Have you seen this for yourself?

[Absolute Dog]

It has been a long while since we used to come home, turn on the XBOX and play Halo 3 with our friends every night. When Reach hit and everyone switched over to play this new game, it was fun for a while. Checking out the new armors, mastering the AA's and figuring out the new weapons and how they worked. Eventually it seemed to boil down to chasing the proverbial credits. Endless challenges posted by Bungie to earn extra credits so you could rank up and by the new armors became the focus for so many players.

 

Whether you liked the game or not, complained and kept playing, were pro or just plain sucked, you had an opinion about Reach. One thing that I have learned over time now is that many people who I have played with for years started having less fun, became less talkative during the game and became more focused on the game than the sheer pleasure of being with their friends. Halo 3 and Halo 2 (all complaints about the ranking system, true skill, cheating, etc, aside) were very social and fun. There were always going to be better players and we all knew it. Reach has lost a lot of the environment that produced that "old feeling", at least from all I can see. We can point at many reasons for it, if you agree with me, but something is definitely missing. Whatever had made the previous games so fun was missed in Reach. I know many of you love the game and won't or can't see what I am saying, but I know a lot of you can.

 

I hope that as Halo 4 is developed the is a real effort to find what made 1, 2, and 3 so fun but was overlooked in Reach.

[Kurt S-501]

i agree. halo 1,2,3 were much more social and fun. not as competitive.

[AgentLoFi]

I personally don't think this just has to do with halo, gamers have become less social all around in my opinion, i play alot of ps3 too and it just seems to be a growing trend, this could also be in part the the gaming age is going down a bit, the ps and the xbox were initially made for the mature gamer, but as most of us know you always want to play what the big kids are playing and companies saw the potential and started marketing to a broader base. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, i'm a little tired right now.

[343industries]

I didn't get the chance to play Halo 3 online alot, so I wouldn't know. But yeah Reach has a more competitive feeling when playing in the game, there are times when we're having just plain fun but most of it is just taking control of the map and doing everything right in order to win.

[Father B]

You'll have no argument from me, Dog.

 

Granted, I haven't played Reach in a while, nor H3 for that matter, but I still hear a lot about the ongoings in Reach. Like you said, the problem is the Credits. That system seems like a wonderful idea in theory, but in practice it made a lot of players lose focus of the game itself. There came to be too much emphasis on having the "cool" gear.

 

Actually, when you think about it, it became like life: all about the acquisition of better things. And that's just wrong in so many ways.

 

Sadly, the majority of the players who fell into this trap are kids. Kids are impressionable and believe that looking cool makes them cool, and this belief is perpetuated amongst their peers and players in the same age group. And while the notion of our appearances matching our skill is attractive, it's also elitest, and I think speaks to why the Waypoint armor unlocks were so (my apologies to anyone who actually likes the CQB or Military Police permutations) sad.

 

Personally, I would want items in the armory unlocked by attaining medals and commendations. Different permutations should be unlocked by earning medals and commendations that have to do with the core concept of a permutation (example: EOD unlocked by earning X amount of kills with explosives, and Recon unlocked by earning X amount of Assassination medals, and so on).

 

I'm with you in the hope that 343i doesn't repeat this mistake in H4/5/6.

[Kurt S-501]

You'll have no argument from me, Dog.

 

Granted, I haven't played Reach in a while, nor H3 for that matter, but I still hear a lot about the ongoings in Reach. Like you said, the problem is the Credits. That system seems like a wonderful idea in theory, but in practice it made a lot of players lose focus of the game itself. There came to be too much emphasis on having the "cool" gear.

 

Actually, when you think about it, it became like life: all about the acquisition of better things. And that's just wrong in so many ways.

 

Sadly, the majority of the players who fell into this trap are kids. Kids are impressionable and believe that looking cool makes them cool, and this belief is perpetuated amongst their peers and players in the same age group. And while the notion of our appearances matching our skill is attractive, it's also elitest, and I think speaks to why the Waypoint armor unlocks were so (my apologies to anyone who actually likes the CQB or Military Police permutations) sad.

