I fear the new generation of gamers. It may seem silly, but I feel that we are approaching an interesting crossroads in the culture of video games. On one road you have the older generation like me who have been actively gaming since the Atari and classic PC days, and on the other you have the current generation of gamers who never got into anything older than the original PlayStation.

Luckily, there are a myriad of individuals who are enthralled by all that is retro. That is not to say that ‘retro = good’ because we all know that there were far more bad games in the past than there were good. I can literally think of hundreds of games that should never, ever be remade or played by anyone. It’s inevitable though, every generation of console generally has 10% quality games, 50% average games, and 40% crap.

You know what? I blame this on each and every one of you (that’s including myself). If you want to find out why and what you can do to fix the problem, keep reading.

Blame for the declining amount of fresh content in games can be laid on both the older gamer and the younger gamer, but I honestly think that more blame should be put on the elder gamers like me.

Why (you might ask) should we be blamed for the crap that is out right now? It’s simple, because we old-school gamers are elitist pricks when it comes to game content. If it isn’t familiar then it isn’t any good. I know that games that buck the trend are hot right now, but it is also a trend that the same stagnant game ideas that are constantly being rehashed with better graphics are generally the best sellers of any generation. If you need an example, look at the amount of FPS games out there.

We tend as a social group to shun all that is new because change is scary. In the case of sharing titles that were great in our times with the younger crowd many of us fail miserably. It is common place for us to laugh at someone who has never played games that we hold sacred, such as Mega Man 2, but it really isn’t their fault unless we as a group take the initiative and teach our gaming inductees some history.



Now for you nuevo gamers that started in the game much later than old bastards like me, it’s your turn. I know many of you want to be in the loop about games and their history and there are a multitude of resources out there for you to use. The best resources are scattered all over the internet on websites like MobyGames , or Wikipedia.

Also, I’ve heard many a young gamer say that they are “a hardcore gamer”, yet they haven’t played Game X or Game Y for one reason or another. The main problems being that they thought that either the graphics didn’t look great or that they weren’t aware of its existence. Here’s the thing, those are just excuses. We true gamers know that graphics take a backseat to gameplay every time and that ignorance is never an option.

To help remedy these problems, there are a three simple things that we can all do to make the gaming community more cohesive, though I’m sure most of you will disagree with at least one of them.



First and foremost is DON’T BE A DICK. Complete anonymity and the internet go hand in hand and it rarely does anyone any good to be rude. Just realize that people have differing opinions about everything and try to argue your points as best as you can and remember that you will most likely NOT convince someone.

Second, give every game an honest attempt before forming your opinions. There is nothing sadder for me than to hear someone say that they’re not going to try a game at all based on someone else’s opinions. There was a time that I thought Pokemon could never be a good game, yet I was proven wrong on every occasion!

Finally, realize games are just games. Some are made with you in mind, while a whole mess of other games aren’t even made for your demographic. There is no one person who likes every single game out there. I’m even guilty of it myself when it comes to sports games. I can’t stand them, but I know there are people who do so I wouldn’t be right to comment on them.

If everyone followed these simple rules, we would all be better off, there would be much more cohesiveness in the community, and we would see an eventual rise of a gaming utopia. There’s no reason that both groups, young and old can’t benefit from each other. The young can benefit from the experience the old have to offer, and the old can benefit from the imagination of the youth.

I hope that this little post can bring a little knowledge and a little acceptance to our fractured community. Now go outside and and give someone a hug!

[Via MEGATONik]