33 years ago, this multi-million dollar industry we call video games nearly ceased to exist. It was the fabled Video Game Crash of 1983, and was for reasons very similar to the issues we see today that the industry nearly fell flat if not for an innovative Japanese pinball machine company's bold move two years later. That reason is money. Back then video games became a cash grab. Nearly everything had to have a video game for it, much of it not done well. People got tired of this glut of poor products and pretty much stopped buying them. I myself, being 4 years old in 1984 and getting an Atari 2600 dirt cheap as a Christmas present was privy to some of the 1st generation of console gaming's crap, like the atrocious Kangaroo, and the now infamous E.T. game that was so bad it's surplus was dumped in a Vegas landfill...but I was only 4 back then, I didn't know better...neither did my mom. And now I get into the main point here. My mother bought me my first video game. Safe to say that for a lot of gamers (not all but many) their parents bought them their first game, first console, etc. They are the ones who made the purchasing decision, and if they didn't see value (which most didn't at the time) they didn't buy it. As I said, I got my first system as direct result of the crash, and toy stores trying desperately to just get rid of any video game inventory whatsoever, which crippled the industry itself because they were making no profit because parents didn't want to waste their money. Our parents are the reason why video gaming almost died, and their children (us) are the reason why it won't now...which is both a good and a bad thing. We've made this hobby into lucrative industry, one that now trumps movies and music who were once kings of entertainment media. Video games are no long "for kids" and consoles are no longer toys. That's a great thing in my opinion, but with the good comes the bad. In this now 8th generation of gaming it's all about content, content, content. Core experiences have fallen to the wayside, both in the eyes of developers and very much in the eyes of the players of said content themselves. It's not "what I get" anymore, it's "what I want". Entitlement and expectation has become the buzzwords of every new release and instead appreciating what's presented to us, we demand things be given to us as if paying for a game itself is reason enough to be granted all that game has to offer as opposed to earning it through gameplay. That's not to say the publishers aren't to blame either. Day 1 DLC content and microtransactions are only two examples of how some companies blatantly exploit their product for maximum profit. Instead of reinforcing future sales with sequels, they simply do it with new maps, weapons, costumes, etc., and their fanbases succumb to the practice. There's no choice...you pony up the money for it or you miss out. In the end, they're in the business of making money, and we certainly give them plenty of it. Meanwhile, the very ideal of why we play video games now is apparently under question. When I was a little kid, I played because it was fun. I had fun with my Atari, and the NES, SNES, Genesis, Dreamcast, and Playstations 1 through 4 that followed it. That was always my motivation. Nowadays I have no idea why people play video games if not to have fun. A game doesn't need an engrossing story to be enjoyable. I liked The Last Of Us just as much as I like Destiny or Saints Row, and these are all completely different games entirely except for the one binding thread that [i]I have fun playing them.[/i] In closing, there are a lot issues within the gaming industry today. Things that have never been issues over the last 30 years I've been a gamer, and I can honestly and objectively say that it's not one sides fault or the other's, it's everyone's. The publishers who try to squeeze ever last cent of their franchises, the media who try to push their own social agendas, and of course the gamers themselves for conducting themselves like a bunch of selfish brats. Think of it like the Triforce for all of you Zeldaheads, except that it's been tainted and it's power corrupted. We all can only do what we apply ourselves to do to make it right, and that's to become one bellowing, collective voice that dictates the market, and thus the industry...and I'm pretty confident everything else will follow suit. For now, we're all merely a bunch of individual voices, some louder than others, but none loud enough to reach where we want it to or send the message we want to send. For that reason and the others I pointed out, our beloved hobby will not be rid of it's greed, corruption and misinterpretation. Not until we get our house in order. TL:DR- Because we won't let them.