Why do fps games dominate so much in this era?

[Acelius]

They're fun, fast and great in bursts. You can play for 10 minutes and be entertained all the way through. In RPGs those 10 minutes could be spent going from one city to the next, with nothing interesting to do.

[chiddie]

Pretty much, yep.

I know we're on an MMO forum, so we're going to see a lot of people who talk about "commitment" to a game, and sinking time into things whether you like it or not, and so on...but not everyone is into that. Not everyone is looking for a "second life" or whatever, they just want to play a damn video game and have fun. Nothing wrong with that.

You understand that something is going horribly wrong with a game when you realize you spend more time in queues of various types than in actually playing.

Due to my few spare time I had to switch from dps to tank and later on from tank to healer to being able to play in M+. I’m happy with healing luckily enough but this is not normal, when my son asked me where my dps was I explained him the situation and he told me “if it was me I would have just stopped playing”. Couldn’t tell him he was wrong honestly.

[chiddie]

They're fun, fast and great in bursts. You can play for 10 minutes and be entertained all the way through. In RPGs those 10 minutes could be spent going from one city to the next, with nothing interesting to do.

This reminds me of a reaction video I saw some time ago with some kids reacting to Metallica songs. One of the kids said something like “they could be cool but I just can’t stand having to listen to only music for 3 minutes before the singer starts to sing”. It seemed something like a “waste of time”.

This is the thing with new gens: they are literally overwhelmed with possibilities compared to when we (or at least I) had their age, so time matters even for them. Maybe more than it matters for us.

[Twdft]

Generally, the current millennial generation is very ADHD and need the fast paced action of GOGOGO fps games to hold their attention span.

What, lol. FPS were always popular, nothing to do with younger generations.

Without FPS games we probably wouldn't even have nearly as powerful GPUs as we have now, shooters were on the forefront of hungering after better hardware for decades now.

[Itisamuh]

FPS has always been popular, this is nothing new. As for why? They are fun, and the combat feels more engaging than most other types of games.

[crusadernero]

This reminds me of a reaction video I saw some time ago with some kids reacting to Metallica songs. One of the kids said something like “they could be cool but I just can’t stand having to listen to only music for 3 minutes before the singer starts to sing”. It seemed something like a “waste of time”.

This is the thing with new gens: they are literally overwhelmed with possibilities compared to when we (or at least I) had their age, so time matters even for them. Maybe more than it matters for us.

Yep. How younger people also consume social media is another thing. They go from one post to the other. New videos, new pictures and new stories all the time. Scroll on all day long. No desire to actually stay focused on one thing.

Back in my younger years there wasnt alot of options, distractions and possiblities as you have now with internet and all. Heck, for long periods of time the game(s) I had was the games I had. Either play them or dont. These days kids probably move onto the next game quicker than I change socks.

So in gaming, FPS fits the bill. Quick action, get in-get out. Short matches, no investment needed. The entertainment is right there.

I do wonder though - How many young people actually play wow retail and/or classic? I mean, wow retail sort of fits the bill in many ways. Its not quite there cause time investment is needed.

[Fitsu]

There's a lot of reasons such as accessibility, skill ceiling the fact the PvP is fast and rewarding, the fact they are PvP dominant games keeps them feeling fresh, (PvE eventually just starts to feel like the same thing reskinning but PvP is dynamic combat fighting an AI will never match what it's like fighting another person).

But personally for me and most my friends the two main reasons we play an FPS is because every MMO now has so much content that you have to do to keep with the curve but is just busy work, not fun. If I play WoW I spend more time doing things I don't enjoy than things I do these days and eventually I just go "why." and stop. Whereas lets say Apex? I grab a couple friends on a whim, we jump into a couple of games we can either play serious or casual depending on mood and then we stop when we want to stop be that after 30min or 4 hours. I feel like fad of games requiring you to play x amount of hours to keep up is just dying off.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

People enjoy the idea of just shootin guns.

[crusadernero]

FPS games were popular long before social media and such.

