How I Used To Play RPGs

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Written by BuckGB on July 24th, 2010

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When considering whether the character I make in RPG games is like me, I must also acknowledge my moral (flexibility) in gaming. Since these characters are not real, I normally do not care as much about their lives and or unfortunate situations. For example, in Fallout 2 I became a slaver so I could make some extra cash. In real life, however, I would never consider becoming such a monster. So to say that I have always played RPG games as a character that was an extension of me would be inaccurate. Interestingly, in becoming a slaver, Fallout 2 did not give me (evil points) or anything like that, but instead it allowed me to see the consequences of my actions first hand by having me condemned by an entire village immediately upon entry. Similarly, in becoming a (child killer) almost everyone will hate you without question. I feel that these explicit (and not necessarily immediately apparent) consequences are more effective than awarding the player X amount of good or bad points, as they really give you a sense of how far your seemingly irrelevant actions (non-quest related) can reach.

In realizing that I cannot become the character in RPG games, no matter how hard I try, I have begun to play RPGs with fewer restrictions. No longer do I have to be that retarded Orc I was in Arcanum, but I can be a brilliant craftsman or cunning spokesperson instead. I might even try being a woman more often if there is a substantial difference in the way characters interact with me. All these years I think I missed the point of RPGs and that is to use my imagination, so now when I am making a character I do not really care if they reflect my person, all I care about is making my experience as fun and interesting as possible.

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