Online vs Offline

While typing my response paper about character identity and creation, I noticed something. Today's multiplayer experience (nowadays through the medium of the internet) has significantly changed the roles of game characters. When playing MMORPGs, you choose one class which has benefits and drawbacks in comparison to other classes. The game then usually has a balance where a single class cannot successfully level or complete quests alone, but only in a party of multiple classes. This is completely different from games a decade ago. I remember that every RPG that I played (in particular Final Fantasy 7), where I always tried to make the main character into an "ultimate" character where they were all rounded in melee, magic, and all other skills. I would have that character try to play all possible roles in the game. Even multiplayer games during that time, all the characters were essentially the same except maybe a slight variation in their animation. 

Character balancing must be a nightmare for game developers. I remember that back when I was playing Ragnarok Online, there would be no incentive to be a melee type character (Knight, Assassin). Their damage was based solely on their weapon equip and cards (that added bonuses), and even then they were not good at maximizing DPS (damage per second) like mage classes were. They were also not the best tanks, as a Priest with high health and equips could also heal itself which a Knight or Assassin could not. Pretty much the game was dominated by any Wizard and Priest combo. This led to many complaints, which resulted in several updates on balancing class types and skills to make it more even. Even with the changes though, players are not always happy until they get what they want.

It seems that now with the internet, online games have really been trying to emphasize the important of playing with other players. I personally think it is more enjoyable to play with friends anyways, but just an interesting observation I made that I believe shows the major differences of the offline and online "era."