My thoughts? Well, I think that technology bit us big time.
In days gone by, pen and paper (P&P) gaming was the only real option out there. It required you to use lots of imagination, and to be creative (as both a player and a DM). Many of the folks "with a life" didn't do gaming, primarily because of the time investment (to learn the rules, develop a character, and live to see them grow to something useful).
Enter the computer, with things like Scott Adams games (remember GO NORTH?). Now someone else could be the DM (so to speak), and the cumbersome bits were automated. Still required imagination, though, and creative problem solving.
The next level was CRPG... Bard's Tale, Might and Magic, Ultima, Wizardry.... the good old days. You had graphics (okay, 8-bit), quests, puzzles that couldn't necessarily be solved in the game (Og's Queen to Queen's Level Five in MM1), character development... all the things you did in P&P without the drudgery and erasing the paper over and over again.
Then computers got better. Faster, so they could do more. Better graphics, so you weren't just an icon on the screen. Sound, so you could talk, listen, and develop more personality in your characters.
That's where the problems started up. Being in the software world, I can tell you that developing a tool that works on six different versions of Windows, using all the cool things of the latest version without breaking the first version, is more than a wee bit difficult. You got into compatibility issues between OS levels, video card drivers, sound drivers... and let's not bring up DirectX. Developing something that everyone could use was very expensive, and time-consuming to support as well.
Enter the SNES, Gameboy, PS and PS2, XBox... what they bring to the mix is a common hardware platform. You only have to develop it once. Talk about a cost-savings!
Unfortunately, tastes also changed. The average gamer (who liked, I believe, to tinker with games and computers, and likes to frequent this board) remained the same, but the rest of the population grew. The success of Myst brought the rest of the world into our fantasy world, only it didn't require the imagination. You didn't have to create another persona... you just went. Companies realized that *that* was where the big bucks were, and they started tailoring games to them.
Now it's eye-candy, action, scripted plot lines (even BG and W&W, for that matter), and the imagination element is greatly reduced. I guess there's no profit in letting people imagine, only in sharing yours with them.
BTW, don't think I'm anti-company, 'cause I'm a very staunch pro-capitalist. Sell what people buy, and enjoy the results.
I think part of the issue is that when the first games started long ago, they had good DMs -- people who could create stories and take you to new lands. I remember figuring out the magic square puzzle in MM1, and the thrill of "Dragon Town Meeting... Disrupt? (Y/N)" I don't know that the same number of game-creating DMs exist today. DW Bradley is one... Jon Van Caneghem (M&M) is another. But how many others are there?
I think the worst thing is the loss of imagination. The latter MM games showed this -- too many errand quests so it wouldn't be too hard. "Get a lock of hair from the hag's hairbrush. She's in a cave just outside town, and her hairbrush is on the floor". Puh-lease! I much prefer the MM6 approach: "There's no temple there. Find the temple bowl. Then find a carpenter and stonecutter to build it, then come back to me." True, on one hand it's an errand, but you had to fight to get the bowl, and then give up your current hirelings to build it. There was sacrifice involved at some level, and you couldn't use the temple until you completed it.
That's what I miss, and what I hope is in DL. Sadly, too few others appreciate what makes a good game... a good story that gives you flexibility.
Hmmm... didn't realize I was going to ramble this long. Perhaps it's an issue I care a lot more about than I thought. Any other thoughts out there? And I realized I skipped the "gold-box" games... they're in there after the early four and before the eye candy.
