The
Adventure Gamer Speaks Out
When we first posted our adventure gamer
survey in March, we knew we it would be a breeze to meet our goal of 1,000 responses.
What we never expected was the enormous amount of comments we received. We seem
to have tapped into some inner adventure angst, as we received not dozens but
hundreds of written comments from a usually benign adventure community.While
the results of the
survey, as you will see, speak for themselves, many of our readers’ questions
do deserve answers, so we have printed some of your more common concerns below
with appropriate (and some not-so-appropriate) responses.
On
Games on DVD
For the DVD-related questions, while I would almost always
buy the DVD version of games (if they’re readily available, and don’t cost much
more), part of the decision would be affected by the content of the DVD (does
it have better video or new features, did the CD version come on lots of CDs,
thus meaning lots of disc shuffling, etc.).
Your question re would I pay
more for DVD over CD is, I think, misguided. As far as I’ve ever heard, the DVD
version should be, if anything, cheaper, not more expensive–you can get a four-
to five-CD game on one DVD–that should be cheaper!
Actually,
I thought the same was true also, but after checking with a few publishers, it
seems that, for the moment, the DVD technology for games will be a little bit
more expensive due to various technology-related reasons. Once games on DVD become
the norm rather than the exception, expect the price of DVD games to drop below
CD prices.
On Gaming Magazines’ Attitude Toward the
Adventure Genre
I used to subscribe to PC Gamer until around
a year and a half ago. I bought it even if there wouldn’t be favorable coverage
of any adventure games (if there were any coverage at all), but at least there
were advertisements. But with fewer and fewer adventure game advertisements and
the violent ads overwhelming my consciousness, I decided it was time to stop buying
it. This is in spite of the fact that in general the articles were excellent.
Particularly on the hardware side of things …
I stopped buying gaming
magazines when I found your web site … I suspect most adventure gamers don’t
read the North American Game magazines since they are aimed primarily at the “shooter
and arcade lover crowd.” As such, they probably don’t know or particularly
care what those magazines have to say about adventure games in general …
Long
live the adventure game! Down with CGW!
The truth
is that many of the magazine editors still don’t “get it.” All they
see is their increased sales figures, but this is only natural since the number
of gamers has multiplied. What they either fail to realize or just don’t want
to admit are the vast amount of older readers, female readers, and adventure gamer
readers they have lost. It is one thing to pay lip service to the genre, like
Computer Gaming World does, and another to actually show support for the genre,
as PC Gamer editor Rob Smith recently did with his excellent adventure feature
article.
On Advertising Adventure Games
Any
company that comes out with an adventure game that doesn’t believe adding a promotional
link to their supplier or a preview site or themselves etc. on your site has got
to be crazy. I wish I could buy 10 copies of each great game I find because of
you, though not having endless resources, I just try and plug you whenever I register
my games.
Advertise on television and in mystery and puzzle mags. People
who do crosswords like adventure games, in my experience …
Today’s
game publishers, taking a “common denominator” approach, are focusing
on games that appeal to both computer and console gamers, to maximize their sales.
These games have turned the adult gamer off, so many adults have turned to web
browsing for their entertainment. This has incorrectly led publishers to believe
there is little market for adult-oriented adventure games. Make adults aware that
a mature game exists (i.e., TV ads), and they will buy.
I get the feeling
that the main purpose of this survey is to give weight to Randy’s argument that
adventure game producers and publishers should advertise on adventure webzines
and in particular on JA. The other information asked for is possibly just padding.
Of course, I could be wrong.
And of course you are, wrong
that is. What I was actually attempting was to convince publishers to advertise
with PC Gamer. Then PC Gamer will be running a survey to convince publishers to
advertise with Just Adventure.
On Escape from Monkey
Island (And the Funny Thing Is We Never Even Asked Any Specific Questions About
Monkey Island!)
Escape from Monkey Island sucks … Ron Gilbert
rules.
Ouch! No fair asking your mom to write, Ron.
Much
of the bad rap adventures have been getting has been well deserved … mainly
because many of the games have been substandard. I think The Longest Journey
has shown that good games will get good reviews, no matter which magazine
or website reviews them. And many reviewers had the guts to impartially review
Escape from Monkey Island and give it a rating it deserved: around a C
… despite the enormous amount of advertising dollars spent on the game.
