Why Character Development is Perfectly Fine, Advances in Video Game Technology are Helpful, and Censorship is Unnecessary and Harmful

by MaryJo Wood

(in rebuttal to Stephen Gohan's recent editorial)

Whether or not more realism in RPG's induces less imagination is a very valid debate, but whether or not ALL RPG's would be better with less realism is not.

The games we call "Role playing games" today are admittedly far different from the original definition of a role playing game. Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons let you create a character that was entirely your own, and although that level of customization is pretty difficult to achieve in a video game, the original Final Fantasy did make a good example of how a customizable party and very basic characters and storylines could give people a great opportunity to "fill in the blanks." Some of the Final Fantasy 1 fanfics on this very site are great proof of this fact; a good example is the "Petals in a Glass" story where someone took one question from the strategy guide and turned it into a deep story about what the relationship between Garland and Sara could have been.

As far as these more interpretive games go, simpler graphics do seem to help, but another alternative to purposely simplifying the graphics could be taking advantage of the advanced technology to let people customize character appearance. Characters could have a more realistic look than the 8-bit sprites of Final Fantasy but still be a blank slate. Realism does *not* have to instantly ruin imagination if enough imagination is put into the game design.

I believe the real problem isn't character development in RPG's, it's the lack of effort to advance the genre of the "traditional" style of RPG's. Insisting that RPG's need primitive graphics to be good only further harms the image of the traditional RPG by causing it to stagnate.

Now, as for RPG's with set characters, they certainly fail to live up to the expectations of people who want to create their own characters and work with the bare bones of a story, but that doesn't mean that they are bad games. They are simply a different genre of games altogether. The thriving community of fanfic writers for these modern RPG's as well as movies and TV shows also suggests that there is still room for imagination. To say that all RPG's with pre-made characters ruin imagination is just like saying all movies, books and graphic novels with pre-made characters ruin imagination. Although there are a lot of movies out there that people can just sit and stare at like sloths, as well as some books and some graphic novels, a well-made movie or a well-made story can touch people and make them think.

Modern RPG's that are character and story intensive are a unique medium that is probably best described as an interactive movie or interactive graphic novel. Although these games continued to be mis-named "RPG's", that should not be an incentive to bring this medium to a screeching halt and make it conform to one genre. The medium should be explored to its fullest.

Modern RPG's can tell a story in a way quite different from the mediums of novels or movies just by the sometimes subtle addition of interaction. Although the FMV does play itself for you much like a movie, you still have to progress through the plot yourself to see what happens next. Simply by having to walk around yourself and talk to people yourself, a very valuable element of thought and exploration becomes involved. In Final Fantasy VI, exploring more areas and talking to more people could give you more understanding about the characters and more peeks into the character's pasts. The player who puts more effort into playing will get more out of the story, much like someone who reads a book several times. And when the medium advances rather than stagnates, it can become capable of effects previously unheard of. The Nibelheim flashback in Final Fantasy VII is a great example. Instead of just sitting back and listening to Cloud talk about his past, you do the telling of the story by walking through the past yourself. By exploring more areas, you can have Cloud tell a more extensive story, and by avoiding certain areas, you can have Cloud be more secretive. The multiple possibilities at the Gold Saucer date may seem like a simple thing, but the opportunity for variations in storyline, or even in endings for some games, is a strength of the video game medium that can become even better as games develop further.

Video games as a whole are simply a medium. Characters and stories created in *any* medium carry some of the thoughts, messages and biases of their creator, and video games are no different. Spoken word itself is a medium that transfers the opinions and biases of others. From the day we are born, we are bombarded with opinions and suggestions from outside sources. It doesn't matter whether you're playing a video game, reading a classic novel, reading an RPGamer editorial or just talking to a friend. It is our own responsibility to decide how much of what we take in is true. Censorship in any form is not only ridiculous, since there are many things we do not know and *must* learn from outside sources, but ineffective. Our safety should not depend on shutting out any images that depict shooting people, but educating people enough that it doesn't matter *how* many images of guns are out there, they won't see it and think they have to shoot somebody. Censorship can also be harmful and restrictive of expression and *imagination*.

An interesting side note - restricting female characters to certain roles clashes greatly with the idea of original character development as well as the idea of imagination. Insisting that women fighters or women that may be "bad examples" just shouldn't exist in games just outright defies the right of people to create their own characters in this mold.

Female gamer and artist,
MaryJo Wood

Original Editorial: Why RPGs Should be Severely Censored and Devoid of Character Development