Slashdot Mirror
Genre Wars — the Downside of the RPG Takeover
Phaethon360 writes "From Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2 to even Team Fortress 2, RPG elements are creeping into game genres that we never imagined they would. This change for the most part has managed to subtly improve upon genres that needed new life, but there's a cost that hasn't been tallied by the majority of game developers. 'The simple act of removing mod tools, along with the much discussed dedicated server issue, has made [MW2] a bit of a joke among competitive players. Gone are the days of "promod," and the only option you have is to play it their way. If Infinity Ward are so insistent on improving the variety of our experiences, they don’t have to do it at the expense of the experience that many of us already love. It really is that simple. If they don’t want to provide a good "back to basics experience," they could at least continue to provide the tools that allow us to do that for ourselves.'"
I read the summary, it did not make sense. So, I RTFA, it still does not make sense. Is anything being said here at all??
I must admit I rarely play these games but I thought all of them had Rocket Propelled Grenades in them since Doom?
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
The removal of Mod Tools in MW2 has nothing to do with any RPG elements. It is completely feasible for RPGs to have mods, and indeed many popular RPGs have some of the most impressive mods. Also, the summary mentions Bioshock, but that games was a 'spiritual successor' to System shock 1 & 2, and Bioshock actually was LESS of an RPG than those.
I can understand the complaint about RPG elements (in simple form) creeping into other genres, but a similar problem is faced by RPGs; they are being diluted by other genres. Look at something like Fallout 3 for an example. I'd argue that the bigger problem is that ALL game series seem to eventually slowly turn into first person shooters with light rpg elements. It's a lowest common denominator style of gameplay that is pulling in games from all directions.
But it's the only chance a lot of people would have (thus broadening their market)...
http://www.pixelpoppers.com/2009/11/awesome-by-proxy-addicted-to-fake.html
I think there are two distinct issues highlighted in the story, which don't necessarily have a particularly strong connection.
The first is the creep of RPG elements into other genres. I've certainly noticed this myself, and there are a few obvious manifestations. The most obvious is the idea that the player should get more powerful over the course of the game, and that said power should not be subject to resets. If you look at a traditional shoot-em-up, the player picks up new weapons as he plays through the game, but once he gets shot and loses a life, he's generally back to the pea-shooter he started the game with. This model is now almost dead, at least in its pure form. If you look at any recent action game - Bayonetta, for example - some items (such as health potions and the disposable weapons) may be temporary, but as the player gets further into the game, they accumulate persistent upgrades, such as a longer health bar, more special moves and better weapons. In fact, a lot of games give players who have already beaten them the option of starting over, while carrying over their upgrades from previous cycles.
So why has this happened? I think the gaming industry has realised that, now that gaming is primarily an activity that takes place in the home rather than in arcades, people do not like excessive penalties for failure. Allowing a power-curve in games is pretty much established in most genres these days, but resetting that curve whenever a player makes a mistake results in people switching off the console - and loses future sales for games in that series. There are still a few titles that hold out - Mario, in particular, which even still preserves the obsolete concept of "lives" in some installments - but they increasingly look like antiquated oddities. We always seem to get a few odd cases here on slashdot who like to post on threads about MMOs saying "they'd be more fun if they had permadeath", but it's interesting that commercial MMO operators, who have to put their money where their mouth is, have never seen fit to pursue this. I think they know what they're doing.
The second issue is around the restriction of modding, which I don't really see as being at all related to the spread of RPG elements. After all, RPGs are historically highly moddable, from their roots in the pen and paper market onwards. The Neverwinter Nights games were heavily marketed with their modability as a key selling point. However, there does seem to be a trend towards restriction of modding in some genres, including fpses. I think there are two drivers for this. The first, simply put, is a "hot coffee" reaction. As certain countries (eg. Germany and Australia) adopt wildly restrictive attitudes towards video game content, developers are naturally more paranoid about being criticised (or sued) for game content that was actually added or unlocked by a third party mod. The other cause is the desire to deliver a more consistent experience.
I think this stems from the console market. Consoles have many disadvantages compared to the PC as platforms for multiplayer gaming, but they do have a big advantage; consistency of hardware. While there will still be imbalances due to connection quality, the hardware is the same in every case, so there are fewer non-skill-related variables invovled in gaming. In some ways, this actually makes the game more suitable for serious competition. There may be another factor related to something I remember relating to Quake 3; graphical "vandalism". I remember how when Quake 3 had its brief honeymoon with the gaming community (before being buried by Counter-Strike), almost all high level players (and most of the wannabes) played with graphical details that made the game look more like Carrier Command than a modern fps. I remember reading that ID weren't happy about how their game was being shown off, and that this fed into the more restrictive graphical options within Quake 3.
