Most RPGs have some form of allocatable 'Character Improvement Credits'. You gain exp or level up and get skill points, and you can spend these on improving your character's abilities.
This is an abstraction, and arguably is 'unrealistic'. People improve their abilities in a given field by practise and hard work, not by gaining points for their successes and choosing to spend them here or there. In some settings (generally those trying to approximate real life) the idea of the hero turning from farmer's boy nobody to most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy in the space of a single campaign isn't much cop either, which levels and stuff tend to promote.
The most common alternative to getting Character Improvements Credits is training, where use of a given Character ability leads to its improvements. This has it's own problems leading to spamming abilities to improve them. It also tends to lock one onto one path of character development: if you start training up your skills with weapon A as opposed to weapon B, trying to improve weapon B (using it with your noob weapon B skills) is hard, so you'll tend to stick with what you're already doing.
So, which one is better and why? Discuss.
This is an abstraction, and arguably is 'unrealistic'. People improve their abilities in a given field by practise and hard work, not by gaining points for their successes and choosing to spend them here or there. In some settings (generally those trying to approximate real life) the idea of the hero turning from farmer's boy nobody to most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy in the space of a single campaign isn't much cop either, which levels and stuff tend to promote.
The most common alternative to getting Character Improvements Credits is training, where use of a given Character ability leads to its improvements. This has it's own problems leading to spamming abilities to improve them. It also tends to lock one onto one path of character development: if you start training up your skills with weapon A as opposed to weapon B, trying to improve weapon B (using it with your noob weapon B skills) is hard, so you'll tend to stick with what you're already doing.
So, which one is better and why? Discuss.