Are Video Games Ruining Your Role-playing?

I love RPG video games, but they might be causing some sub-optimal habits in our tabletop role playing. So what’s a GM to do about it?

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

It's Dangerous to Go Alone. Take This (Advice)!​

Way back when, video games and RPGs weren’t too different. The video games often focused on killing stuff and getting treasure and so did plenty of dungeon modules. But it wasn’t very long before tabletop games moved into more narrative and character driven play which video games had a hard time following. While some video games like Dragon Age have tried to mirror role playing, you still only get a selection of options in interaction.

Nowadays, tabletop gaming has branched well beyond the elements that have been automated in video games. For players coming from video games, those elements can cause a biased approach to tabletop gaming that might make the game less fun. Below are some examples of how "video game creep" can affect tabletop RPG play styles and how to address them.

The Plot Will Happen Regardless​

While no one likes an interminable planning session, they do at least remind us that the players are not just participating but driving the story. In a video game the story happens whether you like it or not. You just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other and the story will happen regardless. So the bad habit here is a desire of players to ‘just move on’ assuming the GM will just give the plot to them as they go. This often comes unstuck in an investigative RPG where the players need to plan and consider, but it can cause problems in any game. Just pushing ahead will often clue in the bad guys about what is going on. Worse, without some effort to uncover clues, the players will just be floundering, wondering why the plot hasn’t miraculously appeared.

To get players out of this mode the GM might have be initially be a bit more obvious with clues. Almost to the point of putting a helpful flashing icon over them so the players can find them. The key here is to get them looking for clues and trying to understand the plot rather than just assuming inaction will solve the adventure regardless. Once players remember the clues will not come to them they will start trying to find them again.

“Nothing Is Too Much for Us!”​

With the option to save and return to a tough problem, video games offer the idea that any character can potentially tackle anything that is thrown at them. After all, the hero of a video game is a pregenerated character with all the right skills (or at least the means of acquiring them). This is also coupled with the fact that if the video game throws an army of zombies at you, then you expect to be able to fight them off. No problem is insoluble as long as you are prepared to persevere.

While perseverance isn’t a bad trait, sometimes the player characters shouldn't attempt to face all obstacles with brute force. The GM might have put them against insurmountable odds because they should be retreating. They assume putting 100 zombies in the room will make it pretty clear the way is blocked, then get surprised when the PCs draw swords and dive in. Then they are even more confused when the PCs accuse them of killing off their characters by putting too many monsters in, when no one forced them to fight them.

It is hard for some players to realise that retreat is also an option. But if you are used to facing and defeating supposedly insurmountable odds it is unlikely you’ll think of making a run for it. This attitude might also give some players the idea that any character can do anything leading to some spotlight hogging when they try to perform actions clearly suited better to other characters.

At this point the GM can only remind them retreat is an option, or that the thief should probably have first call on the lock picking. If they ignore that warning then they’ll eventually get the message after losing a couple more characters.

“I’m Always the Hero!”​

In many games the player characters are heroes, or at least people destined for some sort of greatness. But in a video game you are usually the chosen hero of the entire universe. You are the master elite agent at the top of their game. The problem is that in any group game not everyone can be the star all the time. So it can lead to a bit of spotlight hogging, with no one wanting to be the sidekick.

That is usually just something they can be trained out of with the GM shifting the spotlight to make sure everyone gets a fair crack. But being the greatest of all heroes all the time may mean the players won’t be satisfied with anything less. There are some good adventures to be had at low level, or to build up a great hero, and starting at the very top can miss all that. So, players ranking at the lower level of power should be reminded they have to build themselves up. Although there is nothing wrong with playing your game at a very high level if the group want big characters and bigger challenges.

Resistance Is Futile​

One of the things RPGs can do that video games can’t is let you go anywhere. If there is a door blocking your path, in an RPG you can pick the lock, cut a hole in it, even jump over it, where in a video game it remains unopened. If you get used to this concept it can lead to players thinking the opposite of the insurmountable odds problem. A locked door means they should give up and try another route or look for an access card. They start to think that like a video game there are places they are meant to go and meant not to go, and that they should recognise that and not fight it.

This might apply to any number of problems, where the GM is offering a challenge but the players just think that means they shouldn’t persevere. Worse, the players might think they need a key to open the door and will search for as long as it takes to find one, never imagining they might smash the door down.

This is a tough problem to get past as it means the GM needs to offer more options and clues to the players. If this doesn’t remind them they can try other things, then that opens up the following issue. So the GM should try and coax more options out of the players and make a point of rewarding more lateral thinking in their part.

“I’m Waiting for Options”​

While there may be several ways to defeat a problem, and the players know this, they might not be used to thinking of them for themselves. They will expect the GM to suggest several ways to defeat any obstacle or interact with an NPC rather than think of them themselves. This is easy to spot as the GM will notice that any clues or suggestions they make are always followed rather than taken as a helpful starting point.

The simple answer is to stop offering options and let the players think of them themselves. After all, RPGs are not multiple choice, they should be infinite choice. So the GM might also make a point of throwing the question back to the players and ask them what they will do about the encounter. The GM might offer clues if asked, but they should try and keep the focus on the players thinking of a way through rather than giving them clues.

Gaming in Every Medium​

The issues above aren’t a problem if that is how you all want to play. But they do put a lot of pressure on the GM to hand out all the answers and takes away the player’s agency to interact and influence the story. So it is worth taking a look at your group's gaming habits, particularly new players, and reminding them that although video game RPGs and tabletop RPG have a lot in common, they should be played differently.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

In feel the opposite.

the player who put the thought and consideration into being specific form a role playing approach will always succeed over someone some one who just rolls the dice.

