[astronomy_psi]

A couple of weeks ago I paid a visit to my local Game store here in the UK. First I noticed that the PC Games had been relegated to back of the store past the PS2, XBOX games etc. Okay I can handle that ; consoles are very popular at the moment.

But the second and most disturbing was the lack of arrangement on the shelves. Okay there was a budget and a chart section, but that appeared to be the only classification I could see. Games seemed to have been thrown onto the shelves as quickly as possible from the nearest carton! The best selling games weren’t necessary at the top, but on lower shelves perhaps behind a few unknowns. Would anyone know that adventure games existed looking at that lot? No. Although; I was proud to finally locate Still Life on a bottom shelf.

Why not arrange the games by genre, and allow customers to see the choices available? I’m sure that some people would be delighted to realise that there were some more challenging, graphical stimulating, storyline driven games out there! Not all of us like shoot-‘em-ups; although a quick play now and then is good fun!

[Removed - I was wrong ]

Let’s look at Amazon.co.uk. You can browse PC games by Action & Adventure and then you’ll find the adventures hiding in-between action games under the categories Action & Exploration or Other. Why not have an adventure category too?

Kudos to Play.com for having the adventure category; however they’re mixed with action games and so it isn’t easy to look out for a new adventure to play with over 270 products to go through!

Seeing as I’ve bored you enough I will conclude. I’m lucky I know Adventure Gamers; without it I would have missed so many games, I’d have thought the genre was dead. Why don’t retailers admit they're selling adventure games instead of hiding them underneath, behind or in-between other genres? Is it just the UK, or is it happening everywhere?!

[Ninth]

My favorite game store (well, it's FNAC Digital, so it has game and DVDs and TVs and computer, etc...) has an adventure shelf, even though it has disappeared for a while a year ago. It's pretty much the same size as the other genre.
Incidently, Palo Alto store (Frey's? Can't remember...) has an adventure section, but the games are all mixed up.

[MdaG]

The games in the EB store I frequent has en order in selling order or alphabetic order.

[astronomy_psi]

Originally Posted by astronomy_psi

A quick look at Game's UK website will reveal you can browse PC games by genre; adventure isn’t even on the list!

Oops I was wrong about that!

There is an Adventure category within Action, and adventures can also be found in the categories Point and Click and Puzzle.

Mind you I think it would be easier if they had just two categories: Action-Adventure and Adventure…

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by astronomy_psi

Why not arrange the games by genre, and allow customers to see the choices available?

Because such behaviour could mess around with the virginal and pure perception (a good game is a good game) of first time gamers? Remember the time when there was an awesome gaming experience hidden in just about every cool looking box?Eh.... quite.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by samIamsad

Because such behaviour could mess around with the virginal and pure perception (a good game is a good game) of first time gamers? Remember the time when there was an awesome gaming experience hidden in just about every cool looking box?Eh.... quite.

Is that seriously what you think? I mean, don't you think that not putting an adventure category is just confusing, and doesn't help anyone or anything?

[fov]

Eh, I don't know. Every time I think game retailers are screwing adventure games, I walk into some shop and see way more adventures on the shelves than I expected. Gamestop has a special section for games $20 and under, and since adventures often start at this price point, they dominate the shelves.

[Claire]

Last time I was in Game, the sales assistant tried to sell me Hello Kitty Roller Rescue. And they say that the gaming industry doesn't cater for women? Shocking!

On a more serious note though, I think most of the games shops that I visit could do with better organisation--and maybe some better staff training!

[RLacey]

As we all know from the interminable number of discussions on the topic, we can't even define the term "adventure" ourselves, so I'm curious to know how people expect stores to cater to this particular whim...

Mind you, I'm one of the types who checks out every damn box in the shop to see what's been reduced in price, so the specific order matters not to me.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by RLacey

As we all know from the interminable number of discussions on the topic, we can't even define the term "adventure" ourselves, so I'm curious to know how people expect stores to cater to this particular whim...

I for one don't care about seeing BGE, or Fahrenheit, or weird action adventure lumped into an adventure section.
What bothers be is when there is no adventure section.

Note that the said section in my favorite store has only real (in the sense of: covered by this site ) AGs.

[Jackal]

I really don't think there's some anti-adventure conspiracy. I'd chalk it up to simple shoddy organization. I mean, EB (online) currently has Myst V in its Strategy section, so what are ya gonna do?

The people who SHOULD be pissed are the publishers who pay premium prices ( post offense disclaimer: completely unintentional alliteration, sorry) to get their games onto shelves. I wouldn't be happy to fork over big bucks only to see my game end up on the bottom shelf randomly mixed in with other things.

