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One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels ki

by tomdell 10y ago

One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return. They'd rather spend their time socializing or doing something that will improve them in an obvious way. A personal anecdote - I loved single-player video games until I was 18, but I stopped cold at that age. 5 years later, I tried to get back into it. I played some games that I used to like. I don't feel the things I used to feel while playing. Leveling up in Diablo just feels like accomplishing a chore - it feels meaningless. This author seems to think that video games, in general, are definitely for everyone. I don't agree. Just like there are people who don't like reading or listening to music who manage to live whole, well-rounded lives, there are people who don't like playing video games.

AdrianB1 10y ago
Maybe it's the games you play, not the single player mode. I play both and I have no preference for the type, but for specific games.
- nrjames 10y ago
  I think this is a good point. I've felt that way about single player games for a while. When I recently played Firewatch, which has a story with some complex emotional layers, I realized that I now need more than "mechanics" for a single player game to appeal. Now, I try to find games with more emotional depth. There aren't many out there. We all change in different ways and I suspect you can find single player games that will appeal more to you now than ones similar to those you used to play.
  - mysterydip 10y ago
    Sounds like "This War of Mine" might appeal to you. Check it out if you haven't yet.
shanusmagnus 10y ago
This is exactly how it is for me too. When I was younger I would feel so connected to the game world, and the wonders of exploring the game world were real wonders to me. Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. A finder of something. If it was important in the game world then it was important. These days it falls out just like you wrote: if I try to play a game, I mess around for a bit and then think: I could spend this time doing something creative. Making something, learning something. If I found some modern equivalent of a hidden city in a game, I'd think: so what? Who fucking cares? What does that get me? I still can't figure out if this means there's something really wrong with me, that I can't even enjoy meaningless pursuits; or maybe that my sense of 'meaning' is so restricted; or if it's the opposite, and my reticence to do those things is a sign that I'm spending time the right way, or at least, that I have the right objective function in how I evaluate my time? Of course, I'm a miserable bastard. That's probably an important data point. But I'm not sure how I could change even if I was sure that I should.
- santaclaus 10y ago
  > Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. I find that joy of discovery varies wildly game to game. I could never get into Bethesda RPGs, new or old. There is lots to discover in an Elder Scrolls game, but none of it feels like it has much weight or import. When the Ultima games really hit their stride (V through VII p2), discoveries had weight and import. The Witcher games feel similar, to me, I spent way to much time exploring every damn polygon in the world. I can't really pinpoint why these games feel so different, but hey, I still find new games to trigger that same sense of wonder.
  - enraged_camel 10y ago
    It's about depth. The world of Witcher 3 might as well be an actual world, with its utterly insane level of detail and scale. It has deep lore, history, politics, drama, intrigue, friendship, love, loss, humor. Everything is believable. No other game I've played over the past 15 years is like it. Skyrim came kinda close but that was after a ton of modding and fixing.
notgood 10y ago
>A personal anecdote - I loved single-player video games until I was 18, but I stopped cold at that age. 5 years later, I tried to get back into it. I played some games that I used to like. I don't feel the things I used to feel while playing. Leveling up in Diablo just feels like accomplishing a chore - it feels meaningless. "Growing up", that's what you are describing; I purchased Fallout 4 the day it came out, and after few minutes of playing and all I could see was bad hit-boxes and every NPC feels like a sound-recorder with a few different pre-recorded phrases. That game got pretty good reviews so its probably not about the game, its my perception of it. Old hobbies feeling meaningless happens to almost everyone, some people spent their youth reading but at their forties they barely read the news. >This author seems to think that video games, in general, are definitely for everyone. I don't agree. Just like there are people who don't like reading or listening to music who manage to live whole, well-rounded lives, there are people who don't like playing video games. Couldn't agree more; some people like extreme sports, some people don't, doesn't mean there is something wrong with every extreme sports, its just that we are different from each other, that's all.
- Mithaldu 10y ago
  > Growing up You might want to edit that to "people change", since that's what it sounds you meant, instead of a phrase that evokes "becoming more mature/adult".
