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[Bernoulli]

It seems this is the same thing for games, people say games were better when they were younger

 

[Arsic]

It becomes far more rare for both to impress me.

Cage the elephant is the only somewhat “new” band I’ll listen to new music of.

For games I’m far more open and play new releases monthly. My quality meter points to older games being far better than most new games.

 

[Skifi28]

The music I like is just not really being made these days other than mediocre "remakes" . Especially western music is just terrible, I can't listen to it. Maybe I'm just old and jaded, however I do occasionally discover Japanese songs and soundtracks I enjoy so maybe it's not just me.

 

[AV]

You see "they don't make 'em like they used to" shit all the time here, yeah. People can't wrap their heads around the fact that media consumed when your brain is still developing and growing is generally going to have a significantly more profound effect on you than whatever came out yesterday.

If the people who shit on things like Minecraft and Fortnite had them when they were 10, they'd be the greatest games of all time, and why not? Those games are absolutely incredible, it's just that most of us tried them as full-grown adults who already decided what we liked. The Minecraft and Fortnite kids of today will look at whatever's new in 20 years and call it a turd, and so on.

If you see somebody say a game looks "soulless", chances are they just mean "not like what it looked like when I was much younger".

Edit: to add to this before anyone replies to it with "well this isn't true for me because..", we're on an enthusiast forum. This particular study isn't really going to apply to a lot of us here because we're (generally) the sort of people who constantly check out new games as well as play old favourites. Same goes for things like Pitchfork for music or Letterboxd for films or whatever. The study applies to Joe Public more than anyone and it's on-point, a lot of adults' tastes in things like this stop evolving because their priorities lie completely elsewhere later in life, once they start getting proper jobs, having kids etc. Some people just stick to what they know for the rest of time.

 

[InterMusketeer]

Most of the music I listen to nowadays is stuff I'd never heard of a couple years ago. Most of it was released before I was born. So this observation isn't true for me.

For games, I find that the big AAA blockbuster games don't really appeal to me anymore. Not sure if that is a shift in my tastes or objective differences in the product to appeal to other audiences.

 

[Chuck Berry]

All the best music that inspired me the most was all discovered after I was 17 so that analysis can go fuck itself.

 

[Bert Big Balls]

The music one I kind of disagree with. I like the music of my parents generation because it was good music. I can't stand the popular music of today. But when my parents were younger, they weren't listening to stuff from the generations before, they were listening to their current day music because it was actually good. A lot of people now listen to older music because new music is shite. My parents weren't doing that. I would wager a large amount of that generation listened to the music of THEIR day, because it was actually decent.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I like just about everything before I was born, loved the stuff that came out when was growing up, liked the stuff when i was more grown up, and put up with the stuff now that I am grown up.

 

[Crayon]

Nostalgia is the leading cause of aging.

 

[Bernoulli]

The music one I kind of disagree with. I like the music of my parents generation because it was good music. I can't stand the popular music of today. But when my parents were younger, they weren't listening to stuff from the generations before, they were listening to their current day music because it was actually good. A lot of people now listen to older music because new music is shite. My parents weren't doing that. I would wager a large amount of that generation listened to the music of THEIR day, because it was actually decent.

what if you like that music because your parents were listening to it when you were young

 

[Danjin44]

however I do occasionally discover Japanese songs and soundtracks I enjoy so maybe it's not just me.

Same I really like some them.

 

[Sanepar]

I love old games on their time but hate this fade of indies with pixe art trying to sim 16bits era and I love modern sp aaa games.

 

[ByWatterson]

This is true of neither games nor music. I was 17 in 2001 - the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s are sort of objectively better than 2001.

Music today just sucks. So do movies.

But we're in a gaming golden era. For all the worrying trends you can identify, every two weeks there's a banger. If anything, the industry is suffering from too many amazing games rather than too few. Doesn't everyone on here have a backlog that makes us contemplate mortality and our inability to find the time to tackle it all?

 

[Dacvak]

I don’t “hate” new games, but I definitely think most of them have become homogenized and stale these days. I’ve certainly been playing much more retro than modern these days.

I finally got a Sega Saturn and TurboGrafx-16, and that’s been more exciting than any new releases so far this year.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'd say its a combination of two factors:

First, naturally the things you experience growing up will leave a far deeper impression on you. Second, our views and general outlooks on life change as we mature, naturally our tastes won't stay the same.

You may have really liked metal as a teenager. Now, you may try to look for more metal, chasing that same high you had back then only to be disappointed. Not necessarily because the music is worse but because you're essentially a different person that doesn't connect with that type of genre anymore. Yet, you retain the memory of the impression it left you, leading you to believe that what you heard at that time was somehow "better".

I do not feel what we have today is worse, however the games and musics i enjoy today are vastly different from what i enjoyed 15 years ago. I even know people who got into gaming in their 50s, after spending their whole lives completely uncaring for videogames in general.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

You see "they don't make 'em like they used to" shit all the time here, yeah. People can't wrap their heads around the fact that media consumed when your brain is still developing and growing is generally going to have a significantly more profound effect on you than whatever came out yesterday.

