Nostalgia: Poignant or Posionous?

[Russianbias]

In my recent years in gaming circles, I've become much more annoyed with the sentiment of "things being better back then", usually combined with claims of game developers being less lazy than in the current period, when a single look at the Famicom library in 80s Japan proves that to be a rather rose tinted falsification of the ramifications of the industry. Is there anyone else feeling me, or am I misjudging human nature a bit?

- it depends. Reducing everything to "its just rose tinted nostalgia lol" is the same as blabbering about good old days. Both are annoying and mostly used to derail discussions to excrement flinging fests.

Granted. Im personally vastly prefer older games. And its not just a nostalgia, as in recent years i played alot of games that i never played in my childhood and youth. Modern games ( not counting indies, those are in their own category IMO ), especially so called AAA ( or AaAaAa if its from Ubi ), mostly bore me. They are all essentially the same sandbox, map with interest point, collectathon, "current year writing", relatively low difficulty etc. If one played Batman or AC 10 years ago, playing Horizon or Tsushima would feel extremely similar, like they are from the same franchise.

 

[bjork]

I don't mind looking back, and I definitely appreciate going back and looking at old games just to see how they had to work around hardware limitations. I dislike a lot of the modern things mentioned earlier in this thread, though if a newer game hooks me, I'm still hooked just the same as ever. Fun is fun regardless of era.

I just don't get being immediately dismissive of everything based on when it came out. People who will not shut the hell up about the 1980s are probably the worst, and I say that as someone who lived through the entire 1980s. Yes, they were cool. For kids. But I also didn't have any adults around in the 80s who wouldn't shut up about how much better the 1940s were. If I had, I would've been like, "okay grandpa." Don't be a grandpa, other than biologically if that happens for you.

 

[Russianbias]

I don't mind looking back, and I definitely appreciate going back and looking at old games just to see how they had to work around hardware limitations. I dislike a lot of the modern things mentioned earlier in this thread, though if a newer game hooks me, I'm still hooked just the same as ever. Fun is fun regardless of era.

I just don't get being immediately dismissive of everything based on when it came out. People who will not shut the hell up about the 1980s are probably the worst, and I say that as someone who lived through the entire 1980s. Yes, they were cool. For kids. But I also didn't have any adults around in the 80s who wouldn't shut up about how much better the 1940s were. If I had, I would've been like, "okay grandpa." Don't be a grandpa, other than biologically if that happens for you.

- im more and more see people that adore 90's. I wonder how old they are...

 

[ATenderLad]

In my recent years in gaming circles, I've become much more annoyed with the sentiment of "things being better back then", usually combined with claims of game developers being less lazy than in the current period, when a single look at the Famicom library in 80s Japan proves that to be a rather rose tinted falsification of the ramifications of the industry. Is there anyone else feeling me, or am I misjudging human nature a bit?

Mostly I agree, the average amount of good *anything* is about the same as it was thirty years ago, forty years ago. The growth from "new thing" to "biggest entertainment industry" brings a whole host of new problems though. (I had a bunch of examples written out, but I reloaded the page and saw Somnia had already covered several, beat me to it.)

I think people struggle, occasionally, to identify the corporate decisions that undermine their hobby, and instead imagine a prelapsarian yesteryear, when the creators just had more passion, more talent. The people were better.

They aren't blind, there is something wrong. The current high profile/AAA game market backed itself into a corner where games cost hundreds of millions of dollars, take 5-7 years or more to cook, and they "play it safe" creatively to recoup those investments. Well, they try anyways, ironically the longer development cycles means pragmatic trend chasing doesn't always pay off, some of the recent WB releases missed the expiration date of their mechanics by years. (Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights, for example.) Then studios gets shuttered and hundreds of folks are out of work when a game fails or just does "okay".

(I've said some of this before in another thread, but I can't remember which one soooooo)

 

[bjork]

I think people struggle, occasionally, to identify the corporate decisions that undermine their hobby, and instead imagine a prelapsarian yesteryear, when the creators just had more passion, more talent. The people were better.

I remember an interview, but not who it was with, talking about early PC days. They'd call and see what other companies had due out soon, and if there were two similar titles, one would hold off for a little while so they didn't unintentionally lower sales for both titles. You'd never see that nowadays, but I thought that was kind of cool.

 

[ATenderLad]

I remember an interview, but not who it was with, talking about early PC days. They'd call and see what other companies had due out soon, and if there were two similar titles, one would hold off for a little while so they didn't unintentionally lower sales for both titles. You'd never see that nowadays, but I thought that was kind of cool.

