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<blockquote data-quote="Corinth" data-source="post: 3422389" data-attributes="member: 497">Tabletop, console, PC and MMORPGs that achieve mainstream popularity all feature gear as one of the primary means for character differentiation and capability.&nbsp; Grades of gear are a key feature in this system.&nbsp; In D&amp;D and WOW, this grade differentiation is in terms of magical power and rarity.&nbsp; In other games, this magical terminology is replaced with an expanded scale of masterwork grades.&nbsp; Some games take the time to differentiate gear along a series of factors other than damage--as Spycraft did in its first edition with the excellent Modern Arms Guide--and this causes a lot of talk about what gear to loadout at any given time.&nbsp; Couple this with a robust crafting system and you have the makings of a viable minigame within the primary game that can keep players playing when they're away from the table, turning downtime into its own arena of fun.Furthermore, smart players (and their characters) know the value of good gear and take the time (and spend the resources) needed to acquire that gear, maintain it, and upgrade it when better gear becomes available.&nbsp; They know that good gear acts as a multiplier in their effectiveness, making them far more effective than would be the case otherwise.&nbsp; (While it can be a crutch for the scrub players/characters, good ones know that just because they have good gear they shouldn't neglect their own inherent skills for just that aforementioned reason- better inherent powers means greater base-level potency for gear to multiply; Conan in power armor with a lightsaber is always better than Conan with a rusty sword and a leather jerkin.)&nbsp; For this reason, games that try to minimize or eliminate the gear factor in gameplay inevitably fail regardless of what intention the designer or publisher had in mind.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Corinth, post: 3422389, member: 497"] Tabletop, console, PC and MMORPGs that achieve mainstream popularity all feature gear as one of the primary means for character differentiation and capability. Grades of gear are a key feature in this system. In D&D and WOW, this grade differentiation is in terms of magical power and rarity. In other games, this magical terminology is replaced with an expanded scale of masterwork grades. Some games take the time to differentiate gear along a series of factors other than damage--as [i]Spycraft[/i] did in its first edition with the excellent [i]Modern Arms Guide[/i]--and this causes a lot of talk about what gear to loadout at any given time. Couple this with a robust crafting system and you have the makings of a viable minigame within the primary game that can keep players playing when they're away from the table, turning downtime into its own arena of fun. Furthermore, smart players (and their characters) know the value of good gear and take the time (and spend the resources) needed to acquire that gear, maintain it, and upgrade it when better gear becomes available. They know that good gear acts as a multiplier in their effectiveness, making them far more effective than would be the case otherwise. (While it can be a crutch for the scrub players/characters, good ones know that just because they have good gear they shouldn't neglect their own inherent skills for just that aforementioned reason- better inherent powers means greater base-level potency for gear to multiply; Conan in power armor with a lightsaber is always better than Conan with a rusty sword and a leather jerkin.) For this reason, games that try to minimize or eliminate the gear factor in gameplay inevitably fail regardless of what intention the designer or publisher had in mind. [/QUOTE]

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