If the people who shit on things like Minecraft and Fortnite had them when they were 10, they'd be the greatest games of all time, and why not? Those games are absolutely incredible, it's just that most of us tried them as full-grown adults who already decided what we liked. The Minecraft and Fortnite kids of today will look at whatever's new in 20 years and call it a turd, and so on.

If you see somebody say a game looks "soulless", chances are they just mean "not like what it looked like when I was much younger".

Minecraft is interesting because is it a 2009 game or a 2024 game? Someone 17 when Minecraft came out is like 32 right now, which is nearly the 35 year old age used in the study. So a 17 year old that played Minecraft in 2009 I guess would call Minecraft the best game ever/a turd? Lol

You could argue the fact that Minecraft is still being played proves the study wrong, because shouldn't have new better games replaced Minecraft? Why are new people still playing it instead of the new games?

 

[MagiusNecros]

I like "good" games.

I hate "bad" games.

It really is that simple.

 

[gaming_again]

Two of my favourite games ever have come out while I was in the twilight of my 30s and entering my 40s - Cyberpunk and Elden Ring. I look forward to future games blowing these away.

This tracks for music with me, though. Never thought I'd turn into my dad on these matters, but here we are.

 

[AV]

Minecraft is interesting because is it a 2009 game or a 2024 game? Someone 17 when Minecraft came out is like 32 right now, which is nearly the 35 year old age used in the study. So a 17 year old that played Minecraft in 2009 I guess would call Minecraft the best game ever/a turd? Lol

You could argue the fact that Minecraft is still being played proves the study wrong, because shouldn't have new better games replaced Minecraft? Why are new people still playing it instead of the new games?

Minecraft is evolving. When I played it in some random 4chan alpha .zip file, it was an entirely different thing to what it is now.

As such you'll probably have a lot of people who look at current Minecraft and wonder what happened, why it's so complicated and what happened to that silly little block builder they loved so much when they played it in whatever state it was in at the time. WoW is another very good example of this as something that's been going non-stop for 19 years. I will argue that Vanilla WoW is the best version of the game (and the worst) until I'm blue in the face, but some people will have started with the latest expansion and think the original is unplayable.

 

[nemiroff]

No, not with music, not with games. So, I don't really get it.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

If I'm honest, I do find I can't be bothered with old games, anything pre-360 is too old.

Music though, I have been listening to old 70s stuff the past few years and enjoying it.

 

[SHA]

Hay, I'm almost 35, that's really offensive.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Oh man, try classical music - nothing of value was made for the last 80-90 years probably. Rachmaninoff died in 1943, I don't know of a single great composer since then.

 

[semiconscious]

i don't know. according to this, i'd hate nirvana, beck, bjork, public enemy, & nine inch nails, all of whom i really love...

 

[diffusionx]

I think a lot of the music in my late teens was pretty awful, in that I don't listen to it and haven't in a long time, it was a lot of stuff like nu-rock and horrible overproduced r&b and butt rock. Yet - I think this is one of those short-lived phenomenons that really has no bearing in the grand scheme of things. There are all sorts of objective metrics that exist when analyzing modern pop music and comparing it to music of past generations and it is more hook-laden, less complex and more repetitive melodies and lyrics, not as much experimentation with different keys and time signatures, etc. - that say that the music actually is different and it is not just a matter of perception or age.

The homogenization of modern pop music

While a common intuition for many, the idea that pop music has been simplified and homogenized over the years has scientific basis; a study by the Spanish National Research Council, published in Nature, found empirical data for this phenomenon. Specifically, they found that, when looking at...

thedublinshield.com

Likewise, when I was younger there was no gaashit, so is it just old man to say that business model is exploitative and the games are emptier because of it? There is a quantifiable difference here.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Really dumb statistics. These studies are such a joke. Plenty of older people I know are way more open for different music genres now than they were in their teens. Taste develops and changes. It doesn't just mutate into general dislike.

 

[gothmog]

People get really weird as they get older. It sucks.

 

[jshackles]

I'm almost 50.

Most games coming out today are largely objectively better than games released when I was 17 (1992). Some of my favorite games of all time released after I turned 35 (2010). I still play a good mix of old and new games, and have typically finished more than 52 games every year for the past 10 years.

The problem is that AAA games are releasing less frequently than they used to, due to massively bloated production times/cost. Studios are taking less and less risks with games. GaaS and forced multiplayer-only games aren't producing meaningful narratives most of the time. Most games are designed to be a time sink, rather than to be fun. Companies typically value user engagement over customer satisfaction / fun.

That being said, some AAA games released these days are pretty great. Final Fantasy Rebirth and Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth are two of the best games I've played in a while. Slightly older stuff like Ghost of Tsushima was incredible. AA is picking up the rest of the slack with games like Unicorn Overlord, Granblue Fantasy Relink, Robocop, and Octopath Traveler 2. Balatro might be the best game I've played this year, and it's an indie game that's like 100MB in size.

