Most of us probably are gaming for many years. From child to adulthood. The interesting question then is, do our gaming preferences stay the same? Did they evolve and why is this so?
My gaming life started with the NES and looking back there where some changes throughout the years. Some examples:
1. I used to be more patient and had a lot more perseverance beating a game when I was young.
Zelda2 is the best example. It was hard, at times unfair, but I never gave up and eventually beaten it. Nowadays I would never have that patience and would have quite the game and never saw credits. So if I keep failing at a modern game, I'm struggling to keep my motivation and play something else pretty quickly.
2. I appreciated cinematics way more back then.
I bought a PS1 for FF7 and it was a fantastic experience. The best parts were those FMV scenes, the more the better. They felt like a reward for the progress that I made through the game and motivated me to keep on playing to see what the next one would be. FF8 & FF9 the same thing.
Nowadays they just feel like gameplay interruptions and I always hope they stay short. I now have a dislike to games that are heavy cinematic gaming experiences.
3. Better be short and sweet.
I used to play games that take a long time. Substantial Action Adventures, RPG's or typical PC games like Warcraft2 or Civilization2. I felt they were more bang for the buck and that mattered to me. Nowadays the only 'long' games I play are Zelda's.
I only have so much time to play games, so I'm hesitant to start large games in general. The nature of big games and limited time means I need to be invested into a game for several weeks, months even, without the fear of just getting bored with it. And outside Zelda I did not experience that motivation recently. So my preferences have shifted to smaller quicker games like e.g. metroidvania's.
Did your gaming experience change? Do you now perhaps prefer different genres and/or play styles? Let's discuss!
Last edited by Tober - on 06 March 2024