  - notgood 10y ago
    Nope. Its "growing up", most people who did skateboarding at their teens don't do it after growing up; saying "people change" is too vague, if you say "growing up" you are clearly pointing out that it was something they did as youngsters but not any more; and language exists for the sake of clarity and communications, so "growing up" is a good choice here.
    - jwagenet 10y ago
      I think to say that people stop doing things like skateboarding or video games because they are "growing up" condescends to these activities. I understand that people move on, but to "grow up" may imply that these activities are childish. I disagree with this sentiment; people get older and priorities change to family, work, physical health, etc.
Rumudiez 10y ago
And here I am, acting in reverse. I loved multiplayer games much more than single player when I was in my teens, but since graduating college a couple years ago I've only been drawn toward single player experiences. I don't care about beating other players or grinding out at some arbitrary mechanic that's going to get patched in two months just to be "better" than my friends. I'd rather sit back and enjoy a well made game for 40-100 hours and talk about my experiences playing it later.
- gohrt 10y ago
  The arbitrary mechanics of chess and poker (to name just two) haven't changed in over two months.
extr 10y ago
You hit the nail on the head for me too, exact same thing happened to me at age 18. I used to be such a gamer as a kid, and now I can hardly stand to even pick them up. I've continued to some play multiplayer games (mostly shooters and FIFA), but even that has trailed off and my Xbox One is mainly used for netflix. Unless there is an aspect of socialization to it I just don't find it a rewarding use of time. Even something like this, browsing HN and writing a comment, is more interesting to me at this point.
EndlessSky 10y ago
I think your close to an important point. A lot of video games are designed to satisfy our desire to be accomplishing things. I think if you already have things in your life you are working towards then these kinds of video games don't have much of an appeal. I used to spend a lot of time playing video games, and one of the things that allowed me to break away from it was realizing I was using video games as a proxy for accomplishment in real life. I think this one of the reasons games like diablo are more appealing when we are younger some of as kids/teens don't have things we prefer to do with the time.
arpa 10y ago
As a counter-point, there are so many genres of VG that at this point there really is a game for everyone. Sure, we all grow up and our tastes change, like in music and movies - you just rent this one movie you enjoyed so much when you were 18, and now it's just a cringefest. Doesn't mean, tho, that you dislike movies or that movies are not for everyone. I can and do relate with the sentiment that Diablo is an endless grind - but that's because it always was. Just like duke nukem always was a parody of action heroes and doom never really had a story; our younger selves simply chose to ignore that for some reason. Now we're a bit older and really spoiled - we want triple A graphics together with a solid story that, if it were a movie, would get an oscar, minimal grind and repetitiveness (looking at you, borderlands, you're just teeedious). And you know what, there are games that provide. The "walking sims" for your storyline needs, say, Firewatch; Frictional studios games to make you miserable; Stanley Parable and The Beginners' guide for your mindfuck needs; Sunless Sea if you don't mind an occasional grind and presentation from 1999 - but you're rewarded with lush writing that alone makes the game worth playing... Hell, even if the good writing's not your cup of tea, you still can enjoy such beauties as Braid, or great weirdnesses such as Antichamber. We have this whole area polished to a place we don't even have to play - there are countless "let's play" videos, forum threads and i bet there even is a "let's play" podcast somewhere out there. I feel the point of the article is that people who enjoy this art (notice the lack of quotes) are looked down by the people who "don't like video games" and think that candy crush or call of duty are the pinnacle of modern gaming. There's no way they'd leave that zone of comfort and give a good game a shot instead of insisting people do "something that is obviously more meaningful". The author claims that the "industry" produces "boring games", and she is partially right - games that are interesting for working adults that do not want to spend time in trivial pursuits do not get enough exposure. Should they? Probably not. Should the notion that games are a waste of time, a grind, a simulacrum of work and totally useless, change? Probably yes.
ksk 10y ago
>One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return. What are you basing this on?
ionised 10y ago
I play some multiplayer stuff but I'm like 90% a single player gamer. I find other people (like public servers in Battlefield or the screaming/hacking teenagers in GTA Online) ruin games more often than make them better.

