I can't get over how quick we are to act like "old farts" of gaming. "Kids these days don't know how difficult video games were in our day...". I'm starting to feel dated. Yes, this is a satirical article, but kids these days don't have to act nice to the obnoxious dilllweed that sat next to them in third hour to copy the cheat codes and techniques to Metroid in order to get past an otherwise impossible level boss. No! Kids these days pop their query into a browser, and problem solved. Damn kids these days. They all have it sooooo easy.
I'm somewhat baffled they were able to find enough people oblivious to the original Mario game to do this study. Aside from that, I think it has something to do with how modern games are conditioning players. Games are ubiquitous now, and many elements have become common and expected when you pick up a game. When a game breaks those expectations, it throws you for a loop, but it's also part of what has made certain genres flourish (or what squashes others). Take FPS' for example. Play one and you know the most central mechanics for them all: shoot at bad guys, don't get shot. Movement and basic controls are almost identical for FPS' across the board. WASD, shift for sprint or maybe crouch? Flashlight? Probably F. E does some sort of "activate", etc. etc. As a consequence, people can jump from one FPS to another and hit the ground running. A developer doesn't have to worry about people being frustrated with learning the basic mechanics and giving up before they've even experienced the basics. Other game types (space sims, simulation-heavy mech games, even RTS's to a small extent) don't have this benefit as much. It makes games more accessible when you follow a pattern, but it also makes gamers more lazy and innovation an uphill battle. If they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, why put in the effort? I played Braid for a bit because of all the praise it got. But after about an hour, I couldn't see why I was going to like the game, so I gave up. However, I went through considerable effort to learn Dwarf Fortress because what I knew about the game made me sure I would like it. Thus breaking the established genres is hard. Mirror's Edge did something new mechanically, but it did it by standing on the shoulders of FPS mechanics. Something like Chivalry too borrows the same controls from FPS'. People go through the effort to learn the combat because deep down who doesn't want to chop things up with swords? Going backwards in games is much like scrapping established genres because, while there may be Marioesque platformers today, they are less common and have changed just enough from the platformers of yore to seem totally alien, and let's face it, not worth the trouble anymore.
:( This is quite depressing. Super Mario Bros was my first and only game (besides tennis) until I was 12 and we got a n64 with diddy kong. I still play it occasionally and, during my high school years, got quite good at it again. I was also introduced to MegaMan. My friend and I would get high and lay on our backs and try to beat the levels upside down. It was disorienting and crazy and awesome, especially with some alcohol/weed/coke in our systems.
No, no. This is could be good. Someday, decades from now, we will be Old People, the ones who "run things." In a possible future, the use of drone in our present, will have made physical warfare pointless. Instead, we will resort to old ways, reinterpreted for that possible future. Instead of dueling, there will be arcade battles, like the ones in the arcades of our youth. Once again, a high score will mean something. Beating Contra without the Konami code will once again command respect. The guy who can pull of a 30 hit combo in Street Fighter II will once again reign supreme. But, you know. Probably not. In some ways I think Super Mario Bros. is an updated hoop and stick.
I have no doubt that I can complete the first level. I always knew I was special.
Fucking shameful. Come on people. Edit: Satire. Dammit. Uh...by "people" I mean ecib :P Think I'll go add a tag now...We watched the replay videos of how the gamers performed and saw that many did not understand simple concepts like bottomless pits. Around 70 percent died to the first Goomba. Another 50 percent died twice.