Why are RPGs so popular?

[thedarknessrising]

I bought D&D this past April, and I absolutely love it. But it got me thinking: why are games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, and World of Warcraft so incredibly popular? D&D has been around since the 1970s. So far, four editions of it exist, with a fifth one to be released soon. There's something about that game which makes it appealing, but WHAT?


I think it's the whole IDEA of the game. Players are required to use their imaginations to play the game. They become someone else entirely, if only for a few hours. They get to do things they couldn't otherwise do in real life.

What do you guys think?

 

[Saigonnus]

That is the principal reason I started playing in the late 80s... it let me escape the drudgery of everyday life for a while... become someone else and exercise my imagination; which has always been my best feature in my opinion.

 

[wordwalker]

Specifically: A lot of things let you escape and imagine --our books, for instance-- but the RPG concept is a happy medium of:

• following your own imagination,
• bouncing it off all the things the other people do (true story: "You really want to... negotiate with the mindtwister by... letting your shields down? Okay then...") and the plot the GM offers you, and then
• alternating those with game mechanics and their outcomes so you never have to be creative longer than you're ready to be. (Of course you can get creative with the rules and tactics, but that's a different skill.)

There's nothing like it.

 

[Penpilot]

We read books, watch tv, and movies, and we imagine what it'd be like to be the hero or even the villain. We ask ourselves would we make the same decisions.

With RPGs, as with other games along this line, you GET to be the hero or villain. Your decisions affect the world. Your failures and triumphs matter in the RPG world. It's an extension of little kids playing let's pretend, only the rules are more complex.

Basically, I guess, RPGs let you pretend, do a little bit of healthy escapism.

 

[Zero Angel]

I bought D&D this past April, and I absolutely love it. But it got me thinking: why are games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, and World of Warcraft so incredibly popular? D&D has been around since the 1970s. So far, four editions of it exist, with a fifth one to be released soon. There's something about that game which makes it appealing, but WHAT?


I think it's the whole IDEA of the game. Players are required to use their imaginations to play the game. They become someone else entirely, if only for a few hours. They get to do things they couldn't otherwise do in real life.

What do you guys think?

THERE'S A FIFTH EDITION COMING OUT?! I've never even gotten to play 4th yet! GAHH

 

[Steerpike]

THERE'S A FIFTH EDITION COMING OUT?! I've never even gotten to play 4th yet! GAHH

Be thankful. 4th edition is horrible, thus the quick transition to a completely new edition. Fifth edition is going to incorporate some of the feel and play style of older editions, apparently.

 

[Zero Angel]

Be thankful. 4th edition is horrible, thus the quick transition to a completely new edition. Fifth edition is going to incorporate some of the feel and play style of older editions, apparently.

Although I love playing, my schedule is too busy and my friends too scattered. So I generally just buy the books for the pictures and cool stuff inside...

Will they have another new open source to go along with 5th edition? I'd like to not have to make up my own RPG system for WotA.

 

[Steerpike]

I doubt the license for the new edition will be as permissive. It was more restrictive for 4e after Pathfinder bit them. Can always use the 3e OGL.

 

[Katsu]

I think the hole Idea of becoming someone else entirely is relieving. It makes the game much more appealing then some story-line where you can only play a great and wonderful Paladin that vowed to make all evil disappear. Then again an absolute evil with a one-goal-only-plot is completely boring if you ask me.

It's all about the Discovery. I mean If you want to go into a random house and steal everything that is worth more then a copper piece then fine, go ahead no one will stop you, except maybe the game master. (which would make him a crappy GM though, here again of my opinion.) That's what's appealing! No one, even the person actually creating the None Players Characters, can actually predict where a game is going to get you. The discovery, the exploration of an unknown world that has mostly nothing to do with ours. Is there something more... Epic?

 

[emeraldos]

I think that it i the opportunity those games give you to create a character.. Not only you have the chance to crate an alter ego of you as a hero or a villain but meet many different characters.. I find fascinating ,also, the fact that you explore new worlds (well, not really explore) and imagine or create mountains, woods etc..

