Amusing to read all this, but am worried about the future:
-a very very long time ago, when i was considered amongst the privileged few to own an Apple, Amiga (we are not a prosperous country down here) or later on my very own 8086, i was introduced to the world of RPGs. A world that until some time in the late late future, showed major signs of incline, growth and potential. Customer base expanding, market open for more and more of the genre and so on..where did that lead? Being the fashion of the day from the habbit of a select few? To dying/disappearing..until recently, yes, but hold on to that for just a minute
-about twelve years ago, i was introduced to the world of UO and SWG (yes, $OE, shoot me). Now at the time, i was hopeful that this would be the birth of a new genre that, given time, would evolve into something deeper, more hardcore-RPG oriented, complex and dynamic an experience. After all, signs were there, incline in numbers, a fanbase of semi geeks loud and strong, technology becoming more and more avalaible and so on..where did being the fashion of the day lead all this to? WoW and its clones..do notice how, relevant to technological leaps, that so was the decline faster and steeper than the example above, it is not a coincidence
Which leads me to today, and the afore mentioned """""""rebirth"""""""" or hope for one of the RPG market. And each and every other insert adjective 'dev team' trying to capitalise on it. Enter that cheesy, stupid, IQ insulting promo. See my line of thinking now? Worried. IF plenty of trash comes out, enough to shadow the few and qualitative ones, we are for sure into once more a descending spiral.