Zanallen wrote...
Monica83 wrote...
"Idiots Don't Play RPG's". Explains very well what i think
Of course. RPGs are sacred and should be reserved for the elite. The sheer complexity is just too much for us lesser creatures. Oh wait, no. There is nothing inherently more complex about RPGs and nor are the people who play them somehow more intelligent. Sorry old chap, but RPG fans are not the ubermensh come to raise up humanity above the worms and slugs.
Wow. The whole point of
that article kinda flew right over your head, huh, Zan?
I'll simplify it for you.
The people that love RPGs already play RPGs. There isn't a huge untapped market out there of people dying to discover the new Genre. By abandoning their base EA is effectively abandoning it's market, and that's stupid.
Now here's the part that's not very PC. As a rule RPGers are geeks. We grew up as part of the geek culture. We are mostly educated, we are mostly highly computer literate, and we are mostly imaginative and creative people. The term "geek" is not one of endearment. Most of us are accustomed to a certain degree of socail ostracism. As a rule the way were treated in our youth didn't make us feel terribly elite.
But... We understand games, game design and computers and are accustomed to going against the flow.
We're very unlikely to be fooled by a crappy game wrapped in pretty graphics.
It's not the complexity of the game that attracts us "elites". Some of the best RPGs are exceedingly simple. The
original D&D rules were packed into a few tiny pamphlets. There were a few base classes and no skill trees. One of the greatest PnP RPGs of all time,
Traveller, had NO CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT SYSTEM AT ALL. Once a character was created it was pretty much static. There was no experience point system, no increase in skills, and the only change to your stats occured from getting old.
What makes an RPG an RPG isn't skill trees, it's STORY trees. What makes an RPG different from an adventure game is the ability to make choices that affect the ultimate outcome of the story.
What attracts smart creative people to RPGs is the underlying principle of playing "make believe". It's the willingness to embrace that childish playfulness that we indulged when we used to play Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians. This, I believe, takes a more sophisticated mind than your average person has to offer. Most people are far too wrapped up being what they're supposed to be to embrace this concept. They want to be percieved as "adult" and "mature". Indulging that kind of innocent playfulness terrifies most people. Many of these folks hold those of us who love role playing in unabashed contempt.
The average gamer is represented by guys who line up around the block to spend $80 on what amounts to a Madden Expansion that could easilly be delivered as DLC.
IMO these people are idiots. If that makes me an elitist snob so be it. It's better than being a total friggen' moron.
These are the customers that EA wants. They make tons of money catering to them and they're very good at it. These people want sports games, racing games, and shooters; and they want pop out gore and graphics. These are cheap, easy games to make and that's what EA is good at. These games don't require any development or innovation, just a periodic facelift.
There is nothing EA can do to get these people to love RPGs. They don't want to be immersed in another world. They don't want to have to think about the consequences of their choices. They don't want to have to read pages of exposition in order to understand the setting they are a part of, or the companions they are travelling with. They just want to blast away and see lots of gore and gasoline explosions. These are casual gamers. Many of these players hold role playing games in abject contempt.
Likewise those of us who prefer games with character, and depth, and choices with real consequences are unlikely to be convinced to accept a "newer more user friendly RPG".
Mainstreaming RPGs just isn't possible. If EA wants to get their slice of the RPG market they need to stop developing against the existing RPG fanbase, and start developing for it. They need to accept that RPGers prefer good games and appreciate innovation above graphics.
They need to get over themselves. They need to start serving the market and stop trying to "shape" it.
Ultimately they need to accept that RPGs are more sophisticated than shooters, and that they are more expensive than shooters to develop.
Or they can just keep releasing flops.
I know where my money is.
Modifié par UrkOfGreyhawk, 16 septembre 2011 - 07:02 .
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sadly that is not the case <_<
