9. Create A World Worth Saving
Just as important as the game's protagonist is the setting of the game itself. Every game developer looking to create an RPG should ask themselves two questions as they begin to design the game's world: Is this a place where the player will enjoy spending his/her time? Will the player feel motivated to become emotionally invested in this world? This is obviously something that has become a more significant issue with more modern games than it did with the RPG's from the 8 and 16 bit eras. As technology advances, so have gamers' expectations of fuller, richer, and more detailed game worlds, but this "detail" goes far beyond the uniqueness of village architecture, or how the sunlight looks as it breaches the canopy of the mystical forest. It's about creating a world that you
want to save. A place that you think about when you're away from your gaming platform, and a place that motivates you to do everything you can to help. At the risk of being tarred and feathered by saying this, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion just didn't do it for me. I absolutely loved the openness of the world, the way everything looked, and the amount of freedom in finding my own way through the game. But after about 25 hours spent with the game, I found myself unmotivated to go any further, and realized that it was because I just didn't care about Cyrodiil or the people in it very much. The game seemed to lack a sense of humanity that all the guild quests and exploring just couldn't overshadow. On the flip side, The Witcher series is, to me, the ultimate example a modern RPG delivering a game world that delivers on all levels. You inhabit a world that is so dark, decimated, corrupt, and hopeless. Yet as you explore, learn the lore, and talk to the inhabitants, you see the world in the midst of a struggle that is very human and very relatable. It's not a pleasant place, but it makes you want to become a part of it with the hope that you can make it a little better. Just like with protagonists, whether or not a game's world engages a player is subjective. However, ultimately an RPG should never attempt to detract the delivery of a compelling game world with anything, be it mechanics or beautiful graphics. With the best RPG's, it's the places we go, the people we help, and most importantly, the reasons we did so, that linger in the memory for years, or even decades, after we put the game down. They become second homes for us gamers who spend dozens of hours in these worlds. And homes, even digital ones, should be where the heart is.