SilentRiC
First time out of the vault
There seem to be two distinct ways of playing CRPGs such as Fallout and that would be
1) Playing based on your own whims; responding to situations based purely on how you're feeling at the time and just taking the game as it comes to you. For some this may be putting themselves in the game world whereas for others there may not even be that sense of immersion, they may see it more as "I'm sitting here playing this game, making my guy do [x,y,z]
2) Roleplaying*. Creating a character separate from yourself and behaving in accordance with their psychology.
*The reason I didn't simply say "how many people roleplay" is because many people take roleplaying to mean acting out every thing that a person would do in real life down to the mundane realistic details such as walking instead of running, eating/sleeping regularly, drinking at bars etc. I'm not concerned about mimicking reality in that way, I just mean adopting your character's persona.
I find that typically on my first play through a game I'll be a quite generic 'good guy' (helpful and pleasant, let's say) and play it more in the first style whereas in subsequent playthroughs it's type two all the way. Roleplaying adds so much to the game that I find it amazing that these games are so popular and give so many hours of play to those who never roleplay at all - there's just so much more to work with when at least half of what's going on is in your head.
Obviously this manner of play is how roleplaying games began but now that the world is so fully realised on screen, it's become optional to the point that those who do are almost certainly in the minority. There's nothing so satisfying to me as walking between quests mulling over things in my (character's) head, adding layers and layers to my story and character development that would be otherwise absent. Also little things like telling yourself "they must have seen me coming out of the NCR camp, I bet they're planning their ambush" to tie it all together. Switching the prewritten dialogue options for your own interchangable speech is also consistently satisfying - hearing them respond seamlessly (don't try this with Fallout 3!) just feels damn good.
I love this aspect of the games probably more than the games themselves but storytelling isn't everybody's strong point so I'm wondering how many people here do that. I'm not in the business of looking down on or belittling people who don't roleplay because the reality is it's not "because they're idiots", it's because we all play computer games for different reasons and are entertained in different ways - for many people this just isn't their idea of fun. Plus creativity and improvisation isn't everybody's forte; I've never worked hard or put effort into being creative, I can boast about it as much as I can boast about being tall or handsome, you know, if I was.
Sorry if I'm rambling, I'm caffeine tired. Thoughts?
1) Playing based on your own whims; responding to situations based purely on how you're feeling at the time and just taking the game as it comes to you. For some this may be putting themselves in the game world whereas for others there may not even be that sense of immersion, they may see it more as "I'm sitting here playing this game, making my guy do [x,y,z]
2) Roleplaying*. Creating a character separate from yourself and behaving in accordance with their psychology.
*The reason I didn't simply say "how many people roleplay" is because many people take roleplaying to mean acting out every thing that a person would do in real life down to the mundane realistic details such as walking instead of running, eating/sleeping regularly, drinking at bars etc. I'm not concerned about mimicking reality in that way, I just mean adopting your character's persona.
I find that typically on my first play through a game I'll be a quite generic 'good guy' (helpful and pleasant, let's say) and play it more in the first style whereas in subsequent playthroughs it's type two all the way. Roleplaying adds so much to the game that I find it amazing that these games are so popular and give so many hours of play to those who never roleplay at all - there's just so much more to work with when at least half of what's going on is in your head.
Obviously this manner of play is how roleplaying games began but now that the world is so fully realised on screen, it's become optional to the point that those who do are almost certainly in the minority. There's nothing so satisfying to me as walking between quests mulling over things in my (character's) head, adding layers and layers to my story and character development that would be otherwise absent. Also little things like telling yourself "they must have seen me coming out of the NCR camp, I bet they're planning their ambush" to tie it all together. Switching the prewritten dialogue options for your own interchangable speech is also consistently satisfying - hearing them respond seamlessly (don't try this with Fallout 3!) just feels damn good.
I love this aspect of the games probably more than the games themselves but storytelling isn't everybody's strong point so I'm wondering how many people here do that. I'm not in the business of looking down on or belittling people who don't roleplay because the reality is it's not "because they're idiots", it's because we all play computer games for different reasons and are entertained in different ways - for many people this just isn't their idea of fun. Plus creativity and improvisation isn't everybody's forte; I've never worked hard or put effort into being creative, I can boast about it as much as I can boast about being tall or handsome, you know, if I was.
Sorry if I'm rambling, I'm caffeine tired. Thoughts?
