An Universal Definition of RPGs
<p>What is an RPG? The eternal question. Sinister design, makers of this Telepath RPG thingie, tackle the question and try to come up with a univeral definition. <a href="http://sinisterdesign.net/?p=785" target="_blank">A really good read</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Choices With Consequences</strong>
RPGs are also about making consequential choices. This dovetails with our conclusion above, though this may not be entirely apparent at first. There are some choices that obviously affect a character’s development in all RPGs, whether those be exploring, making tactical decisions to win battles, selectively upgrading gear, collecting loot, or distributing stat points.
But upgrading, winning fights, and collecting new items to gain power over the course of the game are features of many games that are absolutely not RPGs. Half Life (along with just about every FPS before and since) features a story arc in which the player grows more powerful through the collection of new weapons (and, consequently, abilities). That isn’t enough.
What makes these events significant in an RPG is that they come about through consequential choices made by the player. In turn, the choices themselves are made consequential largely through scarcity and the need for specialization. Want to pump all your character points into strength? You’re going to have to forego the benefits of putting those points elsewhere. Want to create a wizard character? You’re going to have to make significant trade-offs to make that happen.
Those aren’t choices you see in Half Life. You’re never asked to give up your MP5 to get the Gauss Gun. You’ll never face a choice like deciding whether to take a permanent hit point loss in order to learn new offensive abilities. The player is never required to specialize his character in any respect. Everything the player character finds, he instantly masters.
These same limitations hold true for party-based RPGs as well. Characters in the party are created with different strengths and weaknesses. Though the party may be well balanced, it will be well balanced because the different attributes of the party complement one another, not because the party members are all Gordon Freeman do-everything behemoths.
Even RPGs with rigid character progressions still enforce scarcity and specialization throughout the game by forcing the player to manage limited resources. Most strategy RPGs, for instance, only give experience points on a character-by-character basis, thereby forcing the player to make constant trade-offs between risking the safety of weaker characters and allowing them to fall behind relative to the development of the other characters.
Consequential choices can go well beyond these sorts of pedestrian considerations, of course, and that’s where the RPG genre really shines. Even in areas where choices seemingly have no measurable impact on the development of your character’s stats and capabilities, a hard decision that other in-game characters remember can influence how you’re viewed by others in that world, affect the state of your party, and even change your character’s story.
Sadly, I can’t include this last point in the definition of the RPG. Player-driven character development in a qualitative, non-stat-based way is far from universal in the genre. And this article is descriptive, not normative: it seeks to see RPGs as they are, not as they should be. That second, perhaps greater, task will have to wait for another day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><strong>A game is a computer RPG if it features player-driven development of a persistent character or characters via the making of consequential choices.</strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>That doesn't sound too bad. Thoughts?<strong>
</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/101899-a-universal-definition-of-rpgs.html">Gamebanshee</a></p>
<p>What is an RPG? The eternal question. Sinister design, makers of this Telepath RPG thingie, tackle the question and try to come up with a univeral definition. <a href="http://sinisterdesign.net/?p=785" target="_blank">A really good read</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Choices With Consequences</strong>
RPGs are also about making consequential choices. This dovetails with our conclusion above, though this may not be entirely apparent at first. There are some choices that obviously affect a character’s development in all RPGs, whether those be exploring, making tactical decisions to win battles, selectively upgrading gear, collecting loot, or distributing stat points.
But upgrading, winning fights, and collecting new items to gain power over the course of the game are features of many games that are absolutely not RPGs. Half Life (along with just about every FPS before and since) features a story arc in which the player grows more powerful through the collection of new weapons (and, consequently, abilities). That isn’t enough.
What makes these events significant in an RPG is that they come about through consequential choices made by the player. In turn, the choices themselves are made consequential largely through scarcity and the need for specialization. Want to pump all your character points into strength? You’re going to have to forego the benefits of putting those points elsewhere. Want to create a wizard character? You’re going to have to make significant trade-offs to make that happen.
Those aren’t choices you see in Half Life. You’re never asked to give up your MP5 to get the Gauss Gun. You’ll never face a choice like deciding whether to take a permanent hit point loss in order to learn new offensive abilities. The player is never required to specialize his character in any respect. Everything the player character finds, he instantly masters.
These same limitations hold true for party-based RPGs as well. Characters in the party are created with different strengths and weaknesses. Though the party may be well balanced, it will be well balanced because the different attributes of the party complement one another, not because the party members are all Gordon Freeman do-everything behemoths.
Even RPGs with rigid character progressions still enforce scarcity and specialization throughout the game by forcing the player to manage limited resources. Most strategy RPGs, for instance, only give experience points on a character-by-character basis, thereby forcing the player to make constant trade-offs between risking the safety of weaker characters and allowing them to fall behind relative to the development of the other characters.
Consequential choices can go well beyond these sorts of pedestrian considerations, of course, and that’s where the RPG genre really shines. Even in areas where choices seemingly have no measurable impact on the development of your character’s stats and capabilities, a hard decision that other in-game characters remember can influence how you’re viewed by others in that world, affect the state of your party, and even change your character’s story.
Sadly, I can’t include this last point in the definition of the RPG. Player-driven character development in a qualitative, non-stat-based way is far from universal in the genre. And this article is descriptive, not normative: it seeks to see RPGs as they are, not as they should be. That second, perhaps greater, task will have to wait for another day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em><strong>A game is a computer RPG if it features player-driven development of a persistent character or characters via the making of consequential choices.</strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>That doesn't sound too bad. Thoughts?<strong>
</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/101899-a-universal-definition-of-rpgs.html">Gamebanshee</a></p>