The Evolution of the RPG GDC Panel
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A snip from FiringSquad's article:
Muzyka stated his belief that RPG elements are spreading into other genres. "The entire industry is moving towards RPG elements." he said. BioWare has used what they have called "activity pillars" to determine the features their games should have. Story and character, exploration, customization and combat are the four pillars the company has identified and the developer links the pillars in activity chains in order to create their gameplay experiences. "A lot of teams are building these componants into their games," Muzyka stated.
And a snip from 1Up's article:
Sakaguchi feels that the most obvious change over the past three decades has been graphical, which in his opinion has greatly improved the medium's potential. The group consensus is that RPGs are differentiated from other genres (which have increasingly incorporated RPG elements over the years) by the emotional impact of the characters and stories; the evolution of in-game graphics is therefore a great boon, as more detailed graphics creates a more powerful emotional connection.
Molyneux agrees, noting that despite the visual changes, it's still easy to see the connection between modern RPGs and his first role-playing love, the bitmaps-and-wireframes PC classic Wizardry; ultimately, the point is to experience a hero's journey, for the player to feel significant. And to Muzyka's mind, RPGs need to consist of something he calls "activity pillars": Story, character, exploration, customization and combat, linked together in chains that continue to entice the player by causing the completion of one goal to reveal the next.
