Gaming in general is an important part of my life, although many other things - friends, family, my lover, travelling, life away from the computer screen - are far more important. I don't ever place adventure games above any other kinds, if I like a game I like a game, no matter what genre. But I usually play for the story and exploration, and for the game's visual and aural beauty.
That said, adventure games do have some particular significance for me, otherwise I wouldn't be working for this site and modding and socializing in the forums. What I'm most passionate about, though, is how this entire medium of interactive narrative, interactive digital worlds, is offering us possibilities and experiences unparalleled by anything else in our lives.
These are the strengths of games, and it's also why I've been frustrated by the adventure game genre's lack of momentum and progress at large in the past several years. I don't do cobwebs and dust, I consider myself a kind of 'true' adventurer in that I'm curious as to how humanism, creativity, vision, and imagination can be harmonized with and propelled by progressive technology. I can only stay dormant for so long, I'm very human this way. This is mostly why I'm truly excited by games like Facade, Indigo Prophecy, and Dreamfall.
Someone else's idea of an adventure may be just moving a cursor over a static image looking for hotspots. Mine just happens to be scanning the horizons for new challenges and experiences in whatever shape or form they take. And isn't that what a true adventure is? It is to me.
