By Lorin Baumgarten

On this week’s episode of EpicBatleCry, the hosts talked quite a bit about game delays. As you know this is a favorite topic of mine and, therefore, you might be expecting me to write about it this week. Well, I will not. Although – I will say that I still can’t figure out why an industry that makes more money than the music industry and is creeping up on film still cannot seem to manage what the other two forms of entertainment mastered long ago: schedules. I mean, didn’t we all learn about schedules and managing expectations and fulfilling commitments in some intro class in high school? I mean seriously, gaming industry, get your sh*# together when it comes to…wait a minute, wait a minute. I said that I am not going to write about this topic this week, didn’t I?. Sorry. I got a little caught up there. What I dowant to discuss this week is a topic DK brought up on the show in the context of Mass Effect 2, but is an even more interesting question when extrapolated out to the industry in general. That question is: are games being dumbed down and/or diluted in order to appeal to the masses and , if so, are they losing quality and merit because of it?

So when Mr. Daniel Kayser brought this topic up on EBC, he got a bit of flack from a few people. The thoughts I saw expressed, thought they were not the majority, were simply that DK was just upset that Mass Effect 2 was going to appear on the PS3 early next year. Though I do not speak for him, I think that I managed to ascertain from what he said on the show (you know, the part where he said he was glad the game would be released for the PS3?) that he was, in point of fact, glad that the game would be released on the PS3. I think the point he was trying to make by bringing it up was one of whether or not diluting the production team by having them build the game for another platform would hurt the game’s content in the long run, as the same number of people would be forced to do more work. I think that point got a bit twisted up during the course of the conversation with another assertion, brought up by one Brent “ThunderSmash” Adams.

Brent’s suggested that if one was concerned about franchise or property dilution, perhaps one should look to the Dragon Age example. A good point, indeed. BioWare has said, in no uncertain terms, That Dragon Age 2 would play more like Mass Effect 2 and less like a traditional RPG. They have also stated that they are doing this to make the game more accessible to a wider audience. So when you put those two things together, expanding platforms for ME2 and changing the gameplay of Dragon Age 2, it does beg the question as to whether or not BioWare is trying so hard to widen its audience that it is doing so at the expense of game quality. Which in turn leads to the question: is this happening throughout the gaming industry?

Let’s start with BioWare specifically. The answer is no. At least, so far as we know. There is no reason, from what we have seen in BioWare’s past, to think that they will give us anything other than a top-quality product. Until they give a reason to believe otherwise, specifically by putting out a poor quality game, BioWare deserves the benefit of the doubt as much as any game company out there. Personally I thought that their decision to curb the RPG elements of Mass Effect and focus on enhancing the shooting aspects for Mass Effect 2 to be a very solid one. As a matter of fact, I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who thinks the original Mass Effect is a better game than the sequel. Well, aside from Brent. As for Dragon Age? I have enjoyed the six or so hours I have played of it so far. However, I am really looking forward to playing Dragon Age 2 with it’s new feel. Not being one of those people who comes from an old-school RPG background, I am much more excited to play the game in its new format than I would have been to stick with the previous one (I played it on the PC, by the way). Of course, I could be wrong. It could hurt the game. But as I said earlier, until I see that game, I will give BioWare the benefit of the doubt.

Enough about BioWare though. What a bout the gaming industry as a whole? Peter Molyneux has said, on many occasions, that Fable III is being tweaked to become less of an RPG and more of an adventure game in order to make it more accessible to a broader fan base. So, is the industry intentionally diluting game content? Are they making it easier or more low-brow in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience? Before I answer that question, I feel a need to remind you (and myself) of something. Video games are a business. Not only are video games a business, they are BIG BUSINESS! Hundreds of millions of dollars can be made by one game alone and billions of dollars changes hands each year in the gaming industry. And, fundamentally, it is the job of the CEO’s of publishing companies to make more money. And, as you might suspect, one of the primary ways you can make more money, in business, is to get more people to buy your product. That being said, we would all like to think of the developers as people whose job it is to be creative and come up with rich and rewarding games for us to play. That is true – that is one part of their jobs. But it is also part of their job to create games that will sell. Their games must sell. In order to obtain the funding necessary to pay a staff to create a game, frequently to the tune of millions of dollars, companies must sell games. So I want to be clear that it is my opinion that trying to appeal to a larger audience is never something for which a design or publishing company should ever have to apologize. It is the nature of business and, frankly, the more people that play games the better it is for all of us. The more consoles in homes, the more money games make, the more people who associate themselves with games – these things all serve to bring more attention and money into the industry which will, in turn, mean more games.

But the question still remains as to whether or not quality is suffering because of this need to expand the gaming audience. I say no – it is not. How can I say that so quickly? Well, with games like Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet, and Batman: Arkham Asylum sitting on my shelf (just to name a few), it’s hard to complain that games these days lack quality and depth. Sure, it is possible that some games or franchises are getting watered down, but I would say that those are the exception and not the rule.

Gaming has been growing steadily for years now and looks to continue to do so. Growth is good for gaming. It is good for developers, publishers and gamers alike. Making a game “more accessible” does not inherently mean making it “less”. As a matter of fact, it means making it more. It means that developers are really looking hard at gameplay and streamlining it to the best of their abilities. Mass Effect 2 is a brilliant game and Fable III looks to be fantastic. So let’s not put the cart before the horse and worry about something that hasn’t happened yet. Enjoy the incredible games we have been getting over the last two years and that we will be getting over the next one. And if game companies are putting out games that can bring your non-gamer friends into the fold, then thank them, don’t revile them. Not all games will be perfect. But trying to widen the gaming audience is not a crime. So don’t worry.

Of course, if Dragon Age 2 sucks, we are storming BioWare!