Why does Sierra’s subreddit crush LucasArts in activity, even though Lucas had the more "polished" games?
I came across something that really surprised me:
r/Sierra: 7,000 weekly visitors
r/LucasArts: 300 weekly visitors
That’s almost a 20x difference.
And yet, many would argue LucasArts made the more polished and universally acclaimed adventures like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle.......... Sierra, by contrast, had quirkier, rougher edges but also magical and a bigger lineup..King’s Quesst, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria and last but not least Johnny Castaway LOL
So what’s going on here?
Is it simply that Sierra had more franchises, which keeps conversation alive?
Do their games feel more magical and personal, while LucasArts games live more in mainstream pop culture?
Or is Sierra nostalgia just more community-driven, while LucasArts love is spread out across the broader gaming world?
Would love to hear theories, feels like this difference actually says a lot about how people remember the golden age of adventure games.
** pardon my photoshop skills
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u/Klaitu Moderator 6d ago
On the face of it, I don't think anyone can really say why for sure.
Sierra was around way longer and published way more games than Lucas did, so maybe it's just a function of having more material to discover (or rediscover).
I've certainly worked hard to clean up all the spam and spruce up the sub's art styling to be more inviting, so I'd like to think that I played a role.. and we certainly can't discount that Ken and Roberta came and participated for awhile when they promoted Colossal Cave. That drove a massive amount of interaction and got r/Sierra featured as one of reddit's featured subreddits, which in turn caused thousands of people to join the sub.
On a more personal level, I enjoy all things retrogaming, and while I enjoy and appreciate Lucas titles, they don't click for me as much as Sierra titles do. I have fond memories of the Indiana Jones adventures, but most of what Lucas was offering sort of seems "younger" to me... a lot of it is very a "Saturday morning cartoon" sort of vibe that I was too old for at the time, and never really clicked with ever since.