Hmm, I have enjoyed reading this thread, and learning how others see games and gamers, even if none of this explains why I play games or which type of game I like. I play both casual and adventure games and they seem to be blending more and more and I like it that way. I have played a few hidden object games that, for me, had more adventure in the way of story and game play then some adventure games.

Both articles (Dave Grossman and Andrew Goulding) were very interesting reads.

Accessibility is a huge issue for more casual-orientated games but as we know, these games with a lower barrier of entry have been growing more and more complex over the years, blurring the line between "casual" and in this case, "adventure".

I certainly don't believe that this amalgamation should be a cause for concern amongst adventure game enthusiasts. Telltale aren't just going to stop making adventure games in favour of hidden-object games. Personally, I think this deeper understanding of what new players need in a game can only be seen as a positive.

It's also kind of insulting to us "non-moms" who play and enjoy them...

Seconding this. :)

i would be an (albeit) slow example of this exception to your rule there. i played and completed drawn, moved onto machinarium, and now am totally enjoying other games like full throttle, beneath a steel sky etc.

it may not be the hardest but this "casual" game helped me get the gist of the mechanics of the genre so i would have more patience and not get frustrated,

since i started with adventures again last month i haven;t gone near a walkthrough, (or even used any of those hints in machinarium (and believe me when i say i forgot most of what i did the first time i played it))

so it definitelly helped my barrier to entry, which i found much too tought last year when i made the mistake of trying the harder games first off.

I used to play over 30 adventures a year. I have never played anything other than adventures or puzzle games. Last year I discovered Casual games, and now that is the majority of the gaming I do. The reason is time. Right now I'm reading more, so what I want is more of a gaming quick fix for an hour or so. With a full length game, sporadic play is difficult - you forget where you've been, what you've done and sometimes even the story details. I'm in the over 50 female group of gamers that love the adventure game experience, but want it in smaller units. I'm not a mom, but I can imagine that anybody with a busy lifestyle would not have the luxury of sitting down to a couple of hours of interruption free gaming.
My biggest complaint about casual games is their lack of challenge, though games like Drawn are upping the bar somewhat. I still enjoy adventures, and will probably play more of them in the winter when weekends are less busy.

Great and funny article :D. It also explains a lot, because mother-in-law can also represent other gamers who are not accustomed or acknowledged to adventure games, and can show with what sort of decisions developers and publishers have to deal with if they want their product to find wider audience.

modern "casualization" of video games could be also closely related to things like - growth of internet, along with the rise of use of personal computers in almost every aspect and mass marketing. Changes happen in every genre that are evident to die-hard fans of that genre - Civilization fan who played all games in a series will probably tell you that Civ 5 is a commercially mass-oriented simplified version of previous installments, and long-term RPG fan will tell you that none of new RPG games can compare to the complexity of an older ones. It's not different to adventure games, but it's really interesting to see how things develop because adventure genre is unique in a way that it was the most popular genre, yet with the rise of popularity of action oriented games managed to keep up with it's roots, which is not a "conservative" thing at all because the shiny-new FPS is also based on every basic idea that Wolfenstein or Doom had. Further, it's special in a way that many of modern casual games rely on adventure game elements, like puzzle solving, and even story-telling. Finding a hidden-object is just a simple form of puzzle solving in order to progress.

"Casualization" of adventure games could also mean how graphic surpassed text adventures, or how things evolved regarding the fact that we have an option to show hot-spots that wasn't there before. As for modern "casualization", it's not clear how the traditional adventures will come out of it, but it is already visible how, like every other genre, adventure games are influented, and especially because of the fact that games like hidden object games that are on the rise resemble adventure genre the most, and that the two have a lot in common, or becoming similar. I suggest this article on thoughts of correlation between them.

Some things are already obvious, like that some traditional adventure companies are "lost" in the trend. City Interactive is no longer doing adventure games, Kheops and AWE Games too. Some are in the middle of it, like Frogwares who made casual game out of Dracula series or AGON producers who announced that there will be two new AGON game versions - casual and "full" one. Or Al Emmo casual game, which as authors said - "was needed in order to raise funds for next full adventure game". The only question in all of this is will those companies that embrace themselves in titles that might bring them more financial success ever revert to the old ways?

But even if they don't, you can't beat interactive story telling. If we are to discuss how adventure games are influented, puzzles is probably the first thing that comes to mind. But when you think of it, puzzles or "interaction" is the only thing which make games what they are.