Video games died when businessmen realized that they can make people pay more for social power through DLC and...

Video games died when businessmen realized that they can make people pay more for social power through DLC and microtransactions. This psychological exploit is the entire reason our industry has been gutted. Video games are leaning far too much on the business side, when the great balance of a good video game is both business and creative exercise. Unfortunately, our industry has taken a creative crash. Suits have ruined the ethics of video game development and we're far too deep in the rabbit hole to get out of it because every person, including consumers, are too invested in it. It does not help that we also have a generation being trained to think this is right, resulting in an entire army of consumers ready to defend these practices.

My hobby is dead.

>that feel when the thread is going to be archived and my rant will be lost in time, like tears in the rain

i got you senpai

Maybe you need to relax
It's just a game bro

this process began long before you were born

your favorite game, the one you think of as being an eternal classic that normies just don't understand, was the product of business compromises, an attempt to make something more accessible to stupid people so the publisher could make more money

there is no 'grey area,' all of life is one big grey area

Why did Homer survive?

That pointer on the gauge at the time was not at the far end of the spectrum as far as business was concerned. I know because I was there at the beginning, youngfag.

Its true user, the only good thing about this is that you realize it and now can go live your life and leave videogames behind

like you have beeen struggling to find a game that doesn't want you to play it forever to get another level or unlock random perks coinatined in random loot chests for the rest ofl your life

Then do what I'm doing. Make a game, make a mod, create vidya related content. Push back against this bullshit.

>simpsons image

Aaaaaaaaand dropped. I dont care what you posted, probably just some bitching looking for pity, and you deserve none.

>Video games died when businessmen realized that they can make people pay more for social power through DLC and microtransactions.

What does this mean?

I agree with most of what you said but it doesn't mean the hobby is dead, what's stopping you from going back and enjoying what you've missed?

Videogames died when businessmen realised that the market for challenging and complex games is smaller than the market for casual cow clickers.

I'm actually a game developer. I'm essentially the "clown that went to the therapist and was the antidote for his depression". The truth is, I cannot change the world because the world refuses to change.

In the good old days, when you had to pay a quarter to keep playing every time you died, THAT's when the industry was dominated by artists who were pure of heart.
But I was born in le wrong generation, when they bleed you of 10 bucks for a full game one whole year after release.
How terrible.

Consoles, CoD and newfags killed gaming.

I just got through saying that it started before games even were being sold to people?

your response is: 'no, you're wrong and you're young'

sounds like an argument a child would make

Better to at least provide something made with heart for a small group of people then, you don't have to change the world, and it's better to do something like this rather than lay back and accept it.

Jason Rubin warned us, but we forgot. He warned us ten years ago but we didn't listen.

I'll explain it in the simplest terms.

Give two people the same game. Let's say overwatch. Now offer them a shiny box that will possibly give them a shiny new skin to wear in game. That shiny box, purchasable with either grindable money or real money, being an option is the psychological exploit I was referring to.

This is the basis behind microtransactions.

What languages do you use?

Gaming didn't get worse, you grew up and realized it's a shit hobby that offers nothing of value you in return besides small shots of adrenaline.

it sounds like you're mocking the entire argument, but it also kind of sounds like you're completely lacking in all self awareness

NO ONE was a bigger fucking jew than arcade game creators, they designed the game to trick you into spending more money, 100 different ways

Arcade games were different from console games. Arcades were cancer, too, but I gave more love to games on the PC and the console since they didn't have game design tactics like that. It's a good thing arcade design died when home consoles became a thing. Thank god mostly for the NES.

Truthfully what video game company DOESN'T employ a team of dedicated behavioral psychologists?

It means he was trying to find something to complain about but couldn't express it properly so he resorted to slapping random bullshit words together to sound legitimate. Basically he has no idea was he was writing and just wanted to sound educated

Consoles were an okay option for a while alongside the computer and opened a new venue for game developers. And for a time, there was balance in bringing heart to the games created. But that time has passed with increased budgets.

>I dont care what you posted

You care enough to post in the thread.

Welcome to captialism. Eventually people figure out the best way to dilute quality for the sake of profit and push it as far as they can until the industry is a shell of what it used to be. Doing a good job doesn't make money. Doing a mediocre job and convincing people you did a great job through cheap tricks makes money.

