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Stanford STS 145 - From Diablo to Gate - Differences in Computer RPG Theory

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Harrison Osaki STS 145 Case History From Diablo to Gate: Differences in Computer RPG Theory In the face of the increasing popularity of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and the growing relegation of popular single-player role-playing games (RPGs) to consoles, it is interesting to note the incredible successes of the computer RPGs Diablo II and Baldur’s Gate II, both of which feature single-player and multiplayer support. Studying these two games, rather than their original incarnations, is advantageous as the game designers had the chance to improve upon their mistakes and refine their game concept. It is also interesting to note that these two RPGs are only superficially similar; although they share the genre of RPG, the two games are significantly differently designed. These differences are the result of two different branches of design theory stemming from the game Zork, and how an RPG should be adapted to preserve the role-playing aspect in a computer-generated environment. The Zork series was in and of itself inspired by the prototypic adventure game, Adventure, which is itself based on the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). D&D is one of the earliest tabletop role-playing games, in which human players would act out fictional ‘player-characters’, solving puzzles and killing monsters that the Dungeon Master (the referee of the game, abbreviated DM) pitted against the characters. The purpose of these adventures varied, but most early RPGs focused merely on the combat aspect of role-playing. Indeed, the company that created D&D was called TSR for “Tactical Studies Rules”, and originally released a set of ‘role-playing’ materials called Chainmail, that was merely a set of combat instructions. Role-playing was left up to the DM to adjucate. In any event Zork, which was released in 1979, was a compelling text-based adventure game in which the nameless protagonist explored a mysterious dungeon by following simple commands typed in by the user. The game was fairly popular and remains well known to this day. Janet Murray in Hamlet on the Holodeck attributes the game’s popularity to its ‘participatory organization’; Zork “was set up to provide the player with opportunities for making decisions and to dramatically enact the results of those decisions.” (Murray 2001) A key element of Zork is that the challenge that exists is a result of the interplay between the human player and the preprogrammed game. The programmer who created the various challenges, from 1monsters to puzzles, had to account for how the character could and would react, and what should occur as a result. Technically speaking, Zork was an adventure game and not an RPG in and of itself since there was no significant character development or plot to speak. This fact highlights one of the difficulties in adapting a tabletop game into a computer game. Converting an RPG from tabletop to computer involves several difficulties, the most notable of which are: • Lower amount of flexibility on the part of the players regarding to the actions they can perform. Taking action in an RPG demands that the referee understand what it is you wish to do, and evaluate accordingly; in a computer role-playing game (CRPG) the referee is the computer, and therefore in and of itself non-intelligent and non-caring. In order to act in a CRPG the computer must either speak the language of the human or vice versa. • A change in the relative importance of the player-character. In a tabletop RPG the players are assumed to be either the focus of the plot or at least somewhat relevant; most DMs will attempt to tailor their adventures so that each player gets some time to be relevant, so that no player becomes bored. This is not significant in a single-player RPG, but if it is the players and not the DM who is creating the story (as in a MUD, for example) not every player may have the chance to shine. Indeed, the world is dynamic when the player is offline; other players are gaining power and treasure while you are not. • Whether or not the players have the ability to dynamically change the game world. The world in a tabletop RPG usually does not change when the human players are not playing their characters, and the characters also usually have at least an illusion that their interference dynamically changes the plotline; if the player-characters chose to not follow the plotline, the DM is expected to not ‘railroad’, or force the players to obey his command. • The sequence of time in the CRPG. All tabletop RPGs are turn-based. Since each human player needs to tell the DM what he is doing, and the DM can only make rulings one at a time, this is necessary. A computer does not have this problem, and can handle multiple requests at once. Thus, real-time RPGs are possible—but how can the ambience of a turn-based RPG like D&D be simulated in a CRPG like Baldur’s Gate? And can AI be developed for monsters that are effective enough to challenge human players? • All enemies effectively have a pre-scripted, yet flexible AI: the DM. The DM is responsible for ensuring that the non-player characters (NPCs) and the enemy monsters 2interact intelligently with the players. This is not a problem in tabletop gaming, where the DM is sentient; scripting an AI that can fulfill even the conversational aspect of a DM has proven thus far to be nearly impossible. All of these differences between CRPGs and tabletop RPGs can be simplified into one simple difference: the DM in a CRPG is not human. It is not as flexible, and cannot process as wide a range of commands. As Steven Poole says in Trigger Happy, without further AI development “dramatic interactions are still going to be pretty one-sided unless the videogame player is allowed greater freedom and creativity in the exchange” (Poole 2000), and in order for this to happen computers must be able to parse proper language structure. Dramatic interactions such as conversation are, of course, necessary for interesting role-playing. The “Zork” theory of games, which would include such famous games as (obviously) the Zork series, the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Warrior series, the Wizardry series, the offline Ultima series, and Baldur’s Gate II, attempt to avoid the problem of poor AI flexibility in one of three ways: they shift the emphasis in the game from situations where the lack of flexibility can be solved, they


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Stanford STS 145 - From Diablo to Gate - Differences in Computer RPG Theory

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