People have been worrrying about the "decline" or change in adventure games for decades now. It wiil be what it will be, tastes change and marekting focuses people onto new trends often in total disregard for what people may really want. Sadly our culture has become addicted to "new" and therefore anything that is over a year old must be bad no matter if people love it or not. I have been involved in supporting a number of game projects for "heritage" games that are five, or ten or more years old, and dont give a hoot what the marketeers think or say ditto reviewers, sorry Ray and others, but frankly i am tired to the bone of our throw away culture and its fickle attention span. Mostly this comes from the sad dominance of the electornic media which has to contstantly "sell" a non existent entity (its future air time) to advertisers who can only be sold by ad execs saying"this is THE new thing"....and that means they have to trash what exists now and say we must focus on the NEW thing instead. 

Adventure games re classic fun, and classic stories and entertainment last for a long time no matter what the ad suits may try to say. We are still watching Shakespear and reading Homer's Iliad and Odessey, and there are some wonderful classic adventure games that fortunatley we can still play and enjoy. I am sorry to see the focus these days on cheap and dull super realistic violence based games, affected a lot by the huge wave of violence and crime drama and supernatural junk from movies and TV shows, ...and i will always support good adventure games as the best genre of any for computer gaming. I abhor and condemn iphones, and hand held devices as they seriously impede peoples grip on reality and create distracted out of context living. People are more focuses on intangibble gossip ie face book and junk like that than they ever have been in the past, but good things and good adventure games will always be good.

thanks Karla for correcting that it is E3 not E4 ...sorry Original Poster, the yearly game convention is still called E3.  I could not figure out some posts in this thread until i saw Karla's housekeeping post.

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge (10 JUL 2012 7:56am)

Andromus conveys my point better than I did, it seems - and has numbers to back it up.

 

My one point of disagreement (presuming that I'm not misreading), is that I don't think that the growth in other genres leaves little space for adventure games in the audience; rather, I think that it leaves a similar amount of space, but smaller bby proportion due to lesser growth.

 

(I do think that there's less space on the rosters of big publishers, however; again, I suggest that indies - and, come to think of it, smaller niche publishers - are the primary places to look for new adventure games.)

Yes, Andromus made a good point, but so did Stiler who mentioned Nintendo. When it comes to the overall subject of gaming, there was an explosion of dedicated platform gaming in the 90s which included Nintendo, Sega Genesis and NEC Turbografx and which is separate from personal computer homeownership figures.

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge (10 JUL 2012 7:56am)

 

---------------------

(I do think that there's less space on the rosters of big publishers, however; again, I suggest that indies - and, come to think of it,

----------------------

smaller niche publishers - are the primary places to look for new adventure games.)

I certainly agree with that.

In addition I am hoping that the several KickStarter games will inject a booster into the Quest/Adventure genre..

I've probably mentioned this before :-

We have a chain of computer stores who have been succesful across the country for at least 2 decades and are still going strong.  They sell both hardware & software including games.

I used to visit quite frequently They used to be fully stocked with Adventures which over the years gave way to FPSs, RPGs, Strategies, and so on.

The last time I went there was many months ago. Two thirds of their games were for the 'mobiles'. The remaining third (or maybe less) did not contain one single Quest/Adventure.

Since then, I do not bother to go there any more - I can get my hardware elsewhere and better & cheaper & more efficiently.

True, I suppose, much of the Q/A games are not sold nowadays through 'brick & mortar' stores'  but through downloading - but I don't think that justifies the total lack of interest in what has been described here above as "mainstream" computer gaming !!

It is clear to any who study the world of game development that there are trends and shifts over time but over the longest period, there have always been games that explore and intrigue, and adventure games will be around as long as computer gaming is. Use of mobile devices does not count in my view and i ignore them totaly, for many reasons as very unelathy for the individual and society as well.

That being said, there will always be good advneture games as long as there are good writers, right now we seem to be in a slow period for creative thought for most of the RPGs, shooters and adventure games too have been clones of older ones, and very few new and innovative stories of the quality of Dreamfall, Longest Adventure, Syberia, or Kings Quest have come along in a while.

