As time goes by I'm seeing a lot of people complain about games dumbing down their content.

A prime, recent, example of such an accusation would be the lack of an inventory in Mass Effect 2. Another would be the lack of an inventory system in Bioshock.

Admittedly, not the biggest fan of Bioshock here, but Mass Effect 2 is an entirely different matter.

I think, with this game, we asked for it. The first game brought no end of complaints about the fussy micromanagement of armour suits, weapons, and addons for the armour and weapons. People moaned that they were forever changing parts out for the best combination and the best stats.

Then Mass Effect 2 comes along and pretty much threw all that away. You have a very limited number of weapons, and a very limited number of potential armour pieces. Weapons are not upgraded indvidually, but rather as a class of weapon. Pistols, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, Submachine Guns, Heavy Weapons and of course, Sniper Rifles. Each one has a couple of upgrade chains that're possible, damage, ammo capacity and so on. Armour is much the same, there are numerous upgrades, and numerous paths you can choose to take.

However, that is where the management ends. You upgrade it, it upgrades everything. Everyone has the same weapons, and that's it. There's nothing more - Yet, there's no reason for us to complain. We asked for it, we got what we asked for, and it was done exceptionally well. It removed the slightly more time consuming, slightly more irritating, aspect of Mass Effect.

Some of you say that this is to a games detriment, that we as the player, don't get to decide when and how to use something. But is that really that important?

What would you do with an inventory of upgrades and parts? Change them out and around until you have the best combination for your characters?

Inventories are still an important part of my gaming experience, depending on setting. Take Dragon Age for example. That, for me, would be utterly ruined by the lack of an inventory system. You're a small group of people, in theory, constantly on the move with no massive ship to just stash stuff in. You don't have, theoretically, unlimited space. You have to pick and choose what you're going to carry, and what your squad is going to wear, and of course, what you're going to sell to the local trader. Your space is finite because of your setting.

Arguably the same could be said for Mass Effect 2, and the Normandy. Yes, you'd run out of space eventually, but is it so hard to believe that your ships crew, those NPCs that make such mindless diaglogue and tend to sit around doing a fat lot of sod all, would clean up after you? Your scene is set as the commander of a ship, the commander of a crew. I hardly see Shepard 'pitting in' with the crew to clean and maintain the ship - He/She's too busy saving the galaxy.

Of course, in Dragon Age you're saving the world, but you're walking around with a theoretical backpack, and pockets. You don't have a crew of NPCs, you don't have a ship, you have to look after your own shit, and your parties shit - Because it's on your back.

I don't think the gaming industry is "dumbing down" - For the most part, I think it's streamlining. Removing, where possible, the mindless tasks that could easily and reasonably be automated.

Of course, there are examples to the contrary - Bioshock for one - But I believe these to be, simply, bad examples of streamlining. There is no plausability to the scenario, and its lacking of an inventory, and that is a failing. Dumbing down, no, but failure to streamline effectively? Yes. Removing a chore to allow focus on the gameplay is great, of course it is, but not at the expense of immersion. We asked for this, remember.