Why aren’t RPG’s fun anymore?

Maybe this is a sentiment you have experienced as well. When you here those 3 letters you used to get so excited. You remember the days of saving the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3. Maybe you have a specific memory of creating your first lightsaber in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Or maybe it was as simple as ecplring the world of Albion in Fable. These games bring back so many incredible memories. You remember what you felt in certain moments. How you responded to climactic set pieces. You remember the builds that brought joy and the ones that were laughingly bad. RPG’s weren’t just a part of your childhood. They made you who you are today. At the risk of sounding overdramatic, for some of us, they informed our childhood in a huge way!

Now fast forward. So many great RPG’s have come out in the last couple years. Baldurs Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and Elden Ring just to name a few. These games are so much more than we could have ever imagined. So much more depth and beauty than anything I remember from my childhood. However I’ve not made it through any of these games. How is it I can love RPG’s so deeply in my soul and yet not beat the top ones being released today?

I believe it is because of a very simple concept that should we understand, you and I can once again fall in love with these fully realized worlds. I belive what we are missing is we have taken the roleplaying out of roleplaying games. What do I mean by this? Well when I was young my main focus in a starting a new RPG was creating the ultimate character. One in which could destroy any challenge the game threw at me. I would spen countless hours researching and watching videos about how to create the best and most powerful build. I though that was the reason I played these games. For the progression.

As I’ve aged, I have kept this same mentality. RPG’s for me are about creating ultimate power and then enjoy living out that power through my character. I started Baldurs Gate 3 and instantly started looking up how to create an incredibly powerful build. I started the path of creating this charachter but everytime, I would get bored and end up creating a new character. This would go on for a while until eventually I would just give up on the game. I knew it was agreat game but just chalked it up to no longer being interested in the genre.

But what if this isn;t the case. What if this was never truly why I played RPG’s to begin with. When i look back on my favorite moments from my favorite games, not many of those memories have to do with minmaxing. All of them had to do with being fully immersed in the world of said game. I didn’t realize it at the time but the game was doing something I couldn’t appreciate until now, years later. They were showing me a world I could escape to and be whoever I wanted to be. I could do whatever I wanted to do.

So what if I went back to a game I never truly played with this new mindset. Instead of trying to turn an RPG into a minmiax simulator, what if I just simply let them be Roleplaying Games. What if I allowed myself to get invested into my character and their ambitions/motives. What if I explored every possible area not just for the one item that I looked up to create my build, but for the lore of the world im living in while playing. Would I fall in love with RPG’s again?

Let’s try this theory. I encourage you to try an RPG you never gave fair chance. Allow yourself to play it with a different mindset and lets see together if we can find that old spark again! Comment and let me know how your experience goes!