 

[Phietadix]

Although I love playing, my schedule is too busy and my friends too scattered. So I generally just buy the books for the pictures and cool stuff inside...

Well there's still room in the Dragons Egg . . .

 

[Zero Angel]

Well there's still room in the Dragons Egg . . .

Whosa whatsa ?

 

[Phietadix]

Whosa whatsa ?

Dragon's Egg RPG

 

[TheTdroid]

The reason I like RPGs is that I get to create my own character with their own stories and to set them loose in a world to see where they go, at least in the case with TES. Other RPGs like Dragon Age: Origins who have more fixed stories, they are still telling a story I am interested in and they let me chose the path my character takes in the world.

 

[GrimDane]

I love RPG's, preferably in a fantasy-oriented world like that of the Elder Scrolls since it gives you the chance to create your own background on how you went to jail, I always found it appealing that I can make something from scratch and make something great from it.

 

[Zero Angel]

I love RPG's, preferably in a fantasy-oriented world like that of the Elder Scrolls since it gives you the chance to create your own background on how you went to jail, I always found it appealing that I can make something from scratch and make something great from it.

So you prefer the RPGs where your character is your own invention? How do you feel about RPGs where you take on the role of a pre-made character?

 

[GrimDane]

The only game that I can remember that uses pre-made characters is Jade Empire and (I think) Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, I'm neutral to that pre-made character shebang, as long as the the story is engaging then I won't mind at all.

 

[MongrelChuck]

I bought D&D this past April, and I absolutely love it. But it got me thinking: why are games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, and World of Warcraft so incredibly popular? D&D has been around since the 1970s. So far, four editions of it exist, with a fifth one to be released soon. There's something about that game which makes it appealing, but WHAT?


I think it's the whole IDEA of the game. Players are required to use their imaginations to play the game. They become someone else entirely, if only for a few hours. They get to do things they couldn't otherwise do in real life.

What do you guys think?

Well yeah, there's D&D, and Warhammer (though Dark Heresy and WHFRP are the actual RPGs)... But if you want just straight storytelling with a minimal resolution mechanic you want FATE.

Very clean, simple mechanics, the objective is a cooperative narrative created from beginning to end with DM and Player interaction. They just finished up a Kickstarter for it IIRC; the system is simplistic, quick to pick up, and can go in thousands of different directions.

Then if you want something without dice you can try out Dread (Horror RPG, uses Jenga as a resolution mechanic) or Amber Diceless (though that is a bit more focused on genre). There are so many cool options, and you should check out as many as possible .

EDIT: Also on the premade front? We sometimes create characters then pull based on random draws. Makes for an interesting thing when you create the witty, suave diplomat and end up playing the well-read barbarian or airhead mage.

 

[MrChristopher]

Actually I think that RPGs have declined a LOT in popularity since the 80s. Computer games are largely to blame and games like WoW.

What systemic games can't recreate is the spontaneity and unscripted unpredictability of live RPGs. By nature computer games are based on decision trees - humans aren't.

 

[Zero Angel]

Actually I think that RPGs have declined a LOT in popularity since the 80s. Computer games are largely to blame and games like WoW.

What systemic games can't recreate is the spontaneity and unscripted unpredictability of live RPGs. By nature computer games are based on decision trees - humans aren't.

This sounds anecdotal, do you have any reference for this to share or is it just your gut feeling? Nerd culture as a whole is more powerful and pervasive than ever, and I would not be surprised to learn that RPGs are more popular now.

Even if D&D is not as popular now as it was in the 80s, there are MANY more RPGs out there nowadays.

I also question saying computer games are to "blame". Computer games are popular, more popular than paper RPGs, that is for sure. The line is being blurred ever more between computer models and humans however, so in another 20-30 years, there will be no need to play paper RPGs other than nostalgia.