Lessie

Nostalgia

I’m amazed by the fact that, whenever I reach for the “Find blogs” button on my dashboard, and follow up to the “Gaming” category, I end up spotting an amazing number of 5 retro/nostalgia themed blogs out of 15 recommendations (nothing against these particular blogs or authors, just keep reading for my actual point). Now, please, don’t get me wrong, I love old games. I love pixelated graphics. I love 8-bit music patterns. I love all that, it is all really fun, and the good old Nintendo Hard difficulty really gets me going for another and then another run at the same game.

But, at the same time, do we need to actually spend a THIRD of whatever is considered “good blogging” (good enough to get a recommendation) on talking about old games and how nothing made in the 2000’s compares to them (or even sometimes how anything made from 1990 and beyond is useless)? On idealizing old games instead of focusing on learning from them and pointing out how we managed to become better at making games by spotting our earlier mistakes? I actually expect some opposition when talking about this, but this current trend is annoying the creeps out of me.

I’m not gonna get into the (potential) flame war that is to say “this or that time had the BEST games there will ever be!”. Everyone is entitled to their (sometimes stupid) opinion, but no one, and hear me, NO ONE is entitled to prevent innovation and experimentation by saying the art that someone makes has a zero chance of being considered anything more than “crap”.

Am I the only one who get this kind of tailored recommendation? Or am I the only one who actually finds it weird that the only recommendation of a blog that speaks of anything a bit away from the norm is The Arkh Project? (these nice folks are making a game that focuses on queer people and people of color as main characters. Still not interested? How about looking at their beautiful characters and seeing if you change your mind?) I would actually feel ashamed of being part of this industry and community, were these recommendations an actual representation of our focus and ideals as a whole (and I really, really hope they aren’t).

All in all, I don’t have much to say, apart from just “let it go”. It is high time we move on from what has been made before, and try to make new and better stuff.

Note: This is not an attack to games with retro aesthetics, if the game is new, but just looks old, I have no issue with it. Just stop idolizing the games of old, being too attached to them may cause one to be blind to the awesomeness being made now.