Since I’ve been a little child, I loved playing PC games. Back then, I wasn’t able to get my hands on many, as they were so expensive. Worse, the really cheap PC games were – let me say it diplomatically – terrible. So I used to hunt gaming stores for and look for discount video games, and usually didn’t have much luck.
But these days things have changed. The internet is an amazing thing for computer game lovers. First, there are many sites that literally enable playing free games. Hundreds! on a wide variety of styles (i.e. some offer free online adventure games). And of high quality, too! When I was a child this would have been impossible to conceive, but nowadays there are so many people who simply create games for their own enjoyment (or have advertisements interweaved into the game – another idea I wouldn’t have been able to grasp as a kid). Additionally, there are so many websites that offer really cheap games, i.e. for $5 or less. Even as a child with a very low budget I could have easily found the money to buy those.
The funny thing is is that I believe this – in a sense – cheapens the games. Back in the 80s, every game was precious. Even if you didn’t like it at first, you’d still investigate it until you mastered it – because there were few games available. However, now that one can get very high quality games for a low price or for free, I can envision today’s children and teens simply giving a game one shot, if it doesn’t immediately grab their attention, toss it away. I probably would do this if I were a teenager these days.
Ironically, I’m quite certain that’s what our grandparents used to say about books (”back in our time it was hard to find books, but today’s kids don’t read book seriously and give them up too easily”). Funny how history repeats itself, no?