Where have all the Heroes gone?

Why do people play role playing games? Over my years as a gamer, transitioning between table top and computer RPGs, I’ve seen the term RPG change a lot in meaning. At its core, role play is about adopting a role other than yourself, and in that ‘role’ you ‘play’ a game. So what role do we get to play? We could play as a stealthy thief, a powerful wizard, or even a cybernetic warrior, the variety is fairly limitless. The common thread however is that the majority of games cast us in the role of a hero, and though we might be flawed or even criminal, at some level most games cast us as being good, at least from our characters’ perspective. So if we are constantly being cast as a hero, why is it I struggle so hard to find any heroes in game?

Some background

In table top RPGs you normally play as part of a party. You might be playing blood sucking Machiavellian vampires, but you are a party of blood sucking Machiavellian vampires, that must in some way work towards common goals.  Failure to establish some common ground results swiftly in the party falling apart and the gaming campaign coming to an early end. Maybe this is the difference between Old School and Nu Skool. In any groups I play in if you said, “My thief totally pwned your higher level fighter because I got you when you were sleeping,” you would be politely asked not to attend next session, or any session ever again. Therefore for me, a good character always needs some binding motivation to work with others. The role of hero is such a motivation, the desire to smite evil, whatever form that evil takes in that game setting.

Party dynamics is therefore the cornerstone of a good table top role play experience. Party members can disagree, but in the end they still progress. Table top has little restriction on how a party might progress, and with a good Gamesmaster, finding a non-linear previously inconceivable route to victory can leave players feeling really uplifted and with a solid sense of personal achievement. For this reason, diversity within the party is good, as the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.

This is where computer RPGs really fail for me, because there is no way to code for endless variety, and the only way to maintain a coherent story line is to create something linear. Therefore, success isn’t measured in creativity, but in other ways. A sense of accomplishment might be gained in how swiftly you can complete an Instance, or how you might still be able to complete it with self-imposed handicaps such as soloing a group event. Computer RPGs are therefore more cold and clinical. As for playing a role different from your own personality, I have been told it’s wrong to do that, that I was being deceptive in playing a character with values and personality different from my own. So in that regard, even the ‘role’ gets squeezed out of computer role play. Needless to say, I find computer RPGs less fulfilling than table top, though I can accept others might differ in values.

The role of people

Another common element of role play is other people. If you play an MMO, you will encounter others and they will impact your gaming experience. The majority of people you meet by chance are just doing their own thing, following personal goals and ambitions or just hanging out. I like those people, they are simply just other inhabitants you might share a few moments with, then move on.

I dislike those people who are so desperate for attention that they find fulfilment in hampering the game experience of others. At least when you encounter a fantasy troll in game you know it’s a troll, it has a name above its head that says troll and everything. Players who are trolling don’t come with those labels, I really wish they did. I wish games would introduce a system where if enough people tagged you as a troll you got a troll label. Some people would revel in it and that’s fine, it means I will know to avoid you and leave you to do your thing while I do mine.

I like being a citizen of the gaming world. As with table top, I want a reason to be there and working with others in order to accomplish some goal. Not a cold dry goal like speed clearing a dungeon, but a warm friendly goal such as being a valued member of the world. I want to be someone who helps others and in turn meet people who also want to help. While I find that nirvana sporadically, it never lasts long. It doesn’t take a troll to destroy that feeling either, all it takes is enough people for whom gaming is a mechanical action devoid of meaning.

Why are you playing?

Ever been struggling desperately in battle, while only a few steps away someone is just sorting their bags or something? Or maybe you were sorting your bags when someone drags a wave of aggro onto you as they blithely run past and on their way. If I see someone in trouble I help them. Why? Because as a fellow citizen it’s the socially responsible thing to do. If I’m trailing aggro and I run past someone, I’ll stop and make sure I clean things up and that they are ok, apologising if I have inconvenienced them. Why? Because that’s the socially responsible thing to do. Why do I care about social responsibility? Because that’s what being a citizen of the world means to me.

I guess this comes down to the difference between why I play and why many others play. I’m playing to be a part of that world. It’s not even about being a roleplayer, because I’ve lain dying at the feet of roleplayers who ignored me because they were doing their own thing. If they were really roleplaying, they would be concerned that the town they were in was being overrun by marauding centaurs, but instead they try to ignore that world in favour of their own. I’ve found many people who although they had no idea what roleplay was, were more capable than hard core role players because they simply immersed themselves in the world. People who helped others out because they were good digital citizens and that’s just what socially responsible people do.

Final Word

I do try to stay away from articles that are just having a bit of a whine, but what I’m trying to offer here is actually a positive message, even if my delivery smacks of butt hurt. Unless we have some sort of mental issue, we all like to think that at heart we are good people. My message is this; in order to be a good person in any MMO, all you need to do is pull your head out of the clouds, look around, and be a good citizen. You don’t need to speed clear dungeons in order to be a good player, and you don’t even need to know how an emote works in order to be a good role player. To the majority of players out there, all you need to do to be a valued person is to play the game.

It might not feel glamorous or special, and you won’t get any achievements or titles for it, but being a good citizen does have its rewards. When was the last time you made a friend in game? Now, how did it happen? You might not get a medal for it but if you’re the only person in a crowd who stepped in and helped someone out with something, then you might gain a friend. Sure, you might get abused because some wannabe 1337 kiddy wanted to solo that mob and you interfered, but that’s his issue not yours, he can find another one. So I ask you; where have all the heroes gone? They are not the ones min/maxing dungeon builds, they are not the uber-trolls that just broke map chat. No, the real heroes are those regular people who had enough initiative and social responsibility to be there that one time you needed someone to play the game with.