Gothic 3 Interview, Part One
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Q: peaking of role-playing, how do you understand the term RPG? What features or design elements are important to you in an RPG and why?
A: "Role playing" actually means slipping into the role of another character and acting and behaving accordingly. A game that is focused on role playing has to be able to make the game players think "If I were him, what would I do next and how would I solve this problem?" and of course - offer the freedom to realize their ideas. Most RPGs come with a character generation which allows to design and shape the protagonist to a certain degree. On that score, we go our own way and nail the players down on one character, our nameless hero. Thus we are able to tell his story and put great effort into the way our hero is presented. Still, the players have great freedom to do exactly what they want and influence his character development in the course of the adventure. Apart from this enormous degree of freedom, an RPG needs a captivating story to come to life. In a first person shooter, for example, an NPC doesn't need a background and a sophisticated simulation of human relations since his screen-time is usually smaller than ten seconds. An RPG needs all this to an extend greater than in any other genre.