It happened with film, television, music and it caught up with vidya in record time.

>I will blow out a garbage post that selectively ignores all the bad business shit that has always been in the industry while also ignoring all the good games that have come out in the last decade because I am a out of touch faggot that should have off himself a long time ago.

You're fucking stupid OP.

I see. I don't think this is as big of a problem as you think. The weak will continue to pay for cosmetics via microtransaction and the strong will continue to see through it.

The failure to articulate doesn't mean the idea isn't worth sharing.

Consoles were okay until PC surpassed them at hardware capabilities. I'd say xbawks and PS2 was the cutoff point, after which the extent of consoles dragging down gamedev became apparent.

I grew up in a time when video games were ripe and many continued to come out over the years. At one time, even when I was in high school, I felt like by the time I can finally make games at a company, I'd be too late to it since the industry was flooded with so many. But as soon as I got into the business, I realized everything changed quickly. Games were being made less, but this was because risks were being taken less, companies were dying all around us, and business strategies were changing fast. This isn't the industry that I was once invested in.

This is what I thought. I have no idea how social power is supposed to be connected with microtransactions. In fact, his use of the term "social power" reeks of phrase-of-the-day calendar.

Good ole C++. The bread and butter. Don't use anything else. Even if your friends try to sucker you into stuff like C#, java, and python.

>Gaming didn't get worse

It did get worse. It has nothing to do with growing up. Your argument would work if games were not being specifically targeted at the casual, accessible crowd.

Consoles saved video games in the '80s user. And if it weren't for consoles then PCs wouldn't even have as much of a focus on being something that can play games in the first place.

In this business, it would be stupid not to, which ironically is the problem with this all. The ethics of destruction.

>all the good games that have come out in the last decade
I'm having trouble recalling any good commercial release except Arma 2 and... and... oh wait, Forged Alliance is an addon.

capitalism 101 retard

blame neoliberal capitalism

t. Bioshock infinite fan

No you retard. Gaming has not changed, in fact, it got better. Look at all the broken and bsuted games made in the late 80's to early 00's. We don't even come close to that level anymore.

I will say it again; gaming didn't get worse, you grew up and didn't let go of your childhood hobby that obviously isn't for you anymore.

>Arma only good game in past decade

Go to bed, dad.

This industry, even during the early 80s, had its fair share of games. Businesses were ripe back then, that's no question, but even they had their share of games that turned the dial extremely to the right to try to make quick profit. The difference is that alongside those cash grabs, you still had games like Super Mario Bros, Doom, etc. Those exact experiences have disappeared leaving those cash grabs taking up the market space.

I agree, the AAA industry is a withered husk of corporate bullshit, I'm not bothering with AAA shit myself, I want to make small scale games, the kinda shit I want to play or would have wanted to see growing up. I don't expect to make it big, but if I can make some good games that people genuinely love, then I'm happy, and I'll keep doing it.
My old man lectures me and tells me I should try to make mobile games and apps, he says that's where the money is, and besides the fact mobile dev is a complete gamble, I'm not in it for the money.
So why not do what I'm doing? Make something small but great.

I find C++ confusing as fuck compared to C# and Python. I can see myself writing something worthwhile with Java as well, but even an accounting application in C++ looks like a mess.

Should I git gud and make better code or is it just the way everybody does it?

The strong have fallen to the same thing, too because they have to keep up to remain competitive, both gameplay and cosmetically.

protip: never believe people when they say cosmetic DLC doesn't matter. This is the greatest lie told in the industry. cosmetics is the most valuable entity to be sold and if this was not true, no developer on console, pc, or mobile would be selling it. Money talks

explain this image retard

also remember that the western games are paid reviews

Not until I land my 777 at LAX. Go watch some TV, son.

How come I'm already at the third stage and I'm barely in my twenties?

even if you're right you all sound like fucking 12 year olds and if you made a game it would probaly suck even more ass than an AAA game

MBAs / capitalism did ruin video games, but only because it's more profitable to make garbage and DLC

If your friend in a video game had a shiny gold skin and you were unable to get it yourself, he will have a higher social status than you. This is a simple metaphor, but it extends to what social power means when it comes to microtransactions.

All those busted games fell out of favor just like a healthy industry allowed it to. The market dictated they remain irrelevant and thats what happened.

