Oooooh tasty! A discussion in changing tastes over the years - The Bear and Badger

Wookienopants

Been having a bit of a think lately about my changing tastes in video games, music and movies over the years when I came across this article on eurogamer this morning about the Australian ratings board essentially banning Outlast 2 due to scenes of "implied sexual violence"

The link is here http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-03-16-outlast-2-banned-in-australia-due-to-implied-sexual-violence for your reading "pleasure".

Years ago I would've jumped at the chance to play a truly terrifying horror game that would push boundaries and scare me silly. Now having a read of the description of that scene in the above article puts me right off the game.
I played and loved the original Outlast, devoured the Silent Hill series, adored the early Resident Evils and lost days to the likes of Amnesia etc.

Same with horror movies, the gorier and scarier the better.

However over the last few years things have changed. I no longer seem to have the stomach for violence and have no desire to spend my free time taking part in an oppressive, frightening atmosphere provided by the aforementioned games.

I don't know whether it's just because I'm now in my 30's with a family of my own that the horror and situations in games and films because too "real" as I imagine myself or my family involved and perhaps some sort of parental "protection instinct" has changed me or if I've just gotten older and a bit softer but I really can't enjoy realistic violence portrayed on screen like I used to.

The question I have for you is, how has your gaming tastes changed over the years? Do you find yourself avoiding certain genres or series that you previously would've enjoyed?
Or do you find you're now enjoying games that previously you would've written off?

Go!

cockbeard

The Aussie board have always been really strict on games though, not sure if they're so bad on movies, or if they just believe that games are for kids so no adult subjects allowed at all. I remember Face, Shabs, Skret and co needing to import stuff like Manhunt from Korea

I've not played anything for a while but Siren Blood Curse actually got me to a point that I couldn't continue, the sense of vulnerability that it conveyed was truly overwhelming

Verecocha

Nice little topic Wooks!!

Hmm, I'm not sure mine have changed very much, aside from my interest in Nintendo being without doubt my priority until the GameCube and now potentially being behind even Sony offerings. I like experiences that are on the edge and fear is the easiest emotion to illicit a response so I love being scared.

And I love violence and gore. As long as it's done well and has a place in the context.

Maybe I'm just a horrid person.

Kow

I'm finding wanton violence to be fairly tiring these days. It doesn't upset me but it seems unnecessary in general. I'm much more sceptical now of the idea that games don't have any effect on people and can show whatever they want. Appealing to a teenage audience with violence and tits is, I suppose, something that happens across all media but it's a bit sad.

Wookienopants

cockbeard wrote:

I've not played anything for a while but Siren Blood Curse actually got me to a point that I couldn't continue, the sense of vulnerability that it conveyed was truly overwhelming

Oh yea, that's one for me. When the feeling becomes overwhelming I have to switch off now and play something happy to calm down

Wookienopants

Kow wrote:

I'm finding wanton violence to be fairly tiring these days. It doesn't upset me but it seems unnecessary in general. I'm much more sceptical of the idea that games don't have any effect on people and can show whatever they want..

I used to be of the opinion that violence in games doesn't affect people like the media portrays but as games have become more and more realistic I'm finding my views changing and now getting rather worried by how regular exposure to realistic interactive violence is capable of affecting a young impressionable mind.

Kow

Don't worry, you're just changing into a middle aged conservative.

Yossarian

I'm fine with violence, I no longer really care for scares in any media, really. Although I do love Shearsmith and Pemberton and their toying with the genre.

Unlikely

My appetite for nastiness has diminished considerably since Spawn came along. I recently watched Unthinkable on Netflix (Sam J. tortures Michael Sheen, Carrie-Anne Moss looks vaguely concerned) and at the point where

Spoiler:

I had my finger over the Stop button.

Wookienopants

Unlikely wrote:

My appetite for nastiness has diminished considerably since Spawn came along. I recently watched Unthinkable on Netflix (Sam J. tortures Michael Sheen, Carrie-Anne Moss looks vaguely concerned) and at the point where

Spoiler:

they brought out his children
I had my finger over the Stop button.

