Video games went the wrong direction

I'm very disappointed in how focused the video game industry is on violence. It's not so much that violent games exist; it's that the content pushed out by the industry is so damn lop-sided.

I mostly only play Minecraft anymore. I can be creative, build gardens and such, and mods allow me to do everything from cooking elaborate meals to growing dinosaurs from fossils to beekeeping. I can't get that kind of gameplay experience anywhere else (that I know of). I'm starting to get bored of it, but I can't find an interesting replacement game.

Once upon a time, I had hope. Minecraft became huge, Sony began making games like Little Big Planet and Modnation Racers, that were meant to encourage players to be more creative. I thought this was the beginning of a new era in video games, where the software gave people the tools to interact on a deeper, more creative level.

Then the Xbox One and PS4 came out, and it was literally the same-old, same-old, but with slightly prettier graphics. Extremely disappointing.

Why aren't there games that embrace S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)? We have this amazing, state-of-the-art immersive technology that can allow you to interact with a virtual world in an interesting way, and it's all dedicated to stabbing, shooting, stomping on, and otherwise killing things. Or playing sports. That may have been fun when I was a kid, but now that I'm in my late 30s, I just don't find any of that to be engaging or stimulating anymore.

Anytime I see a game that's even remotely educational, it's targeted squarely at children. Are adults not interested in learning about the world we live in?

I want Endless Ocean 3. That's all I want for the Wii U. I want to immerse myself in a vast ocean where I learn about the sea life and help to heal sick fish. I want a game about digging up and researching fossils, maybe putting together a museum in the process. I want a game that gives me a deeper understanding of renewable energy by having me construct and manage green city. I want a game as fun and charming as Cooking Mama, but has accurate recipes and nutritional information; maybe even have categories like "diabetic" and "vegetarian".

I know that video games are meant to be entertainment. But they didn't have to only be that; they could have been amazing tools for education, too.

a reply to: thepixelgarden

Cities Skylines is fun if you like Sim City style games.

Uhh theres Farming Simulator if you aren't into violence at all.

Surgeon Simulator if you are into gore with out violence.

Personally I enjoy violence in a video game, I suppose it boils down to competition, Rocket Leauge was competitive but more of assumed violence. It's like Soccer w cars :p

Also theres a bunch of weird games coming out for the VR headsets it seems, maybe that'll have something you really like.

ME? I'm wanting them bring back in depth game mechanics instead of instant gratification.

a reply to: thepixelgarden

You'd have to blame game publishers for that, not game makers.

Gaming studios usually do not have the budgets to produce their game AND get it to distribution, so they rely on people like EA for example or Square Enix. Once they are footing the bill for distribution and marketing, they get quite a bit of say of what will happen with that game's development.

This means that they only worry about what sells. And violence sells. Education doesn't, because the only people willing to buy it are parents and educators. Neither of which do the majority of game buying in any market. That's dominated by young adults and teenagers.

And when parents do buy video games for their kids ,they are usually quite ignorant of the content being put forth as well. The Wii attempted to do more educational and family friendly type content, but we all see where that went, considering the sales of the console outside of Japan and the WiiU being a failure as well.

~Tenth

a reply to: Lysergic

Also theres a bunch of weird games coming out for the VR headsets it seems, maybe that'll have something you really like.

VR is really the thing that will bridge the educational gap. The problem with gaming in general when it comes to education is that it hasn't been immersive enough. It's hard to suspend your belief when you're looking at something that exists in the real world that isn't really there.

On a screen that is anyway. VR opens that up by making the worlds a lot more immersive and interactive.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

It's why the majority hardcore games vanished, it's a niche market, not what the majority likes. Sadly... The Interlopers have affected experiences, sometimes games are so stupidly easy now, the AI has gotten worse, how is that possible?

Take Total War for example, since Rome 2 its just been a dumbing down of in-depth game mechanics.

I'll buy TW: Warhammer, but if its just as stupid as TW:Rome 2... I'm forever done w that series... sucks we had some good ol' times.

a reply to: thepixelgarden

Minecraft was and is truly epic, oh the fun I have had, even had some survival servers running myself for my friends.
And I agree, there are long between those good games that just crawl under your skin and steal all your time.

For now.. I have just placed my time on planetside2 and abit of mechwarrior online on the side.
Nothing special like minecraft.. but its entertains enough .

But one thing is for sure... the next big thing for me is No mans sky.
A entire universe of planets you can explore, mind and build on.. a giant mmo.

a reply to: Lysergic

I have to agree, the dumbing down of game mechanics has been an incredibly sad thing.

