Top 25 Gaming Trends That Need To Die

Over the last several years, the gaming community have given their opinions on the state of gaming and well, it just looks like things aren't changing. DRM getting in the way of games, micro transactions taking away the fun that games once were, broken games at launch and even developers releasing DLC as cash grabs more than anything else. Everyone has voiced their opinion on it and now so do I. It wasn't easy picking out 25, but some things have to be said. Now some of you may be thinking that this list is similar to another list I did a while ago and I will admit that yes, it is similar to that. But times have changed, more things have happened and there are now a lot more things to consider in addition to what I mentioned in that post. And these trends apply to almost everyone in the business. So let's get this over with:

25 - DRM

When I first heard about DRM (which stands for Digital Rights Management), I will admit, I had no idea what it was. That is until I finally got around to making my gaming PC recently and then I knew what it is. Now Steam is a flawless platform for PC gaming and is the only online service one would need to buy and play games from. But then you get publishers like EA and Ubisoft who decide to make their own Steam like services and its because of their services that it just makes the games they publish, not work as well as it could've done. I know it sounds vague the way I put it, but that's really how I see it. Why can't everyone just stick with one service like Steam. Steam is as I said, a flawless platform (well not entirely flawless, but its better than most services like it) so why bother with Origin or Uplay when these publishers have a great distribution system already set up by Valve. I guess there's just some things that we'll never understand. But Steam is awesome. No question.

24 - The Problem with Season Passes

Most triple A titles from major publishers like UbiSoft, WB Games, EA and the like, often give gamers the opportunity to buy a season pass. A season pass has you pay a fee that will let you get most of the DLC of one game for free when they are released. Now that's fine and all, but here's the problem. The DLC may get cancelled after the game's initial release and some DLC will later end up becoming stand alone games that don't need the main game for it to be used. That and then there's the whole thing about developers wanting to use the money to improve the game more than working on the DLC. So when you have a season pass, don't change anything. Just keep your promises on what you'll bring out as DLC and if you need to improve the game, then do so, but don't change your DLC plans unless its entirely necessary.

23 - The Problem with Online Multiplayer Passes

When it comes to online games, why is it that some developers feel that the only way to go online, is for the player to pay another fee? This is a good example of a cash grab. Expecting the gamer to pay their way to go online. Now with MMOs this is understandable as online games like that, need money to keep the game afloat. But for a game like Call of Duty which is one of the more popular games for online multiplayer (though its entire existence is another question entirely), you shouldn't need to pay a fee to go online because the multiplayer aspect is only a portion of the game. Its like telling you that you can't play the game at its full capacity without forking over some money for some extra modes. Its all money isn't it? Well believe me, we've only barely scratched the surface on this.

22 - Games with Jumpscares

So chances are that the majority of games you've played on Steam are games that have jumpscares in them. Games like Slender and the Five Nights At Freddy's games are just some examples of this sort of thing. I will admit, it was a creative thing at first, but now its just getting more annoying than scary and you can't play games like that if you have a heart condition. Its a trend that was once great, but now its just a joke and just too obnoxious to say the least.

21 - The Stupidest of Gaming Controversies

While not necessarily a trend as such, when a game like GTA V comes out, there's bound to be some controversy about it and while some things are understandable, there are those that are just beyond stupid. The GTA series has been critically and commercially successful and what many people need to understand is that its a parody of real life and that's the reality of GTA. Another one is the first Mass Effect. The first Mass Effect game got controversy around the idea of having same sex relationships (and sex scenes as well) in addition to opposite sex. This is stupid because you're basically saying that a game cannot have a gay or lesbian couple at it and yet a film is allowed to have it. I know there isn't a word for something like that, but I can be the first to say that that is not fair. Obviously in the end, no action was taken, but the point is that you can't escape controversy. It happens, but controversy has to happen for legitimate reasons and not for stupid reasons like a sex scene in a game is wrong or this one game shouldn't be allowed to be made because of the content it has, despite the fact that the game is and always will be, nothing more than just a parody of real life as we see it.

20 - Cinematic Games

Bear in mind that video games are an interactive medium so therefore anything released to us, should have some kind of interactivity. You got a game like Heavy Rain with a great but depressing story, but where's the interactivity. Oh we have to use a combination of keys just to get through one scene!! Are you f**king serious?! OK, I will admit that I did give Heavy Rain and other cinematic games a positive review and that is because I like my games to have stories. But as I said, you can't have a cinematic game and expect people to go out and play it, if its all cutscenes and only a hint of actual gameplay. Just saying.

