What skills do you think are necessary now a day to enjoy gaming.

MASC64

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So this is a question that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while now — with how things are these days, companies’ changing relationships with consumers, and the habits or values that seem to be getting lost between older and newer generations of gamers. I started wondering which skills or mindsets are really worth keeping alive.


Let me give a few examples: I honestly think anyone getting into gaming — whether they collect retro games or just see gaming as their main hobby — should learn how to emulate games and how to properly clean and maintain a console. Emulation isn’t just about convenience; it’s about preserving access to gaming history. With companies abandoning older libraries or making it harder to purchase retro titles, emulation has become a way to maintain ownership and experience games that might otherwise disappear. Plus, it’s a great way to test rare or expensive retro titles, or discover hidden gems that were overlooked back in the day. (If you enjoy beat ’em ups, look up Panzer Bandit for the PS1 — it’s a perfect example.)


And about maintaining and cleaning consoles — I can’t believe this even needs to be said, but it’s something I’ve noticed so much with the newer generation. I know I sound like an old man saying this, but I’ve seen my younger cousins (and even some older family members) treat consoles, especially handhelds, like they’re disposable. My little cousin’s Switch, for example, has a scratched, dirty screen — and I just can’t help comparing it to how carefully I used to treat my GBA back in the day.


So, what other skills or habits do you think are essential nowadays for someone getting into gaming?
 
You bring up some really important points, especially around emulation and hardware care. I’d add that media literacy and digital preservation are becoming increasingly fucking valuable skills for modern gamers. With so many games tied to online services, storefronts, and DRM, understanding how to back up save data, manage digital libraries, and navigate licensing issues is crucial for long-term access.

Another underrated skill is community engagement. Whether it’s modding, speedrunning, or just participating in forums and Discord servers, being part of a gaming community helps preserve knowledge, share resources, and keep niche titles alive. It also fosters a deeper appreciation for the culture surrounding games, not just the games themselves.

And finally, I think patience and curiosity are more important than ever. With tutorials, hand-holding, and instant gratification becoming the norm, it’s easy to lose the joy of discovery. Learning to explore mechanics, experiment with older titles, and appreciate design choices from different eras can really enrich the gaming experience.
 
I think there are many skills that are part of enjoying games. Pick things you like, don't let overly annoying sensationalist video garbage make you 2nd guess your opinions, enjoy things at your own pace, and one of my personal recommendations is to have a good taste of old & new. You don't gotta love every game out there either. So if you hate something then that's fine too. But genuinely you should value your own individual perspective. Also, for older games use hardware based emulation devices or like. Emulators. You can enjoy games without needing to also spend bazillions on 70 dollar AAA games. It's fine. FOMO is stupid anyways. The game is not gonna go away. You'll just live happily if you just don't care for shit like that.
 
Have an open mind and enjoy the experience really, you don't need to be a scholar to enjoy anything.

Preservation is important and all but that's another matter entirely for me.
 
I'd say still being able to get lost in the experience is a skill in itself, especially when it's easier to get distracted these days than ever before.
 
And about maintaining and cleaning consoles — I can’t believe this even needs to be said, but it’s something I’ve noticed so much with the newer generation. I know I sound like an old man saying this, but I’ve seen my younger cousins (and even some older family members) treat consoles, especially handhelds, like they’re disposable. My little cousin’s Switch, for example, has a scratched, dirty screen — and I just can’t help comparing it to how carefully I used to treat my GBA back in the day.
I've noticed this too. People often bring me things to fix and the condition is often worst than stuff I've had since I was a small child. My GBA is still in pristine condition but my little cousin's 3DS looks like it's been through a war and he's only had it for like a year. It's not just video games, people treat a lot of things like they're disposable.
 
Patience, for old games with... Lack of QoL, and for troubleshooting.

Conviction, to stand with your own opinion on a game.

Independence, to be able to find solutions on your own.

Self-control, no game is worth more than $20, for fucks sake, stop buying (encouraging) them.
 
