Do you think game design will ever become so complicated that gamers need to vote in advance on the world they would like to game in?

Umm...it''s entertainment, not politics. Companies already do market research to determine what gamers would like to play. Most games are made to make money, not to please gamers.

I already do. For example, I''m about to vote to play in a HalfLife universe. Goodbye, loading hl.exe.

I see your point, but I also agree with anon that market research already does this to an extent. I would imagine that companies will have to invest a little more effort into this in the farther future as games will continue to get more complicated.

But I don''t think games will change in such a drastic way very soon. I imagine main-stream marketing will still be around for a good while, at least until something very major changes. In which case we might not all be playing computer games anyways...

On the other hand (yes, the third one), I wouldn''t mind if Blizzard asked me, personally, for a vote on their next game.

If you go to some companies websites (I noticed this on LucasArt''s game site) you can vote on what general type of game you like. RPGs generally rank high.

So, no, I don''t think marketing and gaming will change to such an extent. But then again, I''m not a CEO of a major corporation, either.

-geo-

I think people are hinting at this but the fact of the matter is that people already do vote on what games to play but they do it with their pocketbooks instead of a ballot.