Are video games being dumbed down?

Jump to Last Post 1-4 of 4 discussions (4 posts)
  1. j-u-i-c-e profile image94
    j-u-i-c-eposted 12 years ago

    Are video games being dumbed down?

    You hear an awful lot about how games are being dumbed down to appeal to casual gamers or console gamers (two terms I do not particularly like). Is there any truth to this, though? A lot of the changes that are being made do streamline the game, but they don't necessarily make them any less challenging (though I can think of a few cases where that does happen). What do you think? Is there a real industry trend that is sacrificing game quality in the interests of accessibility and the bottom line?

  2. profile image0
    utogiposted 12 years ago

    Certain genre are definitely been vanilla-ed. When I first started playing mmorpg's, there was a sense of accomplishment when doing a quest. A journey if you will , in the process of obtaining the quest goal. Ever since Blizzard has liquified down the mechanics to what an mmorpg is, mmo publishers time and time again wanted to copy the "WoW" like numbers.

    Few games broke the WoW mold, and those games where met with punishable reviews, poor sales and in some cases actual world closings. Shadowbane , which was the pinnacle of PVP in an mmorpg was without a doubt one of the best games of ever produced, but because it failed long term to generate WoW figures, it shut down.

    If we really look at the problem, it was not the actual games themselves that got dumb-ed down, but the reaction to what sells forcing developers to dumb down the games. As long as consumers continue to by easy mode game titles, the games will just get easier and easier.

  3. Keith Worth profile image60
    Keith Worthposted 12 years ago

    I'd rather phrase it that games are becoming more "accessible" the saying that they're being dumbed down. There will never be a shortage of dumb games, and never has been since they became popular. We're just more aware of the dumb games now, and some of them somehow end up hyped by mainstream.

           Plus, it doesn't really help that nostalgia can make us blind to the blatant "dumbness" of games of the past. Super Mario World is one of my favorite games of all time, and you can't really claim that it had any depth storywise.

          As far challenging as in difficulty, there is no questioning that most current games are easier than past generations. Try playing one of the original MegaMan  or Battletoads games, for example. Demon Souls has nothing on that frustration.

  4. William157 profile image68
    William157posted 12 years ago

    There's no question that the popularity of video games has grown. But is this helping or harming the quality of games? read more

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)