I wouldn't say gaming is ruined but I have definitely seen better days in gaming.
Games didn't come in basic, plus or ultimate package
Developers dared to think out of the box
No sjw bullshit in games and pandering to lunatics of a certain forum
No rushed yearly cashcows
No unneccesary multiplayer
So games as a service or as a walking and exploring simulator etc
Games were not censored and dared to be more explicit
Just examples
I disagree greatly.
Understand that the same developers that existed then, many of them exist right now.
What you seen in regards to what you think is better and gaming is simply a subjective idea.
A lot of the companies that existed back event to make games are still making games and a lot of genres that we got back events still exist right now and I would argue some of them in even greater quantities than decades prior. So I would say stuff like concrete genie and no man's sky very much is thinking outside of the box. Pandering even if you want to argue it exists right now you have no fucking evidence that it didn't exist before because a lot of those same people making games right now made games before lol ohhhhh NOW they want it in the game but never before? Some imaginary law stopped them from doing it before? Fear Effect is literally a PlayStation 1 game with a lesbian couple so I'm sorry buddy but if that game released in 2021 as a brand new property that you never heard of before you would have just said the same fucking shit that it must be "pandering".
We still had yearly cash cows with sports games.
We had tons of unnecessarily added multiplayer portions in games simply to have co-op when that was the big fucking craze during the PlayStation 2 generation.
You are basically arguing about the implementation of technology not being used as frequently because of how internet worked with those consoles back then but the reality is if the PlayStation 2 and GameCube or even 64 or PlayStation 1 at Internet capabilities equivalent to the Xbox you would have 100% scene multiplayer added just like you're seeing it shoe horned in some games today.
So I'm not arguing with you if these things are okay or not..
I'm simply telling you the companies that fucking exist today did a lot of the same things back then even to make money as they are doing today in the developers that could have implemented some sort of pandering shit in their games back then would still do the same thing today
you're not talking about some brand new idea here lol
If something like Myst release today you would argue it's a walking simulator and example of how bad gaming is "today".....
Games were not censored? nah bud, I would argue M rated games had a massively uphill battle decades prior then they do today.
So I think you might want to clearly look at that history...actually look up those games from 25 years ago. So you can effortlessly release an M rated game right now today that's not going to be on the front page of every fucking newspaper in America.
So if you want to release a AO rated game, you can do that today. If you want to make a game about SJW...you can do that today, If you want to make a game about anit-SJW...you can do that today. If you want to make a game about some VR shit..you can do that today, Kickstarter exist and many platforms exist to even jumpstart some project. Many platforms exist to support indie titles to make what the fuck you want. So i greatly, greatly disagree. We are at a point where at NO OTHER TIME IN GAMING someone is able to fucking make what they want.
Stop crying about something that literally can exist by you literally forming a team and kickstarting the very thing you are saying gaming is missing. The ability to do that alone goes against this idea that we seen "better days". I'm not saying I hate MGS1 or 2 or I hate Ico or Shadow Of The Colossus or hate Sonic 2 or any shit like that, I'm saying a market exist today where those games can still exist, digital or streamed or kickstarted or in VR or with MP or as a MMO etc. They literally have more ways to factually exist NOW, then they did 2 decades ago.
As if no patches, updates, limited online, no kickstarter, less independent teams etc was just GREAT for gaming back then.