More and more I’m finding that as I get older I no longer get the same enjoyment out of the types of games I used to when I was younger. Maybe it’s a natural part of aging (I am now in my mid-thirties); maybe it comes from wanting something new after experiencing years and years of repetitive gameplay mechanics. Or maybe it’s simply the result of my current position in life, which is that of someone who doesn’t have much free time because he works full time and often fills his spare hours with game development projects.

With that in mind I decided to start logging in my thoughts on a game industry that, for the most part, feels like it hasn’t grown older with me.

I was playing Metroid Prime 3 last night. It is a finely crafted game, but every time I play what strikes me is not the graphics or the sounds, but this pervading sense of just how lonely a person Samus Aran (the player’s avatar) must be. She has no friends or family to speak of, only acquaintances, rivals, and outright enemies. She travels the galaxy alone, separated from the world by her ever-present suit of armor. She is revered, that much is obvious by the reactions of the NPCs in the game, but they’re always too occupied to converse with her. No doubt a limitation of technology and practicality, but as a character she must wonder, “Why doesn’t anyone want to talk to me?” I’m supposed to feel heroic and powerful controlling her, but I end up feeling kind of sad for her.

Concerning the game itself, the play is fun but I think I may be losing my ability to spend my time with its mechanistic approach to lengthening play time. I don’t really feel like traipsing back and forth all over the game world getting this key to open that door to get those boots to jump to that ledge to get those powerups to unlock that new area that has been just out of reach for the past two hours. Maybe my time is too precious these days. Maybe I appreciate the notion that a game should treat me to a series of new experiences then end before it’s worn out its welcome. Maybe I need something deeper. Maybe I’m just getting old…

-Jason