Support NeoGAF

[Maximus D. Meridius]

I own a gaming capable PC, PS5 and Series X I'm always looking for the next thing to play.

On Christmas day my nephew(US equivelant of 7th grade) ,who up until now had been playing games on my brothers Xbox account (on a seperate console mind), was given a PS5 unexpectedly.(to share with his younger brother)

I saw the video of the unwrapping, it was packed in with Spider-Man 2! They seemed excited

When I arrived that day I gave him a £50 PS voucher, what wonders will he buy he in the sale I was thinking?

Subsequently I watched him use the card and part of another one to buy £70's worth of Vbucks. then take a snapchat to show off to his friends how many he had. I couldn't even contemplate spending that much in one go on fleeting cosmetic items.

When I asked why he wasn't going to buy any other games, he said "I play Fifa(EAFC) that's on the xbox account, and Fortnite! what else would would I buying?"
The younger brother, then during the older's down time, played some some Roblox "touch football" level.

Even under suggestion, there was no interest in even starting Spider-Man.
The Times They Are A-Changin'

 

[kanjobazooie]

Simpsons memes coming in 3, 2, 1…

 

[peronmls]

I never give kids anything game related if that’s all they play is Minecraft and Fortnite. They don’t actually care about games.

 

[havoc00]

 

[Danknugz]

posted on an different thread but thought this was more relevant here

https://www.reddit.com/r/maybemaybemaybe/s/UwlbhBM30B

 

[user friendly]

It's an addiction. Social acceptance and the act of spending the points seem to be the biggest part of it. Most of the items purchased likely don't even get used. They are kids though and will one day grow up and maybe see through it all. I try to get my son to enjoy more story driven experiences but he loves playing fortnite with his pals and I support that as long as he's not being an ass to other people. He's pretty good but some kids don't have as much supervision.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I own a gaming capable PC, PS5 and Series X I'm always looking for the next thing to play.

On Christmas day my nephew(US equivelant of 7th grade) ,who up until now had been playing games on my brothers Xbox account (on a seperate console mind), was given a PS5 unexpectedly.(to share with his younger brother)

I saw the video of the unwrapping, it was packed in with Spider-Man 2! They seemed excited

When I arrived that day I gave him a £50 PS voucher, what wonders will he buy he in the sale I was thinking?

Subsequently I watched him use the card and part of another one to buy £70's worth of Vbucks. then take a snapchat to show off to his friends how many he had. I couldn't even contemplate spending that much in one go on fleeting cosmetic items.

When I asked why he wasn't going to buy any other games, he said "I play Fifa(EAFC) that's on the xbox account, and Fortnite! what else would would I buying?"
The younger brother, then during the older's down time, played some some Roblox "touch football" level.

Even under suggestion, there was no interest in even starting Spider-Man.
The Times They Are A-Changin'

I notice the same with my stepson.
All he does is spend his allowance and gifted money on Fortnite and FC.

But tbh, most people I know only play either football and COD, football and Fortnite, or football and Apex Legends.

GaaS is here to stay due to internet, the younger generations especially don't know any better.

That's why I always look at people complaining about GaaS as grumpy old men complaining about how things were better in the past.

 

[Svejk]

Yup. They're designed to enslave the kids' mind to an unprecedented level now. It's pretty disgusting... What's worse is when parents do nothing to make their children aware of the psychology of it and keep feeding the digi-slop to them.

 

[Gaiff]

then take a snapchat to show off to his friends how many he had. I couldn't even contemplate spending that much in one go on fleeting cosmetic items.

I know it's a video game but can we talk about this part more? At my aunt's usual Christmas dinner, I had my niece and little cousin take photos of damn near everything to put on Snapchat and Instagram. As we were about to have the family dinner, they even told everyone to wait to snap a picture to put on their social media.

As much as I love them both, I wanted to tell them to fuck off and that this is a private family moment and that I had been starving myself since morning because I was looking forward to eating.

Same shit happens in restaurants where I go out with friends and their spouses/girlfriends, and they pull out a fucking phone to snap pics of the meal and post it on social media. GTFO with this shit.

Always seeking attention and validation from strangers. I don't fucking care about what you're having for lunch.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Kid must have played the first Spider-Man and knows the sequel is more of the same. He’s smarter than most of GAF.


(these stories make me think gifting today’s kids expensive consoles and games is a complete waste of time and money)

 

[MLSabre]

(these stories make me think gifting today’s kids expensive consoles and games is a complete waste of time and money)

It's a specific niche in today's entertainment and most should keep this in mind before spending who knows how much money only for the recipient not caring for it anyways.

 

[Paltheos]

My gut reaction is that this is some old man take.

