I want a genuine discussion on this. After paying attention to some game news I have come to wonder if modern gamers who were likely born mid-to-late 90's or later are more easily manipulated than old farts like my vintage 80's ass.
We see it in the news. COD:MW2, people just buying it just to buy it. Reboots of old game series that are so old original gamers likely never even seen the old games and so these reboots are different than the originals in nearly every aspect, ala Fallout 3. We see gamers getting boned by companies and though many older gamers refuse to buy said product the masses of idiots still shell out money, rewarding the companies for this type of behaviour (Ubisoft's DRM, MW2 lacking dedi's, BC2 being buggier than beta, Borderlands not even working online for 2-3 months though it's a multi-oriented game) and there is so much more I can toss out it's sad.
To sum it up we got the signs everywhere the game industry is going to pure shit at an accelerated pace. The publishers and devs typically make a game good for commercial, get a sale and don't care after that. I am flat out refusing to buy a lot of games anymore just because of business practices alone like Ubi's games and MW2. Does this piss anyone else off that we have a dim future for gaming?

I was born in 92, yet I hate MW2 with a passion. Most new games have no style to them. And when someone talks about a RPG they talk about things like "RPG's reward time played and not skill" never about when playing a RPG that it's about strategy or experience.
So yes I think "Modern gamers" are very easily manipulated.

I was born in 1982: Games used to be buggy even back then.
I think it's more of a change in demographics. Gaming used to be a niche nerdy thing, it is now more mainstream. There's a larger audience out there now, so less care overall is done, you make it up in numbers. Plus, people want what their peers have (or are marketed to with), otherwise they are not one of the cool peeps.
I've been buying only old games (thanks GOG!) and indie titles for about the last year and a half. I have no problem running the new stuff, but it either does not interest, costs to much or has restrictions/DRM I disagree with.
Not so much a dim future as a different one. I'm hoping for a shift back to creativity. Much will not be from the big devs, and it will still be as buggy as normal, but you'll still be able to find what you want in some form.

I usually find what I want from games by way of modding. Sure Oblivion was fun and all, but some of the mods made it a very unique and fun experience.
There will always be a small/new/good company that puts out creative and unique games, so I never worry.

What about my vintage 60's ass? :p
Anyway, I don't know if I agree the games industry is going to pure shit, but I can certainly see an argument for it. That being said, I actually don't think people are any different now than they were when I was young, but I believe the difference is hype. Back when I was a kid/much younger, I don't recall there being nearly as much hype for any product, let alone games. Most things like games were sold through word of mouth (i.e. you saw a buddy playing it, or you were told by your friends about this awesome game/product, so you decided to try it out yourself).
These days, it seems it's so much easier to reach the masses (the majority of which don't really do any research and buy because of hype alone) and the hype machine can far more easily get into your face. As for issues like DRM, most people have no idea about it and don't care about it until it bites them personally in the ass.
Hmm, I guess in answer to the topic title's question, yes they are. But they probably would have been 20, 30, and more years ago as well. It's just that now the hype machine has a lot more options to get in your face with the whole internet smorgasbord of social sites, game sites, adverts, e-zines, game review sites, etc. that it's much easier to hook the less discriminating into buying the product without doing any research on it before hand.
And there's also the point that Ois makes about the demographics change. I think that's an important aspect of it as well.

I agree with this part. Today gaming seems to be very much proliferated into the market as compared to yesterdecade. The audience it seeks is also far more diverse, though I have a feeling that this is more of a misconception from the audience towards gaming that's transformed over time due to all the marketing. People usually go for the trendy, and, well, gaming is trendy right now (L4D2, Modern Warfare 2, DOTA).

I think it's simply that the blockbuster mentality that mangles the movie industry has become established in the games industry as well, with all the circular problems that it entails.

As Sturgeon's law says, 90% of everything is crap. There are more games being made than there were before, so it follows, there is more crap. So it goes with all media.

I think the demographics change is the younger generation is probably less capable of critical though and using common sense from what I see. I think I was the last year kids were made right, the ones a year younger than me or younger in school were just walking bricks on a pair of feet brain-wise, and I mean the kids in the smart-kids classes too before I quit those classes.

I agree.
A lot of people complain about lack of originality in the gaming industry today but it's pretty much always been like that (How many Zelda clones were there again?)
It's just that the more unique games aren't hyped up at all and they tend to focus on single player gameplay and everyone's all about online multiplayer now.
I think it's cool and all but shouldn't usually be the main focus of the game.

How old are you? I'm just asking because I've noticed pretty much the same thing.
I'm 18, so I'm wondering if it's just perspective.

21 now, and my broad sweeping generalization of intelligence applied to 99% of kids in school system I went to. My aunt works at a daycare, and 10 years ago she had it easy but nowadays all the kids like kick her and yank and shit. It's the new age, no spanking like I got I think is part of the problem.

I'm 18 and i don't buy into all that crap. The last ubisoft game i bought was RE4, i didn't buy MW2 because of no dedicated servers and don't own bc2 or borderlands although i wouldn't mind playing bc2. But from the people i know in rl it seems like im the minority and most of them dont care about any of that stuff. Companys are going to keep screwing us over because the majority will keep buying no matter what they do. I bet that with all the complaints etc MW2 still sold a truckload on pc same with ubi games.

Yeah while on Gamersgate today looking at deals I saw the Settlers 7 or whatever that Ubi game is as the top hot seller, and it PISSED me off BAD. Idiots buying it so much Ubi isn't learning their lesson.