What does adding RPG elements have to do with removing tools for modding a game? That's right, nothing.
Well. It seems reasonable to me after decade of playing FPS. You know there are only 2 types of FPS. "Shoot everything that moves" and "Shoot everything".
Or Defrag.
Nothing to optimize on something that is perfect.
Defrag in perfection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2hpaKphOtI
CPMA in perfection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4zEge_iWPk
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
The removal of mod tools is because Infinity Ward are a bunch of PC-hating cocktards.
What that has to do with "RPG elements" is presumably left as an exercise to the reader?
(Also, Bioshock is a terrible example, since it's a spiritual successor to a legendary RPG, System Shock 2. In many ways, Bioshock was SS2 dumbed down with more 'FPS elements'. Now shush.)
I believe that every game has a spark of creativity that cannot be denied.
Some devteams work for ten years or more on the same game... improving it, polishing it, patching it, rereleasing it under new technology, imagining, dreaming, hoping, sketching...
This is love, right?
I think so. I think it's eternal love; like a "soul."
I didn't see anything in there that was actually a cause-effect relationship between the "RPG elements" and taking away from the games.
Personally, I love the blending of genres. Now we get games like Mass Effect which combine action similar to Gears of War with a real RPG feel.
same diff
Surely Bioshock should count as RPG elements creeping out of the game, rather than into it? Compare it to System Shock 2, which it is supposedly a "spiritual successor" to. Which has lots more RPG elements? Its the one more convincing and compelling story.
... Shock 2?
[Grumpy rant]
Every time I play bioshock, even when I force myself, I get bored with it and eventually give up. Maybe its just me, and I'm well aware of all the people that go on about how great it is, but it never felt compelling, and things like pretty unbelievable characters (that artist who froze people sticks in my mind), and the freakin cheap cop out of little sisters leaving teddy bears for you usually quickly ruin the immersion (and fun) for me. I still play Shock 2 however, even though I know the location of every scare.
Ah damn, does the immenant release of Bioshock 2 mean I'll have to stop referring to Shock 2 as
[/Grumpy rant]
Can be stop complaining about the dedicated server thing? Honestly, I think IW just wanted to make a console game and didn't want to put the effort into a PC release. Plain and simple, no conspiracy. Inspite of the issues with glitching, I've had a great deal of fun playing MW2 on my 360 as I'm sure PS3 owners have as well.
It's far far too late to complain about anything with MW2. Its become something like the 4th best selling game of all time (looking at console sales), and has made a butt load of money as everyone rushes to buy an inferior sequel. Its selling much faster than the previous one.
Remember how companies like id said they would be watching to see if its ok to remove features like dedicated servers? The answer is yes. Now everyone will see they can do things like this and get away with it, so they will keep doing it.
It is surprising how many threads on /. I feel the need to answer with the two simple words: 'Dwarf Fortress'. The words 'indy games' are a more general way to convey the same sentiment. So, if the failings and misdemeanours of the monolithic entertainment industry monopoly cause it to founder and collapse under it's own weight... the only concievable response I can think of is to laugh long and hard. You want customiseable games? You want to be treated as a consumer of art and not a generic consumer of products of EA games and others designed to cater for 14-18 year old social misfits with personality problems and rich parents? Well it's still there, never went away, never will. Every time something is corrupted something new and wonderful is created, you just have to know where to look.
I don't understand at all how the summary is related to the headline. What do RPG elements have to do with that? I would presume that RPG influences in a game don't stop anyone from making a mod for it? That clearly can't have been the reason why infinity ward did what they have done.
There is an easy way to remove all RPG elements - use cheats.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
IMHO, RPGs, are the most time consuming type of game you can play and serve primarily to feed the the player's obsessive-compulsive instincts for very little, if any, tangible benefit. You basically run around behaving repetitively & collecting as much virtual crap as you can. Your reward is "experience" which can only be taken advantage of with further gameplay. I find the crack analogies to be very compelling.
It's no wonder that game companies want to extend the model to other game genres. They want you to keep playing & paying.
Granted, many games cater to your inner, OCD afflicted hunter-gatherer but few genres keep you on the hook as purposefully and for as long as a RPG will.
