In a video game context, RPGs are now so synonymous with leveling and loot that the original/literal meaning of the term has pretty much been 100% supplanted. But it's not just the term that has dropped from the collective consciousness.
Multiplayer games almost universally allot players one of two roles: adversary or cooperative partner. There might be some superficial differences (e.g. healer vs tank), but ultimately everyone's goals are simplistic ("defeat the bad guys") and getting into your role is hardly encouraged ("just do the thing and don't ask why").
Why aren't there ever any multiplayer games that give you a fascinating character to play, with complex motivations and gameplay that rewards you for investing in your role? Am I alone in pining for something like that?
A dream game of mine would have all the players control characters waking up on a mysterious island, where you need to work together to survive. But each character has their own backstory, skillset and agendas: one man is trying to find his lost daughter; a soldier is trying to recover all the dog tags of his massacred platoon; one woman is a morally bankrupt scientist who needs to keep the little girl she's been experimenting on hidden; a pilot needs to repair his plane and rescue as many people as possible; a spy is trying to murder everyone to keep the island secret, but needs the plane fixed first so he can escape with some documents, etc. These character-agenda combinations could be rolled randomly so each game is distinct and the narrative emerges differently.
The gameplay would necessitate that you forge alliances to survive. I'm envisioning something like the open-world survival gameplay of DayZ crossed with the "you always need an ally nearby or you're screwed" mechanics of Left 4 Dead, but with less running-and-gunning and more running-and-hiding. The backstory/agenda system then encourages you to play in a way that enriches everyone's experience, rather than everyone just deciding to shoot on sight.
This isn't a thread about my game ideas though, I'm just wondering why something like this hasn't ever really been done. It seems like the RPG genre was originally based on pen-and-paper games, but the spirit of imagination and collaborative storytelling was swiftly discarded, and nobody has ever really gone back for it.
Just imagine all the fantastic multiplayer games you could make by leveraging/inspiring people's imaginations, rather than just having them mindlessly shoot at each other.
Multiplayer games almost universally allot players one of two roles: adversary or cooperative partner. There might be some superficial differences (e.g. healer vs tank), but ultimately everyone's goals are simplistic ("defeat the bad guys") and getting into your role is hardly encouraged ("just do the thing and don't ask why").
Why aren't there ever any multiplayer games that give you a fascinating character to play, with complex motivations and gameplay that rewards you for investing in your role? Am I alone in pining for something like that?
A dream game of mine would have all the players control characters waking up on a mysterious island, where you need to work together to survive. But each character has their own backstory, skillset and agendas: one man is trying to find his lost daughter; a soldier is trying to recover all the dog tags of his massacred platoon; one woman is a morally bankrupt scientist who needs to keep the little girl she's been experimenting on hidden; a pilot needs to repair his plane and rescue as many people as possible; a spy is trying to murder everyone to keep the island secret, but needs the plane fixed first so he can escape with some documents, etc. These character-agenda combinations could be rolled randomly so each game is distinct and the narrative emerges differently.
The gameplay would necessitate that you forge alliances to survive. I'm envisioning something like the open-world survival gameplay of DayZ crossed with the "you always need an ally nearby or you're screwed" mechanics of Left 4 Dead, but with less running-and-gunning and more running-and-hiding. The backstory/agenda system then encourages you to play in a way that enriches everyone's experience, rather than everyone just deciding to shoot on sight.
This isn't a thread about my game ideas though, I'm just wondering why something like this hasn't ever really been done. It seems like the RPG genre was originally based on pen-and-paper games, but the spirit of imagination and collaborative storytelling was swiftly discarded, and nobody has ever really gone back for it.
Just imagine all the fantastic multiplayer games you could make by leveraging/inspiring people's imaginations, rather than just having them mindlessly shoot at each other.