So we need to focus on education and elucidation for the young, and sadly many young people are entering the staffs of game development companies who are tech saavy but functionally illiterate on the intellectual level so they have little understanding of this sort of thing.

Originally Posted By CrisGer (10 JUL 2012 11:31am)

People have been worrrying about the "decline" or change in adventure games for decades now. It wiil be what it will be, tastes change and marekting focuses people onto new trends often in total disregard for what people may really want. Sadly our culture has become addicted to "new" and therefore anything that is over a year old must be bad no matter if people love it or not. I have been involved in supporting a number of game projects for "heritage" games that are five, or ten or more years old, and dont give a hoot what the marketeers think or say ditto reviewers, sorry Ray and others, but frankly i am tired to the bone of our throw away culture and its fickle attention span. Mostly this comes from the sad dominance of the electornic media which has to contstantly "sell" a non existent entity (its future air time) to advertisers who can only be sold by ad execs saying"this is THE new thing"....and that means they have to trash what exists now and say we must focus on the NEW thing instead. 

 

Adventure games re classic fun, and classic stories and entertainment last for a long time no matter what the ad suits may try to say. We are still watching Shakespear and reading Homer's Iliad and Odessey, and there are some wonderful classic adventure games that fortunatley we can still play and enjoy. I am sorry to see the focus these days on cheap and dull super realistic violence based games, affected a lot by the huge wave of violence and crime drama and supernatural junk from movies and TV shows, ...and i will always support good adventure games as the best genre of any for computer gaming. I abhor and condemn iphones, and hand held devices as they seriously impede peoples grip on reality and create distracted out of context living. People are more focuses on intangibble gossip ie face book and junk like that than they ever have been in the past, but good things and good adventure games will always be good.

 

thanks Karla for correcting that it is E3 not E4 ...sorry Original Poster, the yearly game convention is still called E3.  I could not figure out some posts in this thread until i saw Karla's housekeeping post.

THEM's  FIGHTIN'  WORDS !!

Actually I agree with most of what you say !

I think it is almost a truism that as people grow old they grow more conservative and resistant to change - especially of course change for its own sake only.

It is certainly true in my personal case !

But the whole economy of the world is now driven by "planned obsolescence".

When I grew up, things were manufactured to last  'forever'... or more exactly for ages!

When you bought a sewing machine you assumed that it would last your lifetime and that you would be able to bequeath it to your daughter. Not so today !

If you bought a pair of shoes or boots you hoped that they would serve you well for VERY many years - with a change of good leather soles &/or heels at your local shoemenders or cobblers.

Today you chuck them into the garbage after a year or two and buy a new pair.

And so on.

So it is with computer games - it keeps the economy turning over - or so it is said

But NEW is not always BETTER !!!

Adventure games are actually somewhat on the rise thanks to Nancy Drew and Her Interactive. It caught the attention of teens and I really think that it will become more prevalent. To say the least it has gotten some exposure and new consumers into the market. As for iPhones, I agree although I have an iPhone I am one of the few out there that don't just plpay games all day, it keeps me informed and conected to work. I can work from my phone if I needed to which is nice since it frees me from the office to some degree. It keeps my calendar and I suppose perhaps I am a product of my generation, but I don't know that that's such a bad thing. I completly agree with the disposable culture we live in. I think that the way you treat the creation is a direct reflection of what you think of the creator. If we don't preserve the older things then they will pass away and we will find ourselves on the verge of another world crisis. 

Originally Posted By CrisGer (10 JUL 2012 11:31am)

People have been worrrying about the "decline" or change in adventure games for decades now. It wiil be what it will be, tastes change and marekting focuses people onto new trends often in total disregard for what people may really want. Sadly our culture has become addicted to "new" and therefore anything that is over a year old must be bad no matter if people love it or not. I have been involved in supporting a number of game projects for "heritage" games that are five, or ten or more years old, and dont give a hoot what the marketeers think or say ditto reviewers, sorry Ray and others, but frankly i am tired to the bone of our throw away culture and its fickle attention span. Mostly this comes from the sad dominance of the electornic media which has to contstantly "sell" a non existent entity (its future air time) to advertisers who can only be sold by ad execs saying"this is THE new thing"....and that means they have to trash what exists now and say we must focus on the NEW thing instead. 

