I'm not talking about what you think your personal choice of what the ultimate RPG would be like. Obviously, that's highly subjective.
I am talking about the ultimate expression of what an RPG could be; there has to be a theoretical upper-limit depending on technology, conceptual design, and practicality. See below:
We have to assume the following:
- An RPG is not a simulator of all that life is or can be. An RPG must be restricted to some subset, agreed upon or not, of what "reality" is or could be. It must be constrained, just like any novel is.
- We should restrict our definition to a game that is playable on a "computer". We should not venture in to virtual reality, because that exceeds the realm of what a game is for purposes of this discussion. VR is stupid anyway.
That being said, let's proceed.
Ultimately, there are several aspects of an RPG that are to be considered unsurpassable that must be recognized:
- The game world is going to have to be large, large enough to be impressive (subjective) but not so large as to attempt to model an entire world or universe. This would exceed practicality and would require multiple lifetimes to justify.
- The interaction with what occupies this world is going to have to be equally impressive, from truly believable AI (up to some limit?) to almost unlimited manipulation and combining of objects present in the world.
- There clearly needs to be some purpose to the exercise, otherwise we're not talking about a game anymore. There must be a goal, a desirable outcome to play towards -- even if that goal is to model the life and times of some "adventurer".
I think it's fairly safe to say that, if we restrict ourselves to the above constraints or definitions, there may actually be no upper limit to the exercise, despite what I said above. The possibilities are literally endless and therefore we start getting back into the subjectivity of it all; what makes one novel better than the other? Are fantasy novels timeless? Are certain classic RPGs timeless?
I guess the most important question to ask is whether or not any of it matters. If it's all an artistic expression, then the level of technology is nearly inconsequential. So that leads us back to asking whether or not the "ultimate" RPG ever can be made. Maybe all RPGs already are the greatest they can be.
I am talking about the ultimate expression of what an RPG could be; there has to be a theoretical upper-limit depending on technology, conceptual design, and practicality. See below:
We have to assume the following:
- An RPG is not a simulator of all that life is or can be. An RPG must be restricted to some subset, agreed upon or not, of what "reality" is or could be. It must be constrained, just like any novel is.
- We should restrict our definition to a game that is playable on a "computer". We should not venture in to virtual reality, because that exceeds the realm of what a game is for purposes of this discussion. VR is stupid anyway.
That being said, let's proceed.
Ultimately, there are several aspects of an RPG that are to be considered unsurpassable that must be recognized:
- The game world is going to have to be large, large enough to be impressive (subjective) but not so large as to attempt to model an entire world or universe. This would exceed practicality and would require multiple lifetimes to justify.
- The interaction with what occupies this world is going to have to be equally impressive, from truly believable AI (up to some limit?) to almost unlimited manipulation and combining of objects present in the world.
- There clearly needs to be some purpose to the exercise, otherwise we're not talking about a game anymore. There must be a goal, a desirable outcome to play towards -- even if that goal is to model the life and times of some "adventurer".
I think it's fairly safe to say that, if we restrict ourselves to the above constraints or definitions, there may actually be no upper limit to the exercise, despite what I said above. The possibilities are literally endless and therefore we start getting back into the subjectivity of it all; what makes one novel better than the other? Are fantasy novels timeless? Are certain classic RPGs timeless?
I guess the most important question to ask is whether or not any of it matters. If it's all an artistic expression, then the level of technology is nearly inconsequential. So that leads us back to asking whether or not the "ultimate" RPG ever can be made. Maybe all RPGs already are the greatest they can be.
