role-playing games

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Subject: Technology
Role Playing Games (RPG)
Introduction
A game is a rule-based formal system that has a variable and a result that can be quantified. The outcomes can be assigned different values, and the players usually put effort to influence the results. In the RPG however since their rules are not fixed beyond discussion since their result are not quantifiable. RPG stands for role playing game. This is a game whereby every partaker is required to adopt the role of a character, which is generally in a fantasy or illusory situation that can network within a game’s unreal world. There are various RPG games that are action based they may include Chinese RPG, Japanese RPG, SRPG’S, Korean RPG and others. Japanese RPG games include Zelda, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Pokémon series, Mario RPG and others (Cragoe). The Japanese RPG mostly focus on the graphics and gameplay mechanics.
History of RPG
The history of RPG is debatable though they can be dated as early as the 1970’s. Wargaming has been a hobby for most people and thus the adoption of these games has been quite rampant. The RPG started with Hobbit in 1937, who was referred to as the Lord of Rings, he greatly expanded interest in fantasy and fiction. In 1974, the Dungeons and Dragons were released by Gary Gygax and Dave Anderson (Soares et al.). They combined interests in literary fantasy and the table top wargaming. This was aimed at creating a character who lived in the imagination of the player and that of his friends.

A Dungeon Master was created to control the monster and the people who lived in the fantasy world. It was designed such that the player and the friends were encountered with hazards and had to explore the mysteries that had been set by the master.
In 1980, Rogue developed the dungeon crawling computer game and the Apple which marked the first widely influential computer role-playing game. In 1984, the Intellivision game AD&D Treasure of Tarmin was released. In 1986, the Dragon Quest was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1987, there were 5 RPG, which were released Dragon QUEST II, Fantasy Star, and Final Fantasy. At present the top Japanese RPG include Star Ocean, fire emblem, front mission, Disgaea, demon’s souls, skies of arcadia, earthbound/mother, and the famous Shin Megani Tensei: Persona, Final Fantasy.
The final fantasy was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and advanced by Square Enix. This game forked into different genres such as tactical role-playing, action role-playing, third-person shooter, rhythm, anime and greatly multiplayer character playing. The final fantasy has evolved into many Series games that are produced one after the other.
The Japanese also produced the Persona. It was published by Atlus and was first released in 1996. It is a role-playing video game and has further led to the release of 8 entries of which four are main while four are spin-off titles. The persona has a high school setting where a group of students is heroes playing the leading role, silent leaders and combat utilizing personas. The series persona has been widely used as a simulation function that are directly linked to the gameplay. The overall theme of the persona is the exploration of the human psyche and how characters can come up with their true self.
Game play Mechanics
The proficiencies of different game types is to assign each a class. The class imposes behavioral restrictions, abilities, and aptitudes, it may also give comprehensive features of contextual and social standing. The RPG have different classes of characters such as the thief, who focused on stealth and social skills. This thief was capable of high damage special attacks balanced by sub-par resistance to injury. There was the fighting man who focused on combat abilities. There was the magic user who featured in powerful magical abilities but was physically weak. Then lastly was the cleric who was a specialist in healing and supporting magical abilities.
There was also the hybrid class such as Bard, which was a combination of the thief and mage who emphasized on the psychological and visual spells and helpful mystic competences. The Paladin, who was a cross of the cleric and the fighter with a reduced battle skills but had innate skills to heal and protect associates and to resist evil adversaries. Another variation of the classes’ mechanics was the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay whereby the participants chose a career. This career works as a class with added bonuses or skills. As the player gains more experience he may choose a new career along that path. The experience bases system gives the player the power to control the development of their character.
Forms of RPG
RPG take various forms such as the table top that are the original form and the live act role-play games. In the tabletop RPG, the game is conducted through discussion. In the live feat acting games, the players physically perform their character actions. The common aspect in both forms is that the game master who is the arranger usually sets the rules and, therefore, assumes the role of the referee while the parts of a particular personality are done by the individual players.
In the table top which, the game master usually defines the game realm and the inhabitants. The rest of the players now explain their intended actions and moves of their characters as the game master explains their outcome though some of the results are explained by the game system. Through this method, the role playing games were popularized and started advancing. In the live action, the participants are required to act in place of their characters but not describing them. The real environment is used to represent the illusionary world. Live feat role on stage games uses rock paper clippers while others use physical combat with arms that include airsoft weapons or foam weapons. There is a variety of RPG existing in various media forms: there is the text based MUD’s and MOO and often used ASCII maps and menus. MUD and MOO evolved into Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing games where the participants play a type of game that encompasses access to an insistent world through the game’s interface (Tychsen).
Conclusion
Role playing games have continued to flourish on both computer and console RPG. They have a variety of game and game types that are made to suit the needs of different players’ tastes and preferences. This has made them continue expanding and dominating the virtual game world. With the modern technological advancements, RPG’S have been able to develop better graphics, game sizes. Despite these establishments and advancements, it should, however, be noted that the RPGs were initially developed for the table top games.
References
Cragoe, N. G. ‘RPG Mythos: Narrative Gaming As Modern Mythmaking’. Games and Culture (2015): n. pag. Web.
Soares, Amanda Nathale et al. ‘The Role Playing Game (RPG) As A Pedagogical Strategy In The Training Of The Nurse: An Experience Report On The Creation Of A Game’. Texto contexto – enferm. 24.2 (2015): 600-608. Web.
Tychsen, A. ‘Live Action Role-Playing Games: Control, Communication, Storytelling, And MMORPG Similarities’. Games and Culture 1.3 (2006): 252-275. Web.