The game is played by the people sitting at the table, not by the numbers and words on a piece of paper. The choices and actions of the player always take precedence.

Not everyone enjoys all aspects equally, nor should they have to. The person who simply rolls to search may get more out of in character dialogue or flowery combat descriptions. They're kindly telling you to fast forward to the fun, similar to the red line travel when Indiana Jones travels the world.

 

[HammerMan]

It tells you they made an above average success to find whatever hidden feature there is. It cuts out the middleman. Like when people say they put on their armor, but don't go over it strap by strap.

yup... (not real) imagine a DM asking "How do you put on the full plate" cause I bet a better then 20% of fighter and paliden players do NOT know how to do it... but there characters do.

 

[HammerMan]

Are you saying that a player who says he's taking the pole out of a closet to look at it should not be allowed to do so because they have a crappy Search skill?

yes

 

[Micah Sweet]

so if someone role played the perfect crit shot to the eye in combat would you pass them without a d20 roll? or is it only for searching?

some of those choices are made at character creation and level up... puttiing no ranks in search and have a -1 stat mod to it were all choises.


so full story. there was a room and we were pretty sure there was hidden treasure in it (a bed room and lots of reasons to think there was something here). 1 player had been playing with the DM for years. 1 player (me) was new to playing with this DM even though I had been playing D&D for a decade+.
1 player checked the bed, another the desk and me the closet. I describeding "Going through the close and looking for hidden panels, or anything out of place" (they each described there searches about as well) we were all told to roll. I got in the high teens, I was a rogue with a good stat and max ranks. I was pretty close to the best search check you can make. we all found nothing. So we started thinking 'outside the box' for spells and stuff... the low stat can't find his own hand character's player says 'na' I've seen this trick before I bet it's a portable hole' takes the bar out of the closet, looks in pulls out the portable hole... no roll.

why would that character know that trick? good question, because 2 campaigns before the DM did the same thing and no one found it and he told them later to prove how smart he was.

don't let me 'waste' points on things that no roll matters for.

same character also with a dump stat cha (although I think this was a no mod) could talk circles around everyone... cause the player was best friedns with the DM and knew how he thought.

These are the pitfalls of having your DM be a human being and not a computer. Human beings have qurks, and memories and are sometimes predictable, and are sometimes jerks.

 

[Lanefan]

One thing that occurred to me while reading the OP was that one video-game influence wasn't really touched on: with TTRPGs the main story is often that of the party as a whole with roughly-equal attention being paid to all the PCs, where many video games instead focus on the player's single character to the near-exclusion of all else. This can be a difficult adjustment, from always being the sole center of attention to being but one part of the center of attention.

As for players who think everything should be beatable, yeah, sometimes the only way to get the message across that retreating and-or non-combat approaches can be wise is to let 'em fight those overwhelming foes if they want and then don't pull your punches. Then, after the resulting TPK or near-TPK, tell them out-of-game in no uncertain terms that the setting is bigger than their characters and that in that setting there's always a bigger fish. (and if they ask why, point out that there needs to be something for them to fight once they really do become badass)

 

[HammerMan]

These are the pitfalls of having your DM be a human being and not a computer. Human beings have qurks, and memories and are sometimes predictable, and are sometimes jerks.

and I have chosen to not reward such behavior

 

[Monayuris]

It tells you they made an above average success to find whatever hidden feature there is. It cuts out the middleman. Like when people say they put on their armor, but don't go over it strap by strap.

We got kids to feed, bills to pay, and one day every other week to play. Get to the fun stuff. Don't force players to engage with stuff they have no interest in. If people want to pixel hunt they get to skip rolling.

Engaging with the environment is the fun stuff. Figuring out traps or tricks or room features is 90% of the game,

But to carry on... they roll their 16 in perception. What if there's a trap in the room? Where are they standing and do they set it off? Are they in range of the effect of the trap? How can I know if they even find the hidden feature, if I don't know what actions they are taking?

Just rolling doesn't provide any context. When players just roll perceptions, I ask them for more specifics on what exactly they are doing when they ares searching, where they are looking, how they are approaching the room. Based on that, I can decide that they can't find it, they can make a roll (with maybe some modifiers) to find it, or they find it automatically based on their description.

To me that's just playing the game.

 

[HammerMan]

One thing that occurred to me while reading the OP was that one video-game influence wasn't really touched on: with TTRPGs the main story is often that of the party as a whole with roughly-equal attention being paid to all the PCs, where many video games instead focus on the player's single character to the near-exclusion of all else. This can be a difficult adjustment, from always being the sole center of attention to being but one part of the center of attention.

main character syndrom predates any modern video games... unless you think pac man and pong count

 

[Lanefan]

Except are they really roelplaying? Or are they metagaming and using their out of character pixel hunting skills to guess where you hid the MacGuffin?

Neither.

They're using their in-character pixel-hunting skills to carefully search whatever location they are in at the time.

It's neither right or fair to make the player rely on their skills in place of their characters. Do you also demand an eloquent speech in place of a Persuasion check?

I demand some sort of conversation. Eloquence level might vary by player, and that's fine, but there has to at least be an attempt.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It tells you they made an above average success to find whatever hidden feature there is. It cuts out the middleman. Like when people say they put on their armor, but don't go over it strap by strap.

We got kids to feed, bills to pay, and one day every other week to play. Get to the fun stuff. Don't force players to engage with stuff they have no interest in. If people want to pixel hunt they get to skip rolling.

What people have interest in varies from person to person. If the DM is up front about their expectations, and the players don't balk at that point, then when these issues come up the players have no one to blame but themselves.