RPGs: An Owner's Manual

This is a recent blog i wrote, and i wanted to post it here as well:

I have been noticing a trend lately in the union forums that i belong to, and in the forums in general. it is not a new trend, in fact, it probably began in the 70's with the pen and paper 1st addition Dungeons and Dragons. The trend I am talking about is optimization. It seems like many players of RPGs are concerned with one thing only: "How powerful and strong can I make my character?"

While we all know that in most rpgs it is very important to strnethen your character in order to improve your chances of survival, it seems like most players take it so far they lose the most important aspects of the RPG altogether. I will use Oblivion as an example, though this applies to almost any RPG. Oblivion gives you wonderful options for character custimization. There are factions and guilds you can join and rise high in, groups you can help, etc. You can make choices based on good, evil, power, money, or just survival. Sounds a bit like real life, eh?

What makes RPG's so powerful is their ability to emulate real life, and to let us play a role. "play a role" is the important concept here. if you play through Oblivion and your only goal is to get every achievment, max your stats and skills, dominate every faction and guild, and get every powerful item in the game, etc., then you have lost something very valuable in the game. You are not role playing, you are simply gaming. I have played Oblivion through twice now.

The first time i played it, i was a Khajitt assassin. I took over the dark brotherhood, and thieves guild naturally. I even fought in the arena. I did not do the fighter guild quest line, the mages guild quest line, and DEFINITELY not the knights of nine. Why not? I would have gotten cool items, higher levels, etc. Well, i was playing an evil assassin. that means I made game decisions based on my actual character. what would he do when asked for help? What was in it for him? I stole, i mudered, i had a grand 'ol time.

The second time through I playedNord paladin like character. Naturally i started with the knights of nine quest line, and played the rest of the way through. Obviously, I played different quest lines, and avoided the thieves guild and the dark brotherhood. In fact, i never once recieved an infamy point. i worked for the gods, and helped any character with a noble and pure request.

How did that affect my game? it makes it more fun! i am not worried about stats, i am developing a character, and playing him out in a virtual world. It applies to pen and paper games like D&D, and it applies to video games as well. obviously some games, like Two Worlds may seriously limit your custimization choices, but you can still decide what your character is like and play him that way. Try it, you'll like it :)

Well, I think this way of thinking is why if you follow DnD books being released there more focused at combat then the actual roleplaying these days. Also why with mmo's people will buy gold for there characters and try to twink them out with the best stats. I think naturally people like to be the best in these situations and kind of limit there view point on what the over all game is all about.

Also many games these days so do not encourage that feeling older games gave you, I mean Baulders gates I feel still gave you more options then Oblivion even though it did not. It was the feeling you had when every dialogue choice you felt you were in control that it was your quest for revenge. It helps drive you foreword in making your own choices as I may take the bard over the warrior because I favored the bards dialogue more.

Why alot of the older CRPG's are looked so fondly upon you had so many ways to interact and have a choice. Like fallout 1 and 2 there is defiantly something missing these days for gamers who want more of that experience out of the box. Plus it is a different age group kids now days are the instant gratification types.

I understand what you are saying about free roaming games, but i think that is what makes it such powerful roleplay. Choosing NOT to do a quest line because your know your character never would is just as liberating as having every option open. What it requires on the part of the player is to actually consider your character, to put thought into what they are like. It means using your imagination, and writing your own story.

I was not implying that players should not play to optimize, i was just stating that i feel that optimizers might be surprised if they stop and actually role play a character.

You havea point about playing as a character and then sticking to that character which makes for better role playing but not all blame should call on the player character... what about the DM or in this case the game?

If Oblivion were a pen and paper game that was run by a DM, do you think the DM would let your character, as a paladin, just run through the thieves guild and dark brotherhood questline without any reprocussions like oblivion the game does? A good DM wouldn't, so it just goes to show you that as an RPG, Oblivion isn't that good.

No free roaming RPG should let every person experience the same things no matter what class they make. This is what i enjoyed about Morrowind. No matter how many people i talked to about the game, most of us all had different experiences.

so 1/2 the fault lies on gamers just wanting to get achievements, the other 1/2 lies on lazy developers