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• Gollum

  

  • 558 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 1:37 AM EDT

  It's no secret that many of the games coming out today cater to casual gamers. The most popular games are often the most simple: sports games, CoD, Minecraft, etc.
  
  It's no secret that popular music (pop) today is rather simple: "solo" artists/singers that use the same structure in every song, with very little lyrical intrigue and simple instrumentation (if instruments are even used).
  
  You might enjoy these games and songs I've deemed "simple". I mean, shit, Minecraft is fun, Katy Perry is catchy. Yet something is missing. The art.
  
  What is artistic about silly innuendos and catchy tunes that all pop artists use? I like my music to have complex song structures, elaborate, poetic lyrics, and if instruments are used, then great instrumentals.
  
  I like my games to be more than fun gameplay. Deep, labyrinthine lore, thought provoking quests, and hard puzzles.
  
  Bethesda has been dumbing down it's games for years now, and it seems that more people are fans of the older, more complex titles, than the newer, easier to get a grip on titles. Is complex better than simple? It's probably subjective, but as someone who has created content on this site and off, I was always more proud of the things that pushed me to my creative limits.
  
  Also, what does it say to us as human beings? The more we feed ourselves dumbed down entertainment, the dumber we get, no?
  
  But that's just me. Do you prefer "simple" content more than "complex"? If so, why? Do you think simpler content being very popular is a bad thing? In my opinion, it seems to have started a cultural degradation. Don't be afraid to offend anyone with your comment, we're all friends here.
• Chris

  

  • 1441 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 1:42 AM EDT

  I feel there should be a fine line. Too complex, for instance, leaves people confused, like weird twist endings
• Rogue

  

  • 743 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 2:00 AM EDT

  I fully agree, Gollum.
  
  It's come to be quite ridiculous as a whole as to how simple gaming and our culture is as an entity. COD, Minecraft, you name a recent title, it's likely simple enough for a 5 year old to play it. What happened to rewarding dedicated fans over casuals?
  
  I'll end this thought on a musical comparison that reflects our past love of in depth versus today's face value-based culture.
  
  Stairway to Heaven vs. My House
• Gollum

  

  • 558 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 11:13 AM EDT

  Stairway to Heaven vs. My House is a great comparison.
• Rogue

  

  • 743 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 11:15 AM EDT

  It definitely shows how dumbed down society has become.
• Albino

  

  • 179 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 10:12 PM EDT

  Regarding Bethesda dumbing down, I've always thought that Bethesda games worked best when they finally realized that they sucked at making games with complex mechanics. The irony is that their simpler games (i.e. Skyrim) ends up having a hidden level of complexity to them rivaling the older titles, as can be seen in our Character Building and Tips and Tricks groups. I'm also not sure why you think it seems like more people are fans of the older, more complex stuff when more people have been buying the newer stuff.

  Regarding culture dumbing down, the tendency is and always has been for the simpler stuff to dominate in terms of popularity while more complex works remain hidden in the underground. In today's world, we can watch CoD sell countless copies while complex games barely turn a profit on steam. In the 90s, simple platformers dominated the scene while pushing more complex stuff to the side. The pattern repeats itself elsewhere; Katy Perry songs are heard by millions while a variety of progressive and experimental acts are out performing to half empty bars.

  As for myself, my entertainment preferences are across the board in terms of complexity, so I guess I don't have an inherent preference one way or the other. That being said, while I generally don't seek out complex entertainment specifically because it's complex, I do enjoy the complexity in certain forms of entertainment (e.g. Elder Scrolls lore wouldn't be as fun if everything was cut and dry).

  Long story short, I don't think we're culturally dumbing down. I think that we've always been culturally dumbed down, and that cases of complex entertainment becoming popular are the exception rather than the norm.

• Gollum

  

  • 558 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 10:46 PM EDT

  Thank you.
  
  I personally hate the leveling mechanic in Morrowind. Despite what I said in the original post, I do enjoy a wide variety of entertainment. I usually prefer my music a bit more complex, but I do enjoy some simple games like Smite, which is just a fun multiplayer experience.
• Albino

  

  • 179 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 11:03 PM EDT

  No problem.

  Yeah, the leveling mechanic was the primary thing that came to mind when I was talking about how Bethesda sucked at more complex game mechanics.

• Ajani

  

  • 59 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 11:06 PM EDT

  I enjoy games like Skyrim, which has a simple concept, but has so much in it, like magic and weapons and skills, make it a more complex game. And you can't forget the lore too. I also enjoy a good puzzle game that makes you think hard and use strategy.

• Gollum

  

  • 558 posts
   

  June 19, 2016 11:16 PM EDT

  Yes, Skyrim is pretty awesome in that way. I actually prefer Skyrim to TW3, but that might just be because I haven't played previous Witcher titles.
• Deleted Member

  
   

  June 19, 2016 11:31 PM EDT

  Hello there!!, I am not yet sure if there has been a" dumbing" down of games in general, by Bethesda or anyone else for that matter, perhaps the word we are searching for is simplified, which tends to  indicate that things have been dumbed down, my first open world RPG was Morrowind, followed closely by Oblivion, then Skyrim, then ES 6 (I can but hope).

  Anyway Oblivion was much simpler than Morrowind, and of course Skyrim followed suit, I preferred Oblivion to Morrowind, and Skyrim to Oblivion, and still do because they were simpler to play, less complicated and of course you are correct, they have been dumbed down lol.

   Does that mean that current games are designed for less intelligent people? no of course not, which brings me to my point are we the general gaming public more intelligent now? because we find these games easier to play than the previous generation? is it we that are dumbing up so to speak? if this is indeed the case where will it stop, will the producers of games continue to dumb down or are we at another evolutionary breakthrough, food for thought methinks

• Gollum

  

  • 558 posts
   

  June 20, 2016 12:16 AM EDT

  The part where I said older ES titles are more popular is clearly unfounded. Not sure why I wrote that. This site, anyways, disproves that logic. Simplifying aspects of previous games has helped and hurt Skyrim, though. Mostly helped, in my opinion.
  
  I don't really believe in evolution. It all depends on perspective, I guess. Modern humans do seem to fit in well in the modern world.