How About Some Cheese with That Whine?
How About Some Cheese with That Whine?
Forgive me if I don’t kneel and genuflect at the holy shrine of LucasArts, but, to mix a metaphor, the emperor hasn’t a clue (and besides I am wearing white pants). Rapturous dribblings of joy have spread like the aftereffects of dinner at Taco Bell as adventuredom collective celebrates the release of the long-awaited Escape to Monkey Island–the other 99.99% of the world neither cares nor gives a damn. Count me among them.
In February of 1999, when Jen Guenther and I became the owners/editors of Just Adventure, we would receive emails that would read (and I paraphrase), “Please don’t say bad things about [fill in company name of your choice here] because we’re afraid they won’t make any more adventure games if they think adventure gamers aren’t supporting them.” At the time, I found the letters to be humorous for we simply did not wield that kind of influence (at the time we had about 5,000 unique readers) and also depressing for it was clear that absolutely no one, not one person or site, had ever before taken a vocal stand for the adventure community. Oh, sure, there were a handful of smaller adventure sites flourishing, but they were afflicted with a “feel-good” mentality and would never, ever say a negative word lest it be deemed sacrilegious to the genre.
Now, only twenty months later, through much hard work and an extremely dedicated staff, Just Adventure receives almost 1.6 million hits a month from almost 100,000 unique readers. Unlike almost every other gaming site on the World Wide Web, we do not mind disclosing our statistics because, quite frankly, our growth dispels the myth that no one is playing or interested in adventure games. We have published editorials and articles that expose the ugly underbelly of the industry at the expense of our popularity, but it has been done for a purpose–to bring much-needed attention to the bastard son of gaming–the adventure genre.
Lately there has been a minor resurgence in the adventure genre. Real Myst and Myst 3: Exile have been announced, The Longest Journey is to be self-published in North America, and gaming’s most lovable pirate, Guybrush, will Escape from Monkey Island. I predict, though, that not only will this renaissance be short-lived, but it could also be the death knell of the adventure game on the computer, for the core adventure gamer is, once again, to use the vernacular, being screwed over by the companies distributing these games. These myopic corporations are going for a scattershot mass-market approach rather than attempting to first appeal to the adventure gamer and thus establish positive word-of-mouth in the fervent adventure community. Instead we will once again be subjected to misinformed, poorly written reviews transcribed by joystick, adventure-hating twitch jockeys barely out of junior high.
These conglomerates believe that gamers once again want adventure games because sites and magazines that usually bash the genre have once again started to speak positively of the genre. But these corporations suffer from tunnel vision and cannot visualize “thinking outside of the box.” What they do not understand is that mainstream sites and magazines have only recently begun to speak more positively about the adventure genre because of the numerous negative emails they were receiving from angry readers. Readers who, after years of abuse, finally took a stand against the puerile juvenility of reviewers who bashed adventure games simply because of their “slowness” or required intellect, readers who were solidified by sites like Just Adventure.
The September issue of a major gaming magazine had no problem proclaiming that “the graphic adventure is dead.” Nor have they had an adventure columnist for months. They do not review the adventure releases by what they deem the smaller companies with minuscule advertising budgets. So how to reward such impudence? Take out a two-page color advertisement that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Grant them a preview with exclusive screenshots from your newest adventure release. In other words, show favoritism towards a magazine that has done zilch to promote the genre. Why? Because that is the only way you know how to do it. And in turn, ignore the webzines that have their fingers on the pulse of the adventure community. Why bother with 100,000 adventure gamers when you can spend your marketing budget to advertise in a magazine with triple the readership, even if very few of them are adventure gamers?
In the past few years, all of the major companies have been porting many of their releases to the console systems: the Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, or Sony Playstation 1 or 2. It is blatantly obvious to the casual observer that none of the larger companies has ever ported any of its sometimes extensive catalogue of pure adventure games to any console system. Why not? Why would you not want to build your fan base by offering your adventure products to the youth-oriented console systems? Perhaps a mistaken belief that slow-moving adventure games would not sell to younger gamers? Just another glaring example of how a marketing department is totally unaware of who comprises their adventure fan base. When sales for the newest major adventure release are disappointing and the inevitable whispering begins that the audience for adventure games is not supportive (as it did for Grim Fandango), then who will be held responsible for the low sales figures: the 60 to 80 thousand consumers who did purchase a copy, or the short-sighted company that did not port the game to a console system where it could build a new fan base? If this is rescuing the genre, then I can only hope that their marketing department becomes hopelessly shipwrecked on Gilligan’s Island.
Now if you believe that producing one adventure game a year is showing support for the genre, then you probably also believe that fan support of your products is destructive. So what better course of action to take than to shut down projects that are using your copyrighted characters in fan-made games? Now I am not saying that I agree with the illegal use of copyrighted characters, but doesn’t that fact that there are so many of these fan-made games out there tell you something? Don’t any of these corporate suits understand that there is a demand for their adventure product that is not being met? Of course they don’t, and you know why not, because they haven’t yet read it in any of the major gaming magazines. There are literally dozens of fans that have created or are in the process of creating fan-made sequels to older products. Instead of legally closing down these projects and creating hard feelings in the gaming community, why not sponsor a competition for the best fan game, or why not collect these labors of love and release a special game comprised of the better fan efforts?
Do I understand that the mainstream sites and magazines are bigger and more important in the marketplace than Just Adventure? You bet I do. But I also understand that without our grassroots support, there would be no building blocks for many of the adventure games that are currently being touted. And quite simply, this is what these corporations do not understand. Their failure to support the adventure sites, because they think we are too small to bother with, will eventually be our death knell. In a few weeks, sales of Escape from Monkey Island will simply stop at around the 70,000 sold mark, as they did with a similarly poorly marketed game, Gabriel Knight 3. Industry pundits will again proclaim the death of the adventure genre because if the mighty LucasArts cannot sell a superior product, then what chance do the smaller companies have in the crowded marketplace? But this time, don’t be fooled by false prophets, for the adventure gamers and adventure community have done all they can to support the genre. It is the failure of these megacorporations and their outdated marketing practices that are withering the genre at its root.
Consider this: The Crystal Key, a product that is without a doubt inferior in every aspect to Escape from Monkey Island (and I do not mean this in a derogatory sense) shipped 200,000 units to North American retailers. Over 70% of those copies have already sold and continue to sell. Why? Because the smaller companies have catered to the adventure aficionado. They advertise on webzines and in magazines that support adventure games and are adventure-friendly. They sponsor numerous contests and competitions. They have made their staffs accessible to the adventure community. They understand who and where their market is rather than bottom-feeding off past glories.
So if one were to do everything humanly possible to mismanage a new adventure product, then you would only have to follow this example:
1. Advertise in magazines that don’t promote the genre and are not read by adventure gamers;
2. Don’t port the game to youth-oriented console systems like the Dreamcast or Playstation 2;
3. Close down fan sites and fan-made games;
4. Snub the people and webzines who comprise the grassroots effort;
5. Produce yet another sequel and promise even more sequels in the future (can you say “the cause of the death of Sierra?”). After all, we can never get enough of the hilarious insult competitions; if it worked once, why not three more times?
If these are the criteria needed to destroy the adventure genre, then choose your favorite adventure game company and award it a final grade of A+.
