Comment by wolrah
3 hours ago
Also there are a lot more high-quality games available now, for a lot less money. In the '80s and '90s you might spend $50-100 on a bad game and you'd play it anyways because you couldn't return it. Even if you could, your local game store only stocked so many things.
Now if you're paying full price for a game you've at least had the ability to read reviews and you know it's going to be half price in a year but you want it now. You also have tens of thousands of other games to pick from in basically any genre you want, accessible more or less on demand.
Maybe this is my nostalgia speaking, but it felt better that way. When there was so much less software every new application was a journey. The mystery of going to the local computer store and choosing a floppy disk in a plastic baggie off of that cork board. Or sending a mail order to some PO box in Texas somewhere, and then you get mailed back a floppy disk. Now you have so many options. The option that is often chosen is don't play anything. I probably am very biased on this.