At the least, I know that Timothy Cain is at Obsidian. That definitely counts for something.

Using "shooters" as proof as anything is a bit strange. Quite a few of them are boring and derivative, absolutely. But others are clever and interesting (if in a summer blockbuster way) and technologically impressive. Within the genre, they could probably stand to take more risks, though if you start looking at games…

I considered making that distinction, but for some reason hit "submit" before putting it in. Your point's well taken. :)

Here's a slightly off-topic question that I thought was pretty interesting, and thought I'd bring over to here for discussion.

A few comments about the general trend of the comments here.

This man speaks truth.

I believe it's a technical term. :)

Why would researchers in computational complexity be coming up with vaccines or dealing in public health?

I don't think they would play it BECAUSE there's somebody more personally identifiable, but having an avatar that's personally identifiable can make the whole package more appealing overall.

Reading a wiki isn't anything at all like playing a game.

An avatar which is, ironically, the intellectual property of Bethesda.

Scrolls has been announced for over a year now. Some mainstream games have less development time than that.

This response sums up my feelings exactly.

[www.christcenteredgamer.com]

That's probably true, but I think there's something to a long-form creation that can't quite be replicated in something small. Skyrim wouldn't be at all the same game if it weren't so immense. It's why the novel is different than the novella, is different than the novelette, is different than the short story, is…

If we agree, then I take back everything I said, and I didn't mean a word of it. :D

On a somewhat unrelated note, having a guy who calls himself Filthierich tell me all about hardcore mech customization in a videogame really makes me feel like gaming has come a long way.

Yeah, I understand. I was just expressing, out loud, an analogy that was funny to me in my head.

I think the horse crap isn't literally meant to be actual horse crap, in this statement.

I think it might be simpler to say that, like a good movie or a good book, a good game is exactly as long as it needs to be.