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A timeline of trend chasing and fads in gaming

Worst trend/fad in gaming history

  • Pong clones (1970-)

    Votes: 4 1.5%
  • Mascot platformers (1986-)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • FMV games (1992-)

    Votes: 18 6.9%
  • Fighting games (1992-)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Arena shooters (1996-)

    Votes: 2 0.8%
  • MMOs (2004-)

    Votes: 4 1.5%
  • Bald space marines (2006-)

    Votes: 7 2.7%
  • Motion controls (2006-)

    Votes: 38 14.6%
  • MOBAs (2008-)

    Votes: 17 6.5%
  • VR (2016-)

    Votes: 5 1.9%
  • Live Service/GAAS (?-)

    Votes: 143 55.0%
  • Cloud streaming (2011-)

    Votes: 22 8.5%

  • Total voters
    260

nial

Member
Secondly, thanks to the time, and the quality of assets required in a modern game, in addition to voice actors and all that, game development costs have skyrocketed. I mean, take R&C for instance, on PS2 that game cost ~$3M to make. On PS5? $80M+.
I don't know, man. Ratchet & Clank on PS4 only cost $13M.
 
Recency bias with GaaS leading the poll. Vast majority of games that use it are perfectly fine. People just remember the few bad apples.

Also when was there a MOBA fad?
 

Sharius

Member
lmao, telling GAAS is a problem for game sale to drop while ignore all other GAAS game being very successful, maybe it's not about GAAS, it's because game itself suck and being rejecct by gamer
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
No GTA clone/open world option? Wouldn't be the worst, but it was ubiquitous for awhile.
 

nkarafo

Member
Also, this fucking shit:

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I can stand piss filters, motion blur, chromatic aberration, vignette, and other annoying things that get in the way and make the visuals shittier. But not this. This pisses me off.
 

StueyDuck

Member
It's difficult to choose GaaS, because in theory and under the right conditions, it's a cool idea, a game that keeps on providing.

but in order to do that these games become bland, sleazy and in many cases just straight up bad.

so while i'd say siege was fun and I've enjoyed my many years with it, it doesn't represent GaaS as a whole and is an outlier.

Personally i'd add the battleroyale, extraction shooter trends.

god, those games are so boring now.
 
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You forgot a few:
  • The piss filter
  • Sassy female character who takes no crap from nobody
  • The main character who won't shut up (Uncharted-style)
  • The Epic Gamestore trend
  • The hair trends: everyone has an afro, shaved sides, blue hair, or whatever
This is a good list, and I hate this trend in particular.

Protagonists who never fucking shut up. Aloy from Horizon is insufferable. This is actually a problem in all modern AAA single player experiences.

Keep the dialogue to the minimum please, and stop with this useless self talk.
 

Felessan

Member
GaaS. I've been around for every one of those trends, and its GaaS.

Just nerdy kids making games that they think kick ass.

We do that, we will all be playing great games again.
"Tech otakus save the world" 😆
Those nerdy kids now most involved with gaas, because kids do like gaas games, unlike "30+ family with kids" crowd
 
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RoboFu

One of the green rats
You missed one big one today the " open world " game. It's probably the worst yet. They all are the EXACT SAME game.

Run to spot on map and collect/kill thing.

Even worse is they all have the worst " reuse assets " offenses. You now run to a dungeon that's exactly like other dungeons .. sometimes they are the exact same dungeon except different paths are blocked.

I'd much rather have a smaller area to explore but with more unique areas and puzzles. The more recent examples I can think of is like RE8, Metroid dread, dark souls 1-3, bloodborne, even the new god of war games.
 

Laptop1991

Member
Yeah, i chose the most popular before seeing the results so far lol, def Live Service/Gaas, a plague on gaming.
 
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Bombolone

Gold Member

I’m on board for more control options and anything that provides an alternative to Aim Assist is cool.
Been playing Games (FPSs) for close to 20 years, couldn’t see how i could use gyro competitively for anything past my 30s.
My wrists are starting to go. Can’t imagine the gyro movement. Looks exhausting.
 

Dafegamer

Member
The motion shit was the worst. You can pretty much pinpoint exactly when xbox 360 started sucking from when kinect released.

