As Misty will tell you with a sigh, I’m addicted to computer RPGs. Once I start one, I have difficulty doing anything else. Stats fiddling, exploring side quests, juggling inventory and selling off the useless cruft that accumulates — I love it all. In the 1990s I devoured Fallout and Planescape: Torment. I have a special weakness for BioWare’s games. In graduate school two friends and I played Baldur’s Gate II every Saturday for a couple of hours. Even now I’m finally working my way through Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.<\/p>\n
Recent BioWare games sort your behavior into two categories, usually Manichaean good-and-evil ones. Last night, as I was selflessly refusing yet another reward for risking my life to rescue someone so I’d increase my goody-goody score, I wondered why it’s structured that way. Why, if you look out for yourself, do you get lumbered with evil points?<\/p>\n
In short, where’s my Objectivist CRPG?<\/p>\n
Sure, Bioshock played with the Objectivist theme, but I want an all-out Randian game that rewards my rational self-interest. When I refuse to give away the rakghoul serum I’ve recovered, instead choosing to sell it so I have the credits to further my worthy cause, I should be rewarded. When the Jedi order tries to force me to subsume my will to that of their collective, I should be allowed to resist and carve my own path through the universe, protecting my ideas and ideals while respecting the property of others.<\/p>\n
Now I just need part ownership in BioWare or Obsidian Entertainment and a good licensed property. Do you think I could get the videogame rights to Atlas Shrugged?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Misty will tell you with a sigh, I’m addicted to computer RPGs. Once I start one, I have difficulty doing anything else. Stats fiddling, exploring side quests, juggling inventory and selling off the useless cruft that accumulates — I love it all. In the 1990s I devoured Fallout and Planescape: Torment. I have a … Continue reading CRPG is CRPG<\/span>