Re: What is role playing on a computer?

"VTES2004" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Simon Craig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>
> > No. I am describing people who buy new games frequently. That is why
they
> > are on the next game next month.
>
> I contend that the trend of chain-buying is rather rare and not a
> demographic, as they have no characteristic other than they don't
> stick with games. I know gamefaqs.com posted a poll 2 years ago
> regarding how many computer games people bought on average, per month,
> but have no other data to draw from.
>

Chain buying (or acquiring) rare? But everyone in know in real life that
plays games heavily,  gets several a month and has a favourite until they
find a new favourite. Perhaps being in the games industry means I met rare
people. This is even more the case of console players that usually have
piles of games. More games than months the XBox (for example)  has been on
the market.
The two or three people I know that hardly ever get new games dont play them
more than once a week on average.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one


> > > > However this is why role playing aspects are not developing as well
as
> > > > arcade aspects in games.
> > >
> > > I see no reason to agree to this. My contention is still that there's
> > > no hard rules separating the 2 genre's (Doom genre vs Ultima genre),
> > > just common differences in interface.
> > >
> > Arcade aspects - good sharp fast graphics, lighting, sound - huge
> > improvements in last 15 years
> > role-playing aspects - AI, non  violent interaction - not much
improvement in
> > last 15 years
> > Spot the difference.
>
> Huge improvements to FPS?
Not much, but they do a lot more with the graphics in each frame.

> What kind of improvements are you talking
> about?
> In CS you can buy and manage money (a rather RPG element)
>
How do you meen 'manage money'? Sounds interesting.
In Nethack at least 15 years agoe you could train your dog to shoplift. In
Moria at the same time you could haggle in shops (at last a use for the
charisma stat).

> No improvements to RPG? What qualifies?
> If we're talking about network code,

Not 'no' improvements.
- MUGs have improved. 15 years ago they were all text based. Faster internet
networking was a breakthrough there but only in MUGs
- Speech - Has that improved RPGs or does it restrict the interaction to
pre-recorded phrases? a development to think about elsewhere.
- A.I. 15 years ago there were several mood of NPC (e.g.. bad guy,
defenders, shopkeepers, story advancers) It would be nice if NPCs got a
life. A bit more interaction with each other. Making monsters attack each
other is a start, but we were doing that 20 years ago too.
- Shorelines. In Omega 15 years ago you got different missions depending on
which guilds you joined. Now many RPGs railroad you into 1 set plot. I think
that has gone backwards.