Its good to see that Fantasy has become an integral genre in modern day gaming, from Gary Gygax to World of Warcraft, the evolution of Fantasy has been steady and has kept up with consumer trends.  The problem with this evolution is just that, its evolutionary, one can argue that the Fantasy genre has gained more innovative gameplay depth and mechanics than say, first person shooters have, but has it been truly enough to warrant the current praise and adoration from millions of Fantasy gamers?
 
Gaming today has changed, people want instant gratification, heroic warriors, clad in plated steel and riding ferocious war mounts, blindly charge into war not caring to read even a few paragraphs of lore, mighty rogues and wizards duel seemingly eternally without even so much as care about their character origins, only about who can deal the most damage the fastest.  
 
Could it be that the spirit of the modern day western RPG has been lost to the masses?  Small armies of texture artists slave away, creating lush and vibrant Fantasy settings, only to be fleetingly viewed by passing by groups of loot hungry elves, goblins and orcs, creative directors are congratulated by executives for pushing the envelope of concept and  originality, whilst all their creative achievements fall on deaf ears as millions get addicted to the game, and not its beautiful content.
 
I personally know of a few gamers, who would spend hours slowly exploring every nook and cranny of every fantasy game, soaking up the aesthetics, writing and sounds the genre has to offer, sadly, as for myself, I fall into in with the majority of gamers out there, instant gratification, instant loot, instant achievement.  How can we learn to appreciate Fantasy again the way it was meant to be appreciated?  How do you enhance your own immersion of Fantasy content, do you read books based on a game prior to playing it?  Do you not care how long you play a game for and instead focus on every detail of every texture and every piece of writing?  
 
It feels that the content is there for the taking, we just need to slow down in order to appreciate it.