The main character from Call of Duty Black Ops 7 with blue and orange colours.

I was 15 once. A lot has changed in 15 years: I’m older and balder, but🦋 I still play a lot of games. My younger brother, who we’ll name Basil for the🎃 purposes of this list, is 15 years old. He’s also an avid gamer, as I imagine most teenage boys are.

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In the past few weeks, I’ve managed to𓄧 break into the fortress of a teenager’s mind by talking 🤡about video games and video games only. Here’s what I’ve learned.

For some perspective, my brꦇother has a decent gaming PC and an Xbox Series S.

10 “Call Of Duty Sucks, But I’m Gonna Play It Anyway,” The Perfect Reasoning Of A Teenager ꦬ

The main character from Call of Duty Black Ops 7 with blue and orange colours.
cod-black-ops-7-tag-page-cover-art.jpg

I asked Basil (I can barely type that with a straight face, but we’re going to persevere) whether he was interested in the upcoming 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Black Ops 7. For some perspect❀ive, I was arou🍰nd 15 when the first game in the franchise came out, and I remember it fondly.

Are the kids still really playing Call Of Duty? Yes. Obviously. The game has got wilder and wilder over the years, with enough cosmetics to resemble the꧒ bargain bin at an abadoned Toys R♓' Us.

9 🍸 𒅌 Game Pass Is Everything

xbox game pass logo splash

I was incredulous that he’d actually played quite a lot of Black Ops 6 (aꦺnd admitted to it also) because I’d pretty much forgotten that the game even existed.𒅌 He is going to play Black Ops 7, but only if it’s on Game Pass. Which I assume it will be.

In fact, he's probably played most games available on Game Pass at some point, because much like Roblox (𓃲mo꧙re on that below), why wouldn't you at least try some of the free games? He hasn't really enjoyed any of them, though. Not so much into single-player RPGs, puzzle games, and platformers.

8 “Roblox Isn’t Cool, Butꩲ I’m Gonna Play It ♏Anyway,” A Theme Is Being Established

a character in Tung Tung Race on Roblox
mixcollage-18-dec-2024-03-04-am-1321.jpg
Roblox
10.0/10
Released
September 1, 2006

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

Just a couple of years ago, my brother proudly showed me his max-level Blox Fruits character, but when I ask him about Blox Fruits now (o✤ne of the most-visited anꦰd most-played Roblox games of all time), he gets a bit embarrassed.

Some Roblox games are seen as a bit corny now, but new ones ꦅare coming out all the ti🍃me - Grow A Garden currently has over a million players active. That makes it bigger than most game releases this year, except for a few super-successful outliers.

7 Roblox Is Never Going Anywhere ♎

a character in North London Remastered on Roblox

Roblox is still at the heart of modern gaming for children - which makes me sad, considering all the nasty ඣstuff that Roblox has been linked to in the past couple of years - but I do understand it, at least somewhat.

It’s a platform for free games that you can play on almost any computer. Basil can play with all of his friends. There is basically an unlimited pool of new games to play, and you don’t need to download them. It’s C♒oolMathGames.com but on steroids. A lot has changed, but some things stay the same.

6 ๊ GTA: Online Is All Encompassing

Split image of three games that feature stealth sections, like Little Nightmares, GTA Online, and AC Unity.
mixcollage-24-dec-2024-10-58-pm-2383.jpg
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Grand Theft Auto Online
Open-World
Action
Systems
Released
October 1, 2013

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL

I’ve never played GTA: Online. I don’t fully understand what the point of it is. But it’s clearly successful. And I have watched lots of people role playing as minimum wage food serviꦓce staff, so there has to be some compelling reason for people to spend their lives (and money) on the game.

Basil spends a lot of time on the game. He runs the same heists over and over and over again, and if his friends aren’t online, he’ll do them solo. I watch ove꧃r his shoulder as his helicopter emerges from a yellow submarine. He lands at the base of a hill, rides a motorcycle up to the top, dodging the vision radius of NPCs along a well-rehearsed path, and then accidentally crashes into a fence. The heist is over. He’ll need to do it all again.

I don’t get it. But it ꦏlooked kind🎀a fun. I guess. I ask him what he’s saving money for: he says nothing.

Okay then.

5 All His Friends Play Games - I Mean, ALL Of Them 🐷

Split image of promo art from The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker Sea of Thieves and Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail

Basil is just an ordinary kid who has some friends at school. Back in my day, there was a little group of us that played games quite a lot, but m🌼ost people we knew didn’t. All of my brother’s friends play games. There are like 15 of them. It’s kinda wild. They’d rather play Xbox than go to the park.

Fair enough, I guess, I ma🐬ke that decision more and more often on a Friday night. I know this is classic “kids don’t go outside anymore♕,” but, like, they literally don’t.

4 Spending Money On New Games Is For Old People 🐷

Death Stranding 2 Sam standing in front of a heart sign.

You might have noticed a theme: Basil tends to lean towards free games and free games only. Black Ops and GTA: Online are both available via Game Pas♉s, and Roblox is free. Basil has some money. Quite a lot of money, really, because he never spends anything on anything. Tenners from his grandma for birthdays have added up over time. He has a real aversion to spending any money at all, and games are right at the bottom of the list.

But that extends to my parents, also. He doesn’t ask for games. None of that, “Th🌼is is the game I want for Christmas.” I asked him if there were any games he was looking forward to, and he said no, he "doesn't really pay attention to any of them." He even shrugged off GTA 6. That being said, he is much more likely to purchase subscriptions, battle passes, 🅷and cosmetics.

3 Teenagers Are The Perfect Market For Modern Games ꦑ

Emma Frost in Marvel Rivals, giving someone an invitation and holding a wine glass. The background shows a line graph on a downward trajectory.

Now I don’t know if this is the norm, that all the magic is seemin🅰gly lost from games, but if it is, that’s really sad. Where’s that magic gone? The anticipation? Basil is being farmed like a robot on multiple live-service games. Except he's a useless crop, really, because he doesn’t spend a penny.

Outside of Game Pass and maybe a few bursts of V Bucks here and there, he hasn't bought a new game - like a fully-priced video game - in years. I 🎶know he's a teenager, but when I was his age I was begging for new games all the time. He just doesn't have to. The world doesn't work like that anymore.

2 ꦅ Crossplay Is Probably The Make Or Break For Most Games ဣ

A screenshot from Sea of Thieves showing the Galleon ship docked with its sails raised.
sea-of-thieves-cover-art.jpg
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Sea of Thieves
Adventure
Systems
Released
March 20, 2018

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Most of my brother's friends don't have a gaming PC, which makes sense. Consoles are a much more reasonable expenditure for most people, and most kids aren't interested in running their games with high graph𒉰ics and max FPS. Consoles can run everything most teenagers want to play.

That means the games that get played the most by my brother and his mates are games that provide cross-platform play between PC, Xbox, and even PlayStation.🌃 Games like 𒐪Sea Of Thieves, Fortnite, and Roblox are the best for this.

1 He'd Rather Watch YouTube Videos

Steve and friends stand on a peak in the world of Minecraft.
mixcollage-23-dec-2024-10-05-am-3839.jpg
Minecraft
10.0/10
Released
November 18, 2011

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Quite often, the reason my brother doesn't pick up a new game is because he can just watch someone else play it. YouTube i📖s full of le✃ts plays and professionally edited content these days.

Some of the effort that goes into these gaming videos is akin to thousand-dollar productions, with anima✅ted segments, slick editing, and professional voiceover. If you can watch someone grind for 30 days in Minecraft, why♊ would you ever do that yourself?

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