1) For a long, long time, some of the biggest video game sellers have been sports and other megahit titles that gaming circles like GAF (actual gaming hobbyists) rarely have an interest in.
2) Kids have and will continue to spend money on dumb shit. I remember personally blowing money on holo pokemon and marvel cards as a kid. I didn't even play the games; I just wanted the cards as status symbols.

There's nothing here that is new or alarming.

 

[kazuyamishima]

There used to be super heroes/anime or whatever other stuff themed birthday parties just a few years ago.

Now it’s all fornite themed parties. My 8 years old nephew had a fornite birthday cake

 

[Gaiff]

My gut reaction is that this is some old man take.

1) For a long, long time, some of the biggest video game sellers have been sports and other megahit titles that gaming circles like GAF (actual gaming hobbyists) rarely have an interest in.
2) Kids have and will continue to spend money on dumb shit. I remember personally blowing money on holo pokemon and marvel cards as a kid. I didn't even play the games; I just wanted the cards as status symbols.

There's nothing here that is new or alarming.

At least you bought tangible and lasting assets with these Pokémon cards. With how much the original Jungle Set Charizard is going for these days, I wish I had kept mine instead of selling it to that fat classmate with a chocolate allergy.

The money spent on in-game currencies and all that stuff is effectively wasted.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

"The future is now, old man"


I mean will are getting a whole generation grew up not paying for the games but paying for in-game currency, cosmetics and so on only

 

[FoxMcChief]

Fortnite is great. It’s in my top 5 games played this year.

I don’t have much experience with Roblox. I did just download it on my Quest 3 though.

 

[Maximus D. Meridius]

Simpsons memes coming in 3, 2, 1…

I'm very much aware that

"I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too."

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I gave him a £50 PS voucher

This is on you. You should have picked out a game. Why wouldn't you just buy Rift Apart or something?

 

[onQ123]

Yeah the kids just want Roblox bucks or whatever bucks now

 

[Maximus D. Meridius]

This is on you. You should have picked out a game. Why wouldn't you just buy Rift Apart or something?

I got what the Mother and Father suggested.

I play Fortnite daily, (it's an IP content farm at this point, that pays for itself with the battlepass) but I don't spend that kind of cash on the content, and so can't really moan at him for doing so, also the last thing he purchased with credit was a game , it was EAFC 24 on Xbox.

 

[KuraiShidosha]

My daughter is only 2.5 months old. I'm praying by the time she's 5+, Fortnite will finally be dead and moved on from. I'll be starting her on NES and moving on to Genesis, SNES, N64 and PSX before she can move on to 6th Gen and up.

 

[dem]

From what I can see… kids really don’t give a fuck about single player games. My nephew got a PS5 with GOW and Spider-Man for Christmas. He told me he played for an hour or 2 last night but it was all tutorial . (I have no idea if that is true.. I didn’t play either).

I gave my kids Mario Wonder. They didn’t give a shit. Played it for like 20 minutes so far.

Vbucks… they go crazy.

Which I actually understand… because Fortnite is so much better than 99% of games.

 

[iHaunter]

Gen-Z is absolutely fucked. They brainwashed into gambling for EVERYTHING. We got our 3-year-old daughter one of those Fire HD Tablets so she could play ABC-Mouse games like puzzles, numbers, etc. Outside of a few apps. There's only macrotransaction ridden apps. The app store is a plague. I wanted to BUY an app (Bubble blowing) and there were none. Literally could not buy a bubble popping game. Only options are macrotransaction apps that you cannot buy. Just have a ton of ads and a lot of bullshit on them.

 

[Putonahappyface]

I own a gaming capable PC, PS5 and Series X I'm always looking for the next thing to play.

On Christmas day my nephew(US equivelant of 7th grade) ,who up until now had been playing games on my brothers Xbox account (on a seperate console mind), was given a PS5 unexpectedly.(to share with his younger brother)

I saw the video of the unwrapping, it was packed in with Spider-Man 2! They seemed excited

When I arrived that day I gave him a £50 PS voucher, what wonders will he buy he in the sale I was thinking?

Subsequently I watched him use the card and part of another one to buy £70's worth of Vbucks. then take a snapchat to show off to his friends how many he had. I couldn't even contemplate spending that much in one go on fleeting cosmetic items.

When I asked why he wasn't going to buy any other games, he said "I play Fifa(EAFC) that's on the xbox account, and Fortnite! what else would would I buying?"
The younger brother, then during the older's down time, played some some Roblox "touch football" level.

Even under suggestion, there was no interest in even starting Spider-Man.
The Times They Are A-Changin'

Disgusting.

