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Old 06-17-2009, 11:31 PM   #1
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Default Thanks, Europe!

Thank you so very much for "The Final Countdown."

Actually, this post is to thank Europe for keeping the adventure game genre going.

When I started reading this forum regularly, I was struck by how many folks on here are from the other side of the pond, I've seen Netherlands, the UK, Deutscheland - it's amazing. Most of the forums I read regularly are from around the US. I think us statesiders might be in the minority on this forum.

Obviously, and I've read it other places - including the wikipedia entry for Adventure Games - that Europe is the most attractive market for adventure games...

In addition, two of the top contemporary game designers, Mssrs. Ragnar and Benoit, are European*.

...my question is why? Has the American mind closed so much, that beyond online frag fests and World of Lobotomycraft, we no longer have the attention/intelligence/patience for them?

Is it a cultural difference? Is it just the bigger market for it? Socialized health care? Century old masonry? Rich food? Why? Why? Why?

Just curious what people's thoughts are, and I remain very appreciative. If it'd been left to us, who knows if it'd still be a viable genre.



* Though we have Jane Jensen, Tim Schafer, and David Cage.
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Old 06-18-2009, 12:02 AM   #2
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David Cage
... who is French.
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Old 06-18-2009, 12:04 AM   #3
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Isn't David Cage French?

I think PC gaming in general has remained more popular in Europe because of the PC gaming heritage there. A lot of people seemed to have grown up playing Amstrad, Spectrum, Commodore and Amiga.

In the UK, the NES was never really a big thing. Sega MasterSystem was probably more successful, but it wasn't until the Sega MegaDrive that consoles sort of solidified themselves as the place to play games.

I have a feeling that in the mid 80's - early 90's, people in the US were all over the NES, while Europe mostly stuck to PC's.
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Old 06-18-2009, 12:12 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Gonzosports View Post

...my question is why? Has the American mind closed so much, that beyond online frag fests and World of Lobotomycraft, we no longer have the attention/intelligence/patience for them?

Is it a cultural difference? Is it just the bigger market for it? Socialized health care? Century old masonry? Rich food? Why? Why? Why?
The answer to your question is "bigger market for it" and even "way bigger market for it". I remember reading in interviews that even in their glory days the main market LucasArts relied on for their adventure games was Germany. They even scrapped one Indiana Jones game that went too much into the Nazi thing because it would get banned or terribly age restricted in Germany so it wouldn't be profitable.

So Europe has kept adventure games alive even when the biggest companies making them were American.
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Old 06-18-2009, 01:12 AM   #5
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Has the American mind closed so much, that beyond online frag fests and World of Lobotomycraft, we no longer have the attention/intelligence/patience for them?

Is it a cultural difference?
The answer to all of these questions is "yes". And the same pattern applies into other "products" as well. Movies (especially French, Italian, Spanish), literature books (whole Europe) etc.
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Old 06-18-2009, 01:23 AM   #6
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The answer to all of these questions is "yes". And the same pattern applies into other "products" as well. Movies (especially French, Italian, Spanish), literature books (whole Europe) etc.
lets not let this thread degrade into a country flame war please. thx.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that Americans needed a quick fix when they had the time to play a game. Adventure games take more of an investment to get the same emotional kick as lets say 10 minutes playing call of duty 4. Americans aren't as lazy as us Europeans who demand a 35 hour work week or else we go on strike ( ). maybe we culturally demand more free time and can invest more into story, character buildup, dialogues etc. americans are realists, europeans seem to be idealists. thats just a thought though. i cant back that up with anything imperical. lets not forget though, that even in europe action games etc are much more popular than adventure games. they just havent died out as much as stateside

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Old 06-18-2009, 01:39 AM   #7
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Americans aren't as lazy as us Europeans who demand a 35 hour work week or else we go on strike ( ). maybe we culturally demand more free time and can invest more into story, character buildup, dialogues etc.
Apparently you live in some better, happier part of Europe than me.
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Old 06-18-2009, 02:03 AM   #8
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lets not let this thread degrade into a country flame war please. thx.
Who said anything about country flame war? The questions were well put and to some extend are rhetorical. If you want to write "no there are no cultural differences, we are all the same" so be it. But let others disagree with you.

p.s. lazy Europeans?

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Old 06-18-2009, 02:05 AM   #9
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If not lazy then definitely laid back
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Old 06-18-2009, 03:29 AM   #10
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Europeans know how to live.

I live in San Francisco, which is easily the most European of all American cities - much more laid back, supports the arts, excellent food, very international feel (thanks to tourism and the hodge podge of cultures - and orientations! - that settled here)...

Having lived in Belgium and Germany in my life, I definitely sympathize more with the Euro style of living. Maybe that's why I love adventure games - but I will still never find enough time to play all the games I want to.
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Old 06-18-2009, 04:12 AM   #11
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lets not forget though, that even in europe action games etc are much more popular than adventure games. they just havent died out as much as stateside
I suspect the answer is to be found in this article.
http://www.metzomagic.com/showArticle.php?index=456
Written in 2002, it's still applicable today (if not more so).

US companies tend to be so obsessed with maximizing profits that they are blinded by statistics. They focus almost completely on the target audience that they see as their biggest customers -- or the most vulneraible to advertising.
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