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Lotrotk just made the remark that in Trine, the concept of LMK is fulfilled - although not as an RPG.

Sexism in the games industry : http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...sexism_in_game_industry.php#.UMnv7CA0NI5

Sexism as well : http://kotaku.com/5917400/youll-want-to-protect-the-new-less-curvy-lara-croft

An older blog on sexism in games : http://www.trredskies.com/tag/sexualization/

On animating realistic sword combat : http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/183412/art_of_war_animating_realistic_.php

The case of an game maker, who got sentenced to death in Iran : http://gamasutra.com/view/news/1290...over_propaganda_charges.php#.UMn2DiA0NI5




Gamasutra artiles, looking back on 2012 :

5 disappointments : http://gamasutra.com/view/news/183227/The_5_biggest_disappointments_of_2012.php#.UMntjCA0NI4

5 "shocking events" : http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...o_game_industry_in_2012.php#.UMnvBCA0NI4

5 controversies (shitstorms included) : http://gamasutra.com/view/news/1831...e_controversies_in_2012.php#.UMnvAiA0NI4

5 trends : http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...e_game_industry_in_2012.php#.UMnu_iA0NI4

5 game surprises : http://gamasutra.com/view/news/183281/The_5_biggest_video_game_surprises_of_2012.php#.UMntMCA0NI4

5 Tips for doing an tutorial : http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Benj..._Tips_for_Creating_a_Better_Tutorial.php


Edit : Just found this deeply among the commentaries :



I'm not surprised at all.

Tourette Quest : http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Lars...ette_Quest__Media_Magic_and_Nostrils.php

On violence in games :

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...vestors_express_concern.php#.UNxSKkc0NI4

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Taek...s_Why_Game_Violence_is_a_Red_Herring.php

The writer failed to do proper research. If they had done so, they'd have found this.

Games, as usual, are being used as a convenient whipping boy by many people who really should know better.

This might be true, but I do see a pattern there : Both games and shooting are about executing power. Power, this is the thing that disturbs me.

Persons who feel especially powerless - no mtter, why - can use both games and RL guns as a tool to enlive the feeling of having power again, to recreate an artificial momentum of having power that they lack in RL - to "get their stolen power back", to put it quite extremely.

People might even not realize that guns in games are different than RL uns.


I have found something different via RPGWatch today : "The Rise Of Cost And The Fall Of Gaming" : http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012/07/02/the-rise-of-costs-the-fall-of-gaming/

Including a great quote :

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist)

Games are not about power, though, Alrik - even the shooters. They are about relieving frustration. After annoying or depressing events in your life, it's great to unwind by taking out all that frustration on pixel-people who, not being real, can never be harmed by it.

Even the huge multi-player shooters, I think you will find are a lot more about unwinding and/or competing than they are about power. After all, if they desire to be good at what you do was about power rather than achievement, wouldn't professional sportsmen be extremely dangerous people who are prone to violence? hey aren't, though, are they?

I don't play many shooters, but I do play a lot of RTS games, which hand you a LOT more 'power' than any FPS ever will. You get to run empires, direct armies and mercilessly destroy entire nations filled with your enemies. But you know what, I don't even WANT to run a real country let alone a real war and I'd bet most other RTS fans don't either.

I'd also bet that on average gamers are LESS violent than most other sections of the community. Partly because we are too busy playing games to get in fights, and partly because we work our frustrations out through gaming rather than taking them out on other people.

As for 'some people not knowing the difference between a game gun and a real one', come on! Anyone who really cannot tell the difference between a mouse or game controller and a genuine firearm has got problems that go a bit beyond gaming, don't you think?

I disagree.

Meanwhile I do agree that some games are good for, as you put it, "relieving frustration",
I do believe, hoewever, that some games re indeed out power. Remember the Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2 marketing campaigns ? The favourite advertising saying for DA2 was : "Rise to power !" This was uttered so many imes ... mentioned so oten ... It's hard to believe that RPGs which do indeed often depict a "Hero's Journey" (in the Wikipedia as the "Monomyth", really strange word) and are about nothing but character progression, that RPGs would be rather about "releasing/relieving frustration".

Take the NLT, for example. Turn-based combat. How should frutration be relieved by a game that's so much focused on Miromanagement and on turn-based combat ?

Shooters, yes, maybe. However, what happens if a person becomes accustiomed to this way of relieving frustration ? o much that it "unlearns" oher ways ?


Another thing is that "adrenaline addiction" thing which I believe does exist. A friend of mine from my current TDE p&p group working at the police (funnily 3/4 of my current TDE p&p group consists of persons working at the police ! ) recently said that it really exists.


A few weeks ago there was a smalkl discussion here in the forums about this thing, andthis is my reply there : http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=459661#Post459661

The complte discussion there : http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=459608#Post459608

You and I both play a lot of RPGs, Alrik. I played Tabletop RPGs for years, and you still do. Was any of it ever about power to you? It never was to me, and I would absolutely describe myself as a Power Gamer (That's high level, high challenge! :)). It's about being a part of the story, isn't it? About helping to create a tale you enjoy.

