What do you think about roleplaying?

[ILikeMorrowind]

I wrote a small article about roleplaying & what's going on in it's market. It's nothing professional but it's simply my view. You may read it, then post your comments on the message board on that page. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. I'm interested to see the overall thoughts, and so forth. The url is at:

 

http://phil.webula.net/roleplay.html

 

Thanks & Merry Christmas!

~ Me

[loveme4whoiam]

I understand what you are saying in this, but i think that the RPG developers are limited by two factors: technology and public interest.

 

To elaborate, the technology factor involved in making a truely role-playing computer game is way beyond what we have at our desposal at the moment. I think Daerk made the point in one of the MEMOD threads that for a program to simulate a single NPC's reaction to a PC's action, taking into account the NPC's knowlege of the PC's history and past actions, his or her own views, and all the other different factors involved in that one decision are just too huge for a computer to comprehend, at this ime (if it wasnt Daerk and was someone else, or if i misquoted you, please forgive me and PM me so i can make the corrections).

 

The public interest factor is possibly worse than the technology barrier. As the MEMOD team have shown (or will show if you want to be technical), a true "role-playing" game can be created given enough time and thought. But they are only creating for what is comparitively small audience, one who will take the opportunity to role-play properly. A large company, such as Bethesda, has to deal with the demands of millions of people, most of whom would not be happy with fishing or building a house when they could be off slicing off heads. It unfortunately all comes down to the consumer's buying power, and that power is asking for, majoritively (sp?), hack 'n' slash RPG's.

 

The point you make in the article,

And to those fanatics who say mature games won't sell... open your eyes. Grand Theft Auto III, following Vice City, made a huge profit. Why did it? Freedom.

is a good one. Vice City was successful for alot of good reasons, not least its free play it used. To make the same point apply to a "proper" role-playing game would be much more difficult, because of the aforementioned consumer views.

 

I too hold the dream of playing a game such as you speak of, but i think that might be a ways off yet. Until then, i guess the MEMOD will have to do us :D

[wesaynothin]

If I may add in my two-cents worth. But first off, nicely written article ^_^ .

 

The game you are, in a sense 'proposing', would not be rated mature. The game you are talking of would be rated AO (Adults Only). No [major] video game company has ever picked up an AO game. A game with even the blood you are suggesting would be rated AO. Not to mention the fact you want nudity along with it. Video game companies tune these games down so they are rated M, and will hit the market.

 

Lets take a look at an M rated game, shall we? Lets say... Diablo 2. The blood? The blood only flashes before your eye, less than 1 second, before it becomes an object on ground that will slowly fade away. The only 'static' blood is often dis-colored, badly done, on purpose. Nudity? None. You enter a Harem, yes, but you see nothing. Even in GTA: Vice City you see nothing.

 

As for RP'ing your way out of situations, i.e. a prison cell, I believe loveme4whoiam said it. Technology. The scripting would be hell. A nice computer may not be able to handle stuff of that magnitude.

 

Then of course you have to deal with the companies that would pick up that game, if any would whatsoever. Companies like to look family-oriented. THe game mentioned above would not fit in well with the rest of the store.

 

... That's it. ;)