Gaming has always been what I considered a private guilty pleasure. I play single-player games. To me, multiplayer means a friend sitting next to me with controller 2 in his/her hand. I pay cash for my games. My name is not tagged to the purchase by a credit card.
I have yet to buy "just a download" and I don't plan to start. Being that I'm a PC gamer, that pretty much means I already don't play most new PC games, unless I decide to use "alternate methods" to acquire them. And to be honest, I haven't even bothered with that for quite a while now. I just don't care for modern games enough to even pirate them anymore. But the strange thing is, if I see a game I may like "in a box, on a shelf, in a store", I actually feel enticed to buy it and give it a go.
As best as I can figure, I'm still under the lingering effects of "Gamer's Brainwash 1.0" which was the initial "must buy new game" impulse. Ever since Pong systems were new, I've been an avid gamer, but I never fell into "Gamer's Brainwash 2.0" (which, in part, entails; gamers tolerating buying "just a download" and being personally tagged to the purchase of each game, tolerating half-games and paying extra for the rest of it through DLC, and bla-bla other fees and restrictions and hoops and hurdles and crap and stuff and etc. just to play the freaking game)
Since I have never bought "just a download" Gamer's Brainwash 2.0 never got a chance to get installed. Sounds reasonable enough to get my point across anyway, I hope. Unfortunately, very few PC games are still sold in stores. Less and less all the time. And even they now FORCE you to login to some internet location before you can play a boxed game, personally tagging you to that game. Geez....
OK fine! That's fine with me! If they want to alienate gamers like me, I can alienate them too. I really don't care for the way games are marketed these days anyway. How they sell you half a game, then make you buy a bunch of DLC for the FULL game. I don't like how they make you login to some internet location just to play the game, even in single-player mode. (even boxed copies make you do this now) I don't like my gaming habits and stats being collected and/or made public. And I don't like digital distribution. Nope. Sorry. Homie don't play dat!
One might say that I'm "done" with gaming, but that's not exactly true. I'm done with "new" games and systems. I don't appreciate all the hoops they make you jump through just to play a stinking game these days and I've decided to speak with my wallet. Even if I'm the only one who will do it, I'm standing on my principles as a gamer who has lived the entire history of video games.
I have a 40 year backlog of games (now emulated, of course) that I can play at any time, and I don't have to login and verify my game to anyone. No one instantly knows I'm playing the game and my "achievements" aren't reported to anyone unless I tell them myself. They are FULL games, not half-games. No hoops, no hurdles. Just games. They way it USED to be. My private guilty pleasure.
And I'm now old enough to be satisfied with that. I'm actively ignoring the effects of Gamer's Brainwash 1.0. No more NEW games. I'm going FULL RETRO!
I have yet to buy "just a download" and I don't plan to start. Being that I'm a PC gamer, that pretty much means I already don't play most new PC games, unless I decide to use "alternate methods" to acquire them. And to be honest, I haven't even bothered with that for quite a while now. I just don't care for modern games enough to even pirate them anymore. But the strange thing is, if I see a game I may like "in a box, on a shelf, in a store", I actually feel enticed to buy it and give it a go.
As best as I can figure, I'm still under the lingering effects of "Gamer's Brainwash 1.0" which was the initial "must buy new game" impulse. Ever since Pong systems were new, I've been an avid gamer, but I never fell into "Gamer's Brainwash 2.0" (which, in part, entails; gamers tolerating buying "just a download" and being personally tagged to the purchase of each game, tolerating half-games and paying extra for the rest of it through DLC, and bla-bla other fees and restrictions and hoops and hurdles and crap and stuff and etc. just to play the freaking game)
Since I have never bought "just a download" Gamer's Brainwash 2.0 never got a chance to get installed. Sounds reasonable enough to get my point across anyway, I hope. Unfortunately, very few PC games are still sold in stores. Less and less all the time. And even they now FORCE you to login to some internet location before you can play a boxed game, personally tagging you to that game. Geez....
OK fine! That's fine with me! If they want to alienate gamers like me, I can alienate them too. I really don't care for the way games are marketed these days anyway. How they sell you half a game, then make you buy a bunch of DLC for the FULL game. I don't like how they make you login to some internet location just to play the game, even in single-player mode. (even boxed copies make you do this now) I don't like my gaming habits and stats being collected and/or made public. And I don't like digital distribution. Nope. Sorry. Homie don't play dat!
One might say that I'm "done" with gaming, but that's not exactly true. I'm done with "new" games and systems. I don't appreciate all the hoops they make you jump through just to play a stinking game these days and I've decided to speak with my wallet. Even if I'm the only one who will do it, I'm standing on my principles as a gamer who has lived the entire history of video games.
I have a 40 year backlog of games (now emulated, of course) that I can play at any time, and I don't have to login and verify my game to anyone. No one instantly knows I'm playing the game and my "achievements" aren't reported to anyone unless I tell them myself. They are FULL games, not half-games. No hoops, no hurdles. Just games. They way it USED to be. My private guilty pleasure.
And I'm now old enough to be satisfied with that. I'm actively ignoring the effects of Gamer's Brainwash 1.0. No more NEW games. I'm going FULL RETRO!
