Weekly Links #82

I have a dearth of links again, after last week's plenty. I guess my current project is taking its toll. Turns out, doing the writing and the layout and the artwork for a tabletop RPG, however modest, uses up a lot of energy. But oh well, won't be long now.

While we're talking tabletop, I recently started following rpg.net again, and this week their long-running history of RPGs touched on the issue of women in the industry. This may not seem too relevant to computer games until you encounter a number of famous names that shaped the fantasy genre as we know it today. And with franchises crossing media boundaries so easily nowadays, that matters more than it seems.

Wait, did I mention women in gaming? Here's the story of a game nobody would touch because it has a female protagonist. (Spoiler: Square Enix took it in the end.) Do you suppose we still have a bit of a problem in the industry?

Last but not least, Shamus Young explains in his column why romance is kind of bland in modern RPGs. And he has a point. Just like with story in general, you can't have much depth and emotional impact when your protagonist is a blank slate, and the story must get to a satisfying end no matter what the player chooses.

Or can it? Tabletop RPG players often manage it spectacularly well. Maybe videogame designers ought to look more outside of their narrow bubble. A lot more.