The RPGificataion of the COD series started with the addition of "Perks" & levels. I found this to be immediately detrimental to the game. The number of custom servers was reduced dramatically. Few people wanted to run an 'un-ranked' server despite the fact that all the serious players would rank up in a few weeks, after which time experience was essentially meaningless.
This led to thousands of generic servers with more or less the same set of rules and levels.
Yet players clung on, even ranking up all over again for the ridiculous "prestige" levels. The erosion of gameplay had begun, it's now less about the game play and more about collecting meaningless, virtual experience points.
Now throw in the massive growth of consoles and you can see where this is going.
Millions of lemmings competing for bragging rights over virtual perks. No thanks.
I will even go so far as to say this is bad for IT.
I got into this field because of video games. I learned a lot about computers & networks because games, the modification of games, the modification of hardware to make the games run, (and yes, even the obtaining of games for free from dubious sources), were a big incentive for me to figure out out the damn things worked. I wonder what kind of incentive the average young X-Box owner has.
If Infinity Ward are so insistent on improving the variety of our experiences, they don't have to do it at the expense of the experience that many of us already love.
With the game almost having made 1 billion dollars, it seems they can pretty much do anything they want: The people will buy it anyways.
For myself, I've decided to boycot the game as I don't agree with dedicated servers, and absence of player-created content. I wish only more people would actually hold to their (announced) boycot...
As for the RPG elements (which I think is an improvement in some FPS games), I think this mainly has to do with creating the same 'addictive' elements that MMORPGs have: As long as you keep dangling that carrot in front of the players, they'll keep playing.
When you shoot a mime, do you use a silencer?
Modern Warfare 2 does not have dedicated servers. It will never have dedicated servers.
Modern Warfare 2 does not have official mod tools. It will never have official mod tools.
Modern Warfare 2 has made, so far, over $1 Billion in revenue. That is roughly $800 Million over it's production budget.
Please, kindly, STFU and GTFO. This debate is over.
You haven't added anything interesting to the discussion by noting FPSs have added leveling up to the multiplayer experience.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
"RPG elements are creeping into game genres that we never imagined they would" - I really hope the such elements won't creep into my F1 simulator.
RPG and pro-Gamming or e-Sport can work togueter. There are lots of examples, from DoTA, WoW Arena (and games with "WoW Arenas" design, maybe not wow itself because is a RPG design for PVE).
Adding RPG to a FPS don't ruin pro-gamming. MW2: P2P networking and the un-ability to manage a game to be fair does.
-Woof woof woof!
Maybe all games don't have to appeal to all people. Is it really a problem if MW2 isn't the favorite game of the "competitive" crowd? People who want to run their dedicated servers with mods can do that with a different game, while people who want the controlled experience that MW2 provides can play MW2.
Vote with your wallet.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
You must be one of those guys who pre-ordered Duke Nukem Forever, right?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
I'm more bothered by FPS elements creeping into RPGs. Prime offender in my eyes was Oblivion, which required far too much in the way of twitch-shooter ability to play to be any fun at all - I still haven't tried Mass Effect (bought, but yet unplayed) or Fallout 3 to see if either of these titles as more playable for me.
Not saying everything has to be turn-based - although it's still very much my preference, NWN-style "close to real-time but pausable" works, as does anything with time limits, action points etc (some Final Fantasy turn-based variations, Eternal Sonata, etc). Anything where the *character's* ability to hit things is determined by *my* dexterity with the right thumb stick, in an FPS style, is a complete non-starter for me, though.
Removing of Mod Tools is all about controlling shelf-life for games and monopolising the market for extensions/enhancements for those game.
It's all a business decision - outside MMOs, the current way that Game Producers (want to) do business is:
In that sense, user mods are "bad for business" since they:
Games having more RPG elements does relate to the decision of removing Mod Tools in the sense that for RPGs the enjoyement of the game is also related to it's content (as in, zones to explore, items to collect, monsters to fight and levels/abilities to unlock), and thus:
So I do agree with the TFA that no Mod Tools and more RPG elements are correlated, although maybe not in the way they see it.
One positive, though I miss visiting regular servers, is that you don't log into some new server only to find all these arbitrary limitations on what equipment you can use. (No martyrdom here pal, oh and no "noob tube", oh and if you kill us with anything else we'll ban that too...)
...then go back to CoD4. Hell, that's what Joel Gardiner did IRL...if it's good enough for the cueball it's good enough for anyone, I say.
