I've been on gamespot for over 6 years, and I've never written a blog. Sadly, my first one is a pretty nasty rant. Stay with me if you can, as I would love to hear your view on the subject. Get a friendly debate going by sending me a PM or commenting the blog (try the latter, so everyone can be involved).

Gaming is not what it used to be. I remember the old days, back in middle school when my group of close knit friends would get away from the bullying jocks, and young druggies by going to the library. It was a haven. We would bring our game guides and game boys, and just shoot the **** about games. Talk about our characters in Baldur's Gate, their stats, roleplay, etc, etc. I remember when my friend bought the new Golden Sun. We were in awe for weeks.Gaming used to be a "our thing", our appeal, our hobby. Same as musicians had music, jocks had sports, artists had arts...you get the point.

These days gaming has become more popular. You don't just see the "nerdy" kids playing games. You see the jocks playing games, you see the business execs playing games, everyone games. In some aspects, you'd think this is fantastic. Bigger industry, more great games. Though sadly, this is not the case. Games are being watered down left and right. Everyone plays Halo, everyone plays Gears of War. Though, personally, the games are total crap. There is no skill to the game except how quick you can pull the trigger.

Games are becoming so simple, so linear, so easy to fit mass appeal. A friend of mine started gaming when the xbox came out. The first game he ever owned was Halo. Time passed, the 360 came out and he bought that. I advised him to try out Oblivion, "it's a good game", I said (no where compared to Morrowind inmo ;) ). He bought it and he just couldn't play it. Too diffuclt. He wanted a game where you don't have to customize stats, figure out what skills to raise. He just wanted to pick up the game and start "owning". Games have started to follow this rule:

Halo 3: Upgrades are what? New color schemes? People play for hours on end to get a green helment. Spare me.

Oblivion: Fast travel and a arrow telling you exactly where to go for each mission. This is not a role-playing game, it's an action game. I remember the morrowind days when a npc would tell you where to go, and you would actually have to go out and physically find it by their diections (go to the city of Ald-Rhun, turn left at the bridge, etc).

Dragon Age: Instant Respawn after death, no penalty, a couple armor slots, no inventory for each character. Instead, just one big bag with no weight limit. Also, quite more linear then their previous game, BG.

MMO's: Pretty much all of them. I hear kids complaining how long it takes to level up in WoW, AoC, etc. Are you **** kidding me? Try playing Ultima Online, a true mmorpg. To get your character to a GM would take, god, I don't even want to think about it. Everything is incredibly simple so 10 year olds can play it. The only great MMO's: UO, EVE

Since, sadly, most gamers these days are the kind like my friend, execs see this and jump on it. I remember at a gaming conference, it was said "If a game is not a AA title, it will fail, and your business will go under". Because of this simple fact, gaming has to become simple, or no one will buy it. I'm not blaming the studios, god no, they have to do what they must to survive. I'm blaming the consumer who can't have anything the least bit complicated or they won't enjoy the game.

I had an argument with a friend who asked "having a game be less complicated is not necissarily a bad thing". I agree with this, sure. Though the good ol Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale/D&D days where you had to sit down and figure out your character's stats was half the fun! I used to write down on paper every skill I was going to raise. Because things were complicated, scratch that, complex, it brought a certain amount of immersion to the games. Back in middle school, the gamers were bullied non stop. Gaming was a way out of it. To immerse yourself in a different world. Now, since those people who inflict pain now game, all they want is the adrenline rush, and gaming has catered to them.

It's not just gaming. The populace is getting less intelligent. Same goes with movies, and music. Look at Transformers. Look at soulja boy. You can be a famous musician without any form of theory training what so ever. This is because people want simplified things they can understand in an instant.

All I hope is for a strong support system for indie games. An industry in itself to arise. I see some future in this with Steam finally letting indie games come out without a publisher. Finally, some head way.