This is a dynamic game with active coders who seek to improve it. The fact that they didn't print the words "strategy" on it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be strategic.
Role playing based on a true human skill level is far more poignant than role playing based on random chance.
Ah HA! My character attacks you! Darn, you got a better role of the dice than I did and I died. I think I'll role play that as uhm.... who knows.
The ultimate form of game is a persistent universe role playing game that is based around a strategic combat system. Competition and interaction based on factors that you can control and set in a stimulating fantasy/role play environment is the TRUE addiction. That's why you LIKE to level, because you perceive the increase in power. But that increase is a false sense of pride, because it's not based around your own native abilities, but instead on how much time you have to play.
Quake and star craft are better skill-based games than EQ will probably ever be, but you know what? Fighting in them doesn't spurr the imagination, or vibrate with the excitement of knocking off a rival guild or character. You can't walk down the street in Quake, and have people know who you are. Thus, you accomplishments in games like that never pay off the dividends that they do in an RPG environment.
In the meantime, games that are fully RPG focused only have shadow-relationships, because they are never backed up by the resolution of the conflict based on skills and abilities.
Two vast armies gather for a battle, each warrior intent on winning, each generally finely trained and focused to razor intensity on the battle plan. The two generals meet in the space between their armies, flip a coin to see who wins, and go home.
BAH. You must have strategic combat for role playing to realize its full potential, and you must have role playing for strategic combat to realize its full potential.
Hedron
The False Prophet
KAAOS
|