"death" of the arcade documentary I just watched...

[cmdrdredd]

I just watched a documentary about the death of arcades in the US and how they have changed to either a bunch of amusement games of chance or a place like an internet cafe where you buy time on a console or PC to play with others.

Anyway to make a long story short they seemed to blame the death of arcades on the rise of consoles and how console games were actually better than what you could get in the arcade, then they went on to mention fighting games not getting arcade releases etc. I thought ok I guess that's what most people think too but I have a somewhat different take. Much of the documentary centered around fighters and how people would gather around to challenge the local players and try to be the best or play against the best. How they would make friends and it was a social thing for a lot of them. All the guys wearing nostalgia glasses tearing up over it etc. It got me thinking, consoles themselves didn't really kill the arcade. They didn't help but that wasn't the sole reason. I believe that the ability to play online via Xbox Live and PSN is what really sealed the deal. Now you could play against anyone in the world, voice chat with them, whenever you wanted, without going out. This leads to an even bigger problem that was touched on here in other threads...anonymity. Anyone can be a total douche to anyone online. In an arcade setting you couldn't really do that or you'd risk someone punching you right in the face. Imagine the 15 year old troll of today's online gaming community trying to talk about your family when you're standing next to him after he just beat you in some game at the arcade. That wouldn't happen. I think that society simply changed so that being anonymous and never actually having to deal with people up close and personal (not to mention that a lot of arcades were kind of disgusting places to hang out) made actually going out to socialize around gaming not mean much anymore.

Maybe that's why so many kids are total disrespectful brats. They're so used to being anonymous online and being able to troll everyone for fun that they can't function normally in the real world. Maybe if they grew up at the arcade they would take a different attitude, who knows. Then we have the whole idea of arcades being used as amusement and the game itself not being the focus as much etc.

 

[JEDIYoda]

oops!!! sorry!!!

 

[shortylickens]

Thats not a surprise.
There sure as heck wasnt any Zelda in the arcade.
I dont recall ever seeing Metroid either.

 

[purbeast0]

I think culture is a big part of it. Arcades are alive and thriving in Japan, where they have the same consoles and an even better infrastructure for online gaming.

Americans are generally lazy as can be and it's just much easier to sit in your house eating potato chips and drinking mountain dew, playing with your buddies, rather than taking some time to go game in an arcade and socialize.

Fighting games however have made a huge comeback and is probably bigger than it has ever been right now, and this is all without an arcade scene in the USA. But while fighting games are still niche generally speaking, they aren't as niche as they used to be back in the day when the arcade games dominated the scene.

 

[velillen]

Kind of funny cause my town has had two new arcades open in the last year or two and they both seem to do quite well. One is more the game of chance mixed with some games. The typical play skeetball, get tickets, get cheesy prizes.

The other though is an adult arcade. They have a full bar, some tables to just hangout at, then some games for 25 cents each. Mix of older games, pinball, and some newer stuff. Everytime I've walked past it on the weekends it's been pretty full.

The arcade growing up just sort of died cause it got boring. They never updated games or changed anything so it was the same Everytime. It was fun to go to till consoles really came out upon which time the arcade games just really felt old and outdated compared to what was available.

There is another game store in town that gets decent crowds for fun tournaments on fighting games. I went once even though I don't care for the genre and it was fun just with the friendly trash talking and just hanging out

 

[JJChicken]

Great thread. A few things from me:

- Love the concept of human interaction at arcades and hope they make a come back
- Society is moving away from in person socialisation to online socialisation — this has a significant negative effect on arcades
- Before not everybody could afford consoles - a reason why arcades were popular was that they were comparatively cheap
- As others said, growth in console gaming took away a lot of the crowd from arcades - think GT, FF7, Tekken etc
- Arcades work better in Japan because they have depressingly small apartments and have a greater tendency to spend time outside of their homes as a result. Even then, arcades aren’t as popular as they were in Japan
- Expect a trend for arcades to support the 20s/30s crowd going forward - at this age people start wanting more in person interaction

Its a sad effect if technology that kids dont play outdoors as much anymore, and spend too much time online 🙁

Had some goat goat memories in the 90s and 2000s but it was all outdoors

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I miss arcades. How would you ever play a game like 超ちゃぶ台返し (Super Chabudai Flip) at home on console?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Thats not a surprise.
There sure as heck wasnt any Zelda in the arcade.
I dont recall ever seeing Metroid either.