Retailers ARE one of the few places where genre classification are actually useful, though. Honestly, I think I'd be tempted to create a "Puzzle" section and put the traditional adventures there.

[seebaruk]

Game have gone downhill in the past couple of years, their stock of PC games is shite. They cater a lot more for consoles these days. I can usually never find what I want and end up just ordering PC games off the net instead. I got lucky same as you last week astronomy_psi, and managed to find a copy of Still Life on the bottom shelf behind a copy of Railroad Tycoon or something. I think it was the only adventure game they had other than Farenheit.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by seebaruk

Game have gone downhill in the past couple of years, their stock of PC games is shite. They cater a lot more for consoles these days. I can usually never find what I want and end up just ordering PC games off the net instead. I got lucky same as you last week astronomy_psi, and managed to find a copy of Still Life on the bottom shelf behind a copy of Railroad Tycoon or something. I think it was the only adventure game they had other than Farenheit.

GAME have Still Life in their "£15 or 2 for £25" deal. I've seen about a dozen copies.

They are focusing increasingly on the console crowd, though ...

[mszv]

Not sure what Fry's store you went to, Ninth. I thought it was the Palo Alto one, but I'm not sure.

Whenever I go to the Palo Alto Fry's store, the adventure games are there, in their own section, and nicely arranged, and there is a pretty good selection.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by mszv

Not sure what Fry's store you went to, Ninth. I thought it was the Palo Alto one, but I'm not sure.

Whenever I go to the Palo Alto Fry's store, the adventure games are there, in their own section, and nicely arranged, and there is a pretty good selection.

I remember many AGs wandering around in other sections. And some other games that weren't AG were in this section.
But yeah, otherwise it was pretty nice (bought Riddle of the Sphinx there... didn't like it much, but still ).

[astronomy_psi]

Originally Posted by Claire

Last time I was in Game, the sales assistant tried to sell me Hello Kitty Roller Rescue. And they say that the gaming industry doesn't cater for women? Shocking!

On a more serious note though, I think most of the games shops that I visit could do with better organisation--and maybe some better staff training!

Ouch! When I go into Game I usually sit/lie down in front of the PC games knowing I’ll find the, if there are any, adventure(s) on the bottom shelf. I then mutter things like “what rubbish” when I pick up a non-adventure, “WHERE ARE THEY?” as I flick quickly through the games and “grrr” as I pick up yet another game about a prison ship crash landing on an alien planet full of weird zombies.

Strangely, no sales assistant has never approached and asked if I needed any help? How rude.

[seebaruk]

Originally Posted by RLacey

GAME have Still Life in their "£15 or 2 for £25" deal. I've seen about a dozen copies.

They are focusing increasingly on the console crowd, though ...

Yeah, I went to the Game on Oxford Street looking for it, but it wasn't in the 2 for £25 section, it was buried on the bottom shelf (although it still had the sticker on). Thats how I ended up getting Neverwinter Nights too, which I actually play a lot more than it!

[Karmillo]

Originally Posted by astronomy_psi

Ouch! When I go into Game I usually sit/lie down in front of the PC games knowing I’ll find the, if there are any, adventure(s) on the bottom shelf. I then mutter things like “what rubbish” when I pick up a non-adventure, “WHERE ARE THEY?” as I flick quickly through the games and “grrr” as I pick up yet another game about a prison ship crash landing on an alien planet full of weird zombies.

Strangely, no sales assistant has never approached and asked if I needed any help? How rude.

yeah i know how you feel, sifting through crap like:

"Garbage Man 3D!!!!!"


"ChessMaster 3000"

and lets not forget

"Pac Max!"



Oh, and has anyone played neighbours from hell? thats what i seem to always find in there and ive always wondered about getting it...it looks kinda like Viz humour and you really need to be in the mood for that...

[fov]

I don't care so much about how the games are organized, whether by section or alphabetically or whatever. What bugs me more is at CompUSA where the prices are not on the boxes, but on the shelves that the boxes are supposed to be sitting on. The boxes are inevitably not on the right shelves and it can be really hard to figure out how much something costs.

Of course, I know how much the game is *supposed* to cost even before I go in there. But I'd hate to miss a bargain just because the games aren't well organized.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

That's typical of a lot of big chains, fov. Same thing over at Circuit City and BestBuy, although at BestBuy the prices are stickered onto the boxes as well. Thing is, some titles get automatically discounted $10 or another amount so you still really don't know the actualy paying price. The best thing to do is grab a sales associate and make them scan it.