19 - Paying for DLC that isn't DLC in the first place

That says it all. DLC that isn't DLC in the first place is basically locked content already on the disc and so the developers decide to have people pay upfront to use it. Who does that aside from Capcom?! No developer I know and why do it? Well I suppose cash grab may be something to do with it, but still DLC stands for downloadable content, meaning that you DOWNLOAD it from a reliable source such as the PlayStation Store. That's what DLC is and clearly Capcom's way of handling that is very different to everyone else. Someone better sort them out.

18 - Games that are Free to Play a few months after paying for a Subscription

The thing that pi**es a lot of people off is the idea of making an MMO that you pay a subscription for to begin with and then you find out later on that its free to play. Now that's fine and all (assuming the game works that is), but what's the point of having us the players pay for a subscription, only to then realise that it can be played for free. Its a stupid move on the developer's part and for all we know the game could very well be bad or broken (the amount of times I've heard about error 37 on Diablo III). Its dumb and you should really have it free to begin with and not pay for the game. Some things like this don't work the way they should.

17 - Knowing When to give up with a dying Franchise (i.e. Sonic the Hedgehog)

How this works is a franchise is in its prime and then all of a sudden, it goes on a hiatus and then the developers would then find ways to bring the franchise back to a more modern audience but still be reminiscent of the long time fans. In the case of say Sonic the Hedgehog, this was one of the best gaming franchises to come out of the 90s and its time in more recent times has been mixed with games like Generations, Colours and the Rush series being great and games like Lost World, Sonic 06, Unleashed (half of it anyway), the Olympics series and the Sonic Boom games not doing so well. But then you just have a time where you just need to give up. Mario is only still going because Nintendo are able to think of new and unique ways to keep him going and Tomb Raider recently managed to be among the greats of the modern days of gaming even though its now at the helm of Square Enix. Long story short, when a franchise looks like its dying and there's no way for you to think of a way to bring the franchise back into shape, just give up and work on something else. SEGA have a whole library of other games aside from Sonic so let's have one of those for a change.

16 - Glitches that have dire Consequences to games.

Now in the case of glitches, most gamers don't mind them as they make the games all the more funny, especially if the game is intended to be very serious. But then there are those occasional glitches that cause the game to break and make it unplayable. We are now in an age where developers are able to fix games well after their release and that's good. But this can very well take a huge amount of time and if its one of those big open world games like Witcher 3 or GTA V, who knows when we'll be able to play those games without going into glitch territory. No game is perfect, but glitches can either make the game more fun to play or make the game unplayable and if a developer doesn't care about their work, it will then stay unplayable. So think on that developers.

15 - Buzz Words at Press Events (such as E3)

I hope Gaming Wildlife don't mind me using one of their videos here. In events such as E3, we get to know what games are coming and what to expect. But when you hear a buzz word, sometimes it doesn't mean what the people say. Cinematic for example means that the game will be realistic to the bone and will have great graphics, but will lack gameplay and as I've said already, video games are an interactive medium. In other words, they are trying to sell their games using these words, but these words are not going to necessarily woo everyone if you've heard it a dozen times before. So next you hear a buzz word, just remain cautious. That's all I'm going to say on that.

14 - Retailer Specific DLC

Paying for DLC already on the disc is one thing, but when it comes to retailer specific DLC for games, this really doesn't play out well. When a big game is released, every retailer competes to give the consumers the best deal, but in the case of DLC, the question I have is why bother making DLC specific to certain retailers when the DLC will eventually be released everywhere regardless? Its a stupid business move and in truth, retailers should give consumers the same deal as everyone else. Now if the DLC happens to be nothing more than just a skin or a gun, then chances are that we would be OK with it. But its a whole different thing for story based DLC.

13 - Graphics Isn't Everything

Back in the early days of HD gaming, the phrase "S**ty graphics = S**ty games" was used as a means to have us think that games with suburb graphics are going to make great games. The sad truth is, that isn't the case at all. Sure graphics have a key part in the making of a game, but its the gameplay that really pushes the game forward and makes it a fun experience. This is a problem with a lot of cinematic games who tend to give us film quality graphics and minimal gameplay. Keep in mind that video games are an interactive medium and you the developer are releasing something that's more cutscenes than anything else, that's not a game to me. But despite this, some developers have given us a number of great games with great gameplay to go with it. Games like GTA V and the Witcher III are just good examples of this. Graphics are an important factor in games, but the gameplay has a much higher priority than that in any game that gets made.

