RPGs are not primarily about “leveling up,” tweaking abilities, or acquiring swag. Those aren’t even RPG prerequisites, although they’re usually featured as a means of allowing gameplay to evolve. If you’re not given the opportunity to make consequential decisions, and to internalize the experience, then you’re not being given a meaningful opportunity to roleplay. The more freedom you’re given to do whatever you want to do, the richer the roleplaying environment — almost by definition. That’s what makes Morrowind, Fallout, and Gothic “true” RPGs in the classic sense.

This point brings us to KOTOR, and its superficial roleplaying. KOTOR’s environments are restrictive and linear in design, and there’s only one occasion when the player’s decision can significantly alter the direction of the story. Galaxies, on the other hand, is a more open-ended gaming world that lets you hunt Rancors, take bounty-hunter missions, craft hundreds of items, build factories, landscape cities, and participate in a player-run economy. Even if tending flora farms and building sofas aren’t emblematic Star Wars activities, they’re representative of the tremendous freedom you’re given to roleplay a virtual lifestyle of your own choosing. KOTOR’s largely non-interactive settings are just so much eye candy while you’re walking to the next action set-piece or predetermined NPC conversation.​