Some people don't see the point of RPGs (Role Playing Games). Many times the people that criticize these games are people that have never tried playing them, and are very biased to start out.
Basically RPGs are games where you create a character and develop this character throughout playing this game. You can develop your character through quests or missions of different sorts. One of the biggest RPGs for xbox has been Morrowind Elder of The Scrolls III. This is perhaps the biggest game ever created for xbox. In the beginning of the game you start out as a man just getting released from jail. You spend probably your first three hours figuring out how the game and controls work, before you actually start to get into the main quests throughout the game. The game itself, if you only do the main missions is said to have 48 hours of gameplay involved in it. Of course, that was most likely projected by someone who was experienced with the game and knew what they were doing. I know I have spent more than 48 hours on the game, simply by just getting addicted to it on the weekends, by playing and having one too many Mountain Dews.
There are a couple of reasons the majority of people get addicted to the game and spend more than just 48 hours playing the game. One of these reasons is for the fact that once you start to sit down and play it you get in the mindset of, I'm going to beat this entire game in one sitting. Which usually ends three to twelve hours later when you get frustrated at the game for a short time.
The other reason most people spend so much time on the game is simply because of all content in the game. The ranges of the game content is incredible. This ranges from the locations to explore, such as the wilderness, caves, and dungeons, to all the different types of armor and weapons you can obtain and use. It doesn't stop there though, there are plenty of guilds and factions to join throughout the game, depending on how you want to make your character. The quests, environment, items, and guilds make this game massive, but the fact that Bethesda ingeniously created a way to level up and control what skills you level up. This gives you complete control of the outcome of your character.
Each decision you make in this game has an effect on your character in some way or another. You don't really have any limits to what you do or who you kill, unless there is a locked door that you don't have the skills to pick...yet. You can fight anyone in the game, and if you are strong enough, kill anyone in the game. In a way, you could consider your character level to be a limit, but that is a problem you can solve by spending more time to level your character up. There are some people in the game essential to complete the main story objective, in which case, killing them, makes a black box in the upper corner of the screen pop up saying you cannot complete the main story quest now. In which case, you have to decide if you want to restart at your last saved game, or go about without being able to complete the game. The point here is you have the ability to choose. You have the ability to choose your character's outcome, or fate.
In what most people consider reality, some people question whether you can choose your outcome, or if you have a fate that is predestined for you. Whichever it may be, the point of RPGs is to give the player the ability to do what he wants to do, to choose the games outcome. The game creator writes the first part of the story, and then puts the book in the players hands to finish it. To quote a perhaps satirical but insightful show, South Park, when Stan's dad is questioned about playing the game World of Warcraft on his computer at work, he answers with, "No arrtard, it's an MMORPG. These are real people I'm playing with. See, I'm a hunter level 2. I can chat with all these other people. I can even wave to this other guy. See. In the outside world im a simple geologist, but in here...I am Falcor, defender of the alliance. I've braved the Fargo Deep Mines, defeated the Blood Fish in Jerrod's Landing...". This shows how the RPG can offer excitement to people, because of what it allows them to do. It has no restrictions, and it sure doesn't tell you to sit down and finish your work before you can play. They let you do whatever you want, when you want to do it. Most importantly though, you are in complete control of your character and what the outcome of the game is.
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