RPGs exist for the same reason novels do - sheer escapism.

Or are you secretly a tinpot tyrant who yearns to rule all with an iron fist? I suspect you are not

Way back when the usual bunch of uninformed scaremongers were running around screaming about the evil of RPGs, Games Workshop even produced a massive pack of information as a counter-campaign. Did you know that role players are amongst the least violent and least criminally inclined group around? It was so in the 80s, and I doubt it's changed too much since

Well, of course games are about escapism ?

But - you can't deny that a farmboy would be able to defeat Darth Vader without any proper training.

And - imho - through this training he gains at least *some* sort of "power".

In some games this is played out more differently than in others, imho. In BG2 you can become a God, and would you still say that this position would have no power ?

It is also a matter of how people perceive games. I see things often through glasses labelled "power". I often evaluate things this way. If I put these glasses off, then i see no more an aspect o "power" in a thing (no matter what it really is).

Power is there, and people want to 2rise to power". It just happens in Real Life (Dictators ! Kleptorats !), so ouldn't it be possible that people who just cannot become Dicttors would try to become - at least - as powerful as possible within any "virtual world" ?

Some people might even be totally immune to this "power aspct". Good for them, good for society, because there goes the almost-proverb :

"Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Characters almost always gain power in some form or another, even if it's only the power of knowledge. Can't deny that. Even in Adventure Games that remains true.

But I always think the motivation of the character in the story and the motivation of the player who is playing the character are almost always different.

OK, in an Adventure Game the unravelling of the mystery may motivate both, but for the character it is a matter of importance and may involve some real life or death circumstances. For the player, it's pure curiosity, possibly including the enjoyment of being challenged. We play on because we want to know what happens next.

With novels, well, if you wander around with a book in hand enough you get a pretty strong grip, but I don't think too many people read books for that! The characters get power, the reader just gets the enjoyment of a good story, well written (Well, hopefully!).

Similarly, in an RPG the character frequently seeks the power to overthrow enemies that threaten either him/herself or his/his people. The power s/he seeks is very material in nature. IF the player seeks any kind of power at all, it lies in the form of prestige, in the admiration of peers, not in any kind of physical advancement.

And let's face it, most of us don't even play for that. Role Players by nature tend to be co-operative as the games are co-operative and mostly require a team of characters. A 'good' computer RPG is one that comes as close as possible to replicating the tabletop experience - with a team of well developed and complimentary characters who co-operate in order to reach their mutual goal.

Even with the single character games, it's more about exploring the world and being a part of the story. Is that 'power'? Of a sort, I suppose. The power to influence and affect the story, even within limited parameters is 'power'. But then, so is the 'power' to make any kind of decision in our everyday lives

I doubt most people truly want any 'power' beyond that of controlling their own lives, if I'm honest. The power to NOT be oppressed, if you will. Anything beyond that is just a headache. I'd say 'maybe that's just me', but I kinda think it's you, too, Alrik

How not to do a game ( satire ! ) : http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BenjaminQuintero/20130106/184360/What_Resident_Evil_6_Taught_Me.php

"How to get into programming games" : http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Tomm...w_do_I_get_started_programming_games.php

Exploiting game developers - as people ? - And proposing a game developer's union (which I believe since several years is simply necessary !) : http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/184504/are_game_developers_standing_up_.php

Love the 'How Not To Make A Game' one!

An interesting read : http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanDumb
I believe that I'm guilty of at least 2 of them.

Yeah, I have to admit... that's not me at all in any regard. Thankfully!

Surprisingly passed the test ... If there were a fandumb title for those who should think twice before they submit something, that might have better suited me

Forget what I just said!

I think we are ALL guilty of posting without thinking stuff through sometimes, Lotrokt! I know I certainly am!

I found myself in these areas :

- Toxic Genius
- Old Timer
- Fandom Moral Guardian

I fear that this says too much about me ...


@Elliott : I'm still figuring out a "best possible reply" to your last "power discussion" reply.

All I can say for now is that I do understand your views, accept them in part to be true, but in other parts not. The "Toxic Genius" in me says : "Why can't this one see that power games are about power ???"

The words are not always the same as the meaning behind them, Alrik. I don't like games that don't challenge me - I simply find them boring. Wanting the power to accomplish a goal and move the game forward is not the same as desiring power for the sake of power.

Power is also proportional. If you have a character who is level 10 (Any system you care to name) and s/he is beating up on level 1 monsters, that's 'power', but it's boring as heck. A level 10 character fighting level 15 monsters, on the other hand, will need a lot of skill to get the win. Same abilities, sure, but 'power' is about the opposition as much as the character. And that scales up to any example you like.

So 'power' need not be the same thing as POWER! at all

Hm, yes, I see.