What I miss is having to use my imagination and my intellect. i remember playing the first Wizardry games with graph paper and a pencil. There were no cheats. I couldn't not pop on-line to Google an answer and given that I literally had the only computer in a 50 mile radius back in the early 1980s there were no friends to play with or to ask for help. It taught me to think creatively and be independent, skills which I possess today.

But I won't lie. I cheat on games because I can. Also because I know that games are designed with the understanding that people will look for hints on the internet if they get into trouble. So while on one-hand games are a much more community driven phenomenon now than they were back then, and there is nothing wrong with that, it has on the other hand also made everybody lazier. Back then playing a video game was a commitment that required a certain degree of self-motivation. Now it's more about "fun" and "relationships". Blech.

The things I miss were actually having the physical media and not having to wait 3 weeks 4 hours 59 minutes and 34 second wait.. 6 hours 4 minutes no wait.. 2 months 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds no wait over a year.. shitty internet downloading FUCKING GAMES that in all actuality take about 3 days to download going up and FUCKING DOWN LIKE A DAMN YO-FUCKING-YO actually sticking the disc in the drive to have the game installed in mere minutes EVEN SECONDS felt good and reading that Thick finger Lacerating manual and being able to play the single player game without entering TH1S-M0TH-ERFU-CK1N-GSH1-TEVE-RYT1-MEIW-ANTT-0PLA-YAS1-NGLE-PLAY-ERGA-ME I could just Load it up from Audio Cassette and Those Beautiful 2 to 4 colour Splash screens would greet me wit the Blipping and Blopping music and those Damn little Magazines with those funny basic Lines of text starting with numbers!

The Dick Smith VZ200

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTech_Laser_200

Specs:

NAME: VZ200
MANUFACTURER: Dick Smith
TYPE: Home Computer
ORIGIN: Australia
YEAR: 1982
END OF PRODUCTION: 1985
BUILT IN LANGUAGE: MS BASIC
KEYBOARD: 45 rubber keys, Basic instructions and graphic symbols
CPU: Z80A
SPEED: 3.58 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR Motorola 6847 (video processor)
RAM: 8 KB (6 KB for user, 2 KB for video) up to 24 KB
VRAM: 2 KB
ROM: 16 KB
TEXT MODES: 32 columns x 16 lines, 8 colors (Mode 0)
GRAPHIC MODES: 128 x 64 dots, 4 colors (Mode 1)
COLORS: 8
SOUND: built-in piezzo speaker 1 voice, 2.5 octaves, 9 note lengths
SIZE / WEIGHT: 29 (W) x 17 (D) x 4 (H) cm / 800 gr
I/O PORTS: Tape-recorder (600 bauds), TV (RF modulator), Composite video, Memory expansion port, general expansion port
BUILT IN MEDIA: None
POWER SUPPLY: external AC adaptor 9V DC 800 mA
PERIPHERALS: 16 KB RAM plug-in module, tape recorder,
PRICE: AU$299 at the time!

Fuck I'm old!

My classes are taking up all the damn I have left to spare.

I never really lived in the pre-digital age, my dad had a computer as far back as I can remember and I was raised on the internet (23). If you mean before digital distribution...nothing really. The whole "new purchases meant something special" thing was only because I was a poor kid, now that I'm an adult with money I buy tons of physical game I dont need too every time I go to the local game shop because "Hey, it's $3".

Not really. I'm not very materialistic in the pure physical sense of the word (though I am a knowledge whore, I love books, music, movies and games).

I'm also extremely practical: I hate having stuff. I find it a hassle to store and manage and I have to worry about cataloguing everything in case of theft (if someone breaks into my home, good luck stealing my GOG collection).

It actually irritates me when people tell me they prefer the "feel" of physical stuff (books, music CD casing, etc) over digital as I feel they don't fully appreciate the amount of garbage and pollution that is generated to procure them that "feel".

Even in the digital age, though, this self-defeating drive for constant acquisition of physical possessions is manifested in countless acquisition of redundant computing devices (ex: constantly getting the latest smart phone or getting the latest generation of multiple consoles plus a gaming PC). I have a love/hate view of hardware companies. Love the advances they provide us, but do they really need to push so much stuff?!?!?

And given that I'm a knowledge whore, I like the ease of access to information that the internet provides (yes, some of it is misused for obsene material and drivel, but there are tons of genuinely useful or entertaining info out there).

You had a Creative! Soundcard?

Pre-digital... that's before data was encoded into binary signals (which, then, may or may not have been re-transferd onto analogue media), is it?

It amuses me how it's assumed data wasn't digitalised many years before we started downloading everything. (Even though casette tapes are an analogue storage medium, the program data stored on them for use by C64's was digital.)

...eventually yes i had one. I also had later Creative 3D Blaster - one of the first 3D accelerators with whopping 4MB of memory.

Anyways, fighting with all that XMS, EMS, conventional memory settings with autoexec.bat / config.sys was "such" fun.

The current console and steam generation would probably get heart attack if they just had to start a game.

I miss games that felt finished. Games that came with unlockables for you to find via skill or time played, instead of all this paid DLC we experience today. I miss actually talking to our friends about puzzles and finding different solutions and approaches to them, instead of simply resorting to some online FAQ/walkthrough whenever we get stuck in a game.

I miss the boxes and the art and the manuals. I miss when games were more often than not released feeling tested and less buggy than nowadays, because they couldn't just *patch it up*, they had to make sure they were releasing a quality product.

Magnitus made a good point, but coming from a philology/philosophy background, I know we can't ignore the importance of the *artifact*. Physical support allows artists and developers to be more creative with their product and offer consumers a more polished one. Obviously, the abstract product in itself is what matters (ie, the game, the story, the imagery, the music, etc), but the media through which said product is delivered is a product itself.

I miss games that had no STUPID ACHIEVEMENTS to unlock where getting through the game was an ACHIEVEMENT all by itself!

well i came in late into the gaming world, so right when i got my first gaming console, the internet started to run faster.however i miss the feeling that the game is in my hands. That i own a game and i have something to show for it.oh and the manuals. loved reading those( now i feel like a nerd)

I don't hate cell phones, I just hate the douches that think their call is more important than someone else's time. When I get a call, I usually get out of line and get somewhere where I am out of everyone's way.
I hate people that have to take a call when they get to the cash register. If I were the cashier, I'd grab their phone out of their hand and throw it across the room. In other words I'd get my ass kicked and my ass fired pretty quickly.

As far as pre-digital, I would not want to go back. Shopping at home in my underwear is great. But yes, I would still love to be able to get paper game manuals and the demo discs from yesteryear.

I miss being a kid who can get so excited about a new game and completely lose myself into it.

I always liked those big boxes games came in