Azeroth and Aleroth.
There is no shame in trying to learn, and humans had been learning for thousands of years through mimics.
Blizzard is in fact a pioneer of deeply analyzed fantasy worlds, rifts and Orcs.
Since War Craft (dos) and the subsequent fabulous graphics of sequels Blizzard has definitely set a foot in the world of electronic gaming. Star Craft too is not to be overlooked. The main feature of Blizzard’s philosophy seems to be a construction of a linear set of acts to form a storyline if there was any such storylines at all. On the other hand there is a sequence of level-based acts each of which begins with a mission.
No doubt that Blizzard had reached the level which the technology allows today.
There is no coincidence that Azeroth and Aleroth have only one letter to distinguish the two names. Now Larian Studios have produced Divinity and needs no more game-milk to suckle on.
Now take another game, which is made by Eurocom Development under the title Sphinx and the shadow of Set; Characters are very carefully designed and the game is basically an adventure.
Let us make a stop right here and analyze the future of gaming under a rather new class. There are multitudes of confusing classifications in which we read RPG with different prefixes but what do we, the players, expect in a role-playing-game.
We certainly need an adventure to play and have fun, an adventure that challenges our wits and our extraordinary skill of tracking clues. So when we call our favorite game a role-playing-game we need to put some emphasis on the role; what role?
Hacking and slashing summarizes the philosophical aspect of the struggle, but is that all, definitely not. A role playing game must contain an adventure created on top of a well written story. Adventures must contain a factor of risk, the risk of confronting powerful foes and the risk of facing unfathomable riddles. The foes should be mainly the guardians of great secrets. The greatness of the secrets is not in believing them to be and acquiring them but in using them and assembling them to achieve an even greater secret or a greater reward.
The adventurer might have the intelligence and experience to become a welcome visitor of a world in stress, waiting for his ilk to act as a leader to lead their armies to defeat an enemy, and as a reward the adventurer is given a clear path to a hidden secret, which he/ she was seeking.
Therefore, the storyline itself must contain a wealth of events, secrets and exciting encounters, such as in the Arabian Nights or the ancient Egyptian Mystical world as well as in the British superstitious tales. There is always place for a new professionally created storyline based on those learnt rules.
Out of the storyline come the main characters that the role-player encounters, influences and gets influenced by; so how do random generators fit in with a storyline and pre-designed characters. In English we can distinguish that by the two articles (an) and (the); thus when the scenarist encounters (an arena) it can be randomly generated but when it is (the arena) it must be set up with specific features.
So when the Orcish leader Skullhammer comes with 20 archers and 50 swordsmen we may generate them randomly but we must generate him specifically. Such a leader must be so distinguished that he is the last to fall in his army and concludes the victory of the hero, perhaps even with a movie clip.
The final goal of the game may not be a make-believe-reward but a true reward of an adventurer; which is the wealthy and victorious return to home where he /she is mostly admired and a reputation is meaningful. In some cases a romantic touch could be very interesting, like reuniting with a childhood complementary gender.
With wealth, honor and victory our character can gain the warmth of admiration and love, and we are lonely no more.
The game that succeeds in rewarding the player by a feeling of not being lonely is the top-notch game of all times. It is the game, which the player plays over and over to be at home.