I'm an old school pen and paper sort of guy, so I like hard, unforgiving games.

You just don't see them anymore and even most games cranked to max difficulty are still a cake walk for people who play strategically.

XCOM is the last thing that was really hard and rewarding that I played.

~Tenth

a reply to: thepixelgarden


Totally forgot, you ever played Portal, I enjoyed that quite a bit, no violence.

originally posted by: thepixelgarden
I'm very disappointed in how focused the video game industry is on violence.

I want to stop reading right about now, but to make my point more valid, i guess i'll continue on....

originally posted by: thepixelgarden
Once upon a time, I had hope. Minecraft became huge, Sony began making games like Little Big Planet and Modnation Racers, that were meant to encourage players to be more creative. I thought this was the beginning of a new era in video games, where the software gave people the tools to interact on a deeper, more creative level.

Then the Xbox One and PS4 came out, and it was literally the same-old, same-old, but with slightly prettier graphics. Extremely disappointing.

There are plenty of games that endorse creativity, and believe it or not, but many games that may be considered "violent" aren't just mindless point and shoot, gore porn. Take Sid Meier's Civilization, for example. A game exclusively about war and expanding your empire. It involves excessive strategy, and can be compared to the board game 'Risk' in just about every manner.

Furthermore, there are a lot of creative games out there that have no violence what so ever and are constantly being released.

Take virtually every Sims game there is. Sims 4 just came out a little over 12 months ago. Building homes, lives, and so forth.

Then you have the ever increasingly popular Indi games which you can support and play (sometimes for free) from outlets like Steam.

I think your issue isn't that "there's too much violence in the game industry", but that you don't know where to look.

a reply to: Lysergic

Didn't farm simulator 15 just come out on next gen consoles?

I'm at GameStop like WHO IS BUYING THIS!? HOW ARE PEOPLE MAKING A LIVING WAGE & COMPANY MAKING PROFITS MAKING THESE GAMES???
Is usually at this point an employee comes over & asks me to stop shouting inside the store.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Sadly, playing strategically these days just means, not running in there like Rambo.

I miss building chrs, min/maxing stats, being a certain race/class combo FOR A REASON, not for vanity.

Think thats why I started playing roguelikes I needed some sort of challenge and punishment since RPGs had been gutted.

Xcom was great, not so great xcom2.

FTL was amazing imo, as was Pillars of Eternity.

a reply to: Lysergic

I wish my computer was powerful enough to handle Cities Skylines I want to play that game so bad! Or I wish it would get a console release.

a reply to: BigScaryStrawman

I never played it but I saw it pop up on Steam, oddly enough it has postive reviews, so whoever is buying it, loves it.

9/10 stars on steam.

a reply to: Lysergic

Have you played Divinity Original Sin?

I have a few others that you might wanna take a look at if you're looking for a rogue like experience that's tougher than most.

Wasteland 2 and Shadow Run are pretty good as well. I still play Neverwinter once a year and they are actually doing a sequel right meow for that. Using 5th Edition I think. I'd rather they stick to 3.5 but oh well.

Fallout 4 is much funner with hardcode mods on though I have to give them that.

~Tenth

originally posted by: tothetenthpower It's hard to suspend your belief when you're looking at something that exists in the real world that isn't really there.

It's kind of a weird paradox, because on the other hand, they are constantly trying to make the games as realistic as possible.

a reply to: BigScaryStrawman

All I am going to say is the game made me a master at designing mix-masters, I am the cloverleaf god.

Braided Cloverleaf exhancge? NO PROBLEM.

I think I spent more time designing the roads than anything.

I should reinstall, it's been awhile.

It's fun to get the City fairly decent, then just let it be, you know watch it like a digital ant farm.

a reply to: Lysergic

Yeah Portal was awesome! I do love puzzle games. I don't like competition, but I enjoy problem-solving.

a reply to: thepixelgarden
a reply to: tothetenthpower
a reply to: Spacespider
a reply to: Lysergic

Dark Souls 3. That is all.

a reply to: thepixelgarden

Not exactly on topic this, but to me it's sad we have to rely on fiction to be able to do nice things. You list some things you'd like to do that sound like they'd make the world a nicer place. You should be able to save the marine life and so forth for real, not in a game. In the way you could do in a game I mean, not in some lameo doesn't really get anything done way, like most of us actually have access to if we're lucky.


On topic more, I never really got into the type of 3D that games turned into around about when Virtua Fighter was released in the arcades. Anytime I tried to play them the perspective seems off.

Sounds like a couple of people in here need to strap in for some Dark Souls.

Won't help you on the violence aspect, but the min/maxing and difficulty is all there