The Development Of Online Role Playing Games

Background

The mid 1970s gave birth to a new genre of role playing video games. Online RPG were the results of early university mainframe text-based role playing games on Unix-based computers (such as pedit5, dnd, and Dungeon) and PDP-10.

When the 1980s came, Rogue, a very popular dungeon crawler, was released. Because of this, a deep system of gameplay was observed in the settings, items, and monsters. As a result, new genres of “roguelike” replicas were made.

One of the most influential among the role playing games invented was Dungeons and Dragons. Ever since its release, improvements have been made on online role playing games in general. In 1988, SSI formed a series of “Gold Box” Computer Role Playing Games with Pool of Radiance. The rules were based on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It also featured overhead tactical displays for combat and a first-person display for movement.

Initially, role playing games offered only a single player mode of playing. But with the advent of games like Diablo, multiplayer options of the games became available and quickly became all the rage especially in the mid-1990s. With more success, these multiplayer games became massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) with the advent of the internet. Games such as Everquest where produced as MMORPGs.

Dungeons and Dragons and other traditional ORPGS became the basis for the game mechanics and the settings found in the new role playing games.

They all involve a team, group of characters, usually called a “party” that join together to accomplish a mission or quests. Challenges and enemies await the players and they become more and more difficult to overcome as the game progresses.

Some obstacles are dragons, monsters, or evil wizards. Most of these are inspired by science fiction, mythology, and fantasy.

Rewards and Points

The players themselves build their own avatars or characters. They also have different options on how they can modify these characters basing on their skills, attributes, equipment, special abilities, and personalities.

However, the improvements of their characters are highly dependent on how they play the game. New powers, equipment, and better health are given as rewards and prizes for achievement of their goals and accomplishment of quests. It can also be given as reciprocate to the service they offer to the locals of the fantasy setting.

Rewarding the characters may be done based on these 3 systems. The training system awards the characters with proficiency in using equipment. With training and practice, the character will become more accustomed to it.

The skill point system rewards the character skill points based on the quests he or she completed.

The experience system awards the player with experience points upon winning battles and destroying monsters in the game.

Complex Fun

Normally, status screens are displayed on the gamer’s monitor to know the attributes and hit points of the character. It uses a more complex abstract graphical representation because bars and meters are not utilized in describing the character’s status. Instead, numerical values are designated to do the job.

Multiplayer Experience

Single and multiplayer options are available with online role playing games. These games allow you to be part of a group or a team. They give chance for player to player interaction through chat. A sense of competition is also experienced during battles with other teams.

With revenues exceeding more than a billion dollars each year, it is then, with no doubt, that online gaming encompasses other role playing game genres.