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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Do you ever feel like computers aren't as much fun as they used to be?

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  3. Do you ever feel like computers aren't as much fun as they used to be?
darkmaian23 1 week ago#1
I've started feeling that way recently. I know we have higher resolutions and better frame rates and whatnot now, but it just seems like the hobby used to be more exciting. I recently got Windows XP up and running in a VM, and after using a mix of 8.1 and 10 for ages, XP felt very sleek and usable by comparison. Phones were heavier and simpler a decade ago, but there was less monetization, shovelware, totally useless apps. The internet was much slower and somewhat less prolific, but file sizes were also much more reasonable and net neutrality and any concept of privacy had yet to be dealt death blows. Games were harder to make because Unity wasn't a thing, but there wasn't asset store flips and a large percentage of the indie stuff out there felt unique (or at least the stuff I played did).

Man, I feel old saying stuff like this. Is it just me or do other people feel the same way? Specifically, is there any merit to what I'm saying? I still keep up with the hobby and like technology, I just feel like it's all going in the wrong direction and used to be more fun.
oblique365 1 week ago#2
Yes we do feel the same. I guess its just age. Computers arent new and exciting like they were in the 90s.. Its like replaying a game you have replayed over 10 times.. It might be the greatest game ever made.. But it eventually gets old. Used to have tons of fun infecting schoolmates with trojans etc.. Now i have no interest.
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(edited 1 week ago)reportquote
Supremo 1 week ago#3
Yes, for anyone of us who started using computers on the 90s or before, it was much more fun back then. I loved typing those commands in Ms DOS, reserving memory for games, configuring IRQ, DMA for sounds.... Good times...
Every moment gives us a chance to become more than what we are. - Ryu
User Since: Nov 2000...
darkmaian23 1 week ago#5
oblique365 posted...
Yes we do feel the same. I guess its just age. Computers arent new and exciting like they were in the 90s.. Its like replaying a game you have replayed over 10 times.. It might be the greatest game ever made.. But it eventually gets old. Used to have tons of fun infecting schoolmates with trojans etc.. Now i have no interest.


Do you really think it's just age? I'm not that old. Encountering Windows XP again made me think about the issue seriously, and I just think many aspects of the hobby were cooler back then. I don't think building a game in Unity is as fun as writing one in SDL with C used to be, and I definitely don't enjoy mobile app development the same way I used to love working on Windows desktop programs. I feel like if I were to step inside a time machine and go back to the early to mid 2000s, I'd feel the same way. Maybe not, but that's how I feel.
ryouma17 1 week ago#6
PC gaming wouldnt be as stale if there wasnt 20 zombie survival games for every non zombie game
BearShrooms 1 week ago#7
It's probably a generational thing for a lot of us. We grew up when they were rare, increasing in popularity and usefulless, and the tech was advancing quickly. Now they are everywhere and a part of everything we do and they've just become another thing we do/deal with all the time. They used to be special, now their just everyday.
ApexMjolnir 1 week ago#8
It's fun, if you know where to look, and what genre's you like.

If you are an old school gamer like me, you are probably not into the Waifu/dragonball/pokemon stuff. 

I'm at the age where mouse and keyboard games are not even an option any more. 

All the games we used to find fun, were during a time where you played a game 500 times before you got bored of it. The games these days are all about immersion, and learning some valuable life lesson.

Like all valuable lessons in life, once you LEARN them, having someone lecture you on the moral, gets old fast.

Unless a game is repetitive on purpose, I honestly never play it more than once in its entirety... Which is the only reason I buy a $3.00 game. I would never buy these games for full price.

I personally can't get enough of the Dark Souls games... and play them at least daily, for the last decade.
If what I said doesn't makes sense... it's because you don't want it to make sense.
Death_Born 1 week ago#9
For sure, though it's probably just nostalgia goggles clouding my judgement. After all, most of the stuff I experienced as a kid on my old computer has versions that are way better on my modern rig. Microsoft Encarta? Try Wikipedia. 3D Movie Maker? Try Source Filmmaker. SimCity? Try Cities: Skylines. 480p CRT? Try 1440p IPS.
TheOpposite 1 week ago#10
I actually prefer playing on PC to any of the past two console generations. It's more convenient and always has the best version of a game. Steam is terrible now, though. There is nearly nothing I'm looking forward to purchasing on there. I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them, but instead 99% of what comes out for it are indie games (not bothering unless it looks REALLY good, and that's rare) and adult games (no, just no).

