Dhruin
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RPG Vault's latest Roundtable asks a group of RPG developers to respond to the statement "They don't make RPGs like they used to" . It's an excellent topic, although I can't say any of the responses quite resonated for me. Ferret Baudoin, Jeff Vogel and Jan Beuck provide answers, although D.W. Bradley kicks things off:
More information.Today's games have crossed a threshold. They no longer depend upon stirring your imagination (in fact, anything left to the imagination is often perceived as a critical flaw); the majority aim to stimulate areas of the cortex and nervous system directly associated with your perceptions of external reality, not your internal realms. Indeed, the success of many contemporary games derives from their ability to eliminate any suggestion of the ephemeral, to define reality through the physical objects contained within it, while repeatedly stoking your autonomic reflexes rather than conjuring forth the strange, foreboding realms deep within the hidden lairs of your mind. Make no mistake, the technical prowess to create breathtakingly real virtual worlds is a positive achievement, to such a degree that the industry has been compelled to focus upon maturing this capability over considerations like content, message, meaning or purpose.