After some of the recent discussion on what makes an RPG, I thought I'd ask how many people here have ever played a real RPG, as in pen-and-paper, and whether it came before or after you got into CRPGs?
I started with traditional RPGs back in the 80s with a mix of Basic and Advanced D&D (we were about 11, so the rules were pretty muddled up as different people had different books) and got to know that before ever playing a video game version. Naturally, back then CRPGs just mimicked the mechanics, so they didn't really compete. They still don't, since nothing can match the combined imagination of a group and a DM who can improvise an entire world.
I think it's interesting looking at RPG forums, subreddits, whathaveyou and seeing people who have come the other direction, from CRPG to RPG. It's a bit weird seeing them struggle with things like not using a grid and miniatures, improvising a story or NPC, and generally running a sandbox game. Rather than coming from complete freedom and learning to live with the constraints of a video game, they've started from that limited scope and feel lost when they suddenly leave the railroad tracks and find out that they can do anything.
I started with traditional RPGs back in the 80s with a mix of Basic and Advanced D&D (we were about 11, so the rules were pretty muddled up as different people had different books) and got to know that before ever playing a video game version. Naturally, back then CRPGs just mimicked the mechanics, so they didn't really compete. They still don't, since nothing can match the combined imagination of a group and a DM who can improvise an entire world.
I think it's interesting looking at RPG forums, subreddits, whathaveyou and seeing people who have come the other direction, from CRPG to RPG. It's a bit weird seeing them struggle with things like not using a grid and miniatures, improvising a story or NPC, and generally running a sandbox game. Rather than coming from complete freedom and learning to live with the constraints of a video game, they've started from that limited scope and feel lost when they suddenly leave the railroad tracks and find out that they can do anything.