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.'"

Comments

WHAT

[minginqunt]

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.)

Re:Two issues here

[Draek]

And 3) Mods raise customers' expectations for future products. Most Morrowind players were dissapointed with Oblivion despite it being (other than the "level up with you" issue) a far superior product in nearly every aspect, simply because it couldn't compete with a modded version of the same. Same with STALKER: Clear Sky with respect to Shadow of Chernobyl, and there's probably other examples I'm forgetting right now.