While I have never played NWN, from what I know of it, I think it's a bit different. I see something of a continuum.
- Playing a TRPG in person
- Playing a TRPG via WebRPG (or otherwise using the computer as little more than a communication channel for playing essentially the same game you would if you were around a table together)
- NWN with a DM (I might also place some of the MUSHes & MOOs I've participated in about here)
- MMORPGs
- More traditional CRPGs & IF
I'm not going to say that any of them are in any way superior to others. Except maybe to say that
I prefer the ends more than the middle. (Although I also really enjoyed the MUSHes & MOOs.)
Numion said:
Players meta-game skills (for ex the ability to position miniatures in PnP D&D or the ability to punch mouse in CRPGs) is separate from the games inner reality, which is the more important divider to true RPGs and what some would call RPG simulators.
Just so that I can understand your point better, can you give a PnP example other than miniatures. Because I don't tend to use miniatures.
Galieo said:
1. Visual representation--the computer game is the complete definition of the setting, actors, etc.; while the tabletop game does not provide such a defined experience. This may explain some posters discomfort with miniatures and the like, in the sense that the visual aids "limit" their imagination.
No matter how descriptive the tabletop DM is, there will always be a gap between the verbal description and the mental image that player has. Such a gap, and the opportunity to fill it, does not occur in a computer game.
But then, what about IF or MUDs?
Raven Crowking said:
If you cracked open the RAW of any edition, and only allowed actions to be resolved by the RAW, and only allowed actions that were specifically contained in the RAW, you would have a good simulation of a computer game.
Having revisited it during roughly the last year, I was surprised by how good a CRPG I thought you could make simply by implementing nigh verbatim the 1981 Basic & Expert sets. It would be different from the game my group & I played last year in some vital ways, though.
Kamikaze Midget said:
I think it would be more accurate to say that I don't understand why the difference MATTERS, aside from pedantry, semantic debate, and a smug sense of superiority calling electronic games "not true RPG's."
Just to be clear, I do not believe my use of the term "role-playing game" is in anyway superior to anyone else's. I merely expressed what
I generally mean when I use the term unqualified.
There's a difference, absolutely. The person doing the adjudicating in D&D is a guy at the table while you play. The person doing the adjudicating in Final Fantasy is a team of programmers in Japan, years before.
FWIW, I always wince when I see the word "programmers" in this thread. Because there are so many people who sink so much into making a good CRPG. Writers, rule designers, artists, producers, &c. In fact, some writers & designers have been successful in
both the TRPG & CRPG worlds.
But then, I'm sure we all realize that. When we say "programmers" we really mean all those people. I just kind of felt it was worth acknowledging.
In any case: Yes. This is the difference.
And there is the potential for the TRPG GM to do the job worse than a CRPG. There's also the potential for the CRPG team to do the job better than many TRPG GMs. No doubt about that.
That difference doesn't really matter to anyone. They're both RPG's. They have been known as such for almost equally as long (Final Fantasy just a few years later, or Dragon Warrior even before that).
The difference matters to me. In fact it is crucial. It is why I go out of my way to take time away from my family & my faith to play TRPGs yet I've never taken the time to finish Final Fantasy X. & finishing FFX would be a lot easier since it would not involve co-ordinating the schedules of 4 to 5 adults.
I want to understand the difference because I believe it can only help me improve my TRPG experience. (& maybe even my CRPG experience.)
It's like saying graphic novels aren't really comic books, or that anime isn't really cartoons.
Heh! (^_^) Yeah, I've known people who will fight those arguments vehemenently.
P.S. It's too bad Dave Arneson doesn't participate in online fora as Gary does. I think he'd have some possibly unique insights to bring to this discussion.