I've been a gamer for a long time. As a kid, me and friends would play D&D and other such activities involving an active imagination. Those of us that continue to game, especially those of us that play mmo's, all have certain artistic talents of varying degrees. We've played in bands or produced artworks. We've all been recognized for creative talents.

It made me wonder, was it just the people that I would hang around with, feeding off of each others creative energies, or does a creative spirit have an inclination to games, in that they can let their imagination take them further into the game world. Is this the reason that immersion is such a factor in the debates of mmorpgs.

I've added a poll asking the participants to vote if they have artistic or creative characteristics like playing an instrument, drawing, songwriting, poetry, writing, or anything creative.

As developers, I pose this question to you. Seeing the results of the poll, do you think that you do enough to ignite and promote, as well as take advantage of, the creative capabilities and desires of your players?

i think games particularly RPG's can promote some creativity, but i think a lot of games severly hinder gamers creativity by limiting what can or can't be done in the game.

Originally posted by brody71

i think games particularly RPG's can promote some creativity, but i think a lot of games severly hinder gamers creativity by limiting what can or can't be done in the game.

I agree. I think about how people talk about role playing and immersion, and how these things seem to be falling to the wayside. Thats why I wanted to see what this poll would show. If the majority of gamers don't care, or if the developers were missing the majority fanbase.

im not much for rp'ing, but i dont mind that some people are.  it seems like a dying type of gamer, that's probably due to the fact that they get ostricized by almost everyone in chat logs.  and people think role-play is talking in olde english and all that, when i think it would be more about immersing yurself into the character you have created and trying to abide by a certain set of sub-concious rules you think that person would do.

Role-Players are deffinately in the minority it seems. I think Swtor has 4 or 5 RP servers. Out of 60 or so thats not very many. Also the RP server is packed full of asshats trolling about rp half the time.

edit:  so i guess while games hinder the creativity, i think the community does equally if not more.

Originally posted by brody71

i think games particularly RPG's can promote some creativity, but i think a lot of games severly hinder gamers creativity by limiting what can or can't be done in the game.

Imagination is the ultimative creative tool, as a roleplayer, MMOI's allow me to give my immagination the free run.... Its harder to do this then in a pen and paper MMO, but its still possible...  Your creativity is only bound by the borders of your imagination.

I'm not a very avid role player either, but I will give them credit. They can be some of the most creative people I've seen in games. They create entire storylines to "flesh" their characters out, and will think a position out before they act. It's really quite remarkable watching them work together to bring about a scene.

quests would be one example of how games hinder creativity in RP games.  because they tell you what to do and why. you can choose not to accept but some games are so linear now that in order to progress to the next zone you need to do that quest.

Originally posted by brody71

quests would be one example of how games hinder creativity in RP games.  because they tell you what to do and why. you can choose not to accept but some games are so linear now that in order to progress to the next zone you need to do that quest.

standard quests for sure, but there has been  multi-option questlines that are a step in the right direction

(wow, only 6 votes after a couple hours?!?! Does everybody have me on ignore? Can't say that i'd blame them tbh)

there are developers that promote creativity. I heard archeage will let you import your own jpg's for tabards or capes (sic).

GW had design a weapon contests and included the winners entry as a weapon in the next expansion pack.

maybe there all too shy to admit how un creative they are.

It's an open question even though it's a closed form of answer for the poll, ironically.

You can interprete creativity in maybe cooking a recepy or other domains as it were or maybe if you're lucky at your work. Imagination is another kettle of fish, but can be related eg  Einstein:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Definitely think being around creative ppl rubs off. And just see what happens when creativity is achieved:

Tillman the skateboarding dog

Originally posted by MumboJumbo

It's an open question even though it's a closed form of answer for the poll, ironically.

You can interprete creativity in maybe cooking a recepy or other domains as it were or maybe if you're lucky at your work. Imagination is another kettle of fish, but can be related eg  Einstein:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Definitely think being around creative ppl rubs off. And just see what happens when creativity is achieved:

Tillman the skateboarding dog

valid point. I guess I was more implying the artistic side of things, or