And Sony copied Nintendo with their move controllers lol who actually bought those?
Actually Sony demoed a prototype of motion controls Wand way before Wii even existed
 

Jigsaah

Member
So people vote GAAS when Fortnite, Destiny, COD, literally every MMO, Warframe and Path of Exile exist.

GAAS is not inherently bad. Publishers who abuse it make it bad. Guns don't kill people folks. I voted FMV games...they were all terrible in my book.

Mooooooooo! Moooooooo!
 
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Barakov

Member
Oh, GAAS for sure. For every hit, there are several misses. Even for a hit it's pretty hard to sustain a consistent stream of interesting content.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
So people vote GAAS when Fortnite, Destiny, COD, literally every MMO, Warframe and Path of Exile exist.

GAAS is not inherently bad. Publishers who abuse it make it bad. Guns don't kill people folks. I voted FMV games...they were all terrible in my book.

Mooooooooo! Moooooooo!
I just bought 7th Guest. A VR game. And an FMV game. And it's really good.
 

Interfectum

Member
Most here should be voting GaaS because it is, by far, the most disruptive in terms of traditional console gaming. These games are black holes that pull gamers time and funding away from what most seemingly enjoy here.
 

Codeblew

Member
I picked FMV because can you really call those games? At least motion controls can be done well in some games: GT6/7, Astrobots, etc...
 
This is a good list, and I hate this trend in particular.

Protagonists who never fucking shut up. Aloy from Horizon is insufferable. This is actually a problem in all modern AAA single player experiences.

Keep the dialogue to the minimum please, and stop with this useless self talk.

I remember when folks were worried Isaac would talk too much in Dead Space Remake.
It turns out he rarely speaks outside of scripted events, and when he does, it's usually for a good reason.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Actually Sony demoed a prototype of motion controls Wand way before Wii even existed

Damn that makes it even worse. They failed to successfully capitalize on that market even with their apparently already-tested technology while Nintendo sold gangbusters with their 480p toy box that required an extra sensor to properly work lmao

Remember in Killzone 2 and other games when they shoehorned in the sixaxis kek
 

Gambit2483

Member
I say motion controls but only because they were so poorly imitated and copied by Nintendos competitors...and even on Wii there were few games outside of 1st party they implemented them competently
 

Dafegamer

Member
Damn that makes it even worse. They failed to successfully capitalize on that market even with their apparently already-tested technology while Nintendo sold gangbusters with their 480p toy box that required an extra sensor to properly work lmao

Remember in Killzone 2 and other games when they shoehorned in the sixaxis kek
Tbh, who the fuck even likes Motion Controls?
Even ASTRO BOT (my goty btw) has a power up based on motion controls, and those are instantly one of the worst levels of the game 🤷
 
Gaas and live service only works in specific sitations but has been treated like the dominant format. Why? Cause scumbag corps want to monetize cosmetics and create an endless treadmill of useless activities. It doesn't even make sense for some of the concepts and IPs it has been stitched to.

It fails more times than it even succeeds or breaks even.

Kill that shit with fire now where it is seen as a viable format for specific projects and not fucking everything.
 
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Pejo

Gold Member
While GaaS is generally bad, there is an opportunity there for both the fans and the developers/publishers to have a symbiotic relationship, and to make both sides happy. MOST games do not try/go this route, but it's possible.

Waggle and motion controls outside of VR were a hindrance at best and a nightmare at worst. So much effort and energy wasted on games to appeal to casuals that either never came or came and left a month later.

I voted waggle.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Tbh, who the fuck even likes Motion Controls?
Even ASTRO BOT (my goty btw) has a power up based on motion controls, and those are instantly one of the worst levels of the game 🤷

Bro Donkey Kong on the Wii. One of my fav platformers. But it makes you shake the controller to roll which is a key gameplay mechanic -_-
 

FunkMiller

Member
Recency bias with GaaS leading the poll. Vast majority of games that use it are perfectly fine. People just remember the few bad apples.

No. What we remember is how much development time has been wasted on producing GaaS games that could have gone into making single player experiences that you buy once, and enjoy for as long as you wish, without having to pay out more and more money to greedy games companies.
 

Shakka43

Member
Was gonna vote Arena Shooters as I find them extremely boring, but GAAS even if I like some is a much more destructive force in gaming. So GAAS got my vote.

DEI is by far the worst fad anyway.
 
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