Taking off the DEEG badge here for a brief moment, and just speaking my piece as a "hardcore gamer".
So I read a whole bunch of various EG media from mags, to blogs, to various other websites. Ever since the Wii hit it big, I've been hearing this clap trap going back and forth about the "casual gaming revolution". I hear complaints in the wind about how money grubbing developers, are cashing in on the "new market of casual gamers", and are starting to no longer produce the "hardcore games".
For those that don't understand these ideas, or have had your head buried in the sand, akin to an ostrich, there has been a movement to make games that are more accessible to a broader range of people. They're games that don't just appeal to frenetic fingered, Mountain Dew followed by a chaser of Red Bull swilling, ubergeeks. And, before I rouse the ire of my fellows, I say that with all the best intentions, because I've lived the life of the "hardcore gamer". Games like Wii Sports, Rock Band/Guitar Hero(yes, despite our own Dennis Badurina Jr.'s insanity it is a casual game), etcetera, fall into this land. Even the ubiquitous World of Warcraft, was originally designed to triumph over the mistakes of the past entries into the MMO genre, and make a game that anyone could pickup and get into. Everyone from the young, to your parents, to your hoary ol' grandma can now find a title to play.(My Grandma was a Ms. Pac-Man nut though, so I've never really had an issue there. *grin*)
Anyway, background provided, let me stop digressing. To be honest, I'm THRILLED about the notion of the "casual gamer". Many, many, moons ago, back when the internet was a DARPA project, IBM execs laughed at the notion that anyone would ever pony up the dough to have a "personal computer". Along comes Apple, and WHAM, a few years pass and suddenly a home ain't a home without one. A realm, formerly occupied only by the few, became the home of the many. Now that wasn't completely the best of things, I have to admit. We've gotten our noobs, pebkacs, id:10t's, and scrubs a plenty as a tradeoff. But without the market, the field would not have advanced.
Now pushing the clock forward, we come to electronic gaming. Goddess knows how near and dear to my heart this topic is. I've played em going back to Pac-Man, Pong, and Smurfs on my Colecovision with 2600 adapter, out to now waiting with baited breath for SCIV, and praying that they release Ninja Gaiden II, on the PS3. I've even, grudgingly, come to accept first person shooters, as a valid form of stress relief. I've spent 10 hour stretches, busting through games, on the first night I've owned them. I think the early Phantasy Star series, made the early Final Fantasy titles look like garbage. When, I worked in a game store, which sported a LAN, I'd regularly stay after work, until the crack of dawn the next day, leveling up my first WoW toon on the shops PC's. I've more than cut my teeth, and made my bones as a "hardcore gamer" for the past 20+ years.
All the people that are busy lamenting the idea that Electronic Arts has opened up a "casual gaming" division, need to take a BIGGER LOOK AROUND. Many of us, who spend our daytimes as IT staff, would not have jobs today if the PC market had not come about. If one genius had not believed in the idea that the common man and woman would one day have a computer as integral to their life as their refrigerator, stove, washer and dryer, or any other home appliance, we'd be out in the cold right now.
Today, another group of geniuses, have said that electronic gaming entertainment should not frighten away those without intense and practiced hand-eye coordination. They have simplified the controls, advancing them to easily accessible standards. And yeah, so we won't get as many special FX extravaganzas, and gore laden killfests. But its not all bad. We get to give the next generation a musical heritage, and re-encourage music, when our schools put it on the back burner. Oh, and the idea that they're learning hard rock, instead of boy band and pop trash warms my heart.
This is just a transition phase my compatriots. A chance to let others, who have been unable to understand the pleasure and wonder we've been able to connect to for 2 decades now, to join us. Let them in. Do not try to drive the emerging market back. Electronic gaming fuels the development of computer technology like never before. Down the road, if the industry keeps growing in leaps and bounds, when the noobs catch up, the doors will be open to making things we can only dream of today.
Ok rant over. 70 PVE geared afflock LFG for MrT, reg or heroic, pst.