Living With a Nerd
All major gaming companies are trying to add rpg elements to move there games beyond just another 3d shooter. Clearly customers are happy with that, considering the reception of MW2 and others as well.
As far as removing the ability to mod games as well as local network games, companies know that having those features extends the value of the game for years to come by giving gamers a reason to keep playing the same game they already bought. To the gaming companies that means you will keep playing older games and spend less money on newer games. That is the last thing they want. What they want is for you to play a new game for a limited period of time, get sick of it, be unable to mod it or play locally, then buy the next new game they make. Online gameplay is fine with them especially on the xbox because you are already paying to play online. These companies are here to make money and don't care about long term replay value.In fact the opposite. If you look at World of Warcraft, blizzard basically dropped work on every other game for the last 4 years because they were making so much money on WOW. THey are finally now moving on some new games like startcraft 2 and diablo 3, but that's not where the real money comes from. If all the gaming companies in the world could, they would make all there games online only and require monthly payments to play. Of course the companies conveniently use piracy as the reason for this. But pirates create private servers for WOW and hack games to get what they want. Piracy is a scapegoat to cover there greed.
RPG elements are creeping into game genres that we never imagined they would
No they're not. Games like Deus Ex, like System Shock and System Shock 2 had RPG elements - games that were truly a clever blend of genres that worked perfectly. Shooting action along with a bit of thought too.
The dumbing down started with consoles and Deus Ex 2. It was completed in BioShock. Awesome graphics, great atmosphere, an interesting story, but hardly any RPG elements to speak of. Any trace of RPG elements in (non-RPG) games these days are so watered down that they just dilute the fun of the shooter, rather than adding any element of challenge of their own.
Especially if it has a few buzzwords thrown in. Blah Blah Blah MW2 Blah. This really is a troll article. And the author makes no sense. RPG = no modding. Its not just misinformed, its in incapability to communicate by the author. He is bugged by something, but doesnt have the right terms or background apparently to actually say what he really means. Let me help a little: no modding = no modding.
How do we vote articles like this off the site?
Oh nevermind. His page was just suspended. LOL
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:mvPHd6yLON8J:www.couchcampus.com/lecture/genre-wars-downside-of-the-rpg-takeover/+http://www.couchcampus.com/lecture/genre-wars-downside-of-the-rpg-takeover/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&
the other one says the guy had his account suspended.
stephen
You can have all the RPG elements you like and still have a moddable game with dedicated servers. Making that claim and including TF2 on the list makes it sound like the author did little or no research.
I hate to break it to the writer and most of the clowns who parrot buzz words in the industry but a roleplaying game isn't defined by stats, swords, levels, or anything other mechanic. Mechanics are separate from the genre. One of the few gems to come out of a reviewer was from a fellow named Desslock. He correctly defined what a roleplaying game was and unfortunately too many people were busy trying to attach RPG to every game going in an attempt to give them some sort of claim to legitimacy. I'm paraphrasing because it was quite a few years ago, but:
"A roleplaying game is a game where the players actions and choices have a meaningful and lasting effect on the game world and that world changes as a response to it"
He also pointed out at that time that there were few if any games which actually even approached being a genuine roleplaying game. Even today there isn't. The only thing that really has a chance to actually be a roleplaying game are sandbox games. The player needs the freedom to make choices and those choices need to have effects. They need to be permanent and the world itself needs to change. A game like Simcity (4 or earlier, not that latest atrocity) is far closer to being a genuine roleplaying game than some of the games in recent years full of swords and magic. Certainly much more than say..WoW.
A fairly linear shooter which adds stats, or levels doesn't include "RPG elements" because none of those things have anything to do with making a game an RPG. The game is an RPG if the player can affect and change the world with choices, not if he can pick up a better sword, or swing it slightly better. You have to play a role, but that role has to have meaning within the game world. All of those things are completely independent of the mechanics. Yes, game makers often try to bundle those things together, but in reality simply adding a sword, or hit points to a game doesn't make it a roleplaying game. It makes it whatever it is with a sword and hit points.
Every time I see some hack writer talking about "RPG elements" I feel like asking them if they think their Cobalt has Ferrari elements because it has doors and wheels.
so, rpg elements are creeping into other genres, and ousting mods, dedicated servers etc ?
that is happening, DESPITE rpg games themselves are being made from the start to include extensive modding, and multiplayer ? like how dragon age has modding, and like how unbelievably moddable mount & blade is ? ( to the extent of some mods being entirely different games) upcoming multiplayer server (counter/starcraft style) for mount and blade ?
