Article: Crippled by Nostalgia: The Fraud of Retro Gaming

[ammianus]

So since I guess many of us on these forums are nostalgic around 16-bit and "retro gaming" generally that when i read this I wonder how others felt.

Crippled by Nostalgia: The Fraud of Retro Gaming:
Does gameplay drive our love of vintage games, or is it something else entirely?
By Damien McFerran Published 12 September, 2012

I've been suffering from a gaming-related malady for quite a few years now, and have only recently been brave enough to admit that I have a problem. Although I'm employed to report on and critique modern releases across a wide range of current-generation formats, I find myself constantly drawn to the past.

I garner more enjoyment from securing a mint Japanese Mega Drive game than I do when the latest cutting edge all-singing, all-dancing Xbox 360 game drops onto the doormat. However, this longing for games I've loved and lost is curiously unfulfilling; no matter how much cash I throw at my obsession and how many dusty cartridges I acquire, it never seems to scratch the itch. I don't think I'm alone in my condition, either.
...
With the passage of time my adoration for 'classic' software and hardware has swallowed up more of my income than I dare think about; I've sought out pretty much every major format over the past decade or so, and each year fresh collecting obsessions break the surface. However, the end result is always the same: items are bought online, excitement levels rise prior to delivery and then when the big day comes, the products in question are lovingly cradled for a few minutes before being consigned to the shelf with a sense of grim inevitability, where they will remain until I feel like staring at them for a few minutes or sell them to fund some other ridiculous retro-themed venture.

Actually using them for that they were created for - interactive entertainment - is something that rarely occurs.

Full article: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012- ... tro-gaming

Basically he goes on to describe how he doesn't get that much actual enjoyment out of the retro games as he thinks he does. Its more like an addiction that can't be sated.

I wonder if that applies to us, who try to recreate the games of our youth, or somehow make them better. Has anyone ever made a game that they enjoyed as much as you imagined it to be?

I guess the game developer never gets quite the same enjoyment as a kid playing a game after school might. Is our quest to develop games for these retro systems a fraud as well?

[Chilly Willy]

Is it "fraud" that makes a mechanic work on a Volkswagon instead of a Ferrari? Hell no!! People can want to work on older systems without any "fraud" being involved in any way, shape, or form.

Sometimes it's just the thrill of doing something simple by yourself... can you make a "modern" game on a "modern" system by yourself? Probably not... it generally takes a team to do everything in a reasonable amount of time. So where's the individual satisfaction of a job well done? So devs work on older systems where the games don't carry the same amount of work so that one person can actually do everything by themselves in a reasonable amount of time.

[Charles MacDonald]

He sounds like the kind of person that gets a rush from buying things, which in his case happens to be video games. You could replace it with anything else that is collectible and describe the same cycle of anticipation, dashed hopes, and the realization that the purchase wasn't really necessary or useful. That he sells most of what he buys is a strong indicator towards buying, rather than gaming, being the real interest.

He tries to place the blame on retro games, but I think that's really secondary to what's going on.

[Chilly Willy]

He sounds like the kind of person that gets a rush from buying things, which in his case happens to be video games. You could replace it with anything else that is collectible and describe the same cycle of anticipation, dashed hopes, and the realization that the purchase wasn't really necessary or useful. That he sells most of what he buys is a strong indicator towards buying, rather than gaming, being the real interest.

He tries to place the blame on retro games, but I think that's really secondary to what's going on.

Yeah, that sounds about right. He's blaming it on retro gaming probably because he knows it will be controversial and draw clicks to his article.

In other words, he's trolling.

[ammianus]

I agree the title of the article is click-bait.

I do think there is some aspect in nostalgia where it's not quite the same as you remember it to be. That doesn't mean it is a bad thing, or that those of us who spend the time learning about the inner workings of the 32X or an old Cadillac are wasting our time.

I can see that the enjoyment of a collector is probably less than someone who solves problems and creates something on their own.


Although, if we do want to make a game on a modern system, the tools are out there to make it even easier for somebody to do that if they choose. I can tell you writing games for these old systems isn't really for the casual programmer.

[powerofrecall]

This guy is bullshit and is exactly what is wrong with the retro gaming scene. I cannot STAND people who pay out the nose for flawless copies of stuff they'll never play! It's just hoarding and it's very sad. I feel very sad for that man. This is coming from a 27-going-on-28 year old who still doesn't mind picking up a beat up, cart-only copy of a game he knows he's going to actually have fun with. On the Sega consoles at least there is SO MUCH STUFF out there I will never get through it all. I am discovering new stuff all the time to go through and enjoy and master. I still have a collection and quite a few good condition CIB's, but it's only of games I actually love. I would rather hear about a flash cart user that actually loves the games than some hoarding collector that doesn't even play the games.