Oh,
great, now those Monkey Island maniacs will be flaming me again since they think
I’m somehow responsible for all of the bad Monkey Island reviews.
On
Violence and Action in Gaming
You’re doing a great job and I really
appreciate what you do. I really do not like adventure games with an action
component. I prefer to use my brain to solve the game. I am very much against
violence in any form and feel that the violence in computer games is not good
for children. I don’t believe any child under the age of 16 or 17 is truly able
to fully understand that what they are seeing is not reality. Because of this,
they could become unable to separate it from real life. They want to act out what
they have seen and see people as nothing more than computer characters. This could
lead to dire consequences.
I think some of your questions are difficult
to answer when you may have limited your gaming to a few genres. For instance,
the question on fighting–in some games it is necessary as long as there are adventures/quests
built into the plot. However, I do believe fighting for the sake of it such as
first-person shooters are too violent and have no redeeming qualities. I answered
no to the violence question only because the games I play (and really are aware
of) have fighting that seems to have a moral concept involved. In other words,
you know why you are fighting and there is a definite “good guy” versus
“bad guy” storyline.
Now that’s the type of response
that really makes me want to hit someone.
I don’t need
a game to get my adrenaline high, I ride NY subway to work every weekday! That
is more action than I need in a day!
How can I top that?!
I
would love to see developers create more inventory-based, point-and-click adventure
games. Enough already with the action-adventure hybrids! I am tired of the industry
catering to a bunch of 18-25 year old males with testosterone overload—why
not cater instead to a demographic who possess something that these kids do not:
namely, platinum cards and well-paying jobs?
Since the number of people
over fifty with computer expertise continues to increase, producers of adventure
games might benefit from specifically targeting this market segment. Those of
us in this age bracket often lack the nimble reflexes required to deal with demanding
action elements. Most of us have also achieved a level of maturity that yearns
for something more satisfying than perpetrating senseless acts of mayhem. Much
research has shown that engaging in challenging mental activity is the best way
to sharpen and retain one’s cognitive skills in later life. Good adventure games
can entertain, stimulate the imagination, and improve critical thinking skills.
What better way to exercise the mind than by playing a thought-provoking adventure
game? It would be interesting to see what kind of response adventure game producers
would get if they made such a sales pitch to the very people who could gain the
most from it.
We keep trying, but how do you get through
to dunderheads like the marketing department of Ubi Soft who advertise games like
Myst 3 in Next Generation and PC IGN, both of which are geared toward 18-25 year
old males?
A lot of your later questions focused on computer
violence. I am not bothered about this particularly, it can often help make a
good game better. One thing I don’t like and won’t tolerate (or buy) in a game
is blatant sexism (positive or negative) or homophobia.
You asked if I would
not buy a computer game because of violent content. Not only have I done that
but I have actually returned a game for this reason as it contained sickening
violence against women (Phantasmagoria). I made it plain to the retailer
why I was returning the game and was given my money back. I would not hesitate
to do so again if I felt the violence level was unacceptable. I believe more people
should do so, as that is the only way we can let the developers know so much violence
unacceptable. Thanks for what you do and keep up the great work.
You
Love Us, You Really, Really Love Us!
Great site, keep up the good work
… although I will say that I think your Stupid Invaders review was a
big load of poo … otherwise the site is excellent.
Now
if I would have written the Stupid Invaders review, I would be disagreeing with
you, but since Jen and Ray wrote the reviews, you are right, they were a big load
of poo.
Great web site. I think you guys and gals do a
great job on not only the web site, but on your reviews of the games and
industry as a whole. Keep up the good work! BTW, does this influence the winner
of the contest 😉
No, but that twenty dollars you sent
me didn’t hurt.
I often disagree with many game reviews
, but the reviews given on Just Adventure are more accurate with regard to my
tastes. The games under development feature on Just Adventure is very useful.
The bull**** in the print magazines that the genre is dead is contradicted by
the number of games under development. The bulletin board is very fun. Where else
can you discuss game puzzle types that are fun to you. I recently asked for suggestions
of games that have code or cipher puzzles in them and received many good and kind
suggestions. Keep up the good work, Randy, and I would be glad to pay a small
fee to keep the site up. I do have health problems but would be glad to help in
any other way I can. I am very excited about the online Cryonet games and that
signing up through your site will give Just Adventure much-needed capital.