Read radical news here
I think the article was rather interesting.
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
Dammit! MW2 will always belong to Mechwarrior 2 for me!
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
I'm not even sure I buy the premise. Sure, Battlefield: Bad Company eschewed the PC version altogether and Modern Warfare 2 lacked official mod tools, but I'm not really sure this is a trend. DICE has pointedly announced that the PC version, mod tools, and dedicated server are back for Bad Company 2. You've also got Medal of Honor, Alien vs. Predator, Crysis 2, etc.
Heres the thing many people fail to realize, and yet it is the most simple concept to grasp. That the games are intended to be fun, and they are, Fallout 3 is among the best, MW2 kicks ass, i play that every day, but im not picky in FPS games, i can kill anyone with any gun, im a gamer, a true gamer. If earning your ranks and the priv to use certain firearms in a game is a hindrance to you then i suggest simply go back to packman and leave real gamers play our games. These so called "RPG" elements let us play the game in a different style every time, I think the clone wars in multiplayer games is long over. Let the dev's figure out what way to take it, i am confident in the routes they will take, they know what they are doing or else they wouldn't still be in the business. The consumer is not always right (in this case, the basement troll is not always night, and never is for that fact)
I propose The EVE Maxim: As a discussion about the shortcoming about videogames increases in length, the probability that someone will propose that EVE does not fall to those shortcomings and is modded insightful for it approaches 1.
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
He calls Bioshock an example of RPG elements creeping into other genres? WTF?
At its core that game should be an RPG. I think it's an example of shooter elements creeping into my RPGs. Same damned thing happened to Mass Effect. Hopefully I'll be able to look past it in Bioshock 2 and ME2.
It's really pretty simple: people who play games are demanding more for their $60 - more playtime, more engrossing experiences, more replayability, more choices and more customization. Think of all the games on the market now... a hippity-hop 2D platformer can be a pretty hard sell for 50 or 60 bucks when there are games right next to it that promise expansive environments, customization, tons of playtime, etc. The easiest way to make a game more complex and cover all those traits in one fell swoop is to toss in a leveling system and some kind of skill tree or progression. It makes a game more multifaceted and provides a "meta-game" that sits underneath the pew-pew-pew on the screen. Technology has also made it easier to create no-loading open-world environments as opposed to static levels, which play very nicely with RPG elements because passing by areas you can't reach and enemies too strong for you to kill is interesting and makes you want to come back later.
And why are these games trending toward being first-person shooters? Well, if you want a three-dimensional, open world experience with a free-roaming character, there are really only two places you can put the camera: inside the player-character's head, or outside of it. I guess developers have simply found that third person cameras don't add a lot to the experience (who wants to look at their character's ass for 40 hours - then again, this may explain the rise of female player-characters), they are hard to program, and they don't feel as controllable or as precise as first-person viewpoints.
So if it all comes down to the price point, which I alluded to in my opening sentence, then where are the cheaper, less complex games? They're on XBox Live, PSN and the VC store, where they get little attention from casual gamers because they're not advertised and they're too hard to find, no attention from "hardcore" gamers because they're "casual games" that are too simplistic and not worth the money, and ignored by the media because they're not blockbusters and no one wants to read the reviews. Welcome to the games industry.
I, too, hate it when game developers break through predefined molds and come up with some innovative and new.
in order to make it good, maybe you should move on to a good games?
Yes, I understand many mods are to good games, the the submitter seems to be talking about a bad game.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
While TF2 does have item upgrades, and "drops," there are mods out there, and even server commands to disable them. To that effect, there is an extremely active mod community, and it all depends on the servers' administrators.
To add to that, TF2 is a class based game. Any FPS with as much diversity as TF2 deserves upgrades and the like.
Something witty.
Ever play Mabinogi (or ANY game that uses Hackshield or GameGuard?)
There is a modding community, but it's all pretty much evil:
- Hackshield bypass which allows the mods and cheating
- Mods to the data folder to allow cheating (by way of having maps marked, duping items)
- Mods to the data folder to allow cosmetic cheating (having "you" have equipment that requires effort, money or time to earn/purchase)
- Mods to the dll files to allow cheating (to see hidden stats like combat power, to hack the archery range or accuracy)
- Mods to the dll files to fix bugs in the game client (font rendering subsystem)
- Mods to break the game through packet editing
Here's a point to prove the complaint of "allowing mods prevents earning profit from the game"
One of the cheats that virtually everyone had was the "summon" mod, which costs 50 cents to buy from the game store, but the mod made it so any item in your inventory (stackable items like meat, salt, strawberries) could be used to trigger it, thus depriving Nexon of money at 50 cents a pop. Some players would use this mod excessively to teleport their friends around or to field bosses. This "mod" was finally fixed in the last patch update.