Absolutely, early days were just individuals and their friends, it was all so new.

 

[Waffles]

am I misjudging human nature a bit?

Somewhat.

There's a quote we say a lot in Argentina that goes like "Todo tiempo pasado fue mejor", which roughly translates to "the past was always better". It's in our "code" to feel nostalgic for the past... that's why we treasure pictures and look back misty-eyed at those we shared life with. Nostalgia prevents memories from turning into scars. At a certain point it becomes a self-defense mechanism... and so, it's a HORRIBLE "unit of measurement" for anything.

 

[ATenderLad]

Nostalgia prevents memories from turning into scars.

Well that's the prettiest thing I've read in a hot minute.

 

[Strategist]

Somewhat.

There's a quote we say a lot in Argentina that goes like "Todo tiempo pasado fue mejor", which roughly translates to "the past was always better". It's in our "code" to feel nostalgic for the past... that's why we treasure pictures and look back misty-eyed at those we shared life with. Nostalgia prevents memories from turning into scars. At a certain point it becomes a self-defense mechanism... and so, it's a HORRIBLE "unit of measurement" for anything.

There has to be some attachment for a memory to become nostalgic. Some quality that we admired that we feel lacking in our current situation. Or maybe it's the way we felt in the past that we are trying to rekindle through the objects we used to interact with. I find that when I remember the first games I played, it brings me warm feelings of simpler times with friends I haven't seen in a while. Newer games have a harder barrier to overcome to reach those levels with me.

In short, nostalgia is a real thing, but it often is created by strong experiences. We don't feel nostalgia for negative or tepid experiences.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Well that's the prettiest thing I've read in a hot minute.

Waffles cooking:

 

[Waffles]

There has to be some attachment for a memory to become nostalgic. Some quality that we admired that we feel lacking in our current situation.

Definitely.

But I can't help but being sentimental

 

[RageBurner]

In short, nostalgia is a real thing, but it often is created by strong experiences. We don't feel nostalgia for negative or tepid experiences.

Exactly. Let me give a crude example. Imagine a new country was just made and you are responsible for its minting facility. It's up to you to control currency and ascribe value to each of the bill denominations.

Now, given that, imagine, further, that you are a rather unstable, moody individual. When you are feeling great, you decide bills will be worth more than they should, because you want to spread your joy around; conversely, on a bad day, the whole of the country's money will be worth less.

Emotional attachment works like this. Money is money and its value needs to be sensibly normalized, games are games, they have intrinsic objective values, but we modify their perceived worth through emotional attachment.

 

[jon2]

In my recent years in gaming circles, I've become much more annoyed with the sentiment of "things being better back then", usually combined with claims of game developers being less lazy than in the current period, when a single look at the Famicom library in 80s Japan proves that to be a rather rose tinted falsification of the ramifications of the industry. Is there anyone else feeling me, or am I misjudging human nature a bit?

Nostalgia is all about trope experience.

The less exposed you are, the fresher (and better) the experience.

In the old days, 'it' was something new; 'it' was something awesome.

As you live your life, you go through the process of "been there, done that, got the t-shirt". And sooner or later it'll be tiring to go through the same experience for the nth time.

That's why they harken back to the days of being young and unjaded...

P.S. That's on the side of the game consumers, the side of the producers is another matter entirely...

 

[Yousef]

Well I haven’t died, but I did come down with a nasty cold this year So it’s probably poisonous

 

[ciro64]

I think we should separate "retro gamers" and "nostalgia gamers". The former actively plays retro games over modern ones for a variety of reasons, while the later enjoys the memories of such games more than the games themselves.

Regarding the game industry, I think what changed for the worse compared to back then is that now game companies started to rely way too much on a small amount of trends, in an era where the possibilities should have been bigger than ever.

 

[RetroLaw]

It's poignant as long as you don't let it become poisonous.

 

[Yousef]

It's poignant as long as you don't let it become poisonous.

Is it fine if I ask why you disliked my comment? I thought it was pretty clearly a joke

 

[RetroLaw]

Is it fine if I ask why you disliked my comment? I thought it was pretty clearly a joke

Uh ? Which one ? I didn't even knew you could dislike comments lol

Edit : ok I'm an idiot I just realized there is actually a thumb down option, that was a misclick

 

[Yousef]

Uh ? Which one ? I didn't even knew you could dislike comments lol

Oh it’s two comments above yours but judging by your response you clicked it by accident I imagine well TIL

 

[RetroLaw]

Oh it’s two comments above yours but judging by your response you clicked it by accident I imagine well TIL

It's funny that I disliked a comment that said "I haven't died"