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Has media really stagnated, or are we simply looking at it from a modern perspective?
Take the video game Quake 3 Arena, released all the way back in 1999 for home computers and eventually the Sega Dreamcast. This is a multiplayer-only shooter game with minimalist graphics, repetitive gameplay, a confusing learning curve and no story to speak of. Even though it was maligned for these things in its day, now it's held up as a classic of the "arena shooter" subgenre and represents a remarkable moment in the history of online video games. The term "fragging" is so ubiquitous to this game, as well as concepts like "bunny hopping" and "spawn killing" but at the end of the day this is a simple point 'n click first-person shooter with generic weapons and levels. Older gamers have memories of playing this game at LAN parties, Internet cafes, and veterans agree that the competitive skill ceiling for it requires quite literally thousands of hours before one can be considered good.
All of that being said, is it truly exclusive to Quake 3? FPS games are still releasing almost every month with features originally from this game, and people are still finding crazy ways to enjoy other shooting games. Many who are currently playing games like Marauders, Overwatch 2, Hunt Showdown and so on will grow to be nostalgic for the time spent in these multiplayer games, even if it might not have the "soul" so to speak of Quake 3.
I think, and this is up for debate but, a lot of the issue stems from people failing to learn the context of how older media was initially received, as well as taking for granted how many options we have now. This can be extended to other genres of games, but also music, books, art, films, and even stuff like pornography or niche Internet forums.