But the root of the mods is the off-the-shelf software being used to "prevent" modding/cheating. Once someone bypasses hackshield all the mods come back into full force. Since otherwise it requires skill to edit the game binaries or data pack files. Hackshield doesn't do squat about edits to the binaries.
I think a game should have a sound identity (RPS, FPS, RTS, Sim, whatever) and stick to that. When you start injecting elements from other genres, you just water down the overall game.
This probably isn't a popular view, but I think Warcraft III was terrible because it tried to add an RPG element to an obvious RTS engine. The same goes for games that try to add a MMORP feel to games that aren't really MMORP games...just being online and playing with other humans doesn't qualify a game as an MMORP, yet many online games today try to think of themselves as such.
Bioshock barely has any RPG elements compared to the game for which it was supposed to be the "spiritual successor"--System Shock 2.
Let's face it, RPG elements are creeping into everything. They've already crept into slashdot (Karma points, achievements). I can't wait for the day when I can check a calculator to see how many times I have to make chicken stir fry before I can level up my cooking skill.
How about present a few options instead of offering complaints to complaints people? I know there are some current, fun, "mind-buster" style games out there. I would recommend Braid or Machinarium as interesting, side-scrolling, indie puzzle games. Racing has it's niche in competence also with series like Gran Turismo. FPS is a twitch sport but that doesn't mean the need to think isn't there. Check out games like ARMA2, Americas Army 3, or Resistance and Liberation for more teamwork, realism, strategy. I hope my list is enjoyed, these are just a few of the current games that one could get into which do require a bit of thought not to die, crash, get stuck, and/or lose. Any suggestions for the RPG, RTS, flight sim, or other category that I missed?
The real reason for removing (not adding) dedicated servers is so they could push MW2 out as fast as possible. Cut out as much as you can, make it short and sell hard, that's the EA\Activision way. There's more marketing hype then actual game in Modern Warfare 2. Personally I didn't think Modern Warfare 1 was that good, certainly not as good as the fanboys or marketing are making it out. Maybe I'm just a crotchety old PC gamer but there is nothing in Modern Warfare that I haven't played before in better games.
But Modern Warfare enjoyed success on the consoles (possibly due to games like BF 1942 or earlier COD's never being released on conosles). So Activision immediately started on a sequel, personally I think if a game cannot stand on it's own for no less then three years it does not deserve a sequel, this is why getting a sequel out for Modern Warfare had to be done so quickly, if people started seeing Modern Warfare in reality, as passe then they would lose mind-share and never sell a big sequel. Modern Warfare did terribly on PC's and rightly so, we expect better. In fact we already have better games like Battlefield 2.
Anyone who doesn't think that Activision is working on Modern Warfare 3 is kidding themselves, it was in production before Modern Warfare 2 hit shelves. I earmark mid 2011 for it's release bugs or no and it will be just as short as and uninventive as the previous Modern Warfare games, because that's the Activision way. They'd get a new Modern Warfare out each year before Christmas if it were possible.
Fortunately the consolisation of decent games is ending. Nintendo proved that the real money is with casual games not the "hardcore" crowd. Microsoft took note (what do you think Natal is all about) so the next Xbox will be built along the same lines as the Wii (MS are nothing if not good at copying) and probably make a profit from the word go. Decent FPS games will gravitate back to the PC as consoles will no longer be able to compete in terms of power (not that they've been able to, you still cant do FSAA on consoles). This means the death of pointless sequels and the Activision way which is a good thing(TM).
BTW, it's not all doom and gloom, there still are decent developers out there, like Valve and Stardock.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
The genre creep goes both ways. FPS elements have been taking over all computer RPG games as well. I'm big into RPGs and only rarely enjoy a straight FPS, but nowadays, I can't find an RPG game where I can plan out my character's actions without having to handle a battle in real time FPS style. Sometimes its fun, but sometimes I just want an RPG. I can imagine the same frustration for the FPS gamer.
Crossovers make new and interesting things. But they can also lose what you liked about something in the first place.