you probably didn't have much else going on in your life, so it was pretty much your sole purpose back then. Did you consider that when you dropped bombs on the sequel ten years later? Don't think you did, no.


The thing is, the game isn't worse than the original because you're unable to devote your entire life to it today, it's rather you that today are unable to devote your entire life to a game, because you're ten years older. Life has changed you, made you aware of what you like and what you spend time on. You have standards based on your past experiences, and you expect new entries in your life to at least live up to said standards, and preferably surpass them. The ability to keep you enticed for weeks or years is not even remotely relevant for new games, because it's quite simply impossible. The new games aren't worse than the originals, they're actually loads better in most cases. Perfection is the new standard. Perfect gameplay, perfect visual appearance, perfect characters and perfect storyline. Not always successfully perfect, but the aspiration is at least present during development.

If you find something, anything, at the age of 20 or older, that continually impresses you and keeps you entertained and delighted for several hours, or even days or weeks, you should be in awe. You should seriously be in freakin' awe of this product that continues to meet your expectations and further on surpasses them. This is a simple product that is shifting your standards to a new best and making it harder for following entries to even please you, so enjoy it while you can and give the creators due respect. You simply cannot rate a game down, saying that it was superb for two weeks, and then lost you. The game was superb for two weeks. End of story. You loved it. For two entire weeks! Maybe you didn't end up playing it for years and years, but several might, and some definitely will. You've just grown up, and so you have to face the fact that you're gonna have to buy a new game every other week if you want to keep on being amazed. Besides, it's not like any of the old favorites kept on amazing you throughout the years. It was simply you who didn't expect, nor required it to. You were content with what you had. Then you desired more. And now, more still. And a top quality new release only has about two weeks full of amazement. After that, only the content will keep at it for years.


We don't like being content, we like being amazed. But it's about time we realize we can't be forever amazed by one single phenomenon or product. Be grateful of what you can get and give due recognition and respect.

10/10 for being amazing. And that's that.

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