Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
I actually brought up World of Warcraft myself, but again I don't think it's representative of the norm. From what I've seen, it seems like a lot of World of Warcraft players don't even play any other games much at all, let alone specifically RPGs. It'd be like saying farming simulations are hugely popular just because people play Farmville, even though the Harvest Moon series and Shepherd's Crossing and what have you are very niche. One game doesn't make a genre.

I will admit that I'm approaching this from a console perspective and am largely uneducated on the PC side. Are there many Western RPGs released on PCs these days outside of the handful of top-tier releases? I know the 80s and 90s had plenty of stuff, but it seems like PC gaming in general is dying these days. But on the console side, these hugely popular Western RPGs make up only a tiny fraction of the genre. There have been a ton of RPGs released in the US on PS1, PS2, PSP, DS, etc., and the vast majority are ignored by Joe Shmoe gamer.
The vast majority of games are ignored by Joe Shmoe gamer. By your argument there's only two or three mainstream genres.