 

Adventure games re classic fun, and classic stories and entertainment last for a long time no matter what the ad suits may try to say. We are still watching Shakespear and reading Homer's Iliad and Odessey, and there are some wonderful classic adventure games that fortunatley we can still play and enjoy. I am sorry to see the focus these days on cheap and dull super realistic violence based games, affected a lot by the huge wave of violence and crime drama and supernatural junk from movies and TV shows, ...and i will always support good adventure games as the best genre of any for computer gaming. I abhor and condemn iphones, and hand held devices as they seriously impede peoples grip on reality and create distracted out of context living. People are more focuses on intangibble gossip ie face book and junk like that than they ever have been in the past, but good things and good adventure games will always be good.

 

thanks Karla for correcting that it is E3 not E4 ...sorry Original Poster, the yearly game convention is still called E3.  I could not figure out some posts in this thread until i saw Karla's housekeeping post.

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge (10 JUL 2012 7:56am)

Andromus conveys my point better than I did, it seems - and has numbers to back it up.

 

My one point of disagreement (presuming that I'm not misreading), is that I don't think that the growth in other genres leaves little space for adventure games in the audience; rather, I think that it leaves a similar amount of space, but smaller bby proportion due to lesser growth.

 

(I do think that there's less space on the rosters of big publishers, however; again, I suggest that indies - and, come to think of it, smaller niche publishers - are the primary places to look for new adventure games.)

Hmmm.....I phrased that last bit of my post badly. I agree with you. The actual market for adventure games should be about the same as before, it's just a very niche market when compared to the games industry as a whole.

Originally Posted By Elliot (10 JUL 2012 3:34pm)

Adventure games are actually somewhat on the rise thanks to Nancy Drew and Her Interactive. It caught the attention of teens and I really think that it will become more prevalent. To say the least it has gotten some exposure and new consumers into the market. As for iPhones, I agree although I have an iPhone I am one of the few out there that don't just plpay games all day, it keeps me informed and conected to work. I can work from my phone if I needed to which is nice since it frees me from the office to some degree. It keeps my calendar and I suppose perhaps I am a product of my generation, but I don't know that that's such a bad thing. I completly agree with the disposable culture we live in. I think that the way you treat the creation is a direct reflection of what you think of the creator. If we don't preserve the older things then they will pass away and we will find ourselves on the verge of another world crisis. 

  

AApologies – but I didn't properly  understand the last part of your pos (SEE  ABOVE !!).t  !

Eep!  A number of points have been made since last I posted, so my apologes if I miss any that it were better I didn't! ^^;

Originally Posted By Len Green (10 JUL 2012 2:52pm)

But the whole economy of the world is now driven by "planned obsolescence".

When I grew up, things were manufactured to last  'forever'... or more exactly for ages!

When you bought a sewing machine you assumed that it would last your lifetime and that you would be able to bequeath it to your daughter. Not so today !

If you bought a pair of shoes or boots you hoped that they would serve you well for VERY many years - with a change of good leather soles &/or heels at your local shoemenders or cobblers.

Today you chuck them into the garbage after a year or two and buy a new pair.

And so on.

 

So it is with computer games - it keeps the economy turning over - or so it is said

But NEW is not always BETTER !!!

In the case of games I suspect that it's less a case of obsolescence (outside of games with a significant online portion, and possibly those that have significant 'net-based DRM - but that's another rant ^^; ) than that a single game doesn't always last that long.  Just as the moviegoing audience likely wants new movies, and the reading audience new books, the gaming audience wants new games once they've done with the old ones.

Originally Posted By SirDave (10 JUL 2012 11:33am)

Yes, Andromus made a good point, but so did Stiler who mentioned Nintendo. When it comes to the overall subject of gaming, there was an explosion of dedicated platform gaming in the 90s which included Nintendo, Sega Genesis and NEC Turbografx and which is separate from personal computer homeownership figures.

Ah, you're right - I think that I managed to miss that somehow when I returned to post.  My apologies. :/

However, I think that in Nintendo's case they already had their market when adventure gaming was in it's "prime" - primarily children, playing on consoles, although they've expanded somewhat since then, I imagine.  Furthermore, I'm not sure that there's much comparison in them: they were on a different platform (one which I think - please correct me if I'm mistaken - had very few adventure games even when they were dominant on computers), and were marketed to a younger audience.

I guess "mainstream" is a slippery word.  I think of gaming, particularly console gaming, as VERY mainstream starting in the late 1980s.  A benchmark?  Final Fantasy VII was the first video game I ever saw a commercial for on television; that was in 1997 or 1998.  Then, a few years later, Warcraft III was the first game I saw an ad for at a movie theater.  Half-Life was the first game I saw on a highway billboard.  A few years after that, ELDER SCROLLS IV:  Oblivion was the first game I saw on a Sunset Strip billboard.

What is certainly true is that a VERY high percentage of Americans are now gamers, whether they realize it or not.  Casual games and social media connectivity is responsible for this.  The next time someone tells you in a haughty tone of voice, "I don't play video games," ask them if they play "Words With Friends" or "Angry Birds" or "Farmville."  If they do, guess what:  they're gamers.

I personally feel sorry for anyone who doesn't game (both video and board games).  It's so much more fun than television.  It's better for our brains, it's better for our social lives.  I wouldn't have missed out on all the adventures I've had in adventure games, or all the cool people I've met doing it.  I wouldn't have missed out on the epic adventures I had for years with my teammates in World of Warcraft.  And I certainly wouldn't give up all the great new friends I've made in the last few years after I joined a couple of board gaming clubs.

Gaming rulez. 

Originally Posted By Ray (16 JUL 2012 5:36pm)

I guess "mainstream" is a slippery word.  I think of gaming, particularly console gaming, as VERY mainstream starting in the late 1980s.  A benchmark?  Final Fantasy VII was the first video game I ever saw a commercial for on television; that was in 1997 or 1998.  Then, a few years later, Warcraft III was the first game I saw an ad for at a movie theater.  Half-Life was the first game I saw on a highway billboard.  A few years after that, ELDER SCROLLS IV:  Oblivion was the first game I saw on a Sunset Strip billboard.

 

What is certainly true is that a VERY high percentage of Americans are now gamers, whether they realize it or not.  Casual games and social media connectivity is responsible for this.  The next time someone tells you in a haughty tone of voice, "I don't play video games," ask them if they play "Words With Friends" or "Angry Birds" or "Farmville."  If they do, guess what:  they're gamers.

 

I personally feel sorry for anyone who doesn't game (both video and board games).  It's so much more fun than television.  It's better for our brains, it's better for our social lives.  I wouldn't have missed out on all the adventures I've had in adventure games, or all the cool people I've met doing it.  I wouldn't have missed out on the epic adventures I had for years with my teammates in World of Warcraft.  And I certainly wouldn't give up all the great new friends I've made in the last few years after I joined a couple of board gaming clubs.

 

Gaming rulez. 

      (1) I may be wrong and if so please correct me !

Not one of the games mentioned are Quest/Adventures.

If so –the implication is that  "mainstream" means FPSs, MMORPGs etc. *ONLY* !!

 

      (2) There is an interesting & thought provoking article on yesterday's "Newsweek" entitled "Is the onslaught making us crazy" in which, rightly or wrongly, the avalanche of interconnectivity (Internet, mobile phones, iPods/Pads, etc. is causing addictions hardly less dangerous smoking, alcohol, drugs etc.
And has already caused some folk to go literally MAD !!.

The addiction to video games is embedded in the article.

CONTROVERSIAL – BUT MAYBE WORTH A READ ??

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------

 

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:-
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Len, I was speaking of games in general, not just adventures. 

CrisGer:  Isn't it frustrating that because of PC technology it's HARD to reach back and play older adventure games?  This has always driven me crazy.  I think outfits like GOG are really helping in that regard, currently.  I just hope they expand their list of available vintage adventures.

I disagree with your statement about "without regard to what people really want."  Trust me, if more people wanted to purchase point-and-click adventure games (at least in North America), there would be more development of them, with bigger budgets.  Adventure games haven't been mainstream for a long time now.  That's fine, actually, as we're entering into an era where Indie Games are getting more and more interesting and available.  It does tend to keep the budgets on adventures lower, though.

(That's one reason to admire Daidalic's games:  They certainly are visually lush.)

It's been a long time since games like Grim Fandango and Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within won Game of the Year in the "mainstream" gaming press.  But there's still a lot out there to enjoy.

I also always like to encourage everyone to try new types of adventures on different platforms.  Ghost Trick, on the Nintendo DS, is one of my favorite adventures of recent years.  I also argue in an upcoming article that games like Portal are really adventures.  If we allow our definition of adventure to expand just a little bit, there's a lot of good adventuring to have fun with out there. 

One last point:  It had been argued many times before that the peak of the adventure game (say, 1991 to 1996, maybe?) happened because of where the technology was during those years.  Point-and-click isn't just a style, it's a technological framework.  Mainstream games will never be that primitive again (except, possibly in downloadable or "arcade" titles) and so it's hard to image point-and-clicks ever having the importance they had during those golden years.

Oh, and regarding the Newsweek article:  I'm WAY more concerned about people's addiction to their smart phones than to games.  I'm getting increasingly militant about cell phone etiquette in social situations. 

Recently I was sitting down for a nice game of Lords of Waterdeep (awesome game, you should check it out) at a meeting of my board game club, and a fellow named Jake begged me to be our fourth player.

"Only if you put the phone in your pocket for the duration of the game."

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad."

"You're worse.  If you want to play with us, you must be present.  Phone in the pocket, Mister!!"

I am happy to report that he complied.

Hi Ray,
            How are things in USA with regard to mobile phones – and in particular in California where I believe you live.  We have not been there for 5 years – Irvine, Orange County, CA where our daughter and family live. 

You hear people talking in hospital & dentist waiting rooms, in shops and stores and so on.
 The other day I saw a young lady walking along pushing a pram holding twin babies with one hand and talking through her mobile  phone with her other hand clamped to her ear.
 

All artisans (builders, painters, plumbers, electricians, etc.) all use mobile phones 24/7 for their customer service.

I think that in a few decades human beings will be born with a 'natural' mobile phone implanted in their ears !!!

I don't mind the existence of smart phones.  Mine has revolutionized my connectivity in ways I'm so grateful for:  managing my bank balances, finding movie times, maps, Facebook, calling cabs, electronic boarding passes, and a million other things. 

But etiquette can never keep up with technology.  Our culture has never properly assimilated cell phones into polite society, and smart phones are even worse. 

I see young couples on the street together.  She'll be a pretty girl.  He'll be on his phone.  They're clearly on a date.  I want to run up to her and say, "Stop going out with this loser and spend time with a guy who appreciates you and treats you respectfully!"

Or I'll see a dad having lunch with his family.  Except that he's not.  He's looking at his smart phone THE ENTIRE TIME.  He's fooling himself into thinking he's having quality time with his family.

Last year an outing to Miami Beach with a bunch of colleagues of mine was ruined by one person being on the phone pretty much the entire evening.  I wanted to kill her.  Metaphorically.

I'm a Southern boy, and I have VERY strong feelings about courtesy and manners.  Not fancy pretentious manners, just good old fashioned manners.  You have to introduce your friend.  You have to say thank you.  You have to invite your friend to "go ahead and eat" when her food arrives before yours (don't make her wonder).  You have to talk to the new person who walks into the room.

And if you are interacting with people in person, you MUST, by your behavior, indicate that this interaction is the PRIMARY one.  Not a distraction you indulge in between phone calls and texting and finishing up that turn of Words With Friends.

Don't even get me started on this one. 

Originally Posted By Ray (18 JUL 2012 11:28am)

I'm a Southern boy, and I have VERY strong feelings about courtesy and manners.  Not fancy pretentious manners, just good old fashioned manners.  You have to introduce your friend.  You have to say thank you.  You have to invite your friend to "go ahead and eat" when her food arrives before yours (don't make her wonder).  You have to talk to the new person who walks into the room.

 

And if you are interacting with people in person, you MUST, by your behavior, indicate that this interaction is the PRIMARY one.  Not a distraction you indulge in between phone calls and texting and finishing up that turn of Words With Friends.

 

Don't even get me started on this one. 

 

I feel similarly - EXCEPT I'm not a "Southern boy" but a born & reared Londoner (both parents also)

Ray, I am with you when you said, "Oh, and regarding the Newsweek article:  I'm WAY more concerned about people's addiction to their smart phones than to games.  I'm getting increasingly militant about cell phone etiquette in social situations."  That is my new pet peeve.  In fact, I have told two different people this past week that they are addicted to their phones.  It is so rude to be over at a friends/parents house and one can't put the cell phone down for a few hours to visit. 

as for the games, I think our children are missing out on a lot of family fun because of television and also the Role Playing games that are internet based.   I couldn't live without my tv now, but, I remember as a kid, we were only allowed 1 hour of tv per day, and that was dictated by what my dad wanted to watch, so it was mostly Lawrence Welk and Billy Graham. So, we played board games, sang songs, played in the woods, had midnight sledding parties, played ball/catch outside, and just had fun with the family.   But, then again, some of the most fun I have had with my children was playing Simon the Sorcerer 1 all together.  We would put our heads together and figure out what to do next (course, we didn't have a walkthrough or internet help then) and it was as fun as a board game.

I am afraid that many of us here on this forum are the dinosaurs of the 21 century. When I was a boy I could never fully understand my grandparents who grew-up in a world without cars or tv. They talked in a strange way to. They always talked in 'story form' of what happened that day, or in past days or years. They just didn’t ‘communicate their ideas’ like the people I was growing up with in the sixties.

For example. If grandmother wanted to tell me about how a neighbor, Mrs. Anderson, gave her a pie that day, she would start out with something like, ‘And Mrs. Anderson walked over to the back door and said, "Mae, I wanted to give you this apple pie I baked, cus I baked four and we don’t need all of them, and those apples were going to go bad anyway."

It was a strange way to tell me that a neighbor gave her a pie, but grandmother would tell it in a story form. She told much of what she said in a story form, so did grandpa. They would recite the time, location, and the dialogue in story form as if it needed to be told in detail. (You have to understand this was while sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee after supper. )

So, what I am trying to say is that each generation communicates in a different manner. Today it’s with ipods and Facebook.

Well, I guess I’m getting off topic, but you guys started it with your talk about cell phones. (grin)

I’ll say it again, we are the dinosaurs of the 21 century, and I just don't see anything changing for the better in the near future.

Originally Posted By Kori (19 JUL 2012 5:37pm)

I have found everyone's post very interesting to read, and I agree with all of you. I see grown people standing or walking with cell phones stuck to the side of their heads no matter where I go here in my home city. To me it looks like insanity, but I guess that's just me. I keep asking myself 'what could they be talking about that's so important that they need to spend so much time on the phone.'

 

I am afraid that many of us here on this forum are the dinosaurs of the 21 century. When I was a boy I could never fully understand my grandparents who grew-up in a world without cars or tv. They talked in a strange way to. They always talked in 'story form' of what happened that day, or in past days or years. They just didn’t ‘communicate their ideas’ like the people I was growing up with in the sixties.

 

For example. If grandmother wanted to tell me about how a neighbor, Mrs. Anderson, gave her a pie that day, she would start out with something like, ‘And Mrs. Anderson walked over to the back door and said, "Mae, I wanted to give you this apple pie I baked, cus I baked four and we don’t need all of them, and those apples were going to go bad anyway."

 

It was a strange way to tell me that a neighbor gave her a pie, but grandmother would tell it in a story form. She told much of what she said in a story form, so did grandpa. They would recite the time, location, and the dialogue in story form as if it needed to be told in detail. (You have to understand this was while sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee after supper. )

 

So, what I am trying to say is that each generation communicates in a different manner. Today it’s with ipods and Facebook.

 

Well, I guess I’m getting off topic, but you guys started it with your talk about cell phones. (grin)

 

I’ll say it again, we are the dinosaurs of the 21 century, and I just don't see anything changing for the better in the near future.

Your anecdote about your grandparents was nicely put – both amusing and apt.

