Modern Video Games Are Less Fun - An Explorational Series
Fair warning - this is very much an "old person yells at cloud" bit of writing. HOWEVER... When did video games turn into so much dang work? The grinding, the season management, 24/7 persistent worlds, crappy loot boxes, pay-to-win, the ridiculous complexity, etc.; it all detracts from just being able to turn on a game, play for 30-60 minutes either solo or with a friend and turn it off again. To give two non-sports examples: First: The Sims , which upon its release and after spending more hours than I'd care to admit, made me realize it's basically a virtual doll-house for adults with no purpose except avoiding actual life or playing out sadistic scenarios without societal judgment. Second, Guitar Hero (or Rock Band) which, at the advanced/expert levels was so ridiculously hard that I could have used the hours to learn an actual real-life instrument. This is no exaggeration - I actually can play a stringed instrument and was even fairly good...