Branson Greer

UWRT 1102
October, 2014
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic:
The Evolution of the Modern RPG
Introduction
The role-playing game (RPG) is one of the most popular genres of video games. The
brutal grind of killing 100 of the same type of monster, turning in that quest, and watching that
little experience meter go up by a fraction is considered fun to a lot of modern gamers. But why?
Well, because when that experience bar gets full the screen flashes and suddenly the player hits
level 50! Of course, before hitting level 50 the gamer had to hit levels 2-49 no small task to be
sure. But, it was all worth it when, 100 hours (and 100 Mountain Dew cans) later, the guy/gal hit
max level and got all the cool loot. This is the life of an RPG gamer, but it was not always this
way. RPGs have changed significantly over the years.
Many years ago, before video games were a part of popular culture, people that enjoyed
fantasy would play table-top role-playing games. Game boards, dice, pens, and paper were all
tools used to play games like Dungeons and Dragons. As technology advanced and video games
came about, programmers got the idea to take these table-top games and virtualize them. Fast
forward 30 years or so and you have video game consoles that allow gamers to enjoy the same
sort of fantastic story, but on the television with a game pad. Of course many people still enjoy
the old-fashioned role-playing game, but more have chosen to put down the pen and paper (or in

most cases never pick them up in the first place) and pick up the console game pad. As the
popularity of the modern RPG has risen over the past decade, developers have been forced to be
more innovative with every title. From early RPGs such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old
Republic (KOTOR) to more recent titles such as the Mass Effect series, developers have
advanced not only the graphical quality, but also the gameplay mechanics and story/character
development that players so desperately crave. I would include myself in this category as well.
Ive been a console gamer for more than a decade, and Ive played RPGs since near the
beginning of my gaming history. The very first game I bought for my original Xbox console was
KOTOR. I remember the simultaneous feeling of awe as I turned on the machine and the
excitement of playing a Star Wars game (I was a Star Wars geek as a kid). The nostalgia is still
fresh every time I play KOTOR, as it is one of my favorite RPGs (and games) of all time. As a
much older gamer, and a Software and Information Systems major in college, I am fascinated
with the way games are coded and developed in general. After researching the development
history of RPGs, Ive discovered that they are an ever-evolving genre of video game, and that
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was at the forefront of a new age of this genre.
Literature Review
As mentioned previously, the role-playing game began as a table top experience. These games
did not require computers, but instead relied on pens, paper, cards, dice etc. Table top RPGs
have been around for a long time, but it wasnt until the 1970s when computer programmers took
them to the next level by virtualization. The earliest of RPGs were very limited and required a
lot of computer processing power and storage space to play. However, this didnt stop the
personal computer (PC) from changing the way fantasy games are were played.

Its easy to say that fantasy games were changed by the PC, but transferring the table top game to
the virtual world presents its own challenges. There are five main differences between the table
top RPG and the virtual RPG: restrictions placed on the actions available to players, a change in
the significance of each player relative to the game world and to one another, the ability to
change the game world or lack thereof, the passing of time relative to events that take place, and
pre-scripted non-playable characters (NPCs) and their artificial intelligence (AI) (Osaki 2). A lot
of factors play into how each of these challenges will be approached. KOTOR, for example, has
turned-based combat, meaning that the player and his/her enemies take turns attacking one
another. In contrast, Mass Effect has a more open combat system that allows players to attack
and hide without taking turns in combat. This is an example of how two well-made games
approached player restrictions within the games combat system. In one way or another, games
must deal with each of these issues before a game finishes development. Developers must also
take care to consider their audience when making these decisions.
The audience of the RPG genre has been evolving along with the games themselves, and it also
varies based on region. For instance, in the late 1990s the United States had a relatively low
demand for the RPG, whereas Japan had a much higher demand for the genre (Loguidice et al,
79). As the demand for RPGs increased in the United States, gamers were more attracted to the
open-world style gameplay offered by Bethesdas Elder Scrolls series rather than story-driven
games such as Final Fantasy. Japanese audiences were just the opposite. The linear, storydriven gameplay was the popular style. Keeping these differences in mind allows developers
tailor their games in such a way that will appease their target audience.