It's not some function of "kids have no attention span" or something. It's because of many of the factors discussed already. You don't need to treat them like another life, or do "chores" and other nonsense. It's a genre that you can just play and have fun with quickly, which is perfectly fine for a video game.

oh I know. Grew up with Doom, Unreal T, Quake, CS,Halo, CoD and all that. FPS games is not a newly popular genre. Probably the most stable genre theres been in gaming. Im just saying FPS games, especially with BR features, are the thing right now and it fits perfectly these days.

It goes in waves though, what genre is most popular. No idea whats the big thing in 10 years time, but I suspect FPS still to be up there.

[ryanmahaffe]

They are easy to get into but hard to master.

[Wildpantz]

All top games have a competitive mode. If the add solo que arena ill bet my left nut wow will increase and i dont even like wow pvp

[crusadernero]

It's interesting because a lot of the judgment I see being thrown at FPS players also show a lot of the issues with the MMO genre in general.

Why would people think that a game being quick is bad? Or that a game not wasting your time is somehow a negative? A game letting you just have fun whenever you load it up makes it for dumb kids?

MMOs are a really strange animal in the gaming world and seem to make people believe strange things.

No game is really "bad", if you enjoy playing it. The purpose of games is to have fun and all.

But theres a difference sitting down playing a MMORPG or a FPS. I've spendt countless hours in wow and in FPS games. Often times i've done boring stuff in wow just because I "had to". Lots of activites have been boring with wow, but more or less needed often times.

The great thing with FPS is that you dont need that. Instant fun right away! Playing CoD Warzone as we speak.

- - - Updated - - -

All top games have a competitive mode. If the add solo que arena ill bet my left nut wow will increase and i dont even like wow pvp

yeah this. I too think alot more people would engage in pvp if the had solo queue there.

[chiddie]

There's a lot of reasons such as accessibility, skill ceiling the fact the PvP is fast and rewarding, the fact they are PvP dominant games keeps them feeling fresh, (PvE eventually just starts to feel like the same thing reskinning but PvP is dynamic combat fighting an AI will never match what it's like fighting another person).

But personally for me and most my friends the two main reasons we play an FPS is because every MMO now has so much content that you have to do to keep with the curve but is just busy work, not fun. If I play WoW I spend more time doing things I don't enjoy than things I do these days and eventually I just go "why." and stop. Whereas lets say Apex? I grab a couple friends on a whim, we jump into a couple of games we can either play serious or casual depending on mood and then we stop when we want to stop be that after 30min or 4 hours. I feel like fad of games requiring you to play x amount of hours to keep up is just dying off.

That’s also because FPS are not gear based. You don’t feel forced to grind gear to be competitive, because there’s almost no gear at all.

Try to say to a kid “dude no matter how skilled you are, if you’ll join that bg/arena without a proper equip you will get smashed in seconds” and then listen to their replies.

[Pony Soldier]

Not sure but I think it has something to do with the fact that they're just simple and easy to understand games. There's not much to them you just point and shoot stuff and sometimes follow the leader. Add on the fun factor and bada bing bada boom you have your most popular genre. Also for the fact that we're in the era of competitive online shooters where everyone now wants to be the next MLG game which I find pretty fucking annoying if you ask me.

I feel you with the RPGs I'm also a big RPG fan but those games require a lot of patience, a lot of reading and math, and figuring out and I would say most people these days don't care for any of that unfortunately. They just want to jump in and start blowing shit up.

[Noctiphobia]

Most people enjoy it because of a bunch of reasons:
- very little barrier of entry, you can just pick whatever looks like the most standard rifle and you'll be fine,
- fast paced gameplay (see people complaining about long arenas in WoW whenever oneshotting people is not the meta) and usually very little snowball,
- not much in terms of strategy or tactics unless you play at a high level (most people don't),
- even if you aren't very good, you can still kill people if you spot them first,
- despite the above, there are a lot of things to learn, so you still see yourself getting better at the game,
- first person games feel immersive to a lot of people, and it's basically the only kind of first person games that is so easy to make convincing (a typical first person melee fighting game will either have very simplified combat like Skyrim, or will be a dancing simulator like Chivalry/Mordhau with huge barrier of entry and insane difference between new players and people who have played for a while).

