Why does no one play the same game anymore?

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I miss the days of Halo 2 (Can substitute it with goldeneye or SMK... whatever) when there were always at least 8 people floating around from here (or where I lived) to play with. Everyone seems to have abandoned playing the same game and now play many games for very brief periods of time.

Take the FPS genre for example where everyone used to play TS2, Goldeneye or Halo 2 during different generations. Now we have, in one generation:

Halo 3: A select few people play it, I guess it lacks soul.
GRAW: Plenty of people played it but it was really short lived, not sure why.
Gears: Maybe the party size is too small and a really dull/glitchy game.
CoD4: Only complete retards seem to play this online in all game modes so it's boring to play, especially as a team. This one seems obvious I suppose as a game needs to be challenging to maintain interest.
RB6: Had potential but never took off, maybe the graphics?
UT3: Crap game all around
BFBC: Not popular at all
Resistance/Warhawk: PSN/PS3 is generally anti-social but great to play on your own

There doesn't seem to be a pattern except for a lot of choice.


Anyone else miss the Halo 2 (Or Goldeneye, whatever) days (even though I only caught the tail end of it) where everyone played the same game regularly rather than playing many multiplayer games briefly and in tiny little groups? I suppose this is what I expected Halo 3 to be as it was the people who played it that made Halo 2 so fun to play but even at uni, where everyone I knew played Halo 2, no one seems to play the same game.

Is it because of this generation of consoles? I'm inclined to say no because the brawl scene is pretty big around here with plenty of tournaments and players but everyone is crap at that :(

I'm not sure where this post is going as I never normally make long posts but to summarise:

tl;dr version:

Why does no one play the same multiplayer games anymore? Is it too much choice, a generally unpopular generation of consoles, "been there done that", bad games in general or too much focus on graphics?
 
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You miss the point I'm making.

People used to play the same game for a long time, so what has changed that makes them bored of games quicker than the previous generation of games?

Some interesting points Fortyseven. I thought it may have been too much choice but then we've always had choice. Do you think games are more "average" now with fewer shining examples (for example GoldenEye was an amazing game amongst a myriad of poor FPS attemps) or are all games now "good" (do we have a lot of GoldenEye quality games?)?
 
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If you want a mono-culture of gaming, go play World of Warcraft.

Again, you're missing the point completely. I'm asking what has changed and why pretty much no one plays the same games anymore for any length of time. Don't jump to the daft conclusion that I'm demanding everyone plays the same game for 7 years =/
 
Online matchmaking systems on consoles are too impersonal.

A lot of my friends played a hell of a lot of Halo 2 though and now just don't play at all (hardly any of them have any of this generations consoles). They didn't lose interest in games because when belters like SSBB come along they really get into it and play it for a long time but that seems to be the first game this generation to stir up any passion (;)).
 
I understand that Booner!, but my "irl" friends who all used to play games get bored quickly this generation playing local multiplayer.
 
But why have my main gaming buddies lost interest in fps, racing and other normal genres? I've asked them and they don't seem to know either.
 
Another good point, but there are still a select few games that can maintain our interest (currently SSBB and StarCraft). I certainly hope I'm not growing out of it, and I'd be surprised it all my mates were as they range from 15 (my little brother to) to 30, with the majority being 21ish, and it seems like a general trend across the board this generation.
 
I think there is just too many good games. Back int he Goldeneye days it was the ONLY good console FPS, now we have so much choice that people dwell on each title for less time.

It's a real shame if this is the way gaming will progress as it ruins gaming communities which are ultimately the only reason I play games.
 
There's something special about it that's missing from most games nowadays. It has a genuine learning curve with an incredibly high ceiling and a very competitive 1v1, 2 stock, no items game that inspires ingenious play and rewards raw skill. We need more of it this generation and less games like CoD4 imo.
 
Yeah, a lot play CSS just like a lot still play StarCraft and UT2k4. Doesn't seem to happen in recent games though as CSS is the last game with a large community iirc.
 
Perhaps the problem is with you? :) CoD4 has a LOT of people from here playing it and is still one of the biggest games on Live. It could just be that you're not in to the same games the majority of others are.

I'm on about people playing in large parties, or "irl", and it's not just me as I've stated.

CoD4 is my second favourite game of this generation but none of my friends are interested and the lack of split screen online is a pain for those who aren't anti social :(

I reckon servers would help immensely for online console gaming, not only for lag but to bring people together more as the chances of seeing the same person twice on CoD4 is remote on the 360.
 
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I play much more local multiplayer than online, so I don't actively seek out communities online but with CoD1, StarCraft, Halo 2 and a lot of old games I stumbled into them. I never do with CoD4 or Halo 3.
 
Great post hilly, I agree with pretty much everything you said.

As a general note I'm not on about FPS games but games in all genre's as they all have this issue to some extent (take SMK vs MKWii for example) but FPS games are a more potent example.
 
And if you cant find any Halo 3 players, get more people on your friends list that play the game - simple, I have people on my friends list that are on Halo 3 every single day without fail. I honestly bet you have a crap friends list, you need more people on it so you get more choice :)

There's loads of people but no community. This thread isn't online focussed, it's about people in general, particularly my irl friends. I recently deleted all but about 6 people from my friends list because no one from OcUK ever play together bar about 5 people who play CoD4 matches.

Also, if you could happily play Halo 2 over the recent games then surely it's not special because of a lack of competition during the XBox 1 days?

Edit: lol, excellent timing Mr Camper :p ;)
 
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