Enough with character building!
What is the common point to pretty much every online/offline/massively multi-player role playing games? The answer is simple: They all carry some form of character construction system.
Aaaaand… well it basically sucks, it’s artificial, it breaks immersion and most of all, IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
And now you are probably asking me, “But why? It is one of the core element of role playing game to build and make your character evolve! It’s even the main driving force in most RPGs!”
Well, yes and… no. Character evolution? Yes. Character building? No.
Now let me ask this simple question, what is the connection between, lets say, killing 30 rats in some murky sewers and spending skill points in lock picking? The answer is simple, NONE.
Most RPGs and other games that feature some way to improve your character are plagued by this system where there are no connections between the Character’s actions in the game and the improvement of it’s abilities/stats.
We, as game designers really need to look back at those base systems and come up with something better, this is the kind of stuffs that detach the player from his character, that’s the sort of stuffs that make the player’s character look like a vulgar spreadsheet. At no point should the player “disconnect” from his character and think which way he would like to make it evolve.
I am not against giving choices to the player, but the choices should happen during the game, seamlessly, a character should be built from it’s player’s actions and not from choices that are completely unrelated to the action at hand.
We are trying to tell a story, to transport the player and entertain him, he shouldn’t have to think about how he will spend his next skill points!
