Most people seem to think programmers of yore were smarter, and generally, that's probably true -on average-. I mean, there weren't boot camps back then.
That aside though, the scene has changed. Write your super efficient perfect game, and nobody will play it. Look at Ludem Dare, and all the JSxK competitions. Those smart people still exist today.
But the landscape has changed so much, that consumers want the pretty graphics, heavy resources, social aspects. They don't care if it's 1kb or 1tb.
In short, people of yesterday were resource constrained so had to write smart hacks. People today have many more resources available, and use those. Both are using every bit of what they have available.
The last game I was big into was Q1. When GLQuake came out, it felt like I was in the future. Compare GLQuake to even some indy game today and it looks awful.
You're right - expectations change and most everything else is nostalgia.
I had an Xbox hooked up around 2002 at a friends house (high school years for me) and their father commented that Dead or Alive looked like a movie to them. They didn’t know how games could look more realistic.
Graphics programmer has got to be up there with chef and prostitute for evergreen, recession-proof careers. And the nice thing is, the tech doesn't even change that quickly. People are still using OpenGL, the original version of which was released before DOOM!
Whether it's recession proof or not is a fairly open question, one thing for sure is that it's not layoff proof. Game companies are notorious for doing mass layoffs or shutting down with little to no advance notice and as a game developer you can never be too sure about your job security at any one company, not to mention it's kind just accepted that you will be working longer hours for less pay.
As for the notion that the tech doesn't change that quickly, that is simply false. Graphics programming is unbelievably cut throat, competitive, and advances very fast. Not only are there advances in technology, but different games also have different aesthetics that often require very niche or customized development to get just right so as to avoid your game feeling generic.
Graphics APIs and hardware change almost every other year and the major titles have to adapt to the latest features. You can certainly make good games without focusing on graphics, plenty of good indie games or games that don't focus on graphics, but if you are a graphics programmer and your game does focus on that, you are constantly having to keep up with advances in technology.
Most people seem to think programmers of yore were smarter, and generally, that's probably true -on average-. I mean, there weren't boot camps back then.
That aside though, the scene has changed. Write your super efficient perfect game, and nobody will play it. Look at Ludem Dare, and all the JSxK competitions. Those smart people still exist today.
But the landscape has changed so much, that consumers want the pretty graphics, heavy resources, social aspects. They don't care if it's 1kb or 1tb.
In short, people of yesterday were resource constrained so had to write smart hacks. People today have many more resources available, and use those. Both are using every bit of what they have available.