by tomdell 10y ago

AdrianB1 10y ago

Maybe it's the games you play, not the single player mode. I play both and I have no preference for the type, but for specific games.

nrjames 10y ago
I think this is a good point. I've felt that way about single player games for a while. When I recently played Firewatch, which has a story with some complex emotional layers, I realized that I now need more than "mechanics" for a single player game to appeal. Now, I try to find games with more emotional depth. There aren't many out there. We all change in different ways and I suspect you can find single player games that will appeal more to you now than ones similar to those you used to play.
- mysterydip 10y ago
  Sounds like "This War of Mine" might appeal to you. Check it out if you haven't yet.

shanusmagnus 10y ago

This is exactly how it is for me too. When I was younger I would feel so connected to the game world, and the wonders of exploring the game world were real wonders to me. Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. A finder of something. If it was important in the game world then it was important. These days it falls out just like you wrote: if I try to play a game, I mess around for a bit and then think: I could spend this time doing something creative. Making something, learning something. If I found some modern equivalent of a hidden city in a game, I'd think: so what? Who fucking cares? What does that get me? I still can't figure out if this means there's something really wrong with me, that I can't even enjoy meaningless pursuits; or maybe that my sense of 'meaning' is so restricted; or if it's the opposite, and my reticence to do those things is a sign that I'm spending time the right way, or at least, that I have the right objective function in how I evaluate my time? Of course, I'm a miserable bastard. That's probably an important data point. But I'm not sure how I could change even if I was sure that I should.

santaclaus 10y ago
> Discovering some new village in Ultima 6 made me feel like a great adventurer. I find that joy of discovery varies wildly game to game. I could never get into Bethesda RPGs, new or old. There is lots to discover in an Elder Scrolls game, but none of it feels like it has much weight or import. When the Ultima games really hit their stride (V through VII p2), discoveries had weight and import. The Witcher games feel similar, to me, I spent way to much time exploring every damn polygon in the world. I can't really pinpoint why these games feel so different, but hey, I still find new games to trigger that same sense of wonder.
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  It's about depth. The world of Witcher 3 might as well be an actual world, with its utterly insane level of detail and scale. It has deep lore, history, politics, drama, intrigue, friendship, love, loss, humor. Everything is believable. No other game I've played over the past 15 years is like it. Skyrim came kinda close but that was after a ton of modding and fixing.

notgood 10y ago

>A personal anecdote - I loved single-player video games until I was 18, but I stopped cold at that age. 5 years later, I tried to get back into it. I played some games that I used to like. I don't feel the things I used to feel while playing. Leveling up in Diablo just feels like accomplishing a chore - it feels meaningless. "Growing up", that's what you are describing; I purchased Fallout 4 the day it came out, and after few minutes of playing and all I could see was bad hit-boxes and every NPC feels like a sound-recorder with a few different pre-recorded phrases. That game got pretty good reviews so its probably not about the game, its my perception of it. Old hobbies feeling meaningless happens to almost everyone, some people spent their youth reading but at their forties they barely read the news. >This author seems to think that video games, in general, are definitely for everyone. I don't agree. Just like there are people who don't like reading or listening to music who manage to live whole, well-rounded lives, there are people who don't like playing video games. Couldn't agree more; some people like extreme sports, some people don't, doesn't mean there is something wrong with every extreme sports, its just that we are different from each other, that's all.

