Is it a bad thing to play older video games?

[Tarvorok]

It seems like I'd say 80% of the people I've encountered in my life that have been gamers have said so, because apparently if you aren't playing the newest thing then you're trash.

My Steam account is loaded with nothing but older videogames from 2006 down to the early 90's. I have always preferred them over the newer stuff, the art style and just the older looking graphics draw me in more.

My favorite games to play are Star Wars: Battlefront II (classic) and Star Wars: Empire at War. Of course, I am a huge Star Wars fan and biased so.

I've actually had people tell me at gamer meetups that they refused to talk to me any further because I don't play on the newest console or whatever is trending at the time. I play on a PC that I upgrade from time to time but of course I just continue to play the older stuff on.

I've honestly never met someone who shared a love for older games like me, I think it must be rare or something where I'm from.

 

[Tree of Life]

Video games never got better than SNES.

 

[Dansiph]

It seems like I'd say 80% of the people I've encountered in my life that have been gamers have said so, because apparently if you aren't playing the newest thing then you're trash.

My Steam account is loaded with nothing but older videogames from 2006 down to the early 90's. I have always preferred them over the newer stuff, the art style and just the older looking graphics draw me in more.

My favorite games to play are Star Wars: Battlefront II (classic) and Star Wars: Empire at War. Of course, I am a huge Star Wars fan and biased so.

I've actually had people tell me at gamer meetups that they refused to talk to me any further because I don't play on the newest console or whatever is trending at the time. I play on a PC that I upgrade from time to time but of course I just continue to play the older stuff on.

I've honestly never met someone who shared a love for older games like me, I think it must be rare or something where I'm from.

I think there's a definite "quality" to most older videogames. I like all sorts of games though, new and old.

I usually like older things too. In most categories in life things are better when you look back in time. I don't have many older games on my PC (I just checked) but some worthwhile mentioning are: Half Life, Penumbra: Overture, Witcher 2 and Condemned Criminal Origins. I have a Gamecube with some Zelda games and a game called Second Sight.

While I was writing @Tree of Life commented about the SNES and I just remembered I have the SNES classic mini. I completely forgot I owned that somehow!

 

[Tree of Life]

Limitation is the mother of creativity. The older games had just the right constraints to force developers to be very creative.

 

[Multifavs]

I like both older games and newer games, but I don't play very many new games due to not having the latest systems. I think it depends on who you talk to, possibly. On another website I used to spend time on, where there are a lot of people my age and younger, the discussion was often about the newest games I can't get, so I felt left out at times. But here on CF where there are more older gamers, there is more discussion about older games.

It isn't right of other gamers to look down on you because you like older games. Everyone has their own tastes and they should respect that.

 

[Tempura]

Just wait until you get older! The older you get, the older your favorite games get. Something like Fallout, for example. I can't stand the new ones (except for New Vegas). But Fallout 1 and 2? Now that's an RPG! Just like Tree of Life said, limitation is the mother of creativity. There were no budgets of tens or hundreds of millions, no over-commercialized AAA culture, no marketing people in a boardroom designing every aspect of a game - but solid game mechanics, plenty of imagination, creativity and plain old fun instead. And in some ways, even with huge budgets, many modern games are limited in a worse way, in my experience. Not that everything new is automatically bad, it isn't, but...you know, I'm getting old and I like to be grumpy.

Times of Lore on Commodore 64, that's my absolute favorite. It's a programming masterpiece. I won't even bother playing it in any form nowadays, I'll let the memories be memories, but oh man. Good times.

edit: you'll find, in time, plenty of people and communities that strive around old games. They might be small bunches of people, but they're passionate.

 

[abysmul]

Heck, Zork is still a great game! Play what you enjoy, to heck with anyone who does not like it.

 

[Tutorman]

It seems like I'd say 80% of the people I've encountered in my life that have been gamers have said so, because apparently if you aren't playing the newest thing then you're trash.

My Steam account is loaded with nothing but older videogames from 2006 down to the early 90's. I have always preferred them over the newer stuff, the art style and just the older looking graphics draw me in more.

My favorite games to play are Star Wars: Battlefront II (classic) and Star Wars: Empire at War. Of course, I am a huge Star Wars fan and biased so.

I've actually had people tell me at gamer meetups that they refused to talk to me any further because I don't play on the newest console or whatever is trending at the time. I play on a PC that I upgrade from time to time but of course I just continue to play the older stuff on.

I've honestly never met someone who shared a love for older games like me, I think it must be rare or something where I'm from.

Absolutely not. My wife got me a nintendo game system type of thing and I love it over new games

 

[bekkilyn]

Are these people in Middle School? Why would adults care what other games other adults are playing? Do people not read books written before 2019? Do people not watch movies or TV shows released before 2019? This is just baffling and incredibly silly for someone to get all hot and bothered about.

Well anyway, lots of people play older games...even many of the *same* people who play newer games. Imagine that! Not to mention that many people don't have $60 to $100 plus to spend on a game that's going to be $20 in a few months, or even less money a couple years later. Many of the most serious gamers also have huge backlogs of unplayed games due to Steam, GoG, Xbox/PS4 free monthly games, etc.

Many serious gamers also have multiple gaming systems.

If all you're doing is playing the latest games and have no backlog, then maybe *those* people are the ones to be questioned concerning their dedication to the hobby if anyone!

Still, they sound like they are little kids telling other little kids how uncool they are because they don't have, wear, listen to, etc. the latest whatever.

*goes back to playing Diablo 3 on the Switch*

 

[S.O.J.I.A.]

I've actually had people tell me at gamer meetups that they refused to talk to me any further because I don't play on the newest console or whatever is trending at the time.

morons!

good riddance..

play what you enjoy and enjoy what you play.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

You could liken old games to the classics, like we think of older books as the classics. They are the foundation upon which modern games have built off on. There's nothing wrong with playing older games.

Still there are modern games truly worth playing. Just depends on what you're interested in.

 

[Jessie101]

Old games are awesome! I grew up playing NES games (even though it was a little before my time). I still play old NES games to this day (on the Wii/Wii U Virtual Console, because my old NES unfortunately doesn't work anymore) and they're still great! My personal favorite is Super Mario Bros. 3. That one's a definite classic!

Don't worry about what anyone else thinks or says. Just play the games that you enjoy and ignore the haters!

 

[SilverStarApple]

Old games are amazing! That's when games were about the art, and there were no Microtransactions.

A lot of modern indie games try to recapture that spirit, and succeed. For example, A Hat In Time.

 

[MariaJLM]

Why would it be a bad thing? I often prefer older games myself simply because most games nowadays are made with one motive in mind: profit. Like, half the time the game is not even complete and you have to spend like fifty plus more dollars just to get all the DLC and stuff.

 

[The-Doctor]

I'm still playing ff7 on the PS1

 

[WannaWitness]

I'll always, ALWAYS love the Atari classics of the '80s! Can't go wrong with Pac-Man and the like!

There was even a record dedicated to the games; on it were songs with game sounds in the background. It was so corny and cheesy, but it was one of my favorites when I was little. Here are some of my favorite tracks from the album:

(Pac-Man, of course!)

(Centipede)

(Donkey Kong)

(Asteroids)

 

[WannaWitness]

I also remember the Gameboy craze of the '90s. I did not have one, but a neighbor did, and I borrowed it and played one of the games on it. There was one game, in particular, that I enjoyed. It was fun, but never made it to the last (80th) level.

Here is the entire game play. It's over an hour long so it only takes a few minutes to get a sample of what it was like.