Spending time with the extended family, mostly making sure my nephews don't kill each other while their parents are at work. I am noticing some things about this generation of gamers that makes me disappointed as a gamer. These kids are between the ages of 12 and 17, as are some of their friends that I've watched play.
- First off, they don't turn their PlayStation off. Ever. That fucker is on all night and all day, just running. It makes my skin crawl. I turn it off after they go to bed.
- They have this really nice controller charging station, it's cool stuff! They never dock their controllers after finishing a session with a game. Then bitch and moan about the controllers never having enough battery.
- Monetization has turned them into the kind of addicts that 90s parents could only imagine in their worst nightmares. The packs and skins are more exciting than the recycled gamepla- oh I guess that just clicked with me.
- Single-player is fucking dead. If it doesn't have multiplayer, it's not a video game.
- These kids have no clue how to operate a computer and zero proficiency with electronics. A bit broad here, but damn these walled gardens of Apple and Android (lesser) have stripped away any useful skills that could be acquired passively.
- "Gaming PC" is never going away. Fuck me in the ass.
I'm working with the youngest one though. His skill level is lower than his brothers so he doesn't immediately want to compete all the time. He said Shadow of the Colossus looked neat, so I have that downloading overnight for him to try. It'll be a tough game for him, but at least he shows an interest. He also thought SWAT 4 on my computer looked cool, but wished it had multiplayer "like Rainbow"...
It's a process. Otherwise the kids are pretty cool. I just don't get the lack of care for their stuff, that's a really big one for me. They take care of their guns and compound bows (children having these things is normal in hunting country), but not their equally-expensive and fragile gaming hardware. There's very little appreciation for the equipment.