True Power For The Gamer
Let's start off by saying gamers are in the best position that they have been in ever. Here's why.
1. No longer are we being mocked constantly by friends, family, etc. Even the media has calmed down on making us the public enemy to an extent. Let's face it we will always be the scapegoat for something I'm just glad to see it's not happening as much as it used to. Also, with the rise of Esports not only can we make money but on some level we're also getting treated as athletes that's crazy (in a good way though.) Can you imagine telling your parent back in the 90's, "No mom I can't get off I'm training" It would followed by the mom just constantly saying to get off and you telling her you're a real athlete lol.
2. We have a back catalogue of games a literal mile long. Some of you may only like playing the new consoles and new games but for those of you like me that play PS4 all the way down to Atari you also know that the list of games that you can play just keeps going. In my collection alone I have around 489 games. I did the math and I think it came to around 3 years for me to beat every game I own and that's just if I play the main story forget about the side quests. Yes, I know not all games are created equal, I mean one moment you can be playing an awesome game like Resident Evil 4 then for some reason, I'm not sure why you would do this willingly but, decide to jump over on Atari and play ET. The differences in quality are very great. For every flopper there's also a wide array of successes. Take this for an example, we have the exact same game, Pokemon Colosseum on Gamecube, but we will be looking at it from different points of view. Some people like it more than the mainline Pokemon series due it's RPG elements. Some people liked it less because they were hoping for a Pokemon Stadium on Gamecube. Now what can we learn about what this example shows? Some people are going to be excited just for something new and somebody will want the tried and true. There's also a secret third option there of people like me that just want the game regardless if it's tried and true or new and fancy. Now as you can see some people saw it as a success and some saw it as a failure and some people were just kind of meh to it. Granted this was a very very simple version to illustrate my point about successes and failures and that it really boils down to the taste of the one playing. Like I'm sure somebody enjoys ET...maybe.
3. Games are readily available. Even if you don't have a lot of games in your collection or even in your back-log, games are the most accessible that they have ever been and not just old games either. Take for instance, I can go to my local Family Dollar and pick up an Xbox One or PS4 game and it's not an unheard of game, it's an actual triple A game which in my opinion is pretty awesome. Or I can go to a flea market or thrift store and pick up an original Xbox game for $2. FYI don't pay more than $2 for an old game from a flea market or thrift store, especially one that doesn't have quality control. You can see that there are a number of places you can go to build your collection that's not even counting online stores like Amazon, Ebay, Craigslist, etc. The ways there are to find games nowadays are so numerous and for good prices the power really is in the gamer's hands.
My final point is next time EA or (insert name here) does something you don't like just know you don't have to feel bad about it. You don't have to feel hopeless or like you have no power because indeed you hold all the cards. You can choose not to pre-order something and instead go pick up a classic game, maybe it's one you always wanted to play or just something that sounds interesting. The new Star Wars game from EA has micro transactions in it? Well guess what doesn't. Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 for the original Xbox and Ps2. You really just want to play multiplayer games with your friends but don't have enough money? Some emulators have online multiplayer. Not to mention that I will still stand by that Ps3 (seeing how it's free to play) is the way to go, take advantage of it before Sony completely shuts it down. The point of this entire blog is just to say, take advantage of how good we have it right now. Don't let yourself get bogged down by greedy individuals and naysayers. You don't have to buy a game just because it's new and you certainly don't have to feel bad because you're not playing something new. Old games can be just as fun, sometimes more. I know I'm not the most eloquent at trying to get my point across and I hope that this blog wasn't all over the place. If it was I'm sorry, I just hope the actual meaning and spirit of what I was trying to say got through. Thank you all so much for reading.