Comments on: R is not for Role

By: Brian Hook

Brian Hook — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:29:34 +0000

Presumably you’ve seen “Progress Quest”, yes?

By: peterb

peterb — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:25:30 +0000

Actually, Project Gotham Racing made this measure concrete. Certain things (new helmets, I believe?) were unlocked when you’d been playing the game for 60, 90, however many minutes. Other things (eg, some cars) would be unlocked when you had driven so many miles.

By: psu

psu — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:25:02 +0000

I edited Brian Hook’s comment just to add the block quote markers.

By: Andrew Plotkin

Andrew Plotkin — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:17:26 +0000

When I try to define CRPGs (using “computer” to distinguish them from
paper-and-pencil RPGs, since, as we all agree, the two categories
don’t have anything in common) –

– I wind up torn between definition A: “CRPGs are defined by
increasing your stats to advance. You have to spend time to increase
your stats.”

– and definition B: “CRPGs are defined by the fact that you have to
spend your time to advance. Stats are a way to measure how much time
you’ve burned.”

More often than not, I come down with definition B. CRPGs keep
inventing new mechanics to keep track of your progress; some of them
aren’t numerical scales at all. But they are all fundamentally
measures of the same thing: the player-minute.

By: psu

psu — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 19:00:28 +0000

After thinking about it, I have to say that the closest thing to true role playing that I’ve seen on a computer is The Sims. I meant to work that into the piece, but got distracted.

By: Brian Hook

Brian Hook — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:24:31 +0000

>At this point, old time RPG purists and luddites are
>probably bemoaning the fact that so much of the
>”social and collaborative” experience is lost in the
> translation of the tabletop game to the computer.”

Yes and no — there wasn’t much collaborative experience to begin with, other than bitching at two guys to stop talking about Van Halen pre and post-Sammy; wondering when Gene would get back from the bathroom; trying not to act like idiots because there was a chick playing with us; and generally not getting so bored that the end of the session was just screwing around trying to annoy the resident “Come on guys, let’s be serious!” dork. And, of course, the standard fires erupting over whether a bastard sword was really that different from a long sword and what the hell a glaive-guisarme was.

>I don’t see much to mourn. If you really want to do classic
>role playing, then go buy the books and find a small group
>of dorks to help you out.”

Well, except the dorkitude today is off the charts. I’m a pretty big nerd, and I get creeped out going to my local gaming/card store where 40 yeard old men are sitting around playing 3.5E AD&D, chewing their hair and scratching their neck beards.

>Console and computer RPG fans are also probably mad at
>me for saying that their games basically boil down to a
>great quest for increased stats.

Er, no. I would hazard that you’d have a hard time finding a console or computer RPG fan that thinks what they’re doing is even close to being about “role-playing”. Probably the most “RPG-like RPG” is Animal Crossing.

Just sayin’.

Sorry for lack of formatting, I don’t normally do the blog comment thing since comments tend to disappear into the ether after 5 days, but I stumbled on your site because you referenced “Computer Ambush”…

By: Eric Tilton

Eric Tilton — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:02:38 +0000

What I find fascinating about World of Warcraft is that it maintains the solo CRPG “there’s a ‘story’ that helps explain why you’re geting more powerful and beating stuff up,” but there’s also a whole societal and economic aspect to it. For example, most of the useful crap you want to buy isn’t vended by NPCs, it’s vended by other players. And the game doesn’t protect you from getting beaten up by guys on the other side — you either have to do that yourself, or look towards other higher level players who have chosen to take on policing style roles. Merchant? Sell-sword? Explorer? This is the first CRPG that’s really felt like I can pick a real role in it, and have a lot of chewy meat there to dig into.

This is different from speaking in Thees and Thous, or even trying to talk in character (“Austin? Verily, I know not of what you speak, the great world tree is my home!”). This is about choosing to play your character from any of a number of different motivations or even moral systems, either tailoring him (or her) to your own view, or experimenting with some completely different avenue.

Not that I sound like an addict or anything.