(Not) Playing the Game
Part 2

By Randy Sluganski

We Arrive at a Crossroads

In part 1, we looked at magazines and the influence they have, good and bad, on potential purchasers' opinions of adventure games. Now let's take a look at the Internet--a new frontier that should be wide-open and free from the influences that shackle magazine decisions such as advertising and deadlines. Plus, the anonymity of the web would seem to allow for many sites to hire writers regardless of race or sex. But, as we will see, the webzines, especially those controlled by the companies that also publish gaming magazines, are once again staffed by Caucasian males barely out of puberty.

Outside of the members that comprise the Adventure Coalition, there are not many webzines that attempt to present a balanced view of the adventure genre. This would not be so bothersome if it were not for the fact that the webzines are poised to become a more influential choice on game purchases than magazines have ever been. According to a recent online poll conducted by IGN.com, almost 3,000 consumers were asked, "How do you decide what games to buy?" Ten percent of the respondents said they rely on friends, store sales staffs, or publishers' advertisements. Twenty-five percent said they go with their "gut" instinct. Almost 31% claimed that they relied on reviews in print magazines, and a full 34% claimed that they take advice from online reviews. It is obvious that the average consumer's opinion regarding the integrity and reliability of magazines has eroded. Plus the expediency and availability that the web offers, often posting reviews only days after a game's release, provides the potential purchaser with a quick alternative to the monthly publishing schedule of the magazines. When you consider that 80% of a game's total sales occur within the first month of release, it becomes clear why it is imperative that the webzines offer fair and impartial reviews of the new adventure releases. Yet, as we are soon to see, many of the same misconceptions regarding the adventure genre exist on the web as in the print media. Or, as another industry source (who wishes to remain anonymous) stated, "No matter what I do to convince them of the depth of the product they get bored after the first puzzle and turn it off. It's great to see Just Adventure dedicated to playing games to the end and giving an honest adventure gamers opinion on it. If only some of the press could take a look at the professionalism of your site and give these games a fair crack of the whip."

The following critiques are by no means a comment on a site's overall quality, but rather are intended to examine their reviewing policies as regards the adventure genre. Now let's go surfing and flush out some of the waste that has blighted the adventure landscape.

Webzines and the Adventure Genre

Blue's News: Online since 1995, I have often been told that Blue's News was the place to go for news updates and links to webzine reviews. Just Adventure, as our name implies, would not be expected to review sport or first-person shooter (FPS) games. Nor would we expect a site named, for example, Just Action to review adventure games. But when you pass yourself off as a "news" site, then you would think that the reader would be offered fair and impartial links to all of the gaming genres. Numerous visits to Blue's News failed to find any links to recent adventure releases such as The Crystal Key, The Forgotten, or Discworld Noir. An email to the news editor (which I will be the first to admit was not worded as nicely as it could have been; the frustration of dealing with some of the dunderheads in the industry who claim that adventure games are dead often builds to an intolerable level) inquiring as to the whereabouts of the adventure game links was responded to with the following, "You are free to provide us with any links to your site that you want as long as they are not for Myst-like games." Of course my subsequent eloquent response was responded to with a "... you print what you want on your site and we will print what we want on ours." No argument there, but I would also recommend that Blue gets a Clue as to what constitutes a balanced news report. Grade as concerns adventure gamers--F.

Game Spy: Thank God this site does not review many adventure games. Their Wild, Wild West lambasting once again shows us a writer who is more interested in showing how "cute" he can be in lieu of writing a balanced review: "As soon as I walked into a bar, some denizen of the west asked me to help him solve a 'crossword puzzle.' Though I tried for hours, I couldn't figure out how to destroy the boss, find the keycard, or save the girl, so I had to hand it back to him unfinished. My mother told me later how these 'crosswords' worked, and so I was able to finish that puzzle." If you do not have a clue as to how to solve a puzzle in an adventure game, then why review one other than to showcase your ability to skewer the genre? Here's a tough one for the Game Spy staff: what's a five-letter word for a reviewer who does not understand how to solve a crossword puzzle (Hint: it begins with 'M' and ends with an 'N')? Did mommy also show you how to frag your opponents in Quake? Grade of F.

Gamespot: Gamespot has gone from being the first stop for adventure gamers to a rest stop for the constipated. Click on the adventure link on the right side of their main page, and you will be transported to a fantasy world where the Featured Reviews are the "new" releases Curse of Monkey Island and Riven: the Sequel to Myst, where the What's New column is updated once every four months, and where the action/adventure game Outcast was voted adventure game of the year. It is a site that is more interested in pushing magazine subscriptions and game guides for their Ziff-Davis line of publications than they are in providing balanced reviews of adventure games. For every Ron Dulin, one of the few staff members to provide fair adventure game reviews, there is a Stephen Poole, who fancies himself the Rex Reed of adventure game reviewers. How much neutrality can you expect from a reviewer who composed a "brilliant" editorial decrying the low standards of adventure gamers (I assume this is in comparison to the high standards of FPS gamers). How can you respect a site that interviews Tim Schafer, creator of Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, and the only subject they broach is the death of adventure games. A site that prints a retraction at the end of their Stephen King's F13 review and has an error in the retraction. The scary part is that according to Access Magazine, Gamespot receives 900,000 unique visitors a week. Almost a million people a week are being misinformed by the all-white, all-male twentysomethings of Gamespot that the adventure genre is dead. Yet, companies will still advertise their new adventure games here based on site statistics alone, not realizing that the site's editorial content negates their advertising dollars. If anyone out there is wondering what it feels like for an adventure gamer to read Gamespot, it feels like warm apple pie. Grade of D, but only because of their past history.