No but I this focused a bit more on the social aspect. The games you mentioned weren't played against or with anyone else, they were single player experiences.

 

[zinfamous]

yeah, the retro arcade+bar thing is starting to spread around to all the young, "happening" towns.

lol--that^ table smashing game. I tried it a year ago in that tiny arcade in the main Japantown center in SF....I just don't understand these things.

But if the typical arcade that is thriving is more along the game of chance, it seems just returning full circle. That's sort of what the earliest arcades were, before video games were ever a thing. I guess it's more the culture of video games has changed, but there is still a lot of love for the public arcade in many communities, just people seek out the "more original" type of experience?

 

[cmdrdredd]

I think culture is a big part of it. Arcades are alive and thriving in Japan, where they have the same consoles and an even better infrastructure for online gaming.

Americans are generally lazy as can be and it's just much easier to sit in your house eating potato chips and drinking mountain dew, playing with your buddies, rather than taking some time to go game in an arcade and socialize.

Fighting games however have made a huge comeback and is probably bigger than it has ever been right now, and this is all without an arcade scene in the USA. But while fighting games are still niche generally speaking, they aren't as niche as they used to be back in the day when the arcade games dominated the scene.

Right and I think the ability to sit at home and still play those games against real people while talking to them really sealed it. Nobody wanted to go burn quarters if they could buy it once and play it as much as they want.

 

[cmdrdredd]

yeah, the retro arcade+bar thing is starting to spread around to all the young, "happening" towns.

lol--that^ table smashing game. I tried it a year ago in that tiny arcade in the main Japantown center in SF....I just don't understand these things.

In japan they have actual train simulators. I mean a whole engine section sitting there where you have to manipulate the controls and "drive" the train from station to station. This whole thing is in an arcade. In Japan the focus is much more on the game and the experience. They will even rearrange a UFO catcher in Japan (crane game) to help someone win a toy for their kid. Try getting that to happen here in the US.

 

[zinfamous]

In japan they have actual train simulators. I mean a whole engine section sitting there where you have to manipulate the controls and "drive" the train from station to station. This whole thing is in an arcade. In Japan the focus is much more on the game and the experience. They will even rearrange a UFO catcher in Japan (crane game) to help someone win a toy for their kid. Try getting that here

that sounds awesome.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I can talk with some knowledge about this subject
I managed a business in a strip mall that had an arcade I grew up in. Same guy had owned the place the entire time, I feel like I grew up with him.
The arcade was very large and very popular until I became a young adult and moved away. Decade plus later I’m managing this store. I remember speaking with the guy about how much fun I had at is place when it was an arcade, I thanked him for being there. He told me when the first PlayStation came out business dropped but not by much, he knew he had to scale back and diversify (he added in to the plaza substantially) when he got home and saw his teenage son playing Tekken on the large screen TV with the good sound system he had. He said the PlayStation 2 looked close enough to the arcade version that gave him incentive to change his business and he immediately did so by adding in to the building and becoming a landlord.
He keeps the arcade running because it is now a small part of the building that isn’t useful for anything but a restaurant but doesn’t want to poach business from the one that is there. He also wanted to keep the 3 guys who worked there employed. He said the arcade is cheap to run once you own everything.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

lol--that^ table smashing game. I tried it a year ago in that tiny arcade in the main Japantown center in SF....I just don't understand these things.

I like the wedding stage where you're the bride, flip the wedding cake, and smash open the door to see your cheating husband with one of the bridesmaids.

 

[Homerboy]

what was the name of the documentary?