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+.