 

[Fbh]

To be fair there was a time around when I was in sixth or seventh grade where I mostly played random free MMO's (Tibia online and some free Mu online and Ragnarok servers).
It was free and almost everyone in my class was playing so it was fun. Also you didn't really want to feel excluded when everyone was talking about what they did online the day before.
I'm sure back then (2003-ish) there were core gamers going "look at these kids playing these shitty MMO's when there's KOTOR and Aria of Sorrow and Metroid Prime and Half Life 2".

That said I do think these new games are more addictive, also a lot of kids are spending a lot of money on these and this new reality with social media, having to share everything and needing to get a lot of validation online doesn't help. Not to mention I worry what will happen to gaming once these kids turn into the overwhelming majority of the gaming audience, like when the average 18-30 years old grew up in a reality where buying games is weird and grinding battle passes and buying $20 skins is the norm. (I guess there will always be indies though)

 

[a multicultural team of v]

And legalized sports betting will be right there waiting for them when they turn 18, full of in-game realtime wagers so that they don't even have to wait until the end of a game to get their fix.

 

[Wildebeest]

What else are they going to do. Buy some AAA sad dad simulator made for 50-year-old men with gray beards?

 

[dem]

nvm

 

[Alebrije]

GAAS are the new "Open world". Kids these days do not want to spend time on long single player games, Minecraft , Roblox, Fornite are their súper Mario, Zelda,etc.

Thats the reason most of developers want to have thier GAAS.

 

[mdkirby]

And this is why China, for <18s limit online games to a max of 10 hr a week, 2h/day between I think 6-9pm, then any time at weekend (tho still with the weekly cap). Then they also cap micro transaction spend to I think $50/month. It’s viewed as a public health/addiction matter as devs are literally using gambling mechanics and psychological manipulation to extract maximum cash from vulnerable kids/people.

You also cannot play online at all without linking your gamer id’s to your national ID, and are forced to use your real name (no anonymous trolling). If you are a dick online you can lose access to services, or get bandwidth throttled.

Some of this is a little extreme, but I kinda agree with a lot of it

 

[XXL]

And this is why China, for <18s limit online games to a max of 10 hr a week, 2h/day between I think 6-9pm, then any time at weekend (tho still with the weekly cap). Then they also cap micro transaction spend to I think $50/month. It’s viewed as a public health/addiction matter as devs are literally using gambling mechanics and psychological manipulation to extract maximum cash from vulnerable kids/people.

You also cannot play online at all without linking your gamer id’s to your national ID, and are forced to use your real name (no anonymous trolling). If you are a dick online you can lose access to services, or get bandwidth throttled.

Some of this is a little extreme, but I kinda agree with a lot of it

I think you're on the wrong forum.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

I see some kids like that on my daughter class, she likes to play Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft and I occasionally give her in game currency, usually small amounts like 10 bucks a pop. Thankfully she appreciates good games if they manage to grab her attention, we finished together Breath of the wild, Pikmin 3 deluxe, and a number of platforms on the Switch, we use to play with my wife party games like overcooked, Mario party, Mario kart even some light smash bros. I try to play with her some of her interests like Fortnite and Minecraft. She's 11 btw we play together since she was 7. I have a gaming PC, switch and PS5 and her favorite platform is the PC. She even managed to defeat one of the divine beats on her own, man I was a proud dad that day.

 

[Krathoon]

These children are bastardizing gaming. Ahhhh!

Make them play Warhammer: Boltgun.

 

[Majormaxxx]

Classic games and modern single player games are for nerds.

Kids nowadays are not nerds and don't care for these experiences. They play games with social elements - what their friends play and what would make them cool and popular.

 

[existensmaximum]

Yeah, kids suck. Always have, we probably sucked as well.

 

[Maximus D. Meridius]

It's interesting that in my OP I made no moral judgement over these behaviours, just was noting my observation.

Somehow a few replies has made it out like I was attacking them.

I even ended it saying things were changing.

 

[K' Dash]

What else are they going to do. Buy some AAA sad dad simulator made for 50-year-old men with gray beards?

Act like they have a fucking functional brain?

My son spent $20 on Fortcrap cosmetics 3 years ago, it was hard earned money doing chores. When I got to see what he was spending his money on I told him he could play the game but never buy cosmetics, explained why and that was it. He was MAD at me.

Fast forward, he does still play but never spent a dime on it ever again.

 

[ReBurn]

 

[jm89]

The next generation will be the death of gaming.

Hopefully i'll be too old or dead to care.

 

[LastBattle]

My daughter has access to Xbox, PlayStation and switch, however she exclusively plays Fortnite and Roblox. Her friend has a PS5 but only plays Fortnite and FIFA. Don’t think he’s ever even bothered with trying anything else.

I do have a couple of nephews around 7/6 yrs old who are obsessed with Nintendo games so there’s still hope.

