Re: Goodbye Game Informer

On Wed, 07 Aug 2024 04:35:30 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

>
Various things I mourned in passing, but when you take a good hard look
back without the rose coloured glasses, they weren't nearly as good as
we remember, they were simply good for the time, and their time has
passed.
>

While I enjoy nostalgia, that doesn't mean that I think a return to
olden-times is something I want. I /love/ my classic DOS games, but
I've no illusions about that era. There were a LOT of terrible games
then too. We're so spoiled by modern titles; even the worst
shovel-ware asset-flips thrown out onto Steam would be equal in
quality to many 'average' games of the 80s and 90s. It's not just the
graphics (I mean, can you even MAKE an ugly game any more? I mean,
something that matches CGA eyesores? I haven't seen anything close)
but the basic expectations for control schemes and gameplay are heads
and shoulders above what we played with in the bad-old DOS days.

And the same with tech, and TV, and books, and generally everything in
the past. The rough edges of our hobbies had their charm, sure. But I
love 'living in the future'. Sure, there are problems today too --lots
of problems!-- and a lot of our modern toys don't live up to their
potential. Who'd have expected the Internet to turn into the
advertising-riddled, disinformation-soaked hellhole it too often is?
Or that video-game publishers could 'turn off' games we legally
purchased and prevent us from playing them? Or that the boss would
expect employees to be available 24 hours a day, because it's so easy
to just call somebody up on their cell if something goes wrong at the
job and you're expected to answer.

But there were problems 'back then' too, and the advantages of the
modern day outweigh a lot of the disadvantages. And usually those
disadvantages can be mitigated to some degree anyway (Boss, meet my
cellphone's off-switch!)

The exception being, of course, Usenet. I'd go back to an era when
Usenet was the hub of the Internet in a flash. That was the height of
modern civilization, as far as I'm concerned ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)