Action roleplaying games, First person role playing games. We’ve all heard of them and although the number of good games dedicated to the genre is dwindling (Such as Oblivion) we’re seeing more and more elements of them popping up in other games now, mainly in the multiplayer areas.

Take Call of Duty 4 for example, taking a page from the battlefield series. Allowing a series of unlockable weaponry, perks and challenges which are gained via ‘Experience points’ something previously exclusive to role playing games. This is becoming more and more common, a series of merits unlockable via the conductance of several tasks or kills. Team Fortress 2, BF2142, Dark Messiah and Day of Defeat to name a few, all bringing elements of achievements into them, all taking little pieces of the rpg genre and stirring it up with some fps goodness.

So what about it? Modern fps games are now placing more emphasis on stats, achievements and unlockables becoming closer to that alien genre, without the gameplay and storyline to account for it. Go online with Team Fortress 2 and search for servers, what do you see? Servers specifically set up for stat padding, in order to get those achievements and thus the unlockables. Its a dangerous balance right now, fps’s are taking in more and more aspects akin to rpg’s without developing the gameplay to deal with it. With an rpg an unlock or achievement is actually hard to do, ‘Slay 50 trolls’. You can’t cheat that due to the nature of it, Tf2: ‘Slay 50 Heavies’. I log on with a few friends or persuade a local on the server, repeatedly mauling him for my new shiny flamethrower.

This has implications for the new player aswell. I’m new to the game, no achievements no unlocks and somebody wants a specific high-end unlock. I wouldn’t be going anywhere fast, again its encouraging stat padding and farming. Without these achievements and the play time put in, putting casual players at a further disadvantage, anyone who doesn’t have these new and improved weapons of mass destruction is going to be at a terrible disadvantage. It needs rectifying, valve have the idea right making penalties for every upgrade but the method of getting them is too easy. Stat padding for the lose.

The ideas good. I like new stuff, I like being told how well I’m doing and having merits to compare by. What I don’t like is when the game can’t account for the merit system properly.

Take a step back developers, I think we need to work the gameplay for the merits instead of throwing them in as we choose.

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