Poll: RPG's, why do we, or DON'T we, love them?

[Dresos]

I love RPGs for the same reason I love well written fantasy novels, because of the immersive story. In fact I probably enjoy RPGs even more than fantasy novels because I get to experience the story and explore the world first hand.

 

[Sammaul]

Whenever I start playing one, I get immersed very fast and tend to play for long stretches.
Until I boot it up once more and somehow find out I got mired in sidequests and no longer have an idea what it is what I am doing.

Fallout 3; 100+ hours playtime, somehow lost interest
Dragon Age; 2 chars, both 30+ hours, same thing.

Kinda sucks, occasionally I'll start from the beginning but then get bored because the first part always feels too familiar.

 

[Fishyash]

For me personally... It's making characters, but the narrative is a REALLY close second. No matter what RPG I play which involves making a character, I always go back and create a new one, even if I didn't finish the game. Just to see how diverse the game is.

 

[Austin Howe]

Usually (in this order): Characters, story, atmosphere and setting development, music, gameplay. For RPGs, I can put up with some shitty ass gameplay if I get the above.

 

[hyzaku]

My fun is the gameplay. Story is nice but not needed for fun. I get into a good story, but the actual gameplay is where the fun is. Beating down baddies, stealthing through undetected, convincing others to see things my way, "paht lewtz," and the process of building my character to excel at whatever I please is just plain addicting. Everything from pen and paper to sandbox to turn based, any RPG can be fun to me.

 

[luckybreak]

Narrative definitely. I think of the world, character building, and meeting other characters as part of the narrative.