Sometimes I feel like I'm the only gamer happy about QoL features and accessibility options
Something I noticed while scrolling through my Playnite library and some Reddit threads - am I the only person who is actually happy about the addition of QoL features and accessibility options in modern games?
So my gaming library is about 500-550 titles ranging from 1994 (Warcraft 1) to 2026 (HoMM: Olden Era) and I have been playing since about 2004/2005. So I experienced both a lot of development and still sometimes go back to try or replay 'old' games. And truth be told, nowadays I struggle a lot with the clunkiness, the monolithic difficulty levels and the lack of options and (optional) QoL features in them. I know they weren't invented back then, so I don't blame these games for it, but I am happy that we have them now - be it story mode difficulties, be it difficulty levels that can be fine-tuned, be it standard button or key layouts or in-game tutorials that don't require having a reference chart and a 300 page manual open the entire time. I like just starting a game after a long work day and playing it - without having to 'earn' my right to enjoy it.
But whenever I read gaming discussions, I seem to be a minority of 'old' gamers? Because so often I hear that QoL features take away from games, that one has to struggle through it because otherwise one should just go and watch a movie and that strange mentality that you have to 'earn' your right to enjoy a game through hours of toil. And I just don't get it at all.
We have options nowadays. You can play your game on super-mega hardmode and I can enjoy an hour or two on a Friday evening in story mode. Why do we constantly have to sh*t on how other people play their games and blame accessibility options and QoL features as the reason "modern games are bad, old games are good, hurr durr"?
Like hell, my most played game is Microsoft Flight Simulator, which can be perfectly finetuned to your level of realism and difficulty. Or the Pathfinder games. Options aren't bad and I actually love having them.
Sorry for the rant, but whenever I enter most gaming discussion spaces nowadays I feel like not paticipating because this prevalent sentiment makes me feel so unwelcome despite having been a gamer for over two decades by now. This subreddit here is one of the only gaming spaces where I actually feel safe enough to state an opinion without the fear of being screamed at until I leave...