Oh god yes.
My wife and I have been enjoying the rather trashy Constantine series on Amazon recently and we watched one particular episode on which a demon kidnaps a baby.
I found myself welling up and had to turn off. We couldn't sit through that. The whole episode and scene is silly and trashy but the thought of it being my little ones and hearing the babies cries was enough to send me into a panic

stonechalice

Animal slaughter in games. I've had enough of it these days. Far Cry just got silly with it. Enough to make me quit playing it. Even in Zelda I regretted killing a duck with a stray bomb the other day. It's pathetic.

Ten years ago I would have been whooping and hollering for more.

Kow

Shooters where you play Americans/The West liberating the world from terrorists just drive me up the wall too. There's a creeping normalisation of a political view that I find quite insidious. It's a bit like watching Fox News.

JonB

I've never been a fan of really gratuitous violence. I mean, playing something like Doom is fine, where it's OTT in a ridiculous way (and against demons), but there's plenty of horror films I wouldn't watch because it feels more vicious and nasty. There's a point where I sense a writer/director is getting too much pleasure from inventing more gruesome ways to depict a person's demise, and I think it's perfectly natural to find that disturbing.

The scene in Outlast 2 doesn't sound particularly awful though, and it's just getting a harsher reaction because it has sexual content.

JonB

Kow wrote:

Shooters where you play Americans/The West liberating the world from terrorists just drive me up the wall too. There's a creeping normalisation of a political view that I find quite insidious.

This, for sure. I played CoD 4 once for about an hour and couldn't take any more. Not touched anything similar.

Then again, that probably wouldn't stop me playing an old arcade game like Contra or Green Beret, despite the unpleasant political undertones. Faceless sprites don't have the same impact.

Kow

I'm sure it wasn't Green Beret in particular, but who of us growing up in the eighties didn't think the Americans were the good guys?

stonechalice

To be fair CoD4 wasn't gratuitously violent. It was done fairly well. It blurred the moral lines here and there too.

trippy

I've enjoyed horror books but never films or games, really. I'm also even less interested in death and brutality since becoming a father.

With most games it's the monotony of the violence that kills them, rather than the violence itself. My favourite recent game is Inside and it's violence works because it's as intermittent as it is brutal.

Okami is currently taking up most of my gaming time. It’s beautifully inventive and colourful and only cartoonishly violent. I can't wait to try Breath of the Wild for the same reason, much more appealing to me than a grey and brown man shooter.

That said, I am making the most violent game ever.

nick_md

I've got no interest in FPS at all anymore, just had my fill of it. Seen some shit etc. Bored, and will echo JB/Kow on the insidious nature of modern war shooters.

As for videogames influencing behaviour, I don't think graphical advancements are that much of a factor; when I was a kid I thought the GFX were amazing at pretty much every generation. I'm more concerned with sexual stuff tbh, there are kids growing up watching pretty violent porn - choking, hair pulling, slapping etc - thinking that's normal ([obligatory consenting adults own home comment here, ofc]).

stonechalice

Yeah that shit is disturbing.

dynamiteReady

nick_md wrote:

As for videogames influencing behaviour...

I've probably said it before, but videogames have had a marked influence on the way I drive...

There's an intersection, and it's well worth examining (with games in general. Not just driving games, and the activity of driving). It's a very important topic for social science and psychology, I think. But I'm am not an expert on this at all.

Back on topic, I've never really liked FPS games, but will play anything if it's proves to be exceptional.

As I've gotten older, I feel I have a lot more time for point and clicks.
Grin Fandango and Machinarium now rank somewhere in my top 10, where as they'd have not even touched the sides in my PS One days.

I also have less time for racing games, ironically (given what I wrote above)...
Much like football games, I can still respect and enjoy them, but won't bother putting aside the time.

Fighting games are different though. When I can, and if I can, I will give them some attention, if not all of it, at least a quick look through the character roster.

Nintendo games and Edge 9/10s negate this pattern, obviously.

As does any reasonable suggestion from you guys.

nick_md

How's the driving been influenced, out of curiosity?