Gaming today is awesome. Ya'll are crazy if you believe OP's title to be true.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Music? Absolutely.

Games? Nope.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I don’t think that’s true for games. I think a lot of newer stuff is total shit (especially AAA western games) but I still find plenty of new games to play. I’m in my early 40s.

Definitely true for music though. Almost everything I listen to is 90s or earlier. Probably the majority is from before I was born.

 

[Alebrije]

Desagree , think there is better music now for the one I like ( industrial, techno, trance) than when I was 17, same with videogames.

Yea sometimes You miss the Old days but honestly nostalgia is like a drug..don't let it trap You because it won't let You enjoy present.

 

[N0S]

Well, Im 36 but dont hate anything. I dislike/outgrown stuff sure.

 

[FeralEcho]

At 31 I definitely have less favourite games popping up nowadays than I did when I was under 25 so it is true somewhat and,while I do hate what this industry has become and think a reset is in order,there are still games that impress me even now,as I don't hate absolutely everything that comes out,there are still gems here and there, it's just less than before.

 

[R6Rider]

Not even remotely true for me.

 

[Kilau]

All the top songs when I was 17 are shit and they were shit then too. For games, I just don’t like the mainstream genres much.

 

[danklord]

Gaming is the intersection of every form of artistic expression fused with state of the art technology powered by an overwhelming commercial engine. There has never been anything like it, and we're in it's infancy still.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Even though nostalgia is powerful, and I tend to gravitate towards older stuff these days, I still find new music, books and games that still hit hard. Maybe not as hard as they used to, but they still have that Wow-factor. Movies however, I feel are in a decline. I rarely watch new movies these days, and the few I watch tend to be awful, especially if they come from US (or Hollywood specifically). World cinema still has some juice in it, but overall, the movie industry has declined so fucking hard the last 10-15 years.

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

No way, I keep playing new games. But music, I couldn’t tell you what’s come out in the last 20 years….
Unless it’s , Tool, Jack White shit, Pixies stuff and maybe I’ll pay attention to some Smashing Pumpkins but unless it’s a remaster of something old lol

 

[Videospel]

I don't know, isn't it because pop music is made to cater to 17-year-olds?

 

[The Dead Flag Blues]

Oh man, try classical music - nothing of value was made for the last 80-90 years probably. Rachmaninoff died in 1943, I don't know of a single great composer since then.

What a silly thing to say. I'm not even big into classical music but I can name a few off the top of my head: Arvo Pärt, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Tavener. All revered. Someone knowledgeable on the subject could probably name a bunch more.

Anyways, for people saying everything made nowadays is shit, it's just not true. Whether it's music, films or games, amazing things are still being made today. You just have to look beyond the mainstream, blockbusters, radio, etc. Got a feeling a lot of people don't even put in any effort searching for new stuff.

 

[Pantz]

Are you saying they ruined Star Wars because I'm older than 17?
Many things just suck these days.
There's still plenty of great games, music and movies if you can find them.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I find good new games all the time. But for music, yeah, that’s mostly true.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I like new games, I like new music, but I'm discerning about both.

 

[Laptop1991]

That isn't true for me about music i like a lot of new Hard Rock and Heavy Metal bands, as well as the 70's and 80's ones, nor do i agree its an age issue about games, the games being made now are not as good as they were because the reasons why they are being made is different, they are cash cows now in the triple A space instead of immersive experiences designed to just entertain you, age has nothing to do with it

 

[Wildebeest]

How many 20-year-old people do you think there are making big creative decisions for AAA games? I'll tell you that the big problem is that millennials are shitting up game dev by insisting that everything is "done right" by making games calcified for themselves as they were 10–30 years ago. And the market allows it because millennials are the biggest market for console games.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

nope

 

[realcool]

"You people only believe the things that you liked when you were 17 are better than things now because of nostalgia! Also, please continue buying our remakes, remasters, prequels, sequels, prequel sequels, adaptations, interpolations, covers, homages, and sampled content from when most of you people were 17. Thank you."

Anyway.

Prepare for the word "nostalgia" to morph into a negative label, giving shills and "consoomers" a cudgel to beat the unimpressed masses over the head while simultaneously shielding garbage from criticism. There's probably political motivation for making "nostalgia" a bad word as well.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Another day, another nostalgia thread.

I don't like playing old games. At all. Not even the games I consider some of fhe best of all time.
Time moves on and holding onto the past will only suck the joy out of the present.

I actually pity those who can't see the value of modern games.

Imagine getting into a new relationship and always longing for your ex.

 

[DeepSpace5D]

Not in my experience. As a fan of mostly metal, I discover dozens of new bands and albums every year that I find to be amazing. There are so many subgenres of metal to explore.

 

[navii]

No, this is stupid.