God bless you, Randy and the rest of the staff. Long live the genre …
Thanks
mom. You just guaranteed yourself a Mother’s Day present this year.
Really
enjoy Just Adventure, and especially enjoy the reviews of Ray Ivey and Tom Houston!
They seem like gentlemen in my general age/educational/professional demographic,
and appreciate their style of writing, as well as the actual content of
their reviews. Like so many people, I came to computer games through the magic
of Myst, and so continue to have a “primary loyalty” to the adventure
genre, although I’ve come to also much enjoy RPG and action/adventure games (I
thought Baldur’s Gate II and Homeworld were the two best games I’ve
ever played)–my point is, I like the fact that you include game reviews for games
that are not, strictly speaking, “adventure” games. Anyway, keep up
the good work; I appreciate Randy’s “edgy” attitude, and I really,
really like to read Cindy KM’s weekly summaries of what can be found on the
web.
Okay, this is really out of hand. I can understand one
of you asking your parents to write, but all three of you!?
On
Just Adventure Charging a Fee
I might be willing to pay a subscription
fee to JA+ but I would want to know what “small” was before I answered
that question.
We are trying to keep this a family-oriented
site, so I won’t even touch this question.
I hope Just
Adventure is not considering charging a fee for access. Perhaps an alternative
would be to require visitors to click-through a certain number of ad banners to
avoid a charge.
We would never submit our readers to Punch-the-Monkey.
Punch-the-Action-Gamer, maybe. Seriously, though, if we ever do charge a subscription
fee, it would not be without much forethought and planning, and we would do our
very best to keep the fee below $20 a year.
Random Questions
and Answers
I hope the survey results will be posted somewhere. I hate
surveys that don’t post results.
We will be posting the survey
results on Gamespot.
Generally enjoy the site and reviews.
A little too paranoid, I think. Totally agree with the TLJ review and any
nominations, however, I think you guys have given Omikron, Nomad Soul a
bum rap. Or was that another site?! … Confused. Naw, maybe it was a bad rap
for Black Dahlia. Obsidian was cool, hell I just love adventure games in
general, sorta like good novels you can put down and pick up again with little
stress and true entertainment value. Well cheerio, then.
Does
anyone still wonder why I am paranoid after reading this?
I
wish there would be more coverage of Macintosh adventure games. I think
a lot of these sites, yours included, treat the Mac the same way the ‘zines treat
adventure games, as if they don’t exist.
Serious answer here:
we depend on a lot of developers and publishers to contact us. If you know of
any companies producing Mac games that you think we should cover, then either
ask them to drop us a line or email Darcy.
Hmm, not very many questions here–got any more?
What
survey did you take?
I am sick of all these questions but
I know they are important to have an idea on what lives among the adventure gamer
so I am willing to answer.
Did the reader above put you up
to this?
I personally enjoy Randy’s occasional rants. They
are off-the-wall, usually off the mark, but always enjoyable and entertaining.
The adventure game community needs more “personalities,” and Randy certainly
qualifies.
I’m not sure I know what rants you are referring
to. I like to think of myself as calm, cool, and collected. Sort of the James
Bond of adventure gaming.
None of these questions really
deal with the real issues and questions confronting adventure games, e.g., do
you prefer to use a mouse rather than a stupid keyboard, joystick, or
one of those kiddie consoles? Do you hate the trend in adventure games
to use real time so that you can’t think about puzzles? Do you hate the way the
gaming industry thinks that only spotty, snotty-nosed boys play games? Do you
have problems with hand-eye coordination puzzles? Questions like this might have
been more useful to the adventure gaming world!
I’m not clear
yet on which form of input you prefer. Could you be more specific next time?
My
answers are a little fudged. I don’t actually buy any type of game, I get them
all for free because I review games.
Oh, that’s real nice,
rub it in. “I get all my games for free, nyah, nyah.” I’ve guessed who
wrote this, and I’ll getcha.
I like your operation.
Which
one, my Lasik surgery or my gall bladder operation?
I like
sandwiches.
Me too! I’m off to Subway for a foot-long BMT
with all the trimmings.
