Has D&D gotten better because of it's computer spawns? (balders gate, etc.)

[Particle_Man]

Oh there is one thing I have noticed with younger rpgers that play tabletop roleplaying games as well as computer rpgs.

Back in the day (and to some extent with some gaming groups nowadays that have a majority of older players), it was seen as a problem if a player couldn't make a game and the rest wanted to play. How do we run the absent player's character? Does he fade into the background? Does he risk death? Does he get a share of the treasure? Do we come up with something contrived each time to explain why the character disappears and later reappears?

But nowadays, the younger players (where younger means less than 25) that I play with simply don't care. The characters are there and then they are not and then they are again. So in that case they seem to say "forget realism, I want to get on with the game!" which whether better or worse is certainly different. When I tried to inject a bit of realism in this regard, they actually did not like it, so I pulled back and went with their prefered style of play. Live and learn.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I voted no....CRPGs, in my opinion, have always paled before the real deal.

That being said, I enjoy the more adventure-rpg offerings like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and even Forgotten Realms: Demonstone.

And I will admit, FRS made me a bit more aware of the way terrain can be used to enhance encounters. But as a whole I don't think I take much away from a D&D-spawned computer/ console game that I funnel back into my games.