[Valerius]

I'm pretty sure I'm not misremembering when I say that in removing gem gens CBM was following a growing trend. Up to and including 1.6 I'd say CBM followed a fairly conservative path and removing gem gens didn't come out of nowhere (unlike hammer removal which I think was a surprise to most people). Which isn't to say that removing gem gens didn't cause an uproar since their fans probably viewed this as formalizing their elimination and now most games would not have them, rather than it just being an increasingly popular setting. Personally I think even if CBM hadn't removed them they would have largely disappeared from MP since for most people they are not much fun - and the more you play the game they more tiresome they become. There were some games where I just wouldn't bother even though I knew I was shooting myself in the foot by not clamming.