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pokoko on 27 June 2019
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HoloDust said:
pokoko said:

Awesome.  I loathe simplistic hand-holding systems that tie your characters to black and while rules and "karma" is usually one of the worst.  That's not role-playing to me, that's just following someone else's choose-your-own-adventure bullet point list.  I understand that many people would rather follow the trails set forth by someone else's imagination rather than use their own but karma is usually just way too arbitrary and controlling.  

Complete lack of any system is really not in RPG spirit - as someone who played quite a bit of D&D when I was in high school (back in 80s), alignment is really great way to get into character you've created and stick to his/her view of the world and not your own.

That said, it's not bad idea for game not to define what's right or wrong, but some sort of reputation among diferrent sort of people depending on your actions is desirable IMO.

There is no RPG spirit other than allowing people to role-play in a way they enjoy. 

I've played pen and paper RPGs, though only AD&D and Marvel.  I think it's time for videogames to move beyond that and find its own path, unless it's a property directly based or connected to something else.  Specifically, developers who pack a game with constricting "systems" often choke off the creativity of the player.  Yes, some people absolutely want their world tightly bound and controlled by highly detailed rule-sets, they want to follow along and let someone else handle the imagination aspect, but I think more people than ever are looking for freedom.  Personally, I don't like the hand-holding, I don't need something like arbitrary karma popups to define my character for me and find it jarring when it contradicts my own ideals.    

The next era of RPGs should be about options, about giving players the tools they need to shape the world they're playing with.  That's something pen and paper has, actually, where groups can decide to alter rules they don't like or discard them completely.  Gaming does have something similar with modding but it's time for developers to look up and see that players want different things and provide them that power from the start.