12 - Copy and Paste Games

I have a lot of reasons for not playing games like Call of Duty, The Sims and any EA Sports games as well as a few Nintendo games, but the biggest reason is that they feel like the same game every time. Part of that is to do with some of these games being released on a yearly basis and its just basically the same game over and over again with some minor tweaks being made. I absolutely hate games that are made  with little to no effort just to get a cash grab out of it. If you're a gamer like me, you would want to play games that the developers have spent a millennium making because at least with those games, you get what you pay for and its fun. But for games that are just a copy and paste, why bother spending your money on those games when you could spend it on something that has had some effort being made such as any Rockstar or Ubisoft game. Its one reason why people hate EA and why people aren't too keen on Nintendo and Activision.

11 - New Entries for the sake of Cash Grabs

So this one is a big one. Practically every year, we get little to no original games (or IPs if you prefer) and most of the year is dedicated to having new entries in well established franchises. Now for some beloved franchises such as Assassin's Creed, Super Mario, Mass Effect, Legend of Zelda, GTA, Tomb Raider and many others, people want to have more from those franchises so obviously new entries would be nice. But then, you also get those bad games that get milked for all their worth. It happens to everyone, you get far too many sequels, prequels and remakes that are not needed and after a while, you get bored of the franchise and just move on. Sequels are cash grabs, Prequels are cash grabs without the fear of killing off well established characters and Remakes are cash grabs without having to remain in continuity with the rest of the games. This is one of the reasons why we get so little original games or IPs every year. Its just a case of the companies just want to milk already well established franchises for all their worth and there's just nothing we can do about it.

10 - Gimmicks

Innovation is one thing, but in this day and age, the gaming industry is only wanting things that work. Now some of these things have proven to be very successful and have made their mark on the world. But then you have these gimmicks that the company has high hopes on, but it ultimately flops. SEGA went into the multi-platform market after the Dreamcast flopped, Nintendo refused to work any more with VR after the VirtuaBoy flopped and are on their way to putting an end to the Wii U. Microsoft had the Kinect and it was an innovative product, but the problem was that it was hard to develop for which led to many games being nothing more than a broken mess. So the problem is that people just want to play games their way and not the way the developer wants you to play it. Its fine to show off some gimmicks, but the fact of the matter is that no one likes change and would prefer to have gimmicks that can work for everyone and don't get forced upon people.

9 - Broken Beyond Repair Games

I've said it once already and I will say it again. You buy your game and you then go and play it only to then find its broken. Now I've already spoken about glitches and other things, but this is where a game is broken and its so broken, that it cannot be fixed no matter what the developers do. The thing about games is that we want to play them and we want to enjoy playing them. But how can we do that if the game is broken to a point where its broken beyond repair? There is no way and all we can do is get a refund for the piece of garbage that we buy. This is the reason why games need time to be made and not to mention that if the game is handled by multiple developers and publishers, it may not end well.

8 - Big Day 1 Updates

One of the biggest problems with games that come out these days is the fact that they need an update as well as get itself onto the machine before letting you play it. Now when something like this first happened, many gamers were not happy with it because the idea of having a game is to be able to play it. But how can we do that when we have to what hours for a f**king update to make it playable? Now the good news about this one is that some consoles are allowing gamers to play the game while the update gets sorted out in the background and that's good. However, it does have problems if you want to go online so there's that.

7 - Paid and not very Honest Reviews of games

Remember this guy? Well if you don't, be glad because this guy gave us the dark days of gaming journalism. There was a time where people like GameSpot, IGN and the now defunct GameTrailers were doing reviews of games, but were not being very honest about it. Do you want to know what happened? Well they all gave positive reviews for a wide array of games because the developers paid them to do it. Its like a bribe in a way and the result of it has led the gaming community to lose its trust in game journalists. To be honest, I've always found that in order to get an honest review is to listen to those who are gamers and only gamers. People like AngryJoe, Markipler, PewDiePie and even The Game Theorists are just some of these gamers out there. It is a mess, but I'd say anyone is better than those journalism websites (especially Machinima who rip you off more ways than one)

6 - Why Should Digital Games be the same price as the Retail copy?

