Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

[Icodeus]

The title is taken from a quote by Leonardo da Vinci because I fervently believe that accessible mechanisms are much more fun than complex ones. The “pick up and play” aspect of games is what reconciled me with gaming. As technology evolves, modern games tend toward more complex systems that make you feel like you have a second job. I don't have the patience to watch guides and read paragraphs. If I want to learn how to play, I want the game to introduce me to it through informal means.

Problem is that many developers and studios take themselves too seriously when it comes to designing games, which often results in a replica of reality and its politics instead of focusing on the experience. I JUST WANT ESCAPISM. What people forget to emphasize when they say they're losing interest in video games is that today you're more likely to be completing chores in a kind of simulation than actually PLAYING.

Who cares about being able to interact with anything and everything, to make moral choices or not? What I want is eccentricity rather than having to shoulder the same burden as in real life. The worst part is that it's extremely time-consuming , you spend your whole life optimizing each of your features. Some people will say that's part of the charm and that it adds to the immersion, and I can understand that, but for me it takes me out of the experience because it constantly reminds me of real life.

And that's why many of us find ourselves on retro gaming sites, because we're looking for that nostalgic, lighthearted and simple feeling.

​

 

[PSVitaForever]

I never had so deep thoughts, but sometimes I left games behind because they were too complex: my first example is ff12, you must buy magicks, equipments, choosing squares on your license board to be able to wear a weapon or accessory, setting up gambits... when reaching the part in which you HAD to set gambits or else every battle was a chore, I quit. I liked more a YS8, you set up your equiments, you choose a skill for every button and then you go exploring that huge island.
This is only one example, but I'm sure I found other games in which there were so many things to do (or too many complex actions with combining buttons) that I felt overwhelmed and frustrated with.
In any case I'm talking about more modern games (from ps1 onward), my first game has been ff8 so I'm spoiled on graphics and I don't feel attracted from retro appearance.

 

[Matricks]

Many ppl likes learning/strategy/sim/vn/rts/pizzlehard/speedrun etc games not just simple waste.
I do both as Player and Tweaker, because hardware performance lacks behind modern games requirement, tweaking hw is necessary to get the last performance boost possible to make it "best "playable is part of the fun.
And the reverse is true, it feels to me like a job if the most (un)skippable long intro/instructions/,clicking for " howto my 1st game" because see it ones is see it all syndrome is boring.
But UdoU.

 

[Heinzu]

I wonder what kind of gamer Leonardo da Vinci would be probably that is the answer to that: Da Vinci would not be an ordinary gamer I think. He wouldn't simply play to win. He would play to learn to explore and understand. Every game would be a new opportunity for him to engage with complex systems, be creative and satisfy his curiosity. He would not only play the games but also analyze their code and perhaps even develop ideas for his own, even more ingenious games.

 

[Vexicrypt]

For me its kinda the opposite thing. If you played any games released in the last 10 years or so, most of the time you can figure out what the game is like simply by looking at it. You played it before, you already know the controls, mechanics and general elements that are waiting for you. That's why games have to offer something more to spark my interest. Usually its story, setting, character design and/or overall aesthetic. While I don't think that games feel like real life nowdays, I agree that in this pursuit for photorealism and technical complexity a lot is getting lost. I don't mind learning something new or a different take on already known mechanics, though sometimes games absolutely can be overcomplicated and bloated, which makes it hard to get into them. So I just deside not to bother, we have more games than we can finish in our lifetimes anyway.

 

[PhaseJump]

I wonder what kind of gamer Leonardo da Vinci would be probably that is the answer to that: Da Vinci would not be an ordinary gamer I think. He wouldn't simply play to win. He would play to learn to explore and understand. Every game would be a new opportunity for him to engage with complex systems, be creative and satisfy his curiosity. He would not only play the games but also analyze their code and perhaps even develop ideas for his own, even more ingenious games.

He would probably be a stinky old man, too addicted to Kerbal Space Program or GMod to bathe and feed himself.

 

[Heinzu]

He would probably be a stinky old man, too addicted to Kerbal Space Program or GMod to bathe and feed himself.

Maybe like this

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Thanks Leo.

 

[trickybus]

Who cares about being able to interact with anything and everything

Agree with a lot of what you posted but if there is a cat or dog and I cannot pet it, I will have to think less of that game

 

[dropsmegamega]

I don't have the patience to watch guides and read paragraphs. If I want to learn how to play, I want the game to introduce me to it through informal means.

Ironically most modern games are made thinking in people exactly like you!

This whole idea that retro games are simpler comes from people who have played only played mario or something as we had games with manual of a hundred of pages back in the 90s.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

There’s a saying that goes;

A complex system creates more complicated problems than simple solutions.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

There’s a saying that goes;

A complex system creates more complicated problems than simple solutions.

It reminds me of Occam's razor in a way.