Hay I wrote this, it's blogarific:
Fantasy as a genre, especially in the gaming arena (which is what I'm going to be complaining about), has been rotting like a log in the swamp for the past twenty years. The only interesting new form of fantasy to present itself in that time has been steampunk (which is arguably science fiction). Most of the blame lies on the shoulders of the D&D juggernaut. D&D is a codex of all of the myriad fantasy clichés and is the basis, consciously or not, of modern fantasy games. It strangles creativity as the people who create their worlds have an enormous number of pre-existing ideas clogging their mind. Dungeons and Dragons it also is what many, if not most, people have come to expect from fantasy. Laziness is another factor. Why waste time coming up with your own stuff when you can replicate a setting that is already familiar? "New" fantasy settings are, depressingly often, simply derivatives of D&D, a new skin over an old model or a new flavor of the same substance. Rampaging greenskinned evil berserkers are orcs no matter what else you might call them. To be honest, D&D does have interesting ideas, however too often most are discarded in favor of the next elf subrace.
A sad, lonely example is the Planescape setting. Despite being originally based on the Water/Fire/Wind/Water cliché which really ought to be put to rest, the Planescape setting grew to explore the concept of moral alignment. It is filled with worlds reflecting the morality of their inhabitants. It's central hub is a town dominated by factions which are not defined by race or class but by philosophy: factions ranging from the Dustmen, who believe that life is sad shadow of a greater and happier previous existence, to the Society of Sensation which believes in the primacy of the physical senses as the only way to define reality.
A great example of the uniqueness of Planescape comes from the only cRPG (as far as I know) that takes place in the Planescape setting, Planescape: Torment. The developers turned many stock fantasy constructs and turned them on their head or omitted them altogether. Where are the elves and orcs? Where are the swords? Where is The Ancient Evil? Why am I not The Chosen One? What's with all this fucking text? Am I supposed to read it all?
PS:T revolves around dialogue and character development rather than combat which is almost certainly blasphemy. The story itself is leaps and bounds beyond normal fantasy fare. The central plot revolves around a man accepting his own damnation. There are subplots about people trying to be something that is contradictory to their nature and the torment (hence the title) that it can cause them and the people they know. There are motifs about communal reality and of thoughts, words, and ideas having physical power. I could go on nonstop about Planescape: Torment and its ideas...the setting, the characters, the plot and subplots, even the magic items with their interesting ways of being acquired and flavorful backstories. It is the polar opposite of what most people consider to be (and what I, unhappily, expect from) fantasy. With such an amount of creative input (and box art without an immodestly dressed woman) the game was destined to fail.
Compare this to World of Warcraft, an insanely popular "RPG" treadmill grindfest. A setting that is entirely derivative, with every fantasy cliché sporting a new appearance but nothing else. Warcraft's setting suffers from a disappointing lack of creativity in all areas except the visual. The races of the game are from a furry's dream; they are all anthropomorphic animals. Cow people, rat people, bear people, snake people, lizard people, pig people, wolf people, dog people, fish people, crab people, spider people, beetle people, even, for god's sake, tree people. Not to mention three elf subraces and counting (all of which are filled with hot elf chicks that will /dance at your command). There is such a thing as an appreciation of archetypes and then there is pissing on my face.
The necrosis that fantasy suffers from comes from a couple of sources. The first is the lack of effort on the part of the cultural pedestrians who create fantasy games. The second is the lack of demand for creativity on the part of consumers. The entire genre suffers from the tasteless teenage boys who dominate the gaming consumer base. To them, interesting ideas take too much effort. Video games aren't for thinking, they are for bloom, blood, and breasts. Breasts can be wonderful things but they should not be a crutch (or an excuse). The boob-centricity of modern fantasy games epitomizes the immaturity of both the consumption and production sides of the market.
