Spore‘s audience, by and large, seems to skew pretty young. Judging by the list of most popular adventures, one is sorely tempted to add crass and easily amused as well.
Much in the way the release of the Spore Creature Creator saw an initial explosion of ambulatory phalluses, Galactic Adventures is currently undergoing a somewhat similar event as the Spore playerbase once again gives rein to its collective id.
Some of the more popular user-created adventures right now follow the same simple, short and stupid formula. Known as Clark and Stanley adventures, these see the player talk to one of the titular characters and then witness the witless pair’s violent demise. There’s almost no gameplay to speak of in these adventures; it’s simply talk and watch.
Just as the quality of user-created creatures improved over time (the newer ones are downright stunning), the overall quality of adventures should pick up as the young and the dumb move on to other amusements. Just as life finds a way through evolution, quality finds its way to the top given time.
It would help immensely, however, if Maxis did more to establish a higher standard and encourage greater diversity and complexity by providing recognition to creators who make a genuine effort to find new and interesting ways to work with the provided tools.
Did I mention the first Clark and Stanley adventures were released by Maxis?