Every now and then something I want to play does come out, maybe 2-3 times per year.
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The performance jump gap narrowing certainly has a huge impact. We hardly have any serious groundbreaking technology between so-called 'generations' anymore and everyone just focuses on capitalizing whatever being successful at that moment. Back in the 90s and early 2000s almost every other new tech item could interest you in a different way.
(edited 1 week ago)reportquote
I see computers as tools, how excited are most people to use tools? Using tools usually means you are doing work.
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SSHeadzUp 1 week ago#13
somebadlemonade posted...
I see computers as tools, how excited are most people to use tools? Using tools usually means you are doing work.

Oh, didn't know you were most people.
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oblique365 1 week ago#14
Maybe not just age but i think its more of a been there done that situation. The internet was newer and more exciting and largely unexplored. I could have the time of my life playing slingo on aol.. My first real taste of online gaming. Now i would never go back and play that game.
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HBOSS 1 week ago#15
it does seem like we did more with less back then. I think computers are fun still after all this time. I just found other things to do. I really want to game for 14hours a session and spend my weekends lost in a game or two again but I don't. It just aint the same because I've changed.
You don't stop playing because you grow old, 
You grow old because you stop playing
#16
(message deleted)
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...
Abiz_ 1 week ago#18
Sounds like you need to get away from the computer. If it is boring you then you probably are using it to much.
TheOpposite 1 week ago#19
kobalobasileus posted...
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...


I'm less impressed with GOG than I am Steam.
TheOpposite posted...
kobalobasileus posted...
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...


I'm less impressed with GOG than I am Steam.

GOG has the true classics though, from dos era even

HL2 isnt a classic game
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arleas 1 week ago#21
Gaming is still as fun for me as it was back as a child, but the problem for me is that I don't have all that free time like I used to, and I don't really want to devote 100% of my free time to playing games when there's so little of it. I could...but I have other things I want to see and do.

That doesn't mean I don't like Gaming anymore because I'm an old fart, it just means that if I had more time, I'd spend more time. To add to that, I've got enough money to buy every game I want, but not enough time to play them all. I suppose if I only bought games when I had finished playing everything else I'd feel a bit differently.

To me, that's the biggest difference between me now and me as a kid. As a kid, I was lucky to be able to spend $60 on one game every 6 months. Now I can afford to spend 3 to 4x as much per year and I think I get more per dollar than I used to. 

VR is definitely still new and fresh to me though, so that's where I've got most of my focus. I don't feel as enthusiastic about non-VR games lately.
TheOpposite 1 week ago#22
Cool_Dude667 posted...
TheOpposite posted...
kobalobasileus posted...
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...


I'm less impressed with GOG than I am Steam.

GOG has the true classics though, from dos era even

HL2 isnt a classic game


I'm not just talking about PC classics. Steam and GOG both have a pitiful selection of classic arcade and console titles and there's no excuse for it.
(edited 1 week ago)reportquote
Nixemo 1 week ago#23
Yes, as technology as "evolved" and gotten more advanced, (and subsequently ubiquitous in people's lives), I would argue that it's gotten s***tier and what many would call less fun. I wish XP would have been supported forever, I never would have upgraded to 7 if I didn't have to, and I'll be dead before I upgrade to 10. The same could be said about so many things. Comics, television, movies, video games, music, have all declined in quality and it isn't just when taking nostalgia into account. For some of these things, it's a case of oversaturation and things already having been done before, and for the case of comics and video games, I'd say it's due to mainstream popularity of these mediums now equating to neutered, bland, marketable crap put forth because the unwashed masses of humanity will eat it up regardless.
Listen to post-punk.
DarkZV2Beta 1 week ago#24
I sure miss the freedom of 90s internet, but in terms of the UI, I don't think there's anything really wrong with 7, or even 10, aside from the lack of visible options in the standard options menu, and removal of a bunch of things from their usual places in the Control Panel.
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Spaced92 1 week ago#25
The tech hasn't improved at an amazing pace though it's to be expected. 10 years ago we had Crysis, UT 3, Bioshock, TF2, acceptable looking games today really and WIndows 7, 10 years before that we had Gran Turismo, Quake II, Tekken 3 as the good looking games of the gen (a lot of good looking games weren't even on PC). And I can't forget Unreal, as a kid having a computer that could run that was a pipe dream.