On the other hand, you have:
- MMOs that usually require a lot of time investment, and usually require you to either learn boss battles for PvE or all other classes for PvP,
- RPGs that are usually narrative-driven single player experiences that you'll play once (requiring a time investment, and some kind of regularity in order to still care about the story),
- MOBAs where you'll most likely go 0/15 in your first game, and if you're behind, it's very hard to get ahead, and then if you actually want to get any decent, you have to learn how a hundred of characters work,
- Turn based strategies, where by the time you recruit your first bowman, a good player is coming to your base with helicopters due to his superior build order
- RTS where the enemy will then micromanage those helicopters so that not a single arrow hits them, in case you actually planned to defend yourself,
- Grand strategy/4X games that are hard to learn, easy to master,
- Fighting games where the moment you try online play, you play against people who calculate the exact number of frames in their combos,
- Simulators that usually cover some niche that doesn't necessarily interest everyone.

Of course that's not all genres, but you get the idea - FPS games are just a nice package for an average player who just wants to have some fun, not necessarily be the master of the game (often playing with a controller, clearly not really caring that it's not the optimal setup).

[hellhamster]

Most people enjoy it because of a bunch of reasons:
- very little barrier of entry, you can just pick whatever looks like the most standard rifle and you'll be fine,
- fast paced gameplay (see people complaining about long arenas in WoW whenever oneshotting people is not the meta) and usually very little snowball,
- not much in terms of strategy or tactics unless you play at a high level (most people don't),
- even if you aren't very good, you can still kill people if you spot them first,
- despite the above, there are a lot of things to learn, so you still see yourself getting better at the game,
- first person games feel immersive to a lot of people, and it's basically the only kind of first person games that is so easy to make convincing (a typical first person melee fighting game will either have very simplified combat like Skyrim, or will be a dancing simulator like Chivalry/Mordhau with huge barrier of entry and insane difference between new players and people who have played for a while).

On the other hand, you have:
- MMOs that usually require a lot of time investment, and usually require you to either learn boss battles for PvE or all other classes for PvP,
- RPGs that are usually narrative-driven single player experiences that you'll play once (requiring a time investment, and some kind of regularity in order to still care about the story),
- MOBAs where you'll most likely go 0/15 in your first game, and if you're behind, it's very hard to get ahead, and then if you actually want to get any decent, you have to learn how a hundred of characters work,
- Turn based strategies, where by the time you recruit your first bowman, a good player is coming to your base with helicopters due to his superior build order
- RTS where the enemy will then micromanage those helicopters so that not a single arrow hits them, in case you actually planned to defend yourself,
- Grand strategy/4X games that are hard to learn, easy to master,
- Fighting games where the moment you try online play, you play against people who calculate the exact number of frames in their combos,
- Simulators that usually cover some niche that doesn't necessarily interest everyone.

Of course that's not all genres, but you get the idea - FPS games are just a nice package for an average player who just wants to have some fun, not necessarily be the master of the game (often playing with a controller, clearly not really caring that it's not the optimal setup).

It's pretty much this, but this only holds true for only a few FPS games in particular. As an avid fan of arena shooters, it hurts that genre has died and was replaced by static shooters with one shot mechanics and realistic spray patterns. I've played most competitive games of the past couple decades, but to this day RTCW and Enemy Territory have been the most fun I've ever had online, seeing them lose all relevance and leaving no successors as soon as games like CSS and CSGO came out felt like an arrow shot through the heart.

I just wish people can one day relive the ballet of bullets, the frenzied strafing, the weapon switching, the quick respawns and the massive amounts of skill required for fast paced tracking. I mean, look at how much fun this was: