I must admit, that sometime ago, I was addicted to Diablo 3. Something about the game occupied my every waking moment and for two weeks solid, I was glued to my computer. No ergonomic mouse was ever designed for this type of prolonged use and by the end of it, my hand was fixed in a rictus of mouse clicking. (You know you've been over doing it when you develop calluses where your palm rests on the mouse.)

After this extended bout of insanity, I had an epiphany that has dulled my enthusiasm for such fare - I had been a dupe at the end of an elaborate Skinner black box. Nothing cramps desire like coming to the realization that you've been manipulated into giving in to your inner monkey. The obsession with the game fed off the primal need for a reward completely disproportionate to the effort expended, but somehow, I had managed to rationalize the effort as "fun". What was I thinking???

There is something else that I should admit which is related to my fascination with video games; that I am a long time RPGer of the Dungeons & Dragons variety (the pen and paper, polyhedra wielding, geohex terrain loving, leaded miniture painting kind). I suspect that few people could claim that their RPG group has lasted some 25 years other than those involved in the industry itself. We've played (and continue to play) every game under the sun from Tunnels and Trolls and Paranoia, to our (relatively recent) work-horses of Earthdawn, ShadowRun, and TORG.

I always associated my love of video games and role playing as coming from the same source - my fascination with the fantastic (as evident from the SciFi/Fantasy ladened literature of my youth) and the acknowledgment that the collective engagement of our imaginations produced some of our most memorable moments of "the Game". The collective conscious fed by books, arcades, movies, and comics, contributed in no small part to the absurd hilarity and outright originality that permeated our gaming sessions.

It's taken me a while to be able to articulate my misgivings regarding the direction of computerized RPGs, though it's been steadily building. Not that I'm completely oppose computerized games, but there are a variety that certainly deserves the "heroine-ware" appellation.

My problem with these games is what lies at the heart of the game - why do gamers play games in the first place? I think the answer to this question highlights a fundamental difference between two genres of gaming which are superficially similar, but are governed by different motivations.

Part of appeal of RPG is the creative act of imagination that computerized RPGs literalize to the detriment of the whole experience. To overcome this limitation, game designers replace this void with artificial reward systems to entice players into continuing to play. The problem with these environments is that by introducing the phantom reward of level advancement, players never achieve the true reward of role-playing - catharsis. In a sense, delaying catharsis or completely eliminating it allows for players to become entrapped in the button clicking unreality where reward is dangled tantalizingly just out of reach.

What exactly do I mean by catharsis? From Wikipedia:

meaning "purification" or "cleansing" derived from the ancient Greek gerund καθαίρειν transliterated as kathairein "to purify, purge," and adjective katharos "pure or clean" (ancient and modern Greek: καθαρός).

How important is catharsis to the RPG experience? I think for any serious ( non-psychopathic) player, the ability to exercise their imagination in an environment that unconditionally accepts the suspension of disbelief and judgment while allowing a drama to unfold that could not otherwise find expression in daily life IS the REWARD. All gain in role playing lives only in the imagination. It is the feeling we take with us after we've played "the Game" that provides the motivation for the true RPGer.

This place we create for ourselves in the imagination that we use for cathartic release is implicitly a place that it meant to be occupied for only a limited time. It is the reality we use to escape from the everyday. It is not meant to replace our the reality of our daily existence. By allowing allowing us to enter periodically, it provides a means to enrich our daily existence by framing our struggles in more metaphorical terms and hopefully providing a means to come to terms with them.

This brings us to the question : Can the computerized RPG experience emulate catharsis that great collective reality based RPGs are capable of rewarding their players with?

I think that despite the increasing sophistication of virtual worlds, they will ultimately be limited by the vision imposed by their game designers. MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft will never be able to provide the essential ingredient for successful RPGs - catharsis. The real crux of the matter is the question of whether or not this is by design. There are are games out there that capture the essence of the RPG (Ico and Shadow of the Colussus come to mind), but WoW is not one of them. Players should question the what master the game serves - is it the players who benefit from being perpetually entrenched in the accumulation of "legendary" rewards, or the company that requires a subscription to enter this virtual world? How does "the Game" subvert our daily lives when so much actual time is required for the commitment of maintaining a virtual life? When does the "the Game" become "Life"?

When you return to reality, I'll be waiting with my dice.