Entering the Conversation

At its conception, the role-playing game wasnt the virtual, PC experience that it is today. It was
a wholly imaginative experience. With the dawn of video games came a new era of the RPG, a
virtual one. Now, players no longer have to imagine dragons, knights, wizards, etc. All of these
characters and the game world are right there before the player on a screen. The Xbox game Star
Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one title that influenced the direction of the modern RPG.
KOTOR is a game that emphasizes story, graphical quality, and gameplay mechanics that
established the unofficial standard for the contents of a modern RPG.
Many games that are released today are highly criticized or praised based primarily on the
quality of the stories in them. Players want to feel captivated and drawn into the tale, much like
the reader of a book. KOTOR tapped into this desire gamers have for story, and presented a very
well told Star Wars tale. The story was finite, and it was linear, but it allowed players to make a
plethora of choices, including the determination of life or death of characters. The player could
even build relationships with certain characters. In fact, KOTOR and games since have provided
players with so many choices in action and dialogue that developers are having a hard time
meeting the growing demand for content (Reed et al, 182). Nevertheless, the gaming community
is brutal, and when developers fail to meet this demand they are inevitably reminded of the
success of games like KOTOR.
Also contributing to its success, KOTOR provided gamers with outstanding graphical quality for
its time. It is the hope that every generation of consoles will raise the bar of graphical quality.
The Xbox certainly did this when it was released in 2001. KOTOR was released in 2003, and I
picked up my copy in 2004. It was without a doubt the best-looking game Id ever played, and I
remember telling my friends, The characters look like real people! And they did look like real
people, or as much as they could at the time. Combined with incredible acting from the voice

artists, the graphics made the realism of KOTOR unmatched. KOTOR was a peak in game
visuals and as computer hardware becomes more advanced, the acceptable standard for graphical
quality also increases. Great stories and graphics go so far, but gameplay is the final piece of the
puzzle.
Gameplay mechanics are extremely important when considering the quality of a game. The
story and graphics, though important, are overshadowed when the gameplay is really good or
bad. For example, Minecraft is a game in which players build structures with blocks. I wont
over simplify the game, but my point is that there isnt an in-depth story built into the game and
the graphics are purposefully not realistic. However, the game is built such that players have a
very fun time just building. The controls are well-done, and there is enough stuff to do to
entertain people for hours. KOTOR is much the same way with its gameplay such that it made
running around and fighting an enjoyable experience something that developers strive for.
KOTOR is a turn-based video game. This means that after the player attacks an enemy, the
enemy is given a turn to attack the player. The player must know how to build his/her character
such that it can withstand enemy attacks, and do enough damage to defeat the foe. This constant
upgrading, or leveling, of characters is extremely attractive to players of RPGs because they
are given the tools to make a character how they wish. Not every RPG is turn-based, and rightly
so gamers like variety in play-style. But ever since KOTOR was released, most every RPG is
going to have some sort of leveling system that lets players upgrade their characters.
Conclusion
Role-playing games have a long history beginning as a table top experience, and evolving into
the video game experience that it is today. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic helped to

define the modern RPG by setting an unofficial standard for storyline, graphical quality, and
gameplay mechanics. While the history, development, and reception of RPGs is discussed quite
often, KOTORs contribution to the modern RPG genre is outstanding. The RPG genre is filled
with great games, and many are worth noting and playing. However, none have impacted the
modern RPG as much as KOTOR has in the past decade. Hopefully, the reader understands just
how important KOTOR was to the RPG genre. Without this game, Bioware Corp. would not
have made their other series such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age. If KOTOR impacted the RPG
genre, it certainly impacted the rest of Biowares games. Especially in the United States, it is
important that people be aware of popular culture, even if the topic/activity doesnt interest you.
Role-playing games, although they are made for a specific subset of people that play video
games, are certainly an influential part of popular culture. Its not uncommon to see television
commercials of the latest and greatest video games and RPGs, but many people wont know
anything about what their watching. Some people may even think its a movie because the
graphics look so realistic. Im not saying we need to make T-Shirts and raise awareness for the
RPG, but for those that take the time to understand where these games came from and why they
are so popular, an appreciation for the games and the people that play them will be the result.
Because the RPG genre is so extensive, its impossible to do it justice in one read. What other
games have had an impact on the genre? Since KOTOR was made 11 years ago, what else has
changed about the genre since then and what games helped change it? These two questions are
just two areas of research that havent been extensively tampered with.

