Roleplaying vs Pretending. : V - Skyrim

» Thu Nov 29, 2012 11:17 am

As it pertains to CRPGs:

Roleplaying is playing to your character as much as the game allows. Your decisions and actions have an actual effect on the game world. In Fallout 1 and 2 for example, there is a greater degree of this possible. In Skyrim, much less so.

Pretending is going beyond the boundaries of what the game allows or requires, usually in your head. There is no actual effect on the game world. This is what Skyrim requires in large amounts.

» Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:32 am

I'm glad some people get the distinction, even though there really isn't much distinction between the two, which is why I bar any "roleplay" reasoning's for making up for things gone that once where around.

» Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:21 pm

Roleplaying is pretending, but pretending alone does not make a game an RPG. An RPG needs game mechanics to make interactions between the player-character and the gameworld meaningful and unique.

Yes. Consequences of your character's makeup to the extent that your role in the game has changed. If you get caught stealing, you should gain a rep that you are a thief, and untrustworthy. Even thief guild member should reject you cause you svck at stealing.

» Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:40 am

Roleplaying, to me, implies meaningful interactions with a gameworld that are unique to my character based on who they are. For instance, let's say I make a character who is strong, dumb, and evil...

Pretending: When interacting with the gameworld, there's nothing to show that my character is physically stronger than any other character, but I still imagine them as a strong brute. When they interact with NPCs, they have the same dialogue options as anyone else, despite their low intelligence. And if they go around killing people in a certain area, the NPCs act like nothing happened when I return to the same area at a later date.

Roleplaying: The game allows my character to move a boulder out of the way which another, weaker character cannot. My character cannot learn languages a more intelligent character could master. My character has simpler dialogue options than an intelligent character. If my character kills someone in a village, they earn a sinister reputation among the NPCs.

This really sums it up for me.

Roleplaying is imagining something about your character that is supportable in-game.
Pretending is imagining something about your character that is not supportable in-game.

Neither is right or wrong, their just different ways people use to enjoy games. I myself find pretending in games to be dull, I greatly prefer it when the game world reacts to my rp choices.