Comments on RetroRoleplaying: The Blog: Could CRPG Save Game Functions be the "Real" Origi...

how can u save a game when you no game?

2009-09-20T14:23:36.666-05:00

how can u save a game when you no game?

Hmmm, You may have something here. I can't rea...

2009-07-08T20:08:33.867-05:00

Hmmm, You may have something here. I can't really speak from experiance about computer games though. They always seemed like sad, limited versions of table top to me. I don't think I'll be interested in them until they get to the holo-deck level.

No restore for online games/online play FPS/RTS/MM...

2009-07-08T19:44:52.032-05:00

No restore for online games/online play FPS/RTS/MMORPG. Online seems to be the most popular, perhaps somewhat due to the no death == no challenge == not as fun.

So, maybe that argument holds true for peeps who grew up in the period before online play but I can't see it holding water any longer.

Lots of people make this broad claim "new players/gen y'rs/youngins these days are full on entitlement/hate to have bad things happen" I've seen little evidence put forth to support this view (a few vocal peeps rant for/against it but that's FAR from evidence or reality). I've experienced players who felt that way, as have others from the beginning of playing back in early 80's. So, really you should work at proving the point before trying to rationalize an explanation for it.

Well, backing up to a save point in a CRPG may not...

2009-07-08T04:55:48.328-05:00

Well, backing up to a save point in a CRPG may not have the simple convenience of an 'undo' function, but I think the point is still a valid one. And even more so when you consider the death-as-inconvenience philosophy of some popular MMOs.

Spoken truly like a person who has never lost hour...

2009-07-08T03:50:31.378-05:00

Spoken truly like a person who has never lost hours of progress, or a rare / hard to succeed at goal, in a computer rpg. Or for that matter some who has never made a poor decision hours back in a game that you can never undo.

You can't always just back up to the last save, you know, and start over blithely. Players do lose time, effort, and achievements (whether items, experience or story goals) -- and woe to the person who is defeated when there hasn't been a save point to be found for hours. Or who have saved past a point where they could have undone a mistake, or made a crucial decision, or met a certain NPC, or ...

Any good point you have -- and there is one, buried in the knee-jerk blanket statements -- is quite poisoned by the rhetoric. I'm sorry, but I can't get onboard with this one.

I think that's a very good point. I do believ...

2009-07-08T03:02:46.074-05:00

I think that's a very good point. I do believe that computer gaming has strongly influenced the psychology of tabletop gamers and now informs their expectations of how tabletop should play out. (I left a comment to this effect on d7's "The Rust Monster Provides No Risk" but it's still in moderation right now...). Pretty much every tabletop player I know also plays CRPGs and in some cases spend absurd amounts of time playing a certain well-known MMO. Of course that's going to have an impact.