Hell I only upgraded to 10 because I got the education version from a University for free, and it's not really better than what I had on 7. Imagine using WIndows 95 in 07 lol. Because we had to do more with less back in the day, some genius programmers rose out of it, plus a lot of big businesses just didn't really know what they were doing back then so less focus was on commercialising things and natural innovation was at its peak. Now we don't have as many talented people in the industry, but there's a lot more money to be made.
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maybecalls 1 week ago#26
Yes. I think it's mainly down to getting old, and not finding games as wonderous as I used to. Sure the quality of the games themselves has improved massively (and most old games are available to play if I want to), but my best gaming years were probably my arcade and 8-bit computer years.
Shinkoden 1 week ago#27
No, I don't really agree for the most part.

Computers last longer and are cheaper. A halfway decent PC in the 90's and into the early 2000's was typically expensive with $1500 maybe getting something that will just get by for gaming, and that PC was outdated a year later for the most part. These days I can build a $1500 PC that is good for gaming for 5+ years with maybe one GPU upgrade at some point.

Monitors aren't overly gigantic now which is nice and they look a lot better. 

PCs continue to get easier to build. I remember needed to figure out slave and master using the jumpers, it was much more confusing IMO and working in old PCs was a chore, IDE cables were terrible.

I've never had issues with any Windows OS, I use it for the basic functions and it has been fine and I don't miss XP or even Windows 7, though it is kinda frustrating needing to instal a program like OOSU10 to turn off the crap I don't want in W10, and how they handle updates is still terrible so I keep updates off until I want to manually update.

Games for the most part get better, there's still a lot of issues in games I wish were worked out from game to game and yes a lot of junk comes out now but it's not that hard to find the good stuff. Infact it's much easier to read tons of reviews and see gameplay where back in the day you had magazine reviews, a commercial, and maybe knew someone with the game.

Internet is mostly better though recently it's been kinda going backwards. The speed of internet now is nice and I'm glad the entire flash website design crazy of the early 2000's is gone with now a much simplified approach, though ISPs such as Comcast limiting usage is bulls***, reminds me of the AoL days.
For me this is mostly because I used to play with a whole bunch of people and we always had a lot of fun. But since then, people have moved, got kids, and life happened, and now it is rare for even two of us to play a game together.
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Jonexe 1 week ago#29
TheOpposite posted...
Cool_Dude667 posted...
TheOpposite posted...
kobalobasileus posted...
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...


I'm less impressed with GOG than I am Steam.

GOG has the true classics though, from dos era even

HL2 isnt a classic game


I'm not just talking about PC classics. Steam and GOG both have a pitiful selection of classic arcade and console titles and there's no excuse for it.


Considering the titles have to have had a PC version for GOG or Steam to have them this is entirely the fault of the publishers/ip owners. It's not like Valve nor GOG go out and make ports. They only utilize code given to them. In GOG's case they make some tweaks to make it run on modern hardware (usually through emulation); but that's about it.
"My life is a chip in your pile... ante up!"
gideond 1 week ago#30
Time is definitely the constraint for me as well. I use to play a lot more, but owning your own house means you work more to pay the mortgage. If I had a spouse and children it would be even worse. 

The biggest issue I have with modern technology itself is how overly monetized it is. Yes it's cheaper and easier than ever to build, but you have more and more ads injecting malware to you. You have virtually every app you want to use pumping ads at you, sometimes even the paid versions. You have so many things turning into subscription based services instead of outright purchases just to continually milk more cash from your wallet. You've got your OS spying on you to get a better idea of how to more effectively spam you. 