This has always puzzled me. You would think that digital games would be cheaper than the retail copy because of the lack of the physical stuff that a retail copy would give you. Unfortunately, gaming companies don't see it that way and feel that you should pay the same price as everyone else. OK yes, it may be a case of money grabbing, but come on. Is it really that hard to drop the price? No it isn't, but it just doesn't seem right to me. Well let's just be glad we have Steam and the sales that we get from it (all hail Gabe).

5 - DLC for the Purpose of Providing Segments in the Main Story for a Little Bit Extra

Of all the things that are wrong with DLC, the biggest issue I have is DLC that is used as a means to bring in segments to give a complete story for a little bit extra. And the question I have is why? Why bother releasing DLC like that when you could easily put it into the main game before launch. Well I guess its the same as everything else, its all about the money. For some DLC, it makes sense. But for others, not so much. That is really all I have to say on that.

4 - Online Only (or Always Online)

This one is a really dumb one. Having to be always online or online only. Its fine if you have a good internet connection, but what about those who don't, eh? Seems like they will have to miss out and no cash grabbing moron would want that to happen now would we? Seriously, if you were living in a very rural area with limited internet access, then there's no way you would be able to play games on online only consoles. Now I suppose some good news about this one is that the console manufacturers have realised this mistake and before even releasing their consoles or games, they remove the whole always online or online only thing and that's good. But of course even if they didn't, there's always the idea of taking it to a friend's place and hook it up to their internet.

3 - Micro Transactions

There is one more cash grabbing issue that is far worse than this, but I will say now, this is one of the worst. Buying in game credit for the sake of buying premium items and credit just to speed things up. I used to do those things a lot, but not anymore. I used to play Farmville and its counterparts and every known game about building your own Springfield, Quahog or the like and I've given up on them all. Why? Because I'd rather spend my money on something better than silly things like in game credit. And the worse thing about this is that it's slowly moving from mobile to console platforms and that is the scary bit about this.

2 - Rushed Games

I don't really need to say much here, but what I will say is that why rush a game? I mean OK you want it to reach its deadline and that's fine, but if you rush a game, its not going to look great. Its going to look bad and the reviews are going to be poor, but at least you'll get your hard earned money right? Now in most situations, this really isn't the fault of the developer because they are just doing what they do best. The fault in most situations should go to the publisher as in the big heads. The ones who have a major stake in a game's development. EA and Microsoft are just some of these publishers. Enough said.

Now before we get to the number 1 thing (and believe me, its a big one), let's look at some things that didn't make the list:

Companies Doing Things That Causes an Uproar in the Gaming Community:
Nintendo being harsh to YouTubers, Konami laying off Kojima and Valve trying to make a profit on paid mods are just some examples of this.

Too Many Collector Editions:
Games that come out, but too many editions are available and you won't get everything in them. Plus the manufacturing of them would cost so much and it could flop as a result, causing the company to lose more money than gain.

Video Games Are Art
Yes we know that they are art. They fall in line with films and television so stop going on about it whenever an indie game comes out.

Swatting is Fun
No its not and you can get into trouble for making prank phone calls while playing your games.

Now for the big one and its a big one indeed.

1 - Having to pay for the right to play

As much as we hate to admit it, things cost money and like it or not, money is what makes the world go round. We pay for games and we want to play games. But if you have an Xbox 360 or One (by which I mean the third one, not the very first one), you have to pay even more to get playing. Now fortunately PlayStation, Nintendo, Mobile and PC gamers don't need to pay anything extra for the right to play games, but having these major companies force you to pay to play is wrong. We have the right to freedom, the right to have our voices heard, the right to have fair use #WTFU, but especially in this case, we have the right to play. Like it or not Microsoft, you're in a battle that has everyone go for anything else except you and why that is, is because you're forcing people to pay extra to play games and that's not right. I know Microsoft are not the only ones, but I still feel that they are the ultimate bullies in this case.

And that's all the trends I want to die because if they keep going, the gaming industry will continue to drown. Is there any that I missed out and do you agree or disagree with this list? Well if so, leave a comment or two in the section below and for as long as we can, Happy Gaming.