Where Have All The LAN RPG's Gone?

From Apples: http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2008/06/alttext_0618

Oh yes, it is quite hilarious.

Where have all the LAN RPG's gone?

Remember the days before MMO's when you may or may not have gotten together with some of your friends to play a rousing 12 hour game of Baldur's Gate on your LAN? Or when Diablo II came out and you hacked and slashed your way to victory over the first two acts? What about good ol' ... wait... were there any others? I remember both Dungeon Siege games had LAN play, but those weren't anything to write home about. Neverwinter Nights is a LAN game as well. But let's face it, those games are few and far between.

Unfortunately, in a world so connected, we find ourselves having difficulty connecting. In person. While the possibilities are there, there doesn't seem to be a market for a good multiplayer RPG that is not MASSIVELY multiplayer.

But why, Lance?!

Because. Well, mostly because they feel as though the target audience of all video games should be the largest demographic possible, or it won't make any money. Why would you go through all the trouble of making a really sweet RPG and then not expose it to the massive demographic that is the fans of MMO's. Not only is it a massive demographic, but you reap major rewards if your player base is hooked. I also believe this is one of the reasons we no longer see games of other genre's as well. Adventure games are more and more rare, same with Real-Time Strategy, and just plain RPG. There was a time when these were the kinds of games that would have dominated the market. Unfortunately, these are the kinds of games that the big publishers tend to look down upon. They see our demographic as a small portion, and it's true, we can't even hold a candle to the number of fans belonging to FPS, Sports/Racing, and MMOIMGONNAPWNUNUBLOL. The latter being the type of game that is mostly played by people who need to be told what the good games are, and then they go in and find every exploit they can, even if it means wasting their lives camping all the sweet mining node spawns.

Bitterness? Maybe a little. But it is well deserved. If only there was something we could do to bring back the genre's that invigorated us throughout the 90's.