Nowadays, having a broken game is a praise.

See skyrim, fallout, breath of the wild, etc.

most of them don't

That's because the original founders of vidya companies actually cared about vidya.
Now their shareholders replaced them with jews, or they retired.

there is a world where video games could be passionate projects. ones that would not be released until they are completely finished and satisfactory. a star trek like world of over abundance where game budgets are unlimited and team sizes have no limit. where enormous teams of only the most passionate developers make things that truly have no limit. art that doesn't need to be rushed out the door, that can truly be played forever.

now we live in a world where game companies stretch their budgets to shoe string lengths, rush incomplete content out the door to save pennies. Where masterpieces like metal gear solid 5 are literally missing their endings due to this corporate greed. Where cosmetics and unlockables that made games so worth 100%ing are not earned through strategy and overcoming challenges but by shelling out "a few bucks".

this world where our overabundance can fuel our art can only be achieved through Communism. The machine of neoliberal capitalism has evolved over the years and art and games have been suffering to a point of utter stagnation and backwardness.

communism will win in the end, and that is when we will see the real 10/10s

>I dont like it so it's broken

LMAO kiddo. Those games are competley playable, unlike the shit that litered even the PS2's library

Mobile gaming is a depressing piece of shit. You don't even want to see how Chinese and Indian mobile companies do agile development. It involves buying someone's code and just slapping a different paint of coat over it. Most of the time, these clones never make it big, so they are literally gambling. It made me sick to my stomach.

Don't bother arguing with him, he's a bitter little fool, lingering around here for (you)s, if there was any passion for vidya in him, it dried up a long time ago.

lmao, its been all about the dosh ever since the 80s

if it weren't for capitalism we wouldn't have video games because we'd all be slaving away in factories for no pay

>ultra rich syndicalist kikes pushing for shit products and manipulating capitalism to make people want capitalism

the ironic thing is this will not work at all and is completely backfiring on you

die kike

*not want capitalism

I equate programming languages to food (I fucking know, food analogy).

In food, the healthier it is, the blander or less delicious it is going to taste. In programming, the less readable the code is, the more efficient it is. C++ looks ugly, yes, but it's a tried and true language just enough close to low level to give you both high level readability and low level access to be fast and flexible.

C# is OK, but I hate using that shit when someone throws Unity or XNA at me.

If everyone was communist technology would be 50 years behind where it is now you stupid fuck

I didn't buy into it for a moment, anyone that makes it big in mobile dev is a flash in the pan and struck it super lucky, besides, mobile is a fucking terrible platform for vidya. Especially the kind I want to make.

>The strong have fallen to the same thing, too because they have to keep up to remain competitive, both gameplay and cosmetically.

If the DLC gives players a competitive edge, thats pure aids.

If the DLC gives players cosmetic items, thats greed.

I don't believe cosmetic DLC matters. I'm open to being proven wrong though, I would like to see an instance where having more/better cosmetics makes a player perform better than those without. But thats impossible, because they would then cease to be just "cosmetic".

Just proving the point. Your youth and everything before it was magical and perfect while everything now is wrong and evil.

>In food, the healthier it is, the blander or less delicious it is going to taste
only if you have no idea how to prepare food
>In programming, the less readable the code is, the more efficient it is
also wrong, C++ is unreadable because's its very old and very popular and has hundreds of features tacked onto it with no coherent design
We only use it because it's powerful

There's a pro and con to it. The pro of having a capitalist mindset with games is that it keeps your head in the game with what sells and what doesn't. The immediate con, of course, is that the video game business is precisely about making an entertainment product and that requires you giving up some business sense. It makes no sense, for instance, to give players 100s of levels that will take months or years to create. A businessman would immediately tell you to reduce it to 20 and sell ten more as DLC. A game developer will say that it increases your playerbase potential happiness and loyalty, which is worth a lot more than money.

Unfortunately, devs have lost sight of this single truth.

>back then
>5 nerds in a garage can make a classic game

>now
>large companies print shiny garbage

>Two coders can't see eye to eye

Color me surprised.

>I don't believe cosmetic DLC matters

Stop playing f2p mmos and single player games like the wicther.

Good single players are rare these days, but their there, could always play old games you never got to play as a kid

You sound like a kid that is trying to parrot an old saying, so I'm going to put this bluntly with you.

