I was playing largely experiential narrative adventures in the early 80s, so I don't see why this debate is suddenly so topical, or why the current batch of narrative-heavy games seems to be so controversial (or indeed so challenging). To put it bluntly, anyone questioning the existence of such a wide range of narrative games really must be largely ignorant of the history of the medium.

True, though that ignorance often cuts both ways - there's a slightly grating tendency for critics to act like games only developed artistic ambitions in the last ten years or so.

Either way, I do think there is a degree of push and pull that makes this stuff controversial and feeds the 'culture war'. Artsy games of the 80's and 90's weren't generally accompanied by thinkpieces in a climate with a visable push to elevate or reform the medium and subculture. That means for those who feel targeted by that push, otherwise unassuming projects can pick up a kind of accusatory taint by association.

The thing about calling it a culture war and asking when it will end is, it's basically just opinions at the end of the day. We might as well ask "when will human beings stop arguing over stuff?".