John Luttermoser
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thread 1/8
I'm thinking about product durability and obsolescence in computer games, which have no physical thing that wears out. Thinking because Steam's Winter Sale ended yesterday, and for the first time in fiddlyleven years I let it pass and bought nothing. It's not because I'm spending less time on games.
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 2/8
It's because I'm deeply engrossed in two of my sports management games, I have several other games on the back burner that I'd be playing if there were 100 hours in a day, and I'm looking forward to the release of a couple of others.
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 3/8
So the gaming industry, as a whole, got nothing from me this holiday season because it's doing its job too well.
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 4/8
I'm specifically interested in sports management sims, and that takes "I've finished that and know where the story goes" out of it. Replayability is a non-issue. A "career" in these games can last as many seasons as you like. Players retire, you try to figure out how to develop the yoots, etc.
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 5/8
This is a disincentive to buying a new version of the game every year. I've had quite a few saves that I kept going for several real-world years. So it's "OK, Bocce Manager '24 was just released, but I'm in the 2037 season as manager of the Bologna Bowlers and I'm still into that."
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 6/8
(I made up Bocce Manager, but for all I know it might be out there. There are management games for cricket, bicycle racing, Australian rules football, team handball, and on and on and on. Gladiator management games are an active sub-genre.)
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 7/8
Developers are addressing this by making it possible to import an existing save into a new, possibly improved, version of the game. Out of the Park Developments has done this for years. Sports Interactive, which makes the industry leader, a soccer game called Football Manager, added it for 2024.
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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John Luttermoser
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thread 8/8
The games keep getting better and more varied. A guy who made a soccer management sim back in the early days (the '90s) once wrote that they'll keep evolving until you can physically walk up and down a sideline talking to holographic players. That would be cool.
11:02 AM - Jan 05, 2024
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