I'm pretty sure that my grandchildren feel that way towards me !!
I decide to relate something that happened *OF IMPORTANCE ??? (naturally?)* and as we used to say, without quite understanding it's origin, I'm sure they think "The old geezer is starting from the year DOT – as usual" ! But they are to nice & polite to actually *SAY* so 

Originally Posted By Len Green (10 JUL 2012 5:48pm)

Originally Posted By Elliot (10 JUL 2012 3:34pm)

Adventure games are actually somewhat on the rise thanks to Nancy Drew and Her Interactive. It caught the attention of teens and I really think that it will become more prevalent. To say the least it has gotten some exposure and new consumers into the market. As for iPhones, I agree although I have an iPhone I am one of the few out there that don't just plpay games all day, it keeps me informed and conected to work. I can work from my phone if I needed to which is nice since it frees me from the office to some degree. It keeps my calendar and I suppose perhaps I am a product of my generation, but I don't know that that's such a bad thing. I completly agree with the disposable culture we live in. I think that the way you treat the creation is a direct reflection of what you think of the creator. If we don't preserve the older things then they will pass away and we will find ourselves on the verge of another world crisis. 

  

AApologies – but I didn't properly  understand the last part of your pos (SEE  ABOVE !!).t  !

With the greatest respect - Did you mean that you 'support' planned obsolescence or the opposite?
Maybe I'm a bit dense !

Today, articles are made to last for 3 or 6 months or maybe a year. If you are lucky (and I guess it adds to the cost ?!) you may get a guarantee for 3 years or hardly ever and fairly rarely for 5 years !

I suppose that this is inevitable due to the enormous exponential 'improvements' that are occurring worldwide.

Trouble is – human nature and behaviour to one another improves only at a very slow moving snail's pace and even retrogresses from time to time !!!

No I meant as in if your computer breaks just throw it away because a new one is cheaper. In fact they even charge you to recycle it. Ridiculous. You know how many people could benefit from that in another country where tech is not as available. That's what I meant disposable culture, nobody fixes much of anything anymore except me. I try to fix everything I can either myself or by proxy. 

Originally Posted By Elliot (24 JUL 2012 8:21am)

Originally Posted By Len Green (10 JUL 2012 5:48pm)

Originally Posted By Elliot (10 JUL 2012 3:34pm)

Adventure games are actually somewhat on the rise thanks to Nancy Drew and Her Interactive. It caught the attention of teens and I really think that it will become more prevalent. To say the least it has gotten some exposure and new consumers into the market. As for iPhones, I agree although I have an iPhone I am one of the few out there that don't just plpay games all day, it keeps me informed and conected to work. I can work from my phone if I needed to which is nice since it frees me from the office to some degree. It keeps my calendar and I suppose perhaps I am a product of my generation, but I don't know that that's such a bad thing. I completly agree with the disposable culture we live in. I think that the way you treat the creation is a direct reflection of what you think of the creator. If we don't preserve the older things then they will pass away and we will find ourselves on the verge of another world crisis. 

  

AApologies – but I didn't properly  understand the last part of your pos (SEE  ABOVE !!).t  !

With the greatest respect - Did you mean that you 'support' planned obsolescence or the opposite?
Maybe I'm a bit dense !

Today, articles are made to last for 3 or 6 months or maybe a year. If you are lucky (and I guess it adds to the cost ?!) you may get a guarantee for 3 years or hardly ever and fairly rarely for 5 years !

I suppose that this is inevitable due to the enormous exponential 'improvements' that are occurring worldwide.

Trouble is – human nature and behaviour to one another improves only at a very slow moving snail's pace and even retrogresses from time to time !!!

 

No I meant as in if your computer breaks just throw it away because a new one is cheaper. In fact they even charge you to recycle it. Ridiculous. You know how many people could benefit from that in another country where tech is not as available. That's what I meant disposable culture, nobody fixes much of anything anymore except me. I try to fix everything I can either myself or by proxy. 

I agree absolutely.

When I was younger I did the majority of household repairs myself.

I still do as much as I can.

Mind you, my wife tries to stop me climbing ladders to rsplace our fluorescent ceiling lights or their starters. - but I generally manage !!!

But probably the situation here is such (and I think USA the same or more so) that the fees of artisans of all types, including computers of course, areso expensive that it is frequently cheaper to junk a broken item and buy a new one than have the broken one repaired !!!