Annotated Bibliography
J.C., Herz. Gaming the System: What Higher Education Can Learn from Multiplayer Online
Worlds. EDUCAUSE (2002): 185-186.
Herz describes the dynamics of RPG gameplay as being based on character progression rather
than scores and point systems. Herz explains that RPGs are not linear games such as Mario or
Tomb Raider, where the goal is to get somewhere and kill anything that gets in the way, but the
goal here is to complete tasks, gain experience points to level up, and gain loot as a reward for
completing activities. Finally, Herz touches on the players connection to his/her character and
how that differs from traditional point-based games. One of the most intriguing characteristics
of the role-playing game is the emphasis on character progression and story, rather than a score.
Voorhees, Gerald, Joshua Call, Katie Whitlock. Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens: The
Digital Role-Playing Game. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012.
The authors describe the evolution and history of the RPG from table top games with pens and
paper, to the video games that are enjoyed today. The authors describe the relationship between
advancements in computer hardware and evolutions in narrative and gameplay within the RPG
genre. The book lists Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as one of the most well-known
early RPGs. The modern RPG was born out of the table top games with pens and paper. To
have a real appreciation for how the modern RPG has evolved one must take a brief look at its
ancestors such as Dungeons and Dragons, and an even closer look at its closer relatives such as
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Reed, Aaron, Ben Samuel, Anne Sullivan, Ricky Grant, April Grow, Justin Lazaro, Jennifer
Mahal, Sri Kurniawan, Marilyn Walker, Noah Wardrip-Fruin. A Step Towards the Future of
Role-Playing Games: The SpyFeet Mobile RPG Project. AAAI (2011): 182.
The authors tell of the difficulty developers have with the story-driven RPG genre. As RPGs
advance and players hunger for more content increases, it becomes exponentially more difficult
to meet demand. The amount of scripted material that has to be created grows rapidly as the
game allows for more choices to be made. The authors mention a particular flaw with Star
Wars: Knights of the Old Republic that caused players to interact with characters in one instance
in which they were arguing, and then find themselves in a subsequent encounter in which the
character treats the player as if they had just met. These sorts of development problems were
very common in the early RPG development world, and have impacted the way developers must
approach game logic.

Tychsen, Anders, Doris McIlwain, Thea Brolund, Michael Hitchens. Player-Character

Dynamics in Multi-Player Role Playing Games. DiGRA (2007): 40-41.
The authors focus the beginning of the paper on the relationship between the player and the
character. According to these authors, many RPGs provide in-depth character creation options
for the physical features of the character. However, most RPGs fail at allowing the player to
have a real say in the background/story of his/her character. This has been a problem for
developers for a long time because as the player is given more options and tools the game is
required to be more intelligent.
Cowlishaw, Brian. The Narrowing Experience of Experience in Video Role-Playing Games.
Intelligent Agent 4: 1.
In this article, the author focuses a lot of attention on leveling up in RPGs. According to the
author, leveling up, though seemingly dull, is actually one of the most addictive features in an
RPG. With leveling up comes more skills, armor, and loot that the player can use in his/her
adventures. Leveling a character in an RPG is one of the most fundamental and important
aspects of gameplay, and developers have been trying to perfect the leveling system of RPGs for
years.
Williams, Patrick, Sean Hendricks, W. Wrinkler. Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity
and Experience in Fantasy Games. North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., 2006.
These authors address the distinction between the table-top RPG and the video RPG. A brief
description is given of what is characterizes each type of game and what is required to play them
(ie. Pens, paper, dice, or a computer). The focus is primarily on what makes a video RPG
different from the table-top ancestor. The importance of understanding that the modern RPG is
rooted in the table-top ancestor is unmatched within the context of the development of the genre
because the genre as we know it today would not exist had it not been for the predecessors.
Waggoner, Zach. My Avatar, My Self: Identity in Video Role-Playing Games. North Carolina:
McFarland & Company Inc., 2009.
The author gives a descriptive history of the RPG from table-top, to the first console RPG, to the
more modern examples such as Mass Effect. The goal is to help the reader understand how an
RPG works and where it came from before discussing the relationship that a player has with
his/her avatar within the game world. The history of RPGs is undeniably important within the
context of the evolution of the genre, but the authors examination of the player-avatar
relationship expands the perspective to include the players impact on the modern RPG.
Loguidice, Bill, Matt Barton. Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft
Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential games of All Time. Burlington: Elsevier. 2009.
The section examined within book discusses the differences in the types of video games played
in the U.S. and Japan. The authors argue that the Americans for a long time were primarily
attracted to simple fighting and shooting games. They argued that the Japanese were more
attracted to the narrative based RPG style gameplay, and that it wasnt until the Final Fantasy

series hit the United States that RPG became mainstream here. The cultural impact of the RPG
must be considered when discussing the development of the modern RPG because the cultures
reception of the genre plays the primary role in how much effort is put into the genres
advancement.

Branson Greer, Assignment One Observation Notes: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
(UWRT 1102, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2014), 1-9.
The author observed gameplay in KOTOR for three, 30-minute time spans and recorded what
happened in-game by writing summaries of 5-minute gameplay increments. The summaries
were detailed enough to allow the reader to visualize/follow the player through each gameplay
session. Before the observations themselves, the author wrote definitions for terms related to the
research, and gave examples of each from the game. Finally, a mock interview was written that
was between the author and one of the characters.