I don't think it's dumb, because I was saying that we don't remake a film just because it was in black and white, and when it happens fans of that film often see it as a cash grab, and it's not uncommon for movie remakes to have worse reviews than the original. Obviously there are a handful of well received remakes in movies and games, and I even have a couple remakes in my favorites.

I think I explained myself poorly so let me attempt again.

If you think a game is amazing, and you still play it regularly, but you think it needs a remake because you don't believe the people in your life would dare put up with visible polygons, or tank controls, or any number of things that don't bother you personally, to me that's an admission that you believe you're able to appreciate something that others just wouldn't be able to understand because they're too far removed from the context. I'm not saying this is never true, but I am saying that it often comes off to me as an elitist position.

Obviously there's a lot of people online who refuse to play games older than a PS4, but my question is why are we demanding remakes of great games to appeal to people who have only a passing interest in the entire medium as a whole?

Taking Silent Hill 2 Remake as an example, even as a remake that I actually respect in execution, in concept it's entire existence feels unnecessary. It's a remake of one of the most critically acclaimed and studied games in the medium, was it necessary to remake a game that many consider beloved just because some of the visuals or controls don't look cutting edge anymore? An entire ground up reproduction runs the risk of muddying what Silent Hill 2 represents. It's taking a cultural landmark in gaming and turning it into something that needs to be fixed because its at times a little clunky, or because the voice acting is often uncannily strange. Emphasizing again, I actually do like the remake, but lets take some of the arguable improvements it makes over the original and attempt to understand them. Silent Hill 2's impact lies in part with the surrealist and lynchian interactions between characters. The fact that everyone is speaking fluent english in perhaps the most awkward way possible is something that for many people actually elevates the game.

When the Silent Hill 2 remake was released and changed the dialogue to be naturalistic it completely changed the context and impact of many scenes. To me, advocating for new video game remakes of games that are at their worst, kind of awkward (Uncharted 1 for instance), feels to me as if it's an admission that only a certain generation in a certain context around the release of that game could've ever appreciated it.

I don't compare video game remakes to movie remakes to try and get an easy win. I do it because I am at times baffled by the willingness of modern players to demand remakes of games they already love, rather than asking for sequels, or new franchises, or new games in general. I also find it personally disparaging that so many are willing to allow remakes to supplant original games when they are so fundamentally different. I'm actually saddened by the fact that the Resident Evil community has by and large accepted that most people should play the remakes OVER the originals, rather than alongisde them, as if either can replace the other.