Poll of the Day > terraria, how old?

(+) Yeah! (+)

For a constantly updated game like terraria, would you say the poll should be told it's "new", or should I use the original release date even though this very much isn't that ancient game.

The latter.

It's an old game that has stood the test of time to remain popular even 10+ years later. Calling it "classic" seems weird, given that the reason it's lasted this long is continued updates, but it's still an old game.

That said, I feel like calling 10+ years old "classic" in the current environment is a little odd. Part of that is that I'm old enough now to not feel like 10 years is all that long, which isn't a good reason to disagree, but there's still a world of difference between a 10-year-old game today and a 10-year-old game in 2000. There was a time when playing a 10-year-old game meant finding a console that's no longer in production and hunting down a used copy (piracy aside), unless the publisher opted to release a port/remake (in which case it was usually framed as being a "classic" game). These days, though, digital storefronts and the lack of generations on PC mean pretty much everything released on PC in the last 15 (if not 20) years is just as available now as it was on the day it came out. There might be some dated mechanics or graphics or whatever, but there aren't nearly the same barriers associated with buying the game now as what I would have associated with "classic" games in the past.

Minecraft has constantly been updated and added to (never mind mods), and I'd still say it's an old game. Because it's been around for a long time.

If anything, I see the poll as borderline asking "Are any new games worth playing?", to which my answer is "Ehh, not really."

Stardew Valley got a major content update about a year and a half ago (and I'm literally playing the Ginger Island content again right now), but I still voted that it's a 5+ year old game. Because it is an older game. It's been around for quite a while. The fact that games like that or Minecraft are perennially playable doesn't really change the fact that they're older games.



adjl posted...

These days, though, digital storefronts and the lack of generations on PC mean pretty much everything released on PC in the last 15 (if not 20) years is just as available now as it was on the day it came out.

I'm not actually sure that's a valid argument, because due to digital storefronts, games that were released 40 years ago are just as available now as they were then. I have an easier time playing games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, or Pitfall today than I would have had in 1995. I've got Day of the Tentacle and Marathon on my PS4. I've recently been considering buying new versions of a couple games that came out two or three console generations ago. And so on.

If we count PC ports and rereleases, there are almost no classic games - because any game popular enough to have nostalgia is probably available in some way.

For me, a "classic" game is something that came out years ago, and which has either spawned sequels, ports and rereleases, or has generally had an impact on gaming culture or game development in general. Something doesn't have to be ancient and unavailable to be classic - it just has to have had a strong impact on the people who played it. Whether or not it's still available in its original form, a modified form, or completely unavailable at all doesn't really affect whether or not it's a classic.

I really want to make a new world and try some of the newer content but I'm hesitant to give up all my stuff. I think there's a way to transfer but it's been a while since I booted the game up

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'm not actually sure that's a valid argument, because due to digital storefronts, games that were released 40 years ago are just as available now as they were then.

Obviously, just being available today doesn't mean a game can't be a classic, particularly where modern distribution options mean literally everything could be available (and arguably should be). I just mean that, because games from ten years ago are still so readily available due to modern distribution, it seems weird to call them "classics" even though it would have been pretty normal to do so 15-20 years ago.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Something doesn't have to be ancient and unavailable to be classic - it just has to have had a strong impact on the people who played it.

I'm inclined to agree. The term "classic" does imply something is older, but it's fundamentally talking about how much of an impact and legacy that thing has had, rather than being tied to a specific age range. Trying to say that everything between 10 and 20 years old is "classic" is comparable to using "average" to give an absolute rating of something's quality: it fundamentally misunderstands what the word means.

I played Terraria for 8 hours straight on the day it was released and I'm convinced it's one of the reasons I need glasses.

Zareth posted...

I played Terraria for 8 hours straight on the day it was released and I'm convinced it's one of the reasons I need glasses.

My vision has seriously degraded over the last couple years. It might be because I just turned 45, but it's also possible that spending almost all of my time staring at either a tv, computer screen, or both during lockdown did some damage.