Care about your save data. Gamers don't even think about this today as they've allowed companies to take away their right to back up their saves. It's very easy to lose save data. Power outage, a nasty glitch, hard drive crash, etc.

Play old games. You'll have a better appreciation for how far the technology has come. You'll also start to notice great things about old games that developers sadly don't do anymore in modern games. It I have a kid their first console will be an Atari 2600 and we'll gradually move up from there console by console era by era.

Play every genre. You may not end up liking them all but it'll give you a broader appreciation for gaming.

Don't get too hung up on stupid ideas about "what gaming should be", like the weirdos who think all games need to be hard, or people who are graphics whores that need everything in 8k and 60fps. Or people who say "Point and click games and visual novels aren't real games". I get annoyed about this with pro wrestling fans too who look down on certain types of matches (death matches, intergender matches, lucha libre, etc.) as not real wrestling, as if anyone has ever actually defined what real wrestling is.

Be independent, don't base your gaming opinions around other people or what's popular
 
So this is a question that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while now — with how things are these days, companies’ changing relationships with consumers, and the habits or values that seem to be getting lost between older and newer generations of gamers. I started wondering which skills or mindsets are really worth keeping alive.


Let me give a few examples: I honestly think anyone getting into gaming — whether they collect retro games or just see gaming as their main hobby — should learn how to emulate games and how to properly clean and maintain a console. Emulation isn’t just about convenience; it’s about preserving access to gaming history. With companies abandoning older libraries or making it harder to purchase retro titles, emulation has become a way to maintain ownership and experience games that might otherwise disappear. Plus, it’s a great way to test rare or expensive retro titles, or discover hidden gems that were overlooked back in the day. (If you enjoy beat ’em ups, look up Panzer Bandit for the PS1 — it’s a perfect example.)


And about maintaining and cleaning consoles — I can’t believe this even needs to be said, but it’s something I’ve noticed so much with the newer generation. I know I sound like an old man saying this, but I’ve seen my younger cousins (and even some older family members) treat consoles, especially handhelds, like they’re disposable. My little cousin’s Switch, for example, has a scratched, dirty screen — and I just can’t help comparing it to how carefully I used to treat my GBA back in the day.


So, what other skills or habits do you think are essential nowadays for someone getting into gaming?
Appreciation. Realize that modders do a better job in tweaking just about any game to how it was originally and make it that much better to play and enjoy than the ports we got. A lot of time, effort and energy was used and made into restoring older games into something better. Be it whether it's in the translation to making sure the word gets out. It's about that level of being thankful that most people don't see in taking the time to play through just about any unknown game under the sun and make it available to be shared with the rest of the world who don't know of its existence. As a gamer, and as a Let's Player, to those who took the time in restoring all those lost gems, thank you. I appreciate sharing what you do to the world.
 
Make up your own headcanon. If they keep coming up with sequel after sequel of your favorite game franchise in directions you don't like, pretend the game series ended at the spot you were happy with before it turned into something you hated. You'll be happy, you save money and the game companies won't manipulate you into buying their latest MT laden, value manipulating, over expensive new sequel.
 
Being a Hardcore Discipline Geek, most people just consume and dont care, that its like OP observed.
The older i get the more ADHD i have, because see it once is see it all.
Mostly it is just collecting, modding, testing and tweaking, repairing, maintain to get something wotk/optimized etc.
I have almost every VG/consoles/handhelds/PC/laptops, but I quickly gets bored in less then 1-8 hrs into most modern games if there's nothing new tech is used, then try finish shorter retrogames is easier.
Yeah, its busy timefullfilling with the huge backlog that cant be finished in ones lifetime.
 
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Have an open mind and enjoy the experience really, you don't need to be a scholar to enjoy anything.

Preservation is important and all but that's another matter entirely for me.
Exactly what I think.

