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| What are the essential elements that characterize a role-playing game? by Jerry Whorebach 12/14/2010, 11:52am PST | ||||
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| Essential:
1.) Investigation Walking around, looking at stuff, talking to people. Learning how the pieces of the world fit together, so you can manipulate them - whether by pulling a switch in a dungeon or pressing someone's buttons in dialogue. 2.) Problem Solving The difference between a "puzzle" and a "problem" is that a puzzle has only one solution, whereas a problem can have multiple solutions. What are traditionally classed as "adventure" games require the player to solve every problem by doing a puzzle. Similarly, "action" games require the player to solve every problem by fighting a battle. Hybrid "action/adventure" games sometimes require puzzle solving and other times require fighting. Only in a role-playing game is the player the one who gets to choose how he goes about solving each individual problem (or at least a good number of them). Nice to have, but not essential: 3.) Combat Out of all the ways you can interact with the world and the people in it, combat is one of the most exciting and easiest to implement satisfactorily in a game. Hence it shows up a lot in RPGs, both tabletop and computer. I like turn-based combat, myself, but that's just personal preference. 4.) Inventory As every adventure gamer knows, picking up and carrying items can allow for more complex interactions with the gameworld. 5.) Character Progression It's not entirely clear how "making numbers go up" fits into the RPG paradigm. On the one hand, any restrictions placed on player characters will by necessity limit their options for solving problems. On the other hand, crafting a competent character could itself be seen as a complex, multi-part problem. Ultimately, people seem to enjoy it, so I guess that's all that matters. 6.) Story Who doesn't like a good story? Many would argue that any game could benefit from a story, or at least some elements of a story (setting, characters, plot, etc.), if only so players have an entry point into understanding the mechanics. By these standards, the best role-playing game of all time was probably a text adventure, in the same way that the best comic book of all time was probably just a regular book :( Totally psyched about playing a viking in a world of dragons, BTW. I just hope they lay off the hand-holding and the level-scaling this time. Following the quest arrow to the dragon's lair at first level, fighting a couple (or more likely a couple dozen, two or three at a time) first-level dragon whelps, and opening a treasure chest to collect a randomly-generated first-level magic weapon - only to level up and do it again for levels two through two hundred - might be enough to make me swear off RPGs forever. |
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What are the essential elements that characterize a role-playing game? by 12/14/2010, 11:52am PST  They compromised on the dynamic-levelled dungeons by 07/28/2011, 3:59pm PDT Well, I guess it's okay so long as no one is ever too challenged by anything. by 07/31/2011, 11:02am PDT The developers admitted Oblivion was more like Daggerfall than Morrowind by 08/01/2011, 6:00pm PDT The problem with Oblivion by 10/29/2011, 10:58pm PDT Re: What are the essential elements that characterize a role-playing game? by 07/28/2011, 7:12pm PDT Re: What are the essential elements that characterize a role-playing game? by 07/29/2011, 1:24pm PDT That's odd by 07/29/2011, 5:08pm PDT Hallford and Cutter didn't have any attachment to Antara either by 10/30/2011, 1:58am PDT |
