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<blockquote data-quote="Thornir Alekeg" data-source="post: 5297036" data-attributes="member: 15651">In the end most RPGs boil down to the desire to play a hero.&nbsp; The most basic way heroism is displayed is by challenging and defeating enemies.&nbsp; Defeating virtual enemies in a game setting using a rule system can evoke very real feelings of success and accomplishment.&nbsp; Compare that to the feeling you would get if you were presented with a virtual challenge to build a bridge across a river to rescue somebody.&nbsp; If the challenge were associated with real activities such as using straws, paper and tape to build a scale model of the bridge, you would likely walk away with similar feelings of success and accomplishment.&nbsp; On the other hand if you were presented with a list of skills to choose from and rolled dice to determine if you successfully built a bridge, most people would feel very little sense of accomplishment.&nbsp; I believe that the difference is access to the activity.&nbsp; Most of us will never really challenge an enemy and defeat them in combat.&nbsp; Most of us will never really put ourselves in that kind of mortal danger.&nbsp; As a result our imagination takes over and allows us to accept the game system as a safe way to experience a tiny bit of something dangerous and thrilling without any real risk.&nbsp; By contrast, simulating safe, &quot;routine&quot; activities doesn't evoke much emotional response because we can more easily experience the true sense of accomplishment that comes with the actual activity.&nbsp; The end result is that, when people play their games, they tend to want to do things they never, ever would be able to do in real life.&nbsp; Combat usually is pretty high on that list.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Thornir Alekeg, post: 5297036, member: 15651"] In the end most RPGs boil down to the desire to play a hero. The most basic way heroism is displayed is by challenging and defeating enemies. Defeating virtual enemies in a game setting using a rule system can evoke very real feelings of success and accomplishment. Compare that to the feeling you would get if you were presented with a virtual challenge to build a bridge across a river to rescue somebody. If the challenge were associated with real activities such as using straws, paper and tape to build a scale model of the bridge, you would likely walk away with similar feelings of success and accomplishment. On the other hand if you were presented with a list of skills to choose from and rolled dice to determine if you successfully built a bridge, most people would feel very little sense of accomplishment. I believe that the difference is access to the activity. Most of us will never really challenge an enemy and defeat them in combat. Most of us will never really put ourselves in that kind of mortal danger. As a result our imagination takes over and allows us to accept the game system as a safe way to experience a tiny bit of something dangerous and thrilling without any real risk. By contrast, simulating safe, "routine" activities doesn't evoke much emotional response because we can more easily experience the true sense of accomplishment that comes with the actual activity. The end result is that, when people play their games, they tend to want to do things they never, ever would be able to do in real life. Combat usually is pretty high on that list. [/QUOTE]

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