There is no "should" in fun. You're asking two different things, and in comparison it can be extrapolated to virtually anything: if you buy a house you need to know how to conserve it, if you buy a car you need to know how to do the mainteinance correctly. The theory is great, but the reality is far from that. And people is free to choose what to do with what they buy. Even if what they buy can become a classic they shouldn't be forced to maintain it until the end of the world because it's part of the world's history. I am sorry, it can sound harsh but that's what it is. I love videogames and I will care about mine, the rest I don't care. Anyways, when I die somebody can burn everything up, it won't be my problem anymore.

You have the money? you buy whatever you want and do whatever you want. As long as you recycle it when it's broken, everything is ok.

98% of people who play are just like that, we shouldn't push them to be like the other 2%, mostly because it will be futile.
 
I think of few things, which may probably have been mentioned by other users, patience, know it's just for fun, etc.

As for myself, who mostly plays 2D retro games, adapting to newer graphics is also quite important, as you may experience discomfort of playing other games in different graphic level. This happened to me, and noticed it when I played too much Sega Genesis games, and then went back to 3D games, and my eyes feels dizzy or some sort, that I can't play it for long.

I think I should taking a note about this as well.
 
Honestly? The chief skill you need nowadays is patience. Lots and lots of it.

With games shipping out broken, emulators competing pretty hard with each other (and to the point when there's no clear, obviously better option) and ROMs vanishing off the net for no reason, it's never a matter of "getting & playing" anymore.

And it sucks so badly!
 
I also share that opinion of patience, there's now a very bad issue of terrible attention spans for a lot more people than it should ever been, and constantly hopping from a game to social media in mere minutes is something that I really don't recommend to anyone.

Let the brain take a break from the constant information/stimulation stream of the internet and just focus, go slow. It's important to learn how to live disconnected from the online space, to appreciate the dedicated offline media that exists out there and the mentally fulfilling experiences that can be obtained from it, alongside getting in touch with the environment around, outside of a screen.
 
It starts with you whipping out that credit card
 
With mobile gaming, live service games, engagement tactics that are used to string people along. Particularly with those throw away, always online games, that can just disappear after a few years. I think it is becoming increasingly important to know when to drop a game, and more so to understand how design like this affects people. Beyond the gambling, which is really only one aspect of it.

They don't have a natural stopping point, and the regular news, patches, in game activities, and energy systems, that demand attention so often, get in the way of people natural moving on. There's not a lot of space to step back, fully realise how you feel, and they can end up eat into a lot of time, making it more difficult to have other interests.

Far too often, dropping one of these things seems to end up quite bitter, and lacking in any catharsis. By the time people realise they aren't having fun any more, it's already been too long.

Some of these things are also only pseudo-multiplayer. Not enough there for people to make genuine connection with others, certainly not in game, and also just enough to have people feel more beholden to the game, and it's constant demand on their attention. I find this aspect particularly gross, out of all the versus forms of manipulative design (baked in gambling shit aside).

It's saddening and kind of grim that these are some people's only experience with video games, and that they defend these companies that don't really give a shit.

------

I also think people who take an interest in any digital media, should know how to break drm when possible. If they should actually do it is another matter, but it's nice to know your options for backing up your personal libraries. Actually, just being aware of the options that aren't just subscriptions, and streaming, is probably a good starting point. People have given up an awful lot for the semblance of a little more convenience.
 
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Media literacy, honestly. Video games have complex stories too, and being able to read between the lines (or pixels?) and fully appreciate them is pretty important. Obviously not all games have deep stories, but it’s still a good skill to have. The amount of people I’ve seen who’ve said that the Metal Gear Solid or Fallout series aren’t political kind of baffles me lmao.
 
Media literacy, honestly. Video games have complex stories too, and being able to read between the lines (or pixels?) and fully appreciate them is pretty important. Obviously not all games have deep stories, but it’s still a good skill to have. The amount of people I’ve seen who’ve said that the Metal Gear Solid or Fallout series aren’t political kind of baffles me lmao.
Was going to post this but got beaten to it.
 

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