We have similar memories. Gears was one of the very few games that I played religiously with friends online during my teenage years.
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We have similar memories. Gears was one of the very few games that I played religiously with friends online during my teenage years.
Gears was one of the first times I actually interacted with people from other countries. It was always so cool and strange to me that I would be playing with people from other parts of the world, and even talking to them. I was definitely a lot more shy back then, but it was super fun.
It's odd to think about how much the world has changed since then. Even the idea of playing games with other people and talking to them from different parts of the world is something that we take for granted. I remember the first time I played online on Xbox Live, I played Halo 3 and got hooked. Before that I hadn't really played things online aside from online with the PSP (NFS Carbon, MOH Heroes 2).
I think things changed for the worst a bit too much with how closed off online games now feel. So few people seem to talk like they used to, as if these games made it a form of interaction nobody wants to actually deal with.
You make a great point about international interactions. Gears/COD/Halo were all that for me. Halo 2 and Call of Duty 2 were my intros to online gaming. It was such a revolutionary change, not just in gaming, but for life in general and having online friends. With all of the access we have now, I almost never talk to people online anymore. Mics are always dead when I get in games or people are overly obnoxious and ruin the gameplay experience with loud noises.
I think when this started to become the norm, it was when I noticed I was losing a bit of love for playing online games. They lost that appeal of community, became a bit too serious (especially in the competitive sense) and silent. The idea of playing with other people was no longer felt, instead it felt robotic and a bit soulless. A lonesome experience.
I still search for such experiences though. I'd love to find games that aren't so serious and have that communication again. Something like GoW which is just a fun arcade shooter, nothing too serious.
That’s life these days in a lot of ways
Rogue Company was another great game. I’m not sure how strong the community for it still is though.
I loved those small shooters. I used to play a lot of smaller once with very niche communities. That's also something that doesn't feel like a thing anymore. From CS clones to CoD clones. The industry has changed so much, at one point I thought maybe I had grown "old" and bored of games, but the more I think about it, I just miss how it used to be. Still capable of enjoying them, just wishing they had that soul to them, and not just about the battle passes and money.
I used to play a ton of MMOs too, countless hours into all kinds from different countries. F2P Japanese games. Korean shooters. Basically anything I could find that seemed unique, I'd try.
I had to branch out and try many different types of games in recent years. That is the way I stay interested in gaming. There’s still ways for us og gamers to stay busy
Yeah I've been needing to do that. Really looking at grabbing Steam Deck at some point. I'm not in one particular place at the moment, from England Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and next maybe Russia or some part of Asia soon. Really missing my desktop. Definitely missing being able to just sit down and let a few hours pass while getting immersed in some other world and story.