Mithaldu 10y ago
> Growing up You might want to edit that to "people change", since that's what it sounds you meant, instead of a phrase that evokes "becoming more mature/adult".
- notgood 10y ago
  Nope. Its "growing up", most people who did skateboarding at their teens don't do it after growing up; saying "people change" is too vague, if you say "growing up" you are clearly pointing out that it was something they did as youngsters but not any more; and language exists for the sake of clarity and communications, so "growing up" is a good choice here.
  - jwagenet 10y ago
    I think to say that people stop doing things like skateboarding or video games because they are "growing up" condescends to these activities. I understand that people move on, but to "grow up" may imply that these activities are childish. I disagree with this sentiment; people get older and priorities change to family, work, physical health, etc.

Rumudiez 10y ago

And here I am, acting in reverse. I loved multiplayer games much more than single player when I was in my teens, but since graduating college a couple years ago I've only been drawn toward single player experiences. I don't care about beating other players or grinding out at some arbitrary mechanic that's going to get patched in two months just to be "better" than my friends. I'd rather sit back and enjoy a well made game for 40-100 hours and talk about my experiences playing it later.

gohrt 10y ago
The arbitrary mechanics of chess and poker (to name just two) haven't changed in over two months.

extr 10y ago

You hit the nail on the head for me too, exact same thing happened to me at age 18. I used to be such a gamer as a kid, and now I can hardly stand to even pick them up. I've continued to some play multiplayer games (mostly shooters and FIFA), but even that has trailed off and my Xbox One is mainly used for netflix. Unless there is an aspect of socialization to it I just don't find it a rewarding use of time. Even something like this, browsing HN and writing a comment, is more interesting to me at this point.

EndlessSky 10y ago

I think your close to an important point. A lot of video games are designed to satisfy our desire to be accomplishing things. I think if you already have things in your life you are working towards then these kinds of video games don't have much of an appeal. I used to spend a lot of time playing video games, and one of the things that allowed me to break away from it was realizing I was using video games as a proxy for accomplishment in real life. I think this one of the reasons games like diablo are more appealing when we are younger some of as kids/teens don't have things we prefer to do with the time.

arpa 10y ago

As a counter-point, there are so many genres of VG that at this point there really is a game for everyone. Sure, we all grow up and our tastes change, like in music and movies - you just rent this one movie you enjoyed so much when you were 18, and now it's just a cringefest. Doesn't mean, tho, that you dislike movies or that movies are not for everyone. I can and do relate with the sentiment that Diablo is an endless grind - but that's because it always was. Just like duke nukem always was a parody of action heroes and doom never really had a story; our younger selves simply chose to ignore that for some reason. Now we're a bit older and really spoiled - we want triple A graphics together with a solid story that, if it were a movie, would get an oscar, minimal grind and repetitiveness (looking at you, borderlands, you're just teeedious). And you know what, there are games that provide. The "walking sims" for your storyline needs, say, Firewatch; Frictional studios games to make you miserable; Stanley Parable and The Beginners' guide for your mindfuck needs; Sunless Sea if you don't mind an occasional grind and presentation from 1999 - but you're rewarded with lush writing that alone makes the game worth playing... Hell, even if the good writing's not your cup of tea, you still can enjoy such beauties as Braid, or great weirdnesses such as Antichamber. We have this whole area polished to a place we don't even have to play - there are countless "let's play" videos, forum threads and i bet there even is a "let's play" podcast somewhere out there. I feel the point of the article is that people who enjoy this art (notice the lack of quotes) are looked down by the people who "don't like video games" and think that candy crush or call of duty are the pinnacle of modern gaming. There's no way they'd leave that zone of comfort and give a good game a shot instead of insisting people do "something that is obviously more meaningful". The author claims that the "industry" produces "boring games", and she is partially right - games that are interesting for working adults that do not want to spend time in trivial pursuits do not get enough exposure. Should they? Probably not. Should the notion that games are a waste of time, a grind, a simulacrum of work and totally useless, change? Probably yes.

ksk 10y ago

>One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return. What are you basing this on?

ionised 10y ago

I play some multiplayer stuff but I'm like 90% a single player gamer. I find other people (like public servers in Battlefield or the screaming/hacking teenagers in GTA Online) ruin games more often than make them better.