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by S.M. Lease
To Dungeons Deep and Caverns Old - #1
About two months ago, I read the novel "Killobyte" by Piers Anthony. Frankly, I wasn't impressed by the plot (I prefer Anthony's Xanth series to most of his other work). However, I was impressed by some of the concepts in the story. For those of you who haven't read the novel, I'll provide a summary. The novel involved a virtual reality role playing "Internet" where a user could enter one of many different "worlds". Each world was the setting for a specific adventure. You could interact with other users, kill bad guys (or each other - every time a player killed something, they earned a point), and basically escape from the real world for a while. Unfortunately, an evil nasty hacker got into the game and began to attack the main characters. Eventually, good triumphed over evil, and everything returned to normal. Sort of. The concept of a VR RPG got me thinking. Is this the future of role playing? Will AD&D fanatics like myself be able to insert a disk and hop into the Forgotten RealmsT or another campaign setting? Will good old paper-and-pencil RPGs simply fade away? To the first and second questions: yes. In fact, we have something like it right now. And you don't even need a helmet. Just log on using your desktop (or laptop) and modem, create a character, and step in. It's called "the Realm", and you can find out more about it at http://www.realmserver.com. It is similar to Killobyte in that you can see your surroundings and you can see the other characters. Unfortunately, it's not first-person - you can see your character as well. Still, it could be called virtual reality. The Realm is similar to Killobyte in other ways too - both have limited character interaction, and both tend to revolve around battles. Oh, you can interact with other players. But NPCs are a horse of a different color. You have a menu of questions that the NPCs can answer - no more. They don't even allow you to type in original messages and revel in the server's confusion. Thus we find the main problem with computer and Internet role playing games: artificial intelligence is an oxymoron. Computers do what they are programmed to do. They can't improvise, as human game or Dungeon masters can. There are online RPGs that work, of course. Notable cases are Beyond Dominia's Role Playing Mill and my own World of Talisman. These RPGs work because the games are run by human GMs. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I can't emphasize this enough. Role playing isn't just about battles and variables and die rolls, though they are an integral part of it. RPGs are also about interaction, negotiation, bargaining. With a human GM, you can haggle with a shopkeeper. You can demand more money from a potential employer. A human can improvise. A machine can only "improvise" if it is programmed for every possible situation (which is a ludicrous concept; no programmer would take the time to do this). When the creators of the "ZorkT" computer games started looking at RPGs, they saw only variables, numbers which can be programmed and randomly generated. But many people have complained that RPGs have too many numbers and variables already. And I agree. If I could, I would eliminate die rolls altogether. But sometimes they are necessary. Getting back to "VR", let's look at the "holodecks" of the Starship EnterpriseT for a moment. It is my personal opinion that the people who came up with the holodeck were BIG RPG fans. When you step into a holodeck, you enter a role playing environment. You are an actor, just as RPG players are actors. Whether you portray Dixon Hill, the Three Musketeers, or some other character all together doesn't matter. There are mystery and romance games out there. The holodecks are the ultimate virtual reality role playing game because the NPCs are intelligent. They can improvise. They have realistic reactions. The holodeck is one of many things I wish I could attach to my house. I wouldn't mind a Galaxy-class starship, either. That's the sort of thing NASA should be working on. J Is Killobyte our future? Yes. Definitely. But pencil-and-paper RPGs won't die, not until we really have artificial intelligence. So until we start keeping holodecks in our garages, I'm going back to D&D. Unless I have to save the sewers again. I still haven't been able to get rid of the lingering smell of poo gas.
Next month: a review of the new Ravenloft rulebook "Domains of Dread". (Note to Lord Strahd: I'll be visiting your hometown. Maybe we can grab a bite.)
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