Social Role Playing Games

The idea behind role playing games, or RPG’s, is that you take on the role of a character, set in a specific location. You then act in the capacity of that character, making decisions based on experiences and the world around you.

Role playing games, as defined in modern terms, really got their start with Dungeons and Dragons board games. These games would consist of a group of friends getting together, and using such props as toy figures, maps, and dice, to take on the role of characters in a collective story. One member of the group was usually designated as a role master, who set the rules and filled out the details of the world which they were playing in.

With the advent of video games, much of the social aspect of role playing disappeared. You were no longer interacting with other people to create a story, instead you were usually just managing a character or a small group of characters, and acting in the capacity of some sort of inventory manager, whose job is to keep track of incoming gold earned by killing monsters, and outgoing gold spent on new weapons so you could kill, more monsters.

The advent of the internet, and the evolution of gaming devices such as the Xbox 360 which allowed users to connect with others on the web. This allowed for the creation of interactive role playing games, where a world was created, and then populated with hundreds of characters from around the world. World of Warcraft is one very popular example of such a game.

The problem with these interactive role playing games was that they are extremely limited. Players control a tiny avatar, but this avatar is constrained in its actions to what the programmers think to put into him. As games have grown in complexity, the options for what you can do with a character have grown, with users being able to customize the appearance, the skills, the traits, and the features of the avatar. They are also able to perform a variety of actions, such as dancing, blowing kisses, sitting, running, and jumping. The problem is that there is no real way to allow an infinite number of actions, because before an action can be performed, it has to be programmed in by the games designer.

These limitations restrict the amount of creativity that can be used by players. It makes it difficult to express a truly unique character, rather than just a standard cookie cutter monster killer with x number of hit points and such and such a skill level. It also restricts the ability of players to interact with one another in any meaningful way.

These restrictions are being challenged by some new, innovative forms of social networking. Facebook apps such as “Vampires vrs Werewolves” or “Pirates vrs. Ninjas” allow members to add fantasy based aspects to their public profile, and even to interact in some ways. These interactions are still heavily limited though, and the very nature of Facebook makes it an unwieldy to conduct any decent role playing storyline in.

Other innovators, such as http://www.TrueLore.com are developing independent social networks designed to fit around a specific, albeit wide ranging storyline which is specific to that network. On this site, users are instructed to create profiles just like at traditional social networks. However the twist is that these people are encouraged to develop their profiles around fictional characters, including background stories, optional pictures of themselves, and any special skills they may want to include.

The role playing takes place across a variety of forums, blogs, and chat rooms. Users are encouraged to submit pictures and videos to help flesh out their storylines, and there is even an innovative battle system which is based entirely on text based descriptions of attacks.

The efforts of sites like True Lore, and several others, are bringing much of the creativity and imagination back into role-playing. Since interactions are all based on text, pictures, and videos, there are no programming limitations to restrict what can and cant be done. Further the wide variety of communication venues makes it much easier for members to meet and interact in more unique and meaningful ways.

http://www.TrueLore.com is a social role playing game. On Facebook or Myspace you have to be yourself, but on True Lore you can be anybody. There you will meet such characters as vampires, werewolves, wizards, and tree elves, and you might even find a cute demon to flirt with.

Joseph Gambit

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