the desk job you paid to have
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One reason I get bored quickly when playing role-playing games on a computer is that they are invariably end up being a variation on the "try every option" theme. You end up asking every non-player character every possible question, break open every container, open every door and so on. Boorrrrring!
Online massively-multiplayer role-playing games can get away from that a fair bit if they have decent character interaction models but I have so far avoided them as well because of the of inevitable level-grind involved - doing some skilled task over and over just to level up? Why? So you can do the same thing again, just to level up, again? Yawn.
Since all the cool kids seem to be talking about it, it strikes me that the kinds of changes Jeff Freeman suggests could actually make for a pretty compelling MMO RPG. Mix in some permadeath and an inheritance model as described over at Broken Toys and you'll have a pretty compelling game, I think. It would certainly solve many of my problems with computer-based role playing games - the mini-game of managing your new character and holdings would be a cool distraction from the all-option trying, levelling up treadmill of those games.
It would be like what SimCity 3000 was supposedly trying to be (including micro management of individual blocks, not just a new scenario-pack for SC2k) but coming from the opposite direction.
Comments
Mike's just moaning 'cause he's crap at nethack.
Posted by: Joel on April 19, 2005 07:00 AM
I swear that game cheats against me.
Posted by: Mike on April 19, 2005 08:39 PM
I think the internet has really killed the whole point of a lot of games because well sitting and doing lots of things over and over again used to give me the computer fix I needed.
Now that there's an internet one can sit in front of the computer and waste time and get exposed to lots of different things so there's no point doing those thingos over and over yknow.
Its the same for lots of kinds of games I suppose. When I was a kid I didn't like sports games but now there the ones I emulate most because they are quick and all.
Posted by: Erdrick on April 19, 2005 11:37 PM
Oh, I think it depends on what you do over and over. For example, platform games are entertaining because while you're just jumping and shooting over and over, it's always on a different level, with different enemies coming at you.
What I don't enjoy is, say, having to make five hundred widgets just to go from a level 2 widget maker to a level 3. There's nothing really interesting for me in doing that - it's just the same thing over and over. I'd prefer to take up knitting instead - at least I'd get a neck tie out of the otherwise wasted hours.
Posted by: Mike on April 20, 2005 09:11 AM
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