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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 6222648" data-attributes="member: 75787">Better is not always subjective. More enjoyable is subject, and also you may not care about how something is better than another. For example, a Tank is objectively better at not being damaged by bullets than my Saturn. However, I couldn't care less about that, and prefer my car. However a version of my Saturn that had a bluetooth connection to the sound system would be an objective better that I would prefer.So, to games. Yes, there are many ways that modern games are objectively better than older versions. You may not care about them, but many people do. I'm going to take a straw man and compare AD&D to FATE. Mostly because I have played a lot of both. The modern game:* Has better presentation, formatting and indexing. * Has a more consistent writing style* Adapts better to different genres* Has more consistency in mechanics* Is faster to become competent at playing* Allows new skills more easily* Allows for more variety in character creation statistics* Has a more diverse player pool* Provides more advice to players* Provides more advice to GMs* Fits on bookshelves more easily* Is cheaper* Is available nicely in electronic formA lot of those characterizations are fairly generally true of modern games also. So, in many ways the modern games are better. Objectively so. The only question, though, is "do you prefer them?" For many old games, they have charm, nostalgia, familiarity and -- importantly -- a feel of being just right for a certain way of playing. I absolutely loved playing AD&D, but now I much prefer FATE. For me, the general improvements in the way modern games do things overcome the "just right" feel of the older systems. But that's just me. On the other hand, I prefer to watch old, bad (very bad...) episodes of the BBC series Blake's 7 rather than any of the new Star Trek shows, so it's not like I'm universal in preferring modern goodness ...</blockquote>

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