Not everyone's youth was magical and a lot of us would rather forget it. But I've been in this hobby and industry far too long to allow nostalgia to override anything.

It's powerful because of the sacrifices made for it. That high level readability comes at a cost.

I have literally not met a single person on Sup Forums who doesn't have rose-tinted nostalgia goggles for every shitty game they played as a child
how do you think Nintendo stays in business

I know exactly what OP is saying and can sum it up in two meme arrows

>then: get a new costume for beating the game on hard in under four hours
>now: get a new costume for pre-ordering the season pass at Gamestop

Arcades were pretty exploitative - this is why home consoles continuously eroded them from the moment the Atari 2600 came out onward. People back then quickly realized how much money you could save by paying $60 once for Donkey Kong or Pac-Man. That said, arcades did offer a level of technology you couldn't get at home. Good luck getting something as mind blowingly advanced as After Burner or Robotech or Virtua Fighter the year they hit coin ops. Those days are gone too, though.

The increase in budgets and team sizes have also led to the most inefficient development you will ever see. This is why games don't feel coherent nowadays. There's hundreds of people working on different aspects of the game and hardly any synergy.

What fucking garbage this post is. You faggots see everything as cash grabs and the moment a game gets popular you are armed and ready to hate on it. If Sup Forums existed in 1985~1995 we would have constant bitching about how Super Mario 3 is awful furry pandering and that there haven't been any good video games since Space Invaders. Good games come out all the damn time, it's just gaming is no where near as shunned as it use to be so as a special rejected snowflake you must move into a camp of cynicism and hate to keep up with everything.

I'm not a normal person from Sup Forums. If I was, I'd probably be telling you right now that I hope Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, or Valve buttfucks me with new DLC like Destiny and the like do. And then have hundreds of consumers defend it while devs literally (I've seen it) laugh about the money that will come in.

C++ is the least readable programming language that isnt assembly or a joke language

Man the first Spiderman game was so good.

>back then
>large companies make games, some are good and some are bad
>indies make games, some are good and some are bad

>now
>large companies make games, some are good and some are bad
>indies make games, some are good and some are bad

Damn...you know... that really...makes me...think...hmmm.....you know that old saying? "The more things chane, the more they stay the same?" Thats really deep....

nah, ur a faget

Gaming is more fun than ever in my life.
Even Sonic is coming back.
Born in 87

Either kill yourself or fuck off and stop bitching

There will always be haters in an entertainment industry. Their existence does not discredit the objective drop of quality in both the development and the consumers.

How difficult it is to find 3d artists that are willing to partake in passion projects?

>>large companies make games, some are good and some are bad
so you know nothing?

thats fucking retarded. also literally every piece of technology we use today is thanks to socialism and government funding

I would argue there's been a drop in variety with modern AAA, and microtransactions and preorder bonuses have been further muddying things

Depends on the level of 3D but generally I'd say: Really fucking hard.

>Look at all the broken and bsuted games made in the late 80's to early 00's. We don't even come close to that level anymore.
High budget AAA games now are unplayable the day they come out in a way that's never been seen before

Nobody who published a cartridge that didn't have a fucking game on it stayed in business for long

Yes you do, I'm 34, I grew up with all that shit and I can tell you they were just as money greedy and manipulative back then. R.O.B the robot is standing proof of that, partition memory cards was proof of that. Also you are very ignorant and stupid if you think "time invested in hobby" = "immunity to bias"

>Gaming is more fun than ever in my life.
you have a shitty life then

The history of video games is written in blood. I know why the industry got to where it is which is why it's very hard to defend the business practices these days. However, the industry could have a healthy amount of better games in the span of a year of the business ethics of all the major companies changed overnight.

no decent artist is going to join you on your passion project especially when you sound like a fedoralord

the ironic thing is you don't know what the fuck you are talking about by dicksucking global capitalism. have fun with your rent slave lifestyle and seeing your kids get stabbed on the way to school

not smartphones, though, right?
but I hate them

Dwarf Fortress and Cataclysm (the original, not DDA), Transcendence, Sauerbraten, Invasion 2, Starsector and many other amazing games were made by single devs, and I'd say some of these games are equal in quality or better than mainstream AAAs like Overwatch and SC 2.
Who knows, maybe the devnigger will write something worthwhile.