Fascinating take on games and I hadn’t really taken much notice until watching this video. I think this is why I don’t play many modern games as they feel to scripted and checkpoints galore.
I happened to mention this to my daughter who is currently making her way through the Tomb Raider series and her current game has hundreds of save entries. I even watched her for a while. Every time a threat or difficult scenario came up it was oh must save here.
Re: How game rewired minds. Gen x vs gen z
Posted: 20 Mar 2026 14:08
by rubber_jonnie
That definitely strikes a note with me.
Doom, I played so much of it that I could actually remember levels without a map, same for Quake, I fire it up, get started and just remember where stuff is, including secrets.
Go back even further to the Atari 2600 era and 8 bit computers and you'd have the same learning/death/rinse & repeat cycle until you figured it out.
Re: How game rewired minds. Gen x vs gen z
Posted: 20 Mar 2026 14:46
by alexh
I disagree completely. (As I always do).
The rewiring of kids brains today is not the gameplay of newer games (as there are equivalents today to the games we played in 90s, such as Astrobot on the PS5).
What rewired kids brains is.... doom-scrolling on social media and You-Tube shorts.
My kids attention span is so short today that he can't play most games nor watch most movies as they are just "too slow" for him and he get's bored.
Re: How game rewired minds. Gen x vs gen z
Posted: 20 Mar 2026 17:00
by rubber_jonnie
alexh wrote: 20 Mar 2026 14:46
I disagree completely. (As I always do).
The rewiring of kids brains today is not the gameplay of newer games (as there are equivalents today to the games we played in 90s, such as Astrobot on the PS5).
What rewired kids brains is.... doom-scrolling on social media and You-Tube shorts.
My kids attention span is so short today that he can't play most games nor watch most movies as they are just "too slow" for him and he get's bored.
I don't disagree, but I think there are a lot of other factors involved, many around social media and a good deal around broken societal norms which seem to have caught the crazy train.