Alternate ways to gain EXP

[Cabal_Therapist]

When most people think about gaining exp, it's a pretty simple mindset- kill things, get exp, repeat.

But I've also been thinking of other ways that exp could be gained, or how it affects the character. Take the way it works in tabletop RPGs- in World of Darkness, you get exp from playing your character well, or doing something cool, and while not viable in video games, Dark Heresy can award players for the length of the session.

A few games add alternate ways, an example of the top of my head is Mass Effect, getting exp from exploration and completing objectives. But it seems pretty shallow, since you have a specific set of things to spend your exp on. For example, in a fantasy game, you are playing a spellcaster. Through the game you can get small exp bonuses just from reading books around, this fits in as a spellcaster is normally a 'smart guy', however, finding certain books can open up new spell options, or give more exp to certain areas.

Or an adventure based RPG where exp was gained not just from fighting, but exploring the surroundings, you could just rush through to do your objective, but if you spend time and look through the dungeon, you find way more things.

So what alternate ways would you like to see in RPGs? Or even just interesting ways to use it.

 

[Cabal_Therapist]

Or an adventure based RPG where exp was gained not just from fighting, but exploring the surroundings, you could just rush through to do your objective, but if you spend time and look through the dungeon, you find way more things.

Play some decent RPG's? Like New Vegas / Fallout 3, they reward exploration very nicely.

Yeah that's a good example. While writing that and after, I did think of a bunch of examples (While simple, Fable 1 and 2 gives your different exp for using melee, magic or ranged more than the others), though I'll admit, Fallout didn't cross my mind, points to you, man!

 

[Judgement101]

2 words: Deus Ex. That rewarded you for pretty much anything. Find special area, completely objects, hacking, lockpicking, hacktool-ing (?), but not swimming.

 

[William Fleming]

Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines (Which I think is set in the WoD tabletop universe that you mentioned) gave nothing a lot of the time for killing enemies but rewarded for going the sneaky or tactical approach when ever it was possible, I wish more games done stuff like that.

I would like to see an RPG give a small amount of exp for charging into battle clearly underlevelled as a reward for being so badass/stupid/suicidal.

 

[lord.jeff]

Dues Ex did it pretty well get exp mostly from finding hidden areas. I'd like to see RPGs give exp for using support roles well.

 

[Reishadowen]

I think this question is one game developers have asked themselves for years now. for some ways I have seen include, picking up containers of experience points (LoZ 2) Completing quests (every MMORPG ever nowadays) Solving puzzles, Eating food(Odin Sphere gave you two separate experience bars, one for killing, one for max health that was increased by eating foods.)

Really, exp. is awarded to a player based on what they are going to be doing the most often that will be a challenge to them. In most games, since they involve killing or fighting things, guess how you get experience?

If games that didn't rely on combat as a main theme so much became more prevalent, we'd see more examples of experience point reward systems. Until then, it's only really logical to see tons of "kill stuff, get exp". Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing....

 

[Zac Smith]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion gave you EXP for almost everything, even if you were just running and jumping, you can agility EXP

 

[baconsarnie]

I just had an idea, reach level 50 on COD without killing anyone. You get exp for milestones of: playtime, matches completed, matches won. As well as objective captures, equipment destroys, aircraft destroys, revives etc.
Hows that for alternate ways of getting exp.

 

[AlternatePFG]

The original Fallout games were really good about this, you could play through the games without having to kill anyone, and you could still get a good amount of experience through exploration, speech checks and other skill checks.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I quite like idea of XP mini goals or achievements(except these matter):
- Dawn of War 2, had a nifty system where they would give you a bonus if you finished the map quickly, kept team mates alive and killed most of the enemies(you had to explore), problem was the goals were not actively displayed so until you finished the level you had no idea how you are doing
- Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, does it even better, near every map and puzzle has added mini goals that will earn you extras and they are actively displayed as you are near the area so you always know what you can get, sadly none of the time goals are displayed... that is just plain stupidity

These are some of the things RPG's could really use, if you send us on a bullshit fetch quest give a little something on top to really make us interested, doesn't take much spice to completely change the taste.

 

[anthony87]

Wasn't there a girl who hit level 85 on World of Warcraft without any kills?

Or it could've been without doing any quests, I'm not entirely sure.

 

[squballs1234]

I really like what Blizzard did with professions in WoW. You can level from 1 to 85 without killing a single mob by doing nothing but picking flowers and mining rocks.

Exhibit A!! http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/feathermoon/everbloom/simple
Everbloom ladies and mentlegen

 

[DigitalSushi]

What, you mean like Trophies?

MGS4 has those rewards as well, you get graded on what you did and how you acted throughout the game, its pretty sweet.

2 words: Deus Ex. That rewarded you for pretty much anything. Find special area, completely objects, hacking, lockpicking, hacktool-ing (?), but not swimming.

Haven't you swam into the secret area's in Hong Kong?, that's a reward in itself.

 

[Judgement101]

What, you mean like Trophies?

MGS4 has those rewards as well, you get graded on what you did and how you acted throughout the game, its pretty sweet.

2 words: Deus Ex. That rewarded you for pretty much anything. Find special area, completely objects, hacking, lockpicking, hacktool-ing (?), but not swimming.

Haven't you swam into the secret area's in Hong Kong?, that's a reward in itself.

I have.....issues....when it comes to swimming, I can't seem to tell when I'm underwater so I drown a lot. I just realised in general I drown a lot in games.

 

[badgersprite]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion gave you EXP for almost everything, even if you were just running and jumping, you can agility EXP

Yeah, this method is pretty much my favourite. How do you improve your skills? By using them and practicing. Makes sense to me.

The original Fallout games were really good about this, you could play through the games without having to kill anyone, and you could still get a good amount of experience through exploration, speech checks and other skill checks.

This was also awesome, as it made pacifism an actual legitimate play style, which enables me to pretend I'm playing Vash.

 

[Lukeman1884]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion gave you EXP for almost everything, even if you were just running and jumping, you can agility EXP

^This. Makes sense that if you want to improve a skill, you should use it, not just spend arbitrary skill points/xp obtained from leveling, ala Fallout. How does finding the guy who shot me in the head suddenly make me better at hacking computers?

 

[mysecondlife]

Wasn't there a girl who hit level 85 on World of Warcraft without any kills?

Or it could've been without doing any quests, I'm not entirely sure.

I think it was without doing PvP

 

[Cavan]

Wasn't there a girl who hit level 85 on World of Warcraft without any kills?

Or it could've been without doing any quests, I'm not entirely sure.

I think it was without doing PvP

It was without killing anything, monsters or players. Doing exploration and gathering quests and such over many months.