Gaming is something we’re all passionate about; some more than others, I might add. Over the last 3 decades, the gaming industry and those who play video games have evolved to a point where virtual reality technology, photorealistic graphics, and online worlds of incomprehensible sizes, exist and can be modified in real-time by the same people who created them. The future of gaming for many, looks promising…or does it? This is the question I have asked myself countless times in the last 2 years. Is gaming evolving, or devolving? The answer is mostly speculatory. It depends on what kind of gamer you are. Are you a casual gamer? Do you enjoy simple, easy to pick up games with low skill gaps and minimal dedication required, or are you a hardcore gamer? Do you enjoy large open words, competitive multiplayer, steep learning curves and moderate to high dedication required? The answer will be vastly different depending on where you stand. Personally, I am the latter, and I have noticed over the last few years, that the video game industry, is although progressing in terms of technology, it is regressing in terms of quality and quantity. Mainstream titles like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, World of Warcraft, etc are being changed radically to appeal to a larger crowd, at the expense of overall quality and quantity. I call this “casualization”, and you’ll find that I use this term extensively throughout this thesis. Even Destiny, the game that was supposed to be a revolutionary and game changing (no pun intended) title with a deep, immersive story, large online worlds, changing, adapting and evolving in real-time with near-infinite possibilities, has been severely crippled by this epidemic. This can be explained in a societal and economic perspective, with both being intertwined; both, having a dramatic influence on each other. [b]The Societal Explanation for the Casualization of the Gaming Industry/Community[/b] As gamers have grown, and adapted, so have the games at hand. Modern gaming, as we know today, began in the early to mid-90’s with titles such as Resident Evil (1996), Gran Turismo (1997) and Medal of Honor (1999). Through the 21st century, games began progressing to a level we never thought possible, with games including Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), World of Warcraft (2004), Resident Evil 4 (2005), Bioshock (2007), which are arguably, 4 of the best games ever created. They had deeply immersing stories, polished graphics, and utilized the most advanced technology of their time. They were close to perfect. However in the last 3 years, video games have taken a major step downhill, with mainstream titles like Call of Duty, starting with Black Ops and MW3, requiring less skill and knowledge in order to do well, than they used to. WoW, is much easier than it used to be, with less intricate mechanics, less content, and in general, a much easier and more casual-friendly game. For some reason, the current generation of gamers are more casual than the previous generation, and instead of adapting and embracing difficulty, they demand easy content across the board, demanding everything be accessible to them. Many of them don’t want a challenge; they want everything handed to them on a silver platter. My favorite example, are the raids in Destiny. As of July 6 2016, only 22.7% of all PS4 Guardians have even completed a raid, and the numbers are most likely similar on Xbox One and Last Gen. This makes no sense to me, as Destiny raids are not only a walk in the park compared to what WoW offers, with simple to learn and execute mechanics and a lack of roles (Tank, Mage, DPS etc) but finding a team is actually relatively easy, as there are several ways of finding a group (LFG sites being the most reliable for casual players). The hugest issue with Destiny at the current moment is the lack of difficulty and skill-gap for literally everything. Trials of Osiris is another example, although my view on this specifically will be seen as heavily controversial. I am one of the few people, that view carrying, paid and free, a manifestation of the laziness of casual gamers. Instead of working towards getting better and taking on raids and endgame PvP modes like ToO with a team, they want to be carried by a player or two, who are far superior to them, and are naive enough to feed into this mentality. I’m not saying helping lower skilled players is a bad thing, but outright carrying players through endgame content, without them having to actually do their part, is what I have a problem with. If these superior players were to for example, play regular Elimination with lower skilled players in order to teach them how to play well in Trials, than that would be fine, because there are no major rewards up for grabs. Many players are too ignorant to understand the simple fact, that not everything should be easy and accessible to them. You don’t see a majority of WoW players being highly skilled at every aspect of the game (I know I bring up WoW so much, but I feel it gets my point across), you’ll have raiders, PvP’ers, role players and casual players who complete quests among others. In Destiny, it’s not hard to be an experienced raider, and a skilled PvP’er. I have a 1.83 K/D in PvP and I am an expert on all 3 raids. I know the mechanics, the solutions to the puzzles, boss’s weaknesses/strengths, best weapons and classes for each portion; all by heart. The thing is, this really isn’t that difficult to accomplish. It’s because of the ultra-casual fanbase, that expects everything to be easy, that I among many others, look like Gods to the majority of Destiny’s playerbase. Destiny really isn’t a hardcore game in the traditional sense of the word; it doesn’t take much dedication or skill to complete. It is essentially, a casual player’s Diablo, WoW, Borderlands and Halo, all in one. Limited content of minimal difficulty, with a “competitive” multiplayer mode with the second lowest skillgap of any mainstream shooter (CoD is the first). The only reasons, why I personally play Destiny, is because it does in fact, combine MMO, RPG and FPS aspects and put them into one game, near-perfect gunplay, immersive lore and decent graphics. I hope one day, Bungie can provide content for both casual players and hardcore players, and make Destiny the game it was supposed to be. The main culprit behind this, might actually be a suffering economy, and gamers adapting to this by forgetting what made games truly great, as I will address in the final section. [b]Is The Economy to Blame For Gaming Casualization? [/b] Now, this is an even larger, albeit less known reason, and it was somewhat covered by BDobbinsFTW, a larger YouTuber with a similar message of mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTxAjrnOd-4 Essentially to sum up his argument, games are not as good today, because of a steep supply in demand, due to a suffering world economy. Making deeply immersing and large games is not as economically tangible as it used to be, and instead of increasing prices by an extra $10-20 to $70-80 which would reduce sales even more, game quality is reduced in order to cut development costs. This leads to the disenfranchisement of hardcore gamers in many genres and games, due to the fact, that the industry is no longer supporting them. I will say again, that there is nothing wrong with including casual content. This is essential to generating sales. However, not catering to the most skilled and dedicated of gamers is simply not a good idea, as it has the potential, to reduce sales slightly, not to mention it is morally wrong to ignore those that support you the most. However, we all know corporations don’t give a flying -blam!- about morals. All they care about is $$$$$$$$$$$$. In general, gaming at the moment is in a state of decline. When the economy improves, gaming should improve as well. This could take many years sadly, but it will eventually happen. Recessions and economic turmoil never last forever. [b]TL,DR[/b] Gaming is too easy in today's day and age and the developers completely cater to casuals while ignoring hardcore gamers who are better than everyone else, and seek a challenge.