Happy Puppy: Happy Puppy asks its reviewers to be equally adept with every game genre. While I disagree with this policy since most reviewers dot not possess the talent to fairly assess such diverse genres, Happy Puppy is also the type of site, unlike Just Adventure, that attempts to appeal to all gamers. I was therefore initially disappointed when the following review of The Amerzone stated, "Before I begin this review, I think it's important to point out that I've never been a big fan of static graphical adventures. To put it bluntly, Myst bored me almost to tears as did its popular sequel, Riven. That, of course isn't to say that these games were bad, but it takes a certain type of gamer to fully enjoy them. That being said, I didn't have high hopes for Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy when it arrived at my door a few weeks ago." Initially, I was taken aback by this statement, but after an extended correspondence with editor Charles Grey, I can see his point of view that if a non-adventure gamer can present a fair review of an adventure game and then recommend it, even if hesitantly, this might in turn convince non-adventure gamers to try a product they would otherwise avoid. And The Amerzone review does conclude with, "Overall, I couldn't help but be pleased with Amerzone's original story line and eye-popping graphics. Although the game will be boring to some, judging by the sales numbers achieved by Myst and Riven, there is still quite a demand for a mind-numbing adventure like this. If you are a Myst fan, you have no excuse for not buying this game and it will no doubt breathe new life in a dying genre. If you didn't like Myst and prefer to use your reflexes more than your brain while you play, give this one a miss." Fair enough. While Happy Puppy is not an active proponent of the genre, neither do they engage in the vicious bashing propagated by Gamespot and GameSpy. Worth taking an occasional look at, grade of C+.

Games Domain Review: The Traveller's Inn: At one time the most informed and dependable site for an adventure gamer. Yet since Games Domain was rescued from bankruptcy last year by The Globe (who also own the Happy Puppy site), their reliability regarding adventure game coverage has gone way downhill. What the correlation is I'm not sure, but a site that used to be depended upon to convey the latest adventure information now has only periodic updates. Minor titles are largely ignored, and the coverage of major releases lags way behind other sites. Most of their newer reviewers seem more interested in taking cheap shots at subjects that have little to do with the game itself (disk swapping, gold masters) than they do in the overall quality of the game. A recent review of Atlantis 2 that advised consumers to not purchase the game only because the reviewer did not like the puzzles is just another example of an ego gone wild. There is a nice balance of nationalities and male/female writers on the staff, but like Gamespot, they are living off past glories. Their backlog of adventure reviews is impressive, and they are also one of the few sites, besides Just Adventure, to offer second opinions of adventure games. It would be nice to see new editor Karen Zieler raise the roof and restore the Traveller's Inn to its former days of glory. Grade--C+.

The Adrenaline Vault: Like Gamespot, the Avault concentrates on all genres of gaming, but unlike their counterpart, Avault clearly states that, "Games are not marked up or down based upon the genre they are in." Bravo. Bob Mandel is one of the few, if not the only, reviewers on the Internet who can write fair and balanced reviews of games as diverse as the FPS Mortyr and the Myst-like The Crystal Key. Articles like the excellent "The Silent Majority" further establish his reputation as someone who fully understands all aspects of the industry. Editor-in-Chief Dave Laprad provides responsible leadership with introspective articles like "The Dumbing Down Dilemma." Let's hope these guys don't sell their souls to the Ziff Davises and Imagine Medias of the industry. Outside of the members of the Adventure Coalition, the Adrenaline Vault is the only site that we wholeheartedly recommended without reservation for all adventure gamers. Grade of A+.

Once again, what has this exercise proved? The openness and easy accessibility of the Internet has finally given the adventure lover a positive voice to counteract the waves of adventure-hating young males. But just as in the publishing world, the larger sites that are financed by Imagine Media and Ziff-Davis, in their quest to appeal to the largest segment of the gaming community, draw an unfair portrait of adventure games. Not to mention that their usually all-white, all-male staffs are more representative of the action and sports gaming communities than they are the gaming world at large. While nothing we say or prove here is going to change any of this, we do need to stop frequenting these sites. For by justifying their existence, we also provide them with the statistics to attract advertisers. Until the day that these statistics are tallied by demographics, advertisers will continue to squander marketing dollars promoting their new adventure game at a site that is not frequented by adventure gamers. What I find most dismaying, though, is that a world that offered a future free of sexual and racial bias has instead been relegated to the creation of genre-specific sites like Just Adventure and even female-only gaming sites like Women Gamers to counteract the exclusion of women and minorities from the larger, advertising-driven monopolies of Ziff Davis and Imagine Media.

Be here next week for part 3 of "(Not) Playing the Game" as we go inside the gaming industry and take a look at how publishers, distributors, and PR firms view the adventure genre. Not only do we guarantee you will be aghast, but what we reveal about the powers that be behind the industry's biggest spectacle, the E3, will shock you.