Helping the Youth

[Squares, the Cube]

The other day I invited my 14-year old neighbor over for some gaming. I treat him like a little brother and so does the rest of my family. Anyway, he was trying to guess which console we would explore. Well, I pull out Atari 2600, like any other bad ass would... He didn't know what it was... So then I pulled out an NES. Had never seen one.

Busted out the Sega Genesis... Never seen it either.

After 4 hours of playing Atari, NES, and Genesis... I am happy to say that he would rather touch them than his Xbox 360. Finally a kid who appreciates quality control.

It's hard to find anyone young who can really appreciate the classics. I've met some kids who didn't know there was once only 151 Pokemon. Even more so, I know kids who thought Digimon was just a hoax. O.o

Back to the point! The point is due to a lack of quality, kids are being forced to play these repetitive games over and over again. It's like lets play Modern Warfare 3... Or 2.5... Or maybe just 2.1... Let's buy the same game but under a new name... Slightly new name...

Miss the old games sometimes... Play Halo on Legendary, slaughter everything. Play Contra Hard Corps on Sega, rage quit from too many deaths... I miss really earning my victories.

Anyway, young kid now likes old stuff. Oldies, but goodies. (:

[who_cares973]

this is a great story

[justin_ator]

Brought tears to my eyes, man :')

[CobaltWire]

Cute

[bmah]

Nice read.

I miss really earning my victories.

Many games these days all too often don't provide the sharp learning curves that earlier games had. They're just not very "marketable" to the masses these days, since video games have become more mainstream as opposed to being a niche in their earlier days.

But with hard games come that sense of euphoria after you complete it. You really can't feel that much of a sense of accomplishment with many modern games.


Even on FFR, it's obvious that sharp difficulties are met with strong opposition; people seem to prefer to play songs they can easily do, as opposed to playing songs with sharp difficulty spikes or are otherwise too hard for them to play. I guess the sense of accomplishment is overridden by frustration. People would rather "pick up and play" rather than grind a song until they get it right. It's too bad this facet of appreciating challenges is fading...

[Zageron]

Good read. I always show my N64 to kids who come over. They LOVE pod-racing, DK64, and SSB. :P

[Squares, the Cube]

Originally Posted by bmah

Nice read.

Many games these days all too often don't provide the sharp learning curves that earlier games had. They're just not very "marketable" to the masses these days, since video games have become more mainstream as opposed to being a niche in their earlier days.

But with hard games come that sense of euphoria after you complete it. You really can't feel that much of a sense of accomplishment with many modern games.

Even on FFR, it's obvious that sharp difficulties are met with strong opposition; people seem to prefer to play songs they can easily do, as opposed to playing songs with sharp difficulty spikes or are otherwise too hard for them to play. I guess the sense of accomplishment is overridden by frustration. People would rather "pick up and play" rather than grind a song until they get it right. It's too bad this facet of appreciating challenges is fading...

You deserve some sort of beer or a tasty sugary treat... Unless you're a diabetic! Then don't! Eat something else good. Like a favorite food item of your choice.

I definitely agree with you. Since gaming went mainstream, the difficulty curves are just small slopes in the shadows of the old skool's difficulty mountains. I feel that's why they implemented trophies and achievements. They knew the old senses of accomplishments could no longer exist, but still wanted people to feel rewarded.

I, being a bit on the eccentric side, am totally used to grinding songs on FFR. I can't even FC every level 9 song, but I still love playing level 12. In my opinion, I think it's amazing.

Also, I think the sore loser trend may also have something to do with these easy games. I know people who cry when they lose... And I'm like "Dude, are we not in our 20's?" Some of my greatest gains have come from defeats.

Originally Posted by Zageron

Good read. I always show my N64 to kids who come over. They LOVE pod-racing, DK64, and SSB. :P

Omg, definitely show them the 64-bit God of the 90s. I think it's crucial for young gamers to experience its awesomeness. Right now, Diddy Kong Racing is sitting in mine.


I want to thank everyone for replying to this thread. I was sure no one actually reads what I type.