 

[LazyParrot]

10 years ago that kid would have been playing FIFA and CoD, now it's EAFC and Fortnite. Same old shit.

 

[Banjo64]

I own a gaming capable PC, PS5 and Series X I'm always looking for the next thing to play.

On Christmas day my nephew(US equivelant of 7th grade) ,who up until now had been playing games on my brothers Xbox account (on a seperate console mind), was given a PS5 unexpectedly.(to share with his younger brother)

I saw the video of the unwrapping, it was packed in with Spider-Man 2! They seemed excited

When I arrived that day I gave him a £50 PS voucher, what wonders will he buy he in the sale I was thinking?

Subsequently I watched him use the card and part of another one to buy £70's worth of Vbucks. then take a snapchat to show off to his friends how many he had. I couldn't even contemplate spending that much in one go on fleeting cosmetic items.

When I asked why he wasn't going to buy any other games, he said "I play Fifa(EAFC) that's on the xbox account, and Fortnite! what else would would I buying?"
The younger brother, then during the older's down time, played some some Roblox "touch football" level.

Even under suggestion, there was no interest in even starting Spider-Man.
The Times They Are A-Changin'

This has been the case for a while.

My lad games a lot. Just like I did. But he spends all of his time in games like Rust, Siege, FIFA and goes through spells of playing things like Terraria and Minecraft.

Despite this, he couldn’t name Sony’s first party studios. He wasn’t clued in as to why Spider-Man couldn’t release on Xbox/PC etc.

Just a complete lack of tribalism or care.

I think it was different prior to the PS4 gen. It used to feel like a differentiated product when you bought a console. I don’t think the kids of today give a fuck about each studios exclusive games. I think most of the sales come from the 20+ market.

But MTX for cosmetics is still a blight. IMO it’s responsible to limit spend on MTX.

Nintendo is the outlier as everyone knows they have their own games and do their own thing.

 

[Zadom]

That’s exactly what I do with my 8 year old son, pay him robux for chores. I try to like it to play with him and act like I enjoy it…. But I hate Roblox.

I try to get him to play Ratchet and Clank, all the best kids games on PlayStation, got him a Switch with Mario and Legend of Zelda, and he wants to play Roblox on a tablet with horrendous touch controls.

God of War, Spider-man, Legend of Zelda, can’t compete with this…..

 

[Codiox]

 

[NeverYouMind]

Maybe you will look back at your parents and realize why they thought it was dumb for you to waste time and money on digital entertainment instead of picking up a hobby that creates something.

 

[LastBattle]

Fortnite is great. It’s in my top 5 games played this year.

I don’t have much experience with Roblox. I did just download it on my Quest 3 though.

I stuck my nose up at Fortnite ever since it came out. Watching my daughter play recently and having a go or two myself as well, I have to admit it is fun. I can see the appeal. Also I get slaughtered in COD, Halo, etc however it’s seems relatively easy to get place first in Fortnite. Maybe because I’m playing against toddlers?

I feel like Kramer when playing

 

[MALpractice311]

My daughter is only 2.5 months old. I'm praying by the time she's 5+, Fortnite will finally be dead and moved on from. I'll be starting her on NES and moving on to Genesis, SNES, N64 and PSX before she can move on to 6th Gen and up.

My brother in Christ.

My daughter is 6 months old. I'm going to try my best to slow her progression into this hobby, as well, due to all the predatory shit in modern gaming.

My wife and I want to do the same with cartoons/animation as well. A bunch of our friends' kids won't watch 2D animation, unless it's anime, because they started right out with Pixar style 3D animation.

 

[kruis]

And this is why China, for <18s limit online games to a max of 10 hr a week, 2h/day between I think 6-9pm, then any time at weekend (tho still with the weekly cap). Then they also cap micro transaction spend to I think $50/month. It’s viewed as a public health/addiction matter as devs are literally using gambling mechanics and psychological manipulation to extract maximum cash from vulnerable kids/people.

You also cannot play online at all without linking your gamer id’s to your national ID, and are forced to use your real name (no anonymous trolling). If you are a dick online you can lose access to services, or get bandwidth throttled.

Some of this is a little extreme, but I kinda agree with a lot of it

Strict parenting in China vs absolute freedom in the US: which country will produce the most engineers that shape the future? We'll find out in 20-30 years - my guess is that the US will lose miserably.

 

[Warablo]

I mean, how do you expect him to play Spiderman 2 with his friends if they aren't at each others houses?

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

I’m sure this is very opinionated and maybe a little off topic, but I’ll never understand why this new generation of gamers kids and adults only play one or two games for the entire generation. I can understand having your favorite games, but don’t you want to experience new things every once in awhile especially when there are literally thousands of games out there? To me it’s like seeing the same movie or listening to the same song over and over again for years.