Skondo

Like nick I'm less interested in the FPS genre now and racing games too, particularly circuit racers. I became bored with Driveclub and Forza Horizon quite quickly and both are great games, so I just think racing games aren't for me anymore, well, except Wipeout.

I haven't played much in the way of horror games, probably only the Project Zero series. I missed most of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I love the idea of an atmospheric horror game that fills you with a sense of dread, but usually once that feeling hits, I think f**k that and turn it off. I've never been one for horror films either.

Fundamentally I think I'm simply looking to have fun with a game now, if it has a great story I can be immersed in too then that's a fantastic bonus. Having said that, I currently have very little time to play games and the most fun I've had is a few short sessions with Yakuza Zero.

yourfavouriteuncle

My biggest problem with gaming in general is that the predominant means of progression is based on the main mechanic of some form of destruction.
Fists, swords, guns, bombs, explosions. It's the only way to win. To then dress this up either side of play with some form of shittily delivered emoto-story drives me up the wall. Power fantasies x manipulative emotional resonance seems to be the tripleA way.

JonB

I got bored of racing games quite a while back. Before Driveclub the last one I played was Outrun 2 on the XBox. I enjoyed Driveclub so much partly because I hadn't played one in so long and it seemed fresh again, but now that's done it'll be another 10 years before the next one.

As a genre it probably just reached its limit in the early 2000s. In the end, you've only get steer, accelerate, brake and change gears, and once that's been done well a number of times there's nothing else to add except nicer graphics.

yourfavouriteuncle

Plus the focus testers have obvs realised we're all growing up and having our own kids so let's get some real meaningful parental issues in there too. Like protecting your kids from evil zombies - that'll show how far we've progressed.

Unlikely

JonB wrote:

I got bored of racing games quite a while back. Before Driveclub the last one I played was Outrun 2 on the XBox. I enjoyed Driveclub so much partly because I hadn't played one in so long and it seemed fresh again, but now that's done it'll be another 10 years before the next one. As a genre it probably just reached its limit in the early 2000s. In the end, you've only get steer, accelerate, brake and change gears, and once that's been done well a number of times there's nothing else to add except nicer graphics.

And yet FH3 remains an absolutely magnificent, joyous experience for many of us, despite having played dozens of facing games over the years. I haven't put as many hours into a game for a very long time, mostly in single player because most of the fucking FNF crew don't bother pitching up until it's past my bed time.

Wookienopants

Skondo wrote:

Fundamentally I think I'm simply looking to have fun with a game now, if it has a great story I can be immersed in too then that's a fantastic bonus. Having said that, I currently have very little time to play games and the most fun I've had is a few short sessions with Yakuza Zero.

Same here. I find that I just want to enjoy myself and play something that'll make me smile.
My current game of choice is Breath of The Wild as it's just pure fantasy escapism wrapped up in a beautiful world I can explore at my leisure.
There's too much stuff in the real world that depresses me so it's lovely to play something that makes you smile so much

regmcfly

I haven't played an FPS in 2017 and I have no desire to. 10 years ago it was all I did. I've played every COD up until Moon edition - I'm waiting for the next great leap in terms of the genre. TTF2 was getting there but sadly over as soon as it began.
I'm done with the shootman, and increasingly moving into more pugilistic tendencies. I've always had them, but am now excited for something like a new Xrd game.

Wookienopants

nick_md wrote:

How's the driving been influenced, out of curiosity?

Ever since Outrun he takes every corner sideways

WorKid

JonB wrote:

I got bored of racing games quite a while back. Before Driveclub the last one I played was Outrun 2 on the XBox. I enjoyed Driveclub so much partly because I hadn't played one in so long and it seemed fresh again, but now that's done it'll be another 10 years before the next one.

As a genre it probably just reached its limit in the early 2000s. In the end, you've only get steer, accelerate, brake and change gears, and once that's been done well a number of times there's nothing else to add except nicer graphics.

I feel the same about fighties. I'd rather play Tekken 3 again than relearn movesets just for more shinies. Actually maybe TTT.

Yossarian

nick_md wrote:

How's the driving been influenced, out of curiosity?

He keeps chucking turtle shells out the window.

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