[hi19hi19]

Originally Posted by bmah

Many games these days all too often don't provide the sharp learning curves that earlier games had. They're just not very "marketable" to the masses these days, since video games have become more mainstream as opposed to being a niche in their earlier days.

But with hard games come that sense of euphoria after you complete it. You really can't feel that much of a sense of accomplishment with many modern games.


Even on FFR, it's obvious that sharp difficulties are met with strong opposition; people seem to prefer to play songs they can easily do, as opposed to playing songs with sharp difficulty spikes or are otherwise too hard for them to play. I guess the sense of accomplishment is overridden by frustration. People would rather "pick up and play" rather than grind a song until they get it right. It's too bad this facet of appreciating challenges is fading...

You would definitely appreciate this video.
Actually everyone in this thread would.

Also, original Smash for life.
Smash 64 > Melee >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Brawl

[MinaciousGrace]

The issue at heart here is more universally a problem with humanity as a whole.

People are stupid and lazy but they don't want to admit it, they instead wrap themselves in a fantasy where mediocre work is the high bar and in doing so reinforce their peers' same perceptions. They will reject anything that challenges them to become better at their job as being "unreasonably difficult". This in turn lowers standards and further reinforces the mentality of acceptable under-performance, creating a vicious cycle which is unbreakable.

I mean I could go into -a lot- more detail but suffice it to say this is the exact reason why development in some third world countries has basically ground to a halt, and in many cases completely reversed.

Sitting down and figuring out how to beat older and more difficult games requires layers and layers of problem solving with many players not even realizing it.

Honestly if everyone in the world could develop the patience, tenacity, and general mindset required to do this, and in turn applied it to their jobs and every day activities, the world would be come a much better place.

Instead we get everyone complaining about how everything is too ****ing hard and why can't we just hand them 100 achievements and 10 ****ing gold medals for booting their goddamn xbox.

Extrapolate that metaphor and apply it to people in legitimate jobs where other people's actual lives are at stake and you might see why this annoys me.

[Squares, the Cube]

Originally Posted by hi19hi19

You would definitely appreciate this video.
Actually everyone in this thread would.

Also, original Smash for life.
Smash 64 > Melee >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Brawl

God, I really enjoyed that video. Thank you for posting it. Egoraptor is hilarious and I enjoy most of his work.

As for your scale.... You are very right. Putting Brawl way at the end is definitely where it belongs. As for Smash 64... Fox for life.

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

The issue at heart here is more universally a problem with humanity as a whole.

People are stupid and lazy but they don't want to admit it, they instead wrap themselves in a fantasy where mediocre work is the high bar and in doing so reinforce their peers' same perceptions. They will reject anything that challenges them to become better at their job as being "unreasonably difficult". This in turn lowers standards and further reinforces the mentality of acceptable under-performance, creating a vicious cycle which is unbreakable.

I mean I could go into -a lot- more detail but suffice it to say this is the exact reason why development in some third world countries has basically ground to a halt, and in many cases completely reversed.

Sitting down and figuring out how to beat older and more difficult games requires layers and layers of problem solving with many players not even realizing it.

Honestly if everyone in the world could develop the patience, tenacity, and general mindset required to do this, and in turn applied it to their jobs and every day activities, the world would be come a much better place.

Instead we get everyone complaining about how everything is too ****ing hard and why can't we just hand them 100 achievements and 10 ****ing gold medals for booting their goddamn xbox.

Extrapolate that metaphor and apply it to people in legitimate jobs where other people's actual lives are at stake and you might see why this annoys me.

You kinda went into the rant I was trying to avoid. Not because I don't believe what you say is true, but I know I couldn't word it as good as you did. You expressed some very deep thoughts that I've always felt but could never express correctly, or at least in a way that wouldn't make me look like a condescending A-hole.

People are definitely in a lazy state of mind and body these days. Like, I have huge problem with most religious people, especially within my family. They don't know anything yet they talk about everything like they know everything. And when I tell them the truth about things, they completely disregard it. It's a lazy, disgusting state of mind. Not all of the religious are like this, but definitely the ones that surround me.

Trust me though, it doesn't just annoy me. It makes me feel so much ****ing hatred towards society.