Off-topic: Roleplay in games
polycounter lvl 20
If its cool with everyone, I thought once-in-a-while I'd post discussion topics about videogames that are somewhat unrelated to game art. The first one will be about role-playing in videogames.
When you guys play games that have a setting that lends itself to this idea do you ever take the time to role play in the game? Do you enjoy it? If even for 10 minutes? I guess the majority of games that would make this possible are open world titles, but I am sure it can be done in any game reall.
I'm playing through Assassin's Creed 3 and, like many other games like it, I do enjoy stopping once in a while and pretending I am, in fact, in this world and that me running around every where and jumping on everything isn't normal. So I walk. I stop and listen to people chatting. I head to the rivers and take a second to check out the view. When I'm out in the frontier I don't just run everywhere and arrow every animal. I try and stalk them. You can see their prints in the snow so its easy to track an animal without using bait. I've become somewhat attached to the homestead - even if its introduction and everything around
Achilles
was a little short sighted. I just dig it. I dig that
I'm a young fellow taken under the wing of an older assassins and being shown the ropes.
Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy scaling the roof tops and randomly engaging enemies then subsequently going around and doing what I can to lose my notoriety. But every once in a while I try and take the time to appreciate the efforts gone in to creating this world (
Boston, the Frontier, my homestead...
) and act as I actually might within them.I did the same thing in RDR, but almost everywhere because of how easy they made it to do so (the towns weren't very large so walking wasn't a pain in the ass for travel). I never killed without my bandana on because I didn't like the idea of them seeing Johns... my... face. I walked through pubs / hotels on the way to my bed. I walked through the streets of villages, towns, and so on. For some reason I found this game really enjoyable when played this way.
I do it once in a while in GTA IV where, when driving, I obey the laws of the road. I drive in first person. Stop at red lights, and generally try and not be a dick. My only wish is the game had turn signals in it or even a 'hardcore' mode for play styles like this one. What exactly a 'Hardcore' mode would entail, I am not sure.
I would imagine this is enjoyable to do in non 'realistic' games, like Skyrim, Mass Effect, and so on. Unfortunately those games aren't my cup of tea but I'd still love to hear about it if you do it.
Replies
for example: "Oh I'm roleplaying a guy who does this and that and gathers these kind of items because of this and that event"
But the game would never actually respond to what I was, I play that role only in my mind.
A more simulated game such as dwarf fortress would be MUCH more acceptable towards single-player roleplaying.
Or in the case of GTA: if the world was a fully simulated one where laws had to be abided and all the small elements where in there it would make for an actual roleplaying experience where it actually made sense.
If in a game where I'm given two choices which both just net the same reward with no consequence, then I wouldn't roleplay that situation, but if the two outcomes had two very gray outcomes then I would get into my character and see what he would do.
Like you I also did this when I started playing GTA IV, walking around like a normal guy, driving and making sure I didn't do anything out of the ordinary or illegal. I do prefer First-Person Games for this type of experience though. I never get into 3rd person games as much when it comes to immersion.
What I would like to see in games is more rewards for this type of behavior but maybe that is too much to ask for? What do you guys think?
I think what you mentioned in new vegas is a way to not exactly reward it, but punish other behaviour and thus making you go into your character more.
It might be a bit too much for some games, but perfect for many other!
I've done something kind of similar is Skyrim, though not as involved. I have less time at 25 than I did at 19
Can't really think of any other games I've role played in off the top of my head. I'm sure I've done it, and every time I do it makes it that much more fun.
I thought this topic was going to regard those silly RP servers that plague some games, where 12-year-olds gather in a blocky city map pretending to have lives against some sort of badly coded zombie apocalypse. Not just Garry's Mod, but Roblox, Blockland, Team Fortress II, HL2DM, even Doom II... it's pretty bad if you 'quick start' in multiplayer and end up in one of those, then end up on a banlist.
Hey wait a minute.. Don't be so negative when there have been actually good RP communities in some games.. JK:JA and GTA:SA come to mind for example.. JK:JA more than GTA:SA though, JK:JA had pretty awesome roleplaying community and I think there are still a "clan" or two doing RP in the game.
Though, most of the games I dont really try and feel like im that player. Im more so the type to stop and enjoy the view, but that's about it. The only roleplaying ive really done has been in MMOs on roleplaying servers. Where you are suppose to talk and act like the character you are playing. Bad english for trolls and what not. Im not a huge fan of it though, but I can definitely see how it attracts so many.
I even did it in the first fable, though to a lesser extent. He was a mentally unstable bald guy who hated barbers and would kill them on sight. I still chuckle to think of myself sitting on my couch alone yelling at my TV "I $#(*^ing HATE BARBERS!!" then putting arrows into them.
I played RDR amlost exclusively that way, though never GTA. And I do it a lot more in Skyrim than I did in oblivion, though I don't have the time to put the effort into it that I did for Morrowind.
What I think is interesting of late is the emergence of games that really force this kind of immersion on the player - though I don't think it's quite perfected yet.
What comes to mind is DayZ. Every time I play I go into the mindset of the wily and untrusting survivor. I slink around buildings, avoid contact with people I don't know and Have serious moral dillemas every time I come across another player who hasn't seen me yet - especially if they're armed. I define myself in that game as the kind of person who would rather take a bullet than be the one to shoot first.
At one point I was playing with a friend. We were out scavenging and crossed a road, when somebody with a Gilly suit popped up from the ground behind us. It scared the crap out of me and I emptied the entire clip of my 9mil pistol into his face. Turned out he was a hacker - i'm assuming since he didn't die when i should have removed his entire head with that many rounds - and he started ranting about being the "god of Charnarus" and other such nonsense. It broke the illusion for me...i got mad and logged out.
After that, though, for a day or so it kept popping into my head: I shot that guy without even seeing what he would do. Why did I shoot first? what if I had killed him and was just going to ask for food? I felt like an asshole because i shot first. it was awesome.
I don't think role playing playing can be limited to RPG titles. I find myself playing shooters like Call of Duty of Battlefield 3 where I'll either play the single player and adhere to the rules and play as if being shot was as deadly in real life. Even in multiplayer maps, kind of zoning into a role of a sniper and moving from shadow to shadow on BF3's big maps is fun, or being a heli pilot and ferrying random people everywhere and talking gibberish over the mic.
I don't really do it. I did get really into the lore of Fallout 3 though, I loved everything about it. Oblivion was Ok and Skyrim was just meh to me but still really good.
Assassins creed is one of my favorites though because you get a glimpse of what life may have been like back then. IIRC AC is used by some history teachers.
Strangely enough, however, journey was the last game where I really felt like I was a part of the world, like being that little avatar.