Some questions:
How important do you find a sense of (narrative) purpose in an RPG?
How important is it that your purpose is of great significance (either in Save-The-World terms, or in personal character terms)?
Does it only need to feel significant (e.g. exceptionally written/constructed quest-for-a-cheese-sandwich)?
How important is it that your purpose is clear (eventually), and clearly "right" (for your character)?
If you're unsure whether your actions were in fact reasonable (e.g. because you can't be sure of the facts) even at the end of the game, does that hurt (/help) the experience?
If you reach the end of the game without achieving anything (e.g. say the theme of a game is learning about some mystery, but at the end it seems there is no certain answer - that the real truth might not even be knowable), is this a bad thing?
I'm mainly thinking of a game with strong narrative elements (where by "narrative", I basically just mean "lots of pertinent writing" in whatever form), but without any clearly defined central purpose - e.g. no Save-The-World-From-Evil-Dudes.
I'm NOT talking about sandbox/sim/strategy/action cross-over RPGs here (though I'm not specifically excluding any such elements either). I'm definitely not talking about hack-n-slash / rogue-likes / any character-stat-improvement-as-its-own-end game. The driving force of the game would be the writing/"plot" - just without any clear central objective. There would be central themes, and various (conflicting) objectives - all just might prove eventually pointless, or of indeterminate value.
I'm taking it as obvious that the player gets to pick his direction (between more than trivial Good/Neutral/Evil paths), and that his actions affect the game world and many potential objectives significantly (in terms of his own situation) during the game. I'm just asking whether he needs to achieve anything much by the end (beyond somewhat greater understanding); and in terms of understanding, does knowing there's no One Absolute Truth remove motivation for a search for understanding? Does doubt over the possibility of ever learning the Truth (if it exists) remove motivation? (even if there's always more to learn?)
Thoughts?
[N.B. if you have any interesting points, please don't dismiss them on the basis of genre - e.g. something that'd end up adventure-game-like. I have zero interest in genre classifications at this point - I'm simply interested to know what you think could work in any remotely RPGish context.]
How important do you find a sense of (narrative) purpose in an RPG?
How important is it that your purpose is of great significance (either in Save-The-World terms, or in personal character terms)?
Does it only need to feel significant (e.g. exceptionally written/constructed quest-for-a-cheese-sandwich)?
How important is it that your purpose is clear (eventually), and clearly "right" (for your character)?
If you're unsure whether your actions were in fact reasonable (e.g. because you can't be sure of the facts) even at the end of the game, does that hurt (/help) the experience?
If you reach the end of the game without achieving anything (e.g. say the theme of a game is learning about some mystery, but at the end it seems there is no certain answer - that the real truth might not even be knowable), is this a bad thing?
I'm mainly thinking of a game with strong narrative elements (where by "narrative", I basically just mean "lots of pertinent writing" in whatever form), but without any clearly defined central purpose - e.g. no Save-The-World-From-Evil-Dudes.
I'm NOT talking about sandbox/sim/strategy/action cross-over RPGs here (though I'm not specifically excluding any such elements either). I'm definitely not talking about hack-n-slash / rogue-likes / any character-stat-improvement-as-its-own-end game. The driving force of the game would be the writing/"plot" - just without any clear central objective. There would be central themes, and various (conflicting) objectives - all just might prove eventually pointless, or of indeterminate value.
I'm taking it as obvious that the player gets to pick his direction (between more than trivial Good/Neutral/Evil paths), and that his actions affect the game world and many potential objectives significantly (in terms of his own situation) during the game. I'm just asking whether he needs to achieve anything much by the end (beyond somewhat greater understanding); and in terms of understanding, does knowing there's no One Absolute Truth remove motivation for a search for understanding? Does doubt over the possibility of ever learning the Truth (if it exists) remove motivation? (even if there's always more to learn?)
Thoughts?
[N.B. if you have any interesting points, please don't dismiss them on the basis of genre - e.g. something that'd end up adventure-game-like. I have zero interest in genre classifications at this point - I'm simply interested to know what you think could work in any remotely RPGish context.]