 

Personally, I would want items in the armory unlocked by attaining medals and commendations. Different permutations should be unlocked by earning medals and commendations that have to do with the core concept of a permutation (example: EOD unlocked by earning X amount of kills with explosives, and Recon unlocked by earning X amount of Assassination medals, and so on).

 

I'm with you in the hope that 343i doesn't repeat this mistake in H4/5/6.

i agree. the game seems to be about the armor, not the fun. halo 3 had very limited armor and it was fun.

[El Silverado]

Absolute Dog, that is why I didn't renew my gold membership. Damn I miss those days....

[Absolute Dog]

I personally don't think this just has to do with halo, gamers have become less social all around in my opinion, i play alot of ps3 too and it just seems to be a growing trend, this could also be in part the the gaming age is going down a bit, the ps and the xbox were initially made for the mature gamer, but as most of us know you always want to play what the big kids are playing and companies saw the potential and started marketing to a broader base. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, i'm a little tired right now.

You make a valid point Agent. Remembering back when HCE then H2 hit, I can remember just about anyone I knew was playing or wanting the game. When I originally played the game with my nephews, who introduced me to it, you could see right away how unique it was. When online match making first occurred there really was nothing like it out there. There were times that I had played right through the whole day and into the wee hours of the morning. Now the online gaming is everywhere and for just about every game. Still though, the social nature between my friends, most of whom are close to my age, should not have changed that much. We are all still friends together, it is a big group, but some of that spark is gone until we get back into H3.

[DrunkPonyMaster]

i agree completly. I've noticed that most people that have mics in game arent the nicest people, most of the time

[Absolute Dog]

i agree completly. I've noticed that most people that have mics in game arent the nicest people, most of the time

This is true also. I know when we are in our group and having a blast we encounter a lot of immature little runts that try and be annoying. Sometimes there are some who want to join us just because they see how much fun we are having.

[imakequilts]

I agree. Halo 3 was just plain fun even for those of us who really could not play very well. The social aspect is the only reason I play. I like to do well in the game and in Reach I "feel" it when I can't get kills. That rarely happened in Halo 3 but it is the norm in Reach. I don't think it is that gamers are less social. I am the same person no matter which game I play. Something in the game makes me feel that way. Whatever it is is in the way the game play works. Have seen it in my friends that left halo 3 for Reach and for those that left for modern warfare/black ops. When these SAME people come back to Halo 3 they are relaxed and having fun. It felt to me that Reach tried to capture a quality of gameplay that modern warfare had. They succeeded in the feel and to me that is what ruined the game. My friends that left to go play the modern warfare games refuse to play reach so they did not really convert them back into the game. Social is not social any more. I really would not still be buying a microsoft xbox membership if it were not for the friends I made on Halo 3. I'm pretty sure I have not made more than a couple of friends on Reach.

[Absolute Dog]

I agree. Halo 3 was just plain fun even for those of us who really could not play very well. The social aspect is the only reason I play. I like to do well in the game and in Reach I "feel" it when I can't get kills. That rarely happened in Halo 3 but it is the norm in Reach. I don't think it is that gamers are less social. I am the same person no matter which game I play. Something in the game makes me feel that way. Whatever it is is in the way the game play works. Have seen it in my friends that left halo 3 for Reach and for those that left for modern warfare/black ops. When these SAME people come back to Halo 3 they are relaxed and having fun. It felt to me that Reach tried to capture a quality of gameplay that modern warfare had. They succeeded in the feel and to me that is what ruined the game. My friends that left to go play the modern warfare games refuse to play reach so they did not really convert them back into the game. Social is not social any more. I really would not still be buying a microsoft xbox membership if it were not for the friends I made on Halo 3. I'm pretty sure I have not made more than a couple of friends on Reach.

That is my point exactly! Thanks for the comments.