So recently a game called Fallout 3 was announced as the best RPG of the year. I went and picked it up to see what all the fuss was about, after about 3 days I took that crap right back. Now, I might be in the minority (obviously) but I’m sick of games having RPG elements but not really being RPG’s. I’m going to maybe be the first to say it but Fallout 3 is not an RPG, and neither are most games that bare that distinction.
RPG stands for role playing game and got its start in the 70’s with games like Dungeons & Dragons. The games are very stat heavy and involve a lot of number crunching. The idea of the complex character designs and number crunching made their way to the video game marketplace decades ago and you can see the influence of such games across the gaming spectrum. But someone forgot to point out that what makes a role playing game what it is has nothing to do with the numbers or the system.
Let’s do a side by side comparison of a table top role playing game and its electronic counter part. In one corner we have World of Warcraft or WoW, and in the other we have Dungeons & Dragons. Both games deal in a realm of fantasy with trolls, knights, and other mythical creatures. Both games have detailed character creation systems with tons of options for customization. However they are most definitely not the same game in the slightest. There is something missing from WoW that disqualifies it as a role playing game, what’s missing are the moral dilemmas that the character’s face in traditional RPG’s.
In D&D there is a factor in character generation called alignment. The alignment ultimately decides whether your character is good or evil. Now I know what you’re saying, “I can pick between good and evil in WoW!” while this is very true, the implications are not the same. Because moral dilemmas arise often in D&D the characters alignment (i.e. Chaotic Good versus Lawful Good) helps to determine the characters decision making. Remember, role playing is exactly that, you play as a character and make choices based on what kind of character you’ve created.
In WoW you have alliances based on good and evil and an overall narrative, but you can’t violate those things and pay a penalty because of the violation. In other words you don’t have any real power of decision making; you simply take on missions and level up. In D&D if you act out of character there is a penalty in the form of an alignment shift. The challenge of the game is keeping in character while playing. How can you call a game a role playing game if you don’t as the player have to actually play a role?
Not every video RPG is completely guilty of abandoning the core principle that defines the genre; some games do an admirable job of creating a true role playing experience. The Bioware Company has come pretty darn close to making a real role playing game for the video game community. The Knights of the Old Republic games featured moral dilemmas that affected the very nature of the character. It should come as no surprise that the KOTOR games were based on the D&D D20 system. Still the characters are limited to a great degree, and most of that is due to limitations in technology. Unfortunately MMORPG’s can’t use that excuse.
There is a great anime series called .Hack//sign that is in my humble opinion exactly what a MMORPG should be like. The characters stick to their roles as players in a virtual world and act accordingly. There are villains and heroes and various adventurers because of the choices the characters are faced with. What it would take to duplicate that kind of sensation in WoW would be for the game company to hire players to bring the game to life. They would also have to drastically simplify the control scheme to make the action and adventure more fluid. Something that hardcore WoW players would never abide by. For now players are content to level up their characters to the max and then embark on highly redundant dungeon raids for hours on end, as if the narrative didn’t exist.
Ultimately I’m asking the video game industry to be honest with itself and call a spade a spade. For now I’m going to try my hand at Star Ocean: The Last Hope because the graphics and game play are far superior to the FPS elements of Fallout 3.
