Let me apply some of my broken logic to this.
Before gaming became mainstream:
The entire audience was considered a niche market, games were made, and profits were made by the gaming companies.
Gamers were considered dorks, by non-gamers for playing dorky games.
Now that gameing has become mainstream:
The mainstream market exists, consisting of both gamers from earlier on, and new gamers, who wouldn't have been gamers in the before time.
Gamers are considered dorks for playing dorky games, by people swearing to mainstream games (like the guy you mention at the ga,e store)
Gamers are not considered as much dorks by non-gamers, because they hardly know the difference between MW3, cooking mama, okami and duke nukem, and since all the "cool kids" are playing games, it has become somewhat acceptable, and the people still finding games generally dorky, would've found you weird whether games had become mainstream or not.
So basicly, you don't have any more social stigma than before, and probably less, if that kind of silly stuff actually bothers you.
If you find it hard, that people dislike stuff you like, and can't stand the thougth of something you like not beeing popular, grow a pair, and some self-confidence, and stop careing what all the retards you don't care about in the first place thinks about you.
The niche market still exists, if people have moved from niche games, to more mainstream games, even though both are stil avalible, it's probably because they prefer the more mainstream games.
As long as theres still costumers for the niche markets, games will be made and sold for it.
If you think
"But what if everyone jumps to mainstream games, leaving me and a fw others alone, and not large enough in numbers to support the market, our games will disapear, the HORROR!"
Then you are right, games will most likely not be made, if they're not profitable, but to be fair, wouldn't you feel just a tiny bit like a spoiled brat, if you had to whine about people not spending their time and wasting their money to make games for you, because you like them?
Or even worse, how would you feel, if you wanted to force peopel to play games they found inferrior, by removing the ones they liked, just to satisfy the consumer base needed, to produce what you liked?
More realisticly, the niche market, as stated, still exists. Your games are still avalible, maybe not in every store, but they weren't aither, before gameing became mainstream, gameing stores were niche stores back then.
And can you honestly say, that you don't like any mainstream games at all? Games that wouldn't have existsed, if it wasn't for the mainstream consumers (hint, most AAA titles are not niche games, whetehr it's MW3, Skyrim, Zelda etc)
On a last note, the graphics in niche games beeing lower than those of mainstream games is simply a result of the market not netting enough profit, to spend tons of money on those titles, the alternative, would be extremely high prices for a niche game.
P.s when i use "you" it's in a rethorical sense, if what "you" implies doesn't seem to describe you, it's not you specificly i'm talking about.
This is about the general image i get from different rants/whining i've seen in several different posts and trheads, and therefore not aimed at one specific person, so if you don't think this applies to you, don't quote to tell me i have no idea what you think, i already know i don't.
