Landfish posed this seemingly innane question in response to my ramblings about his "mental math" posting. It''s a good subject to look at for all. In an RPG, what do we want from the player? What do we expect and what do they expect? How do you feel these questions are answered currently, and are those answers correct? Specifically, talk about the CRPG vs table-top RPG, and MMORPGs. These all have their own methods of including the player. I personally think it''s broken down like this: Tabel-top: The player is the character for all intents and purposes. They add the personality and decide what the character''s actions are. This is considered a more "true" role playing. CRPG: The player takes on more of a strategic outlook in this role playing game. They know about the character, yet they cannot add any personality to them unless the programmer allows multiple "options" to be said in speaking. However, this is merely providing a few very limited options. So perhaps CRPGs are nothing more than done-up strategy and "what would you do?" games, as Landfish put it. MMORPG: Once again, the player is the character. This form moves back to a more traditional table-top viewpoint. Since the game is inhabited by people, you can speak and people will understand you This allows you to once again put a personality to the character. The NPC''s are very limited in dialog.. and thus reflect the computer''s lack of ability to talk to us.. in english So come on, tell your thoughts.. and how you feel about this subject. How could it be improved in the different versions? I look forward to some good responses J

I speak as a player of RPG''s and tell you what i like and don''t. Firstly, i like options. This is problably the main reason why i play RPG''s is that they allow one to do/interact more with the game environment than do other game genres.

Diablo''s not bad, but it''s extremely linear. What i mean by linear is that all the maps are laid out one after another. I was quite disappointed when i heard D2 would be the same. What good about D1 is that the real-time element of the game is very well done. I don''t think any RPG''s have done as good a job as D1 on the real time element of RPG''s.

But back the the "role" playing side of things. I think hardwired personalities would work in a CRPG. If not to constrict the player into actions then to give the game a little bit of variety. Example would be choosing a Personality for your PC at the Character Creation stage of the game. This may not effect what is available to the player ingame but give some different verbal expressions from the character during the game. This i believe would add greatly to my "Role" playing experience. If this was done the next thing i would want would be a personality construction kit so i could take my new character online, just for fun and see what other people think of the personality that i''ve constructed for my character.

Hassle me please,
Paul C

quote:Original post by Landfish

On an archetypal level, the character is so deeply ingrained in the story that allowing a ''choice'' of something as crucial as a personality would be jeopordizing the character, and encouraging flat, one dimensional characterization. Don''t we have enough already?

Wrong and wrong again. What was the last RPG you played that made the personality of the character essential to the story line development. Fallout1/2 allowed you to basically design your personality whilst employing a fully emersive storyline. BGate you chose your character. Diablo you have no personality (really you don''t). I think the art is in moulding the story to the character otherwise you might as well be reading a book.

quote:

In fact, the character isn''t just part of the story... she IS the story. She must be the person to serve a very specific funtion because of her own flaws and virtues. If this is not the case, then the character doesn''t seem to "fit" with the story, because there is nothing tying them together. This is how it is with most games, no?

The story must flex to the character i believe. Remember, you''re interacting with the story so you want to have an impact, change things, screw things up a little. If you have to do everything the story says you must because you''ve got "this" personality then it isn''t a game.