Bright Future for Roleplaying Games
This month’s RPG blog carnival topic is “The Future of Roleplaying” and it is hosted by Roleplaying Pro. Naturally, I wrote an essay on April 29th (just before this blog carnival started) titled “A Roleplaying Resurgence is on the Horizon.” But I’d like to revisit that same topic and stick my main point (the end of the prior essay went on to related points) and expand that point into another direction which I hadn’t considered.
If one thinks back to the 80’s and 90’s, we can see that as people age and get to the point where their kids are grown, they like to look back at what they enjoyed before they had kids and pursue those hobbies again. Even for parents whose kids are pre-teen or teangers, parents like to share the things they liked at that age with their children. Two examples of this aer the popularity of baseball cards in the 80’s and comic books in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Given that RPGs took off in the 80’s especially, many of those gamers who played them back then as teens are now ready to share them with their children or soon will be ready to share the experience. Those who were in their 20s in the 80’s or played as teenagers in the 70’s may now have grown children and more time to play in groups not including their children. Those who were older in the 70’s or 80’s are ready to retire and may be looking forward to returning to an old hobby or having more time to pursue hobbies.
The hobby needs to reach out to these demographics, which is something it hasn’t been effective at doing if it has really tried at all. Maybe that’s a matter of promoting the “camaraderie” or “keeping the mind sharp” or “having an active imagination”. Marketers for the game companies need to put some thought into reaching and appealing to these groups. Those of us who have continued playing RPGs need to reach out to old friends who once played and new friends who have tangential interests.
These returning RPG players will find no shortage of game options. Maybe some will want the latest games that are actively supported by the larger game companies. Others may dig up their old game books or simply borrow from a friend in the group and start out with the game they loved or played the most back in the day. Some may gravitate to the retro-clone games that are designed to be in the spirit of the older games, but with more active support and even with more open licenses for others to build upon the games.
But the future of RPGs is even brighter due to another potential audience: those migrating from computer and massive multiplayer online RPGs. (This is the part of the point I overlooked in my previous essay.) While these games have their strengths, at some point many players will feel that these games have a limited number of options for players to pursue. Although CRPGs and MMORPGs have improved and found ways through branching quests and such, they still can not be as dynamic as a game master. The game master can react plausibly to a player’s off-the-wall idea or the group’s desire to go in an unplanned direction. Computer games can only try to list more pre-designed options.
Don’t get me wrong, CRPGs and MMORPGs will still be popular. Many people may do a little of them and a little of traditional RPGs, as they have time vs. a group to play with. But whereas until now most of the RPG players moved into CRPGs and MMORPGs, the door will now swing the other way. Those who started out playing CRPGs and MMORPGs will want something different, something more interactive, something where their actions aren’t as limited.
Furthermore due to online game tables such as RPTools, D&D online and others, players will be able to more easily find a group to play with or continue playing with a group even if a player has moved away.
So the audience for RPGs with increase. But what games will they play? I can only make a couple of general predictions. Because the audience will be expanding, things won’t be a zero-sum game. Some games may die, but there will be more actively supported games available. Furthermore with a wider set of demographics, there will be more varied games in tone, genre and mechanics.
However, those games with more open fan policies and licenses may gain a greater following. Because many players will have more time for the hobby in the future, they may want to tinker with their games and post their ideas for everyone. Some may even want to publish (even just pdf/electroincally) their designs. Game companies and systems that make this easy may be adopted by more players for two reasons: those who wish to make these changes or add-ons may only want to work with games that are open; and some of those changes and expansions may be so good that other players will want to play the game system because of the changes/expansions.
So if you’re into RPGs (and if you’re reading this, you must be) get excited! In the near future there will be more games to play, more game systems to tinker with, and more fellow players to meet.