Personally Windows 7 is still the sweet spot for me. XP was good, but security and technology has definitely moved on. 7 was the next really good Windows and I still use it today on half my computers. Windows 10 is on the others and while I like some things about 10 I can honestly say it is far more problematic than 7 ever was, not that 7 didn't have it's share of issues. I feel Windows 10 just can't decide what it's trying to be and that causes headaches for the user. I also use Linux a fair bit, and it's gotten a lot better, but I don't know that it will ever be "mainstream" for the masses, especially when game support is still lackluster. I'd love to be able to use a Linux flavor all the time, but for some things you just need certain software that simply won't work correctly on a Linux platform. Sometimes you need a truly stable and up to date platform as well and desktop iterations of Linux tend to hit some roadblocks that require a lot of time invested to fix, but that's part of relying on community based development and support.
TheOpposite 1 week ago#31
Jonexe posted...
TheOpposite posted...
Cool_Dude667 posted...
TheOpposite posted...
kobalobasileus posted...
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...


I'm less impressed with GOG than I am Steam.

GOG has the true classics though, from dos era even

HL2 isnt a classic game


I'm not just talking about PC classics. Steam and GOG both have a pitiful selection of classic arcade and console titles and there's no excuse for it.


Considering the titles have to have had a PC version for GOG or Steam to have them this is entirely the fault of the publishers/ip owners. It's not like Valve nor GOG go out and make ports. They only utilize code given to them. In GOG's case they make some tweaks to make it run on modern hardware (usually through emulation); but that's about it.


Sega released their Genesis games on Steam with no prior PC version. Capcom released the Mega Man games. I'm not sure why it needs to have a previous PC release to be on Steam when these are on there. Instead of getting good classic game ports we get garbage.
maybecalls 1 week ago#32
_GRIM_FANDANGO_ posted...
For me this is mostly because I used to play with a whole bunch of people and we always had a lot of fun. But since then, people have moved, got kids, and life happened, and now it is rare for even two of us to play a game together.


Yes, you're right. I hadn't really considered that. Last time I was in a room with a group of other gamers was in about 1999, when we used Playstations. Used to link them together and play DOOM and Blast Radius co-op. Before that it was the Amiga and the 8-bit computers, with the likes of Sensible Soccer and Laser Squad. 

Only started playing online against 'strangers' with the Dreamcast in 2000. Guess that's when the rot started to set in!
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farigonti 1 week ago#33
Nope. You just miss your childhood.
fastbilly1 1 week ago#34
After spending a good chunk of last year repairing computers from the 70s and 80s, I agree. No more do we have to reset ram ics to get something to work, or put new belts on a floppy drive. Who remembers Bubble Memory? Who else likes debugging handwound Core memory, or better yet re winding it?

Standardization and ease of use can go out the window, bring back the esoteric modules that require soldering and prayer to fix!
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JKatarn 1 week ago#35
Hardware advancement may have plateaued, but if anything computers are more fun - more built-in capabilities, far easier and broader access to information and programs, with tons of solid free/open-source software, and far less troubleshooting in general. Personally, I never found troubleshooting IRQ's, memory availability, flaky DOS drivers etc. terribly fun - more of a barrier you worked through to get to the fun.
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JKatarn 1 week ago#36
SSHeadzUp posted...
somebadlemonade posted...
I see computers as tools, how excited are most people to use tools? Using tools usually means you are doing work.

Oh, didn't know you were most people.


He's got a point though - the general public sees a computer as a tool to get work done/communicate etc. and don't find computers intrinsically exciting/fun, if they did we wouldn't have company/public tech support, 'Geek Squad' etc.
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Yes, things become boring when they become part of everyday life, even more so when you only do the same things with it every day. You can't blame anyone but yourself for your narrow use of the tools you have available at your fingertips.
Sir_Haxor 1 week ago#38
Stop buying s***ty AAA games then and go replay some classics.
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Dawnshadow 1 week ago#39
TheOpposite posted...
Jonexe posted...
TheOpposite posted...
Cool_Dude667 posted...
TheOpposite posted...
kobalobasileus posted...
TheOpposite posted...
I love playing classic games and Steam would be a great platform for them

GOG is calling your name...


I'm less impressed with GOG than I am Steam.

GOG has the true classics though, from dos era even

HL2 isnt a classic game


I'm not just talking about PC classics. Steam and GOG both have a pitiful selection of classic arcade and console titles and there's no excuse for it.


Considering the titles have to have had a PC version for GOG or Steam to have them this is entirely the fault of the publishers/ip owners. It's not like Valve nor GOG go out and make ports. They only utilize code given to them. In GOG's case they make some tweaks to make it run on modern hardware (usually through emulation); but that's about it.


Sega released their Genesis games on Steam with no prior PC version. Capcom released the Mega Man games. I'm not sure why it needs to have a previous PC release to be on Steam when these are on there. Instead of getting good classic game ports we get garbage.


To be technical, those aren't ports, they're running in an emulator. (This is 100% legal, because Sega owns their own IP.) 

But Steam and GoG can't just take any game and sell it. They need the original copyright holder's permission. And an awful lot of them have either been lost to the ages or would rather see you buy their newer games...
Why are Trump supporters so obsessed with "buttery males?"
Boge 1 week ago#40
I enjoyed PC gaming more in the 90s when it was different from consoles. Now they have many of the same games, which is good. I get some of these games at high resolution and framerate. But I feel many of those old 90s style PC games have been forgotten as well.
Hey, how come my two cents is only worth like a half a cent?
myztikrice 6 days ago#41
They're not as fun because nothing on the horizon is good enough, we are already at 4k and even the next iteration of graphics cards won't be enough to properly max it. There's nothing to look forward to
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Boge posted...
I enjoyed PC gaming more in the 90s when it was different from consoles.

I enjoy PC gaming far more now that it's the same as the consoles. It actually "just works" most of the time, most games have native controller support (and those that don't can be brute forced with Controller Companion), and I can play on my TV without a bunch of obscure adapters.

Conversely, I can't stand console gaming now that it's largely the same as PC gaming.
(edited 6 days ago)reportquote
Marikhen 6 days ago#44
No, but I do feel that the (other) people who use computers aren't as much fun as they used to be.
Logic is the antithesis of faith, else why is it that faith defies logic while logic denies faith?
rpgian 6 days ago#45
It's just how discovery works in society I imagine. I can see cavemen discovering fire after a lightning storm, assigning someone to always feed it,protect it, love it. It's a sacred deity to them, they don't understand it really, but they know it's something amazing so they pick up things about it in time as they have great interest. Society goes on, they build a nice little stone altar to it where they keep it going, the fire of our fathers.

Romans master the hell out of it with oils, they use it to light their streets and public crap houses, paying no nevermind to it, it's a tool to serve man, takes a little time and skill to setup so they aren't so modern in disrespect for it, but it's not a big deal if you want to put the torch out to ease guilt for a dark bedroom orgy experience with slaves,wives,goats,bath boys, senators,whatever Romans were up to in those colorful murals.

Now fast forward to current times. Strike on box, roll a little wheel, you match it with the twitch of a finger and you don't concern yourself with it's keeping at all. It's on demand, and you will never love it like the caveman or be as pestered as that perverse Roman in disposing of it. Knowledge is the death of wonder.

All technology will share the fate of fire.In future, It won't be surprising to see a 5yr old with a holographic computer on their wrist ultra comfortable with it saying, what this old piece of junk? I so wish they'd buy me a new one. Appreciation goes right out the window with wonder. If it became commonplace for humans to shoot lasers out of their eyes and hover around like fin hummingbirds, I promise you with time, society would tire of that too and it would go out of fashion. The appetite for the next great thing is insatiable, so tech will alaways be moving forward because the market will never stay satisfied with what it has forever.
LOLIAmAnAlt 5 days ago#46
Over saturation of technology, programs, ease of use and plain old use.
Computers and the internet was once a hobby but now it's basically life for everyone.
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Kharillle 5 days ago#48
I still love the old 90's games, sid meiers colonizatino 94', panzer general, fantasy general. I'm reluctant to get into these remakes, and they tend to be better graphics with less options. Simplified games which is not what I would have expected when I grew up in the 90's. I had hoped that Colonization 2 would've had more features and less technical limitations but civ 4 colonization just doesn't seem to be what I was hoping for. And the remake of sid meiers alpha centauri doesn't seem too inspiring.
Xedhadeaus 2 hours ago#50
For me I kind of goofed... I have to turn on like three different speakers, undo my controller, sit on the couch, hope I have a good time. I mostly buy co op games and just work and sleep, so most days I just grab the wii u and BS in zelda and then sleep. If I had a expensive laptop I could mess with wherever I'd give pc more love, but right now I'm just lazy. 

It doesn't help that my friends only like like 5 games... all online only
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