[gray pierce]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Actually, with due respect, you do sound snobbish. Do you mean to say that you're basing "the masses'" perceived lack of appreciation for what makes adventure games worth looking at on a couple of guys you overheard on a train? You might be surprised to learn that many people who love various kinds of games are substantial types of people - i.e. well educated, cultured, affluent, etc. Not necessarily Einsteins, but smart and informed enough that they can make their own choices on what kind of game they want to play.

If I may be so anecdotal about it, I have a fine arts degree and enjoy many kinds of games, including adventure games. My niece, who is 16 and is already taking college level classes alongside her high school curriculum (she plans on becoming a forensic scientist), loved playing Nancy Drew and CSI on her PC; today she loves games like Left 4 Dead and Dragon Age (yep, I introduced her to all those games).

Naturally, many others like me and my niece are out there, choosing good games and never limiting themselves to just one kind of game.

So what if what we want to appreciate in a game is merely how beautiful it looks and how many hidden things we can find? We can easily play adventure games and then turn around and play Fable II and not be considered by you or others here as "the masses" that are unfit to play adventures.

As I had originally written in a long editorial about it, not only should traditional adventure games stay traditional, but developers should also continue to improve them, refine them, and make each successive one better and better. And they would still be the adventure game you love.

But, it's also good - and necessary - to diversify and be innovative here and there because it introduces new and exciting ways to experience story and challenge!

Your reasoning is weak and perhaps a bit knee-jerk. Innovation is still possible while maintaining a level of quality. Advanced technology like real time 3D, artificial intelligence, and motion sensitive interface can enhance the experience without sacrificing the challenges of puzzle solving and story.

And startlingly modern games like Heavy Rain can and do exist alongside a traditional game like the upcoming Gray Matter, and that's because THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A MARKET FOR BOTH TYPES OF ADVENTURE GAME.

In short, I honestly don't know what you're complaining about and why.

Damn! I know I shouldn't ve used the words "the masses" it's like the most snobbish word out there but you hear it so much these days. 'movies for the masses, music for the masses' so I thaught 'why not games for the masses?'
Anyways poor choice of words. Now to get to your point. First of all I'm not basing my entire point on a single encounter I had. When I say 'for example' that's exactly what I mean. It's an example to illustrate my point.

Also I know there are lots of well educated and cultured gamers out there, only problem is they're not in the majority. When I stand in a videostore, wich is where the popular games are sold, the only people I see buying these games are the exact same kind as the two guys I earlier described. And too refer back to that small event: The question I aksed was do we want people to talk about AGs that way? That's a question not a statement. You say yes, okay that's fine. But let me just say if I were the person who designed that game I'd be sorely dissapointed seeing all my work of coming up with a good story and fine puzzles vanish into thin air.

I'm not saying that making games like Heavy Rain is impossible. I haven't played Heavy Rain(kinda hard without a PS3) but I have played Dreamfall and immensely enjoyed it (I remember calling it the best game ever made) so yes absolutely these games should and will be made I just hope they won't stand in the way of the smaller more traditional AGs. Obviously you seem to think not. I hope you're right. I really do

Finally to make it a bit more personal I might have the wrong idea of (let's stick to that awful word) "the masses" as I'm living in a very small town and before that have lived in large city but in a really bad neighbourhood. In fact in our country it's considered a ghetto. So maybe I've just meet the wrong kind of gamers thus far.