One thing that irks me about RPGs is that your PC can usually deviate from the main storyline with no consequences to complete a gazillion side-quests for the entire freaking world. Story-wise this isn’t a problem because the bad guys are all just sitting around waiting for you to get better gear, more skills, and stronger spells before you come kick their butts, right? Right!

Don’t Worry, the Bad Guys Will Wait For You.

First, this is an issue that goes all the way back to the origins of the RPG. Even the masters, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, wrote games where bad guys didn’t react to the game world (unless your DM was uber-creative). I remember playing one pnp module where, regardless of fighting in the hallway, cracking off fireballs, or summoning devils from the nine hells, two dudes were sleeping in their bunks behind the next door. ‘Cause they wouldn’t have woken up with the apocalypse in the hallway. They were waiting for your party to arrive.

Fast forward to modern computer/console RPGs. Take Dragon Age: Origins for example, which starts to fix the problem, but fails in execution. The darkspawn have just won a decisive victory at Ostagar. Once Alistair and the PC resolve to use the Grey Warden treaties to raise an army to fight the darkspawn, there should be a certain level of urgency. There is, you can feel it. After the PC’s party leave Lothering, the town is razed from the map by the darkspawn horde. Awesome! This means the enemy is active, that the PC needs to keep moving, right? Wrong.

It’s a start, but it isn’t followed up on. From there, the darkspawn don’t raze any more villages, don’t destroy any allies, don’t cause any problems until you’ve gathered all your armies (conveniently) and enter the final act of the game. The PC is given all the time in the world to complete every little side-quest in the world, regardless of how trivial. The DLC such as Warden’s Keep and Return to Ostagar add additional quests but don’t alter the timeline. In short, there’s urgency created at the beginning, but it dissipates.

Now, in Bioware’s defense, some characters do help keep you on task in a light-handed way. Until you become friends with Sten, he will remind you that the darkspawn are waiting when you dither, and ask why you’re stopping if you blather. He even goes so far as doubt your prowess as a Grey Warden. Morrigan can also be direct. Before Lothering’s destruction, she’ll give you a snarky remark if you solve the problem between the Chantry priest and the merchant gouging his customers (but only if you side with the priest). Her point is clear, however, focus on the task at hand, stopping the Darkspawn. She says, “So… we have come to solve every squabble in the village, personally? My, but the darkspawn will be impressed.”

The Elder Scrolls games create an equally large problem. Whether Oblivion or Skyrim, the character is given a choice to help the world and told of its importance, but there’s no repercussions for digression. You can comb through the wilderness exploring ruins, cleaning out caves, and recapturing garrisons. You can join factions and do guild quests, talk to heads of state and solve their problems. You can do anything you like, all the while, the enemy waits patiently for you to come kick their butt. Sure, if you went forth right away, your character would probably be a smear on a mountainside (because the developers are expecting you to go spelunking and bandit-hunting). You need to get stronger to face the big boss, but there’s no urgency and sometimes little drive to keep playing.

The World Can Wait, There are Bandits in Those Caves

Let’s face the facts, for every bandit you kill the world is a safer place. So it shouldn’t be a problem if you want to go out and clean out a few caves and ruins, right? I’d guess most gamers want the ability to do all the aforementioned side-quests and DLC until they’re kicking butts and taking names. They also want their character to be geared up in dragonplate armor, carrying daedric swords, with a horde of followers at their back.

On top of all this, there’s an addiction to leveling your character, to adding to their skills and spell lists. To seeing them grow from helpless peon who is no more than a walking sliver for a dragon’s claw, to becoming the Beowulf-inspired dragon-slaying demi-god worthy of the praise of villagers and Jarls alike. Heck, I’m addicted to quest-solving and will try to solve every quest available (with or without achievements). So what’s the solution?

Nudge the Gamer

Easier said than done. How do you balance all the great things a player achieves in side-quests with moving the main story narrative forward?

First, there could be a penalty for too much spelunking and exploring. In Dragon Age, if you wasted too much time on side-quests, more allies could have fallen to the darkspawn. For example, if you completed the Mages Circle, dwarves, and then a bunch of DLC and side-quests, maybe the darkspawn overrun the Brecillian forest and the PC loses the ability to acquire the elves/werewolves as allies. This could be done with a hidden timer. Certain quests might add to the available time, say if the PC ambushed a darkspawn supply line. An advantage of this, the gamer would be unable to complete all the quests in their first play-through and encourage replaying the game with multiple characters.

Another way to increase the urgency is to have NPCs reminding the PC with greater frequency. Verbal reminders could get annoying, so maybe not always a “Hey, don’t we have an Arch-demon to kill?” or Sten’s favorite, “The darkspawn are waiting.” Perhaps another kind of reminder like more frequent random attacks by the bad guys, to show they’re hunting your PC down. The other day in Skyrim, I was attacked on the road by a group of thugs for some transgression against one of their buddies. Later, the Dark Brotherhood attacked because somebody clearly wants my PC dead. Both were great events, but could have been better if they’d been reminders to get my butt back on the main storyline.

Lastly, there could be achievements for completing the game with fewer quests completed. They have achievements for doing 70% or more in DA:O or for clearing out a certain number of caves in Skyrim, but not for finishing the game with the minimum number of side quests. You’d think that would be achievement worthy because it means you don’t necessarily have the most skills or best gear. You’d be taking on the big boss with fewer skills and spells, weaker armor, and less impressive swords. (Sorry, no flaming, vorpal, quickened, weightless, ever-sharp Dragonslayer sword for you).

I’m sure this is something the gaming world has looked and will continue to tackle going forward.

QUESTIONS: What other ways could you help bring urgency into the game? Have you seen anything at play in other games to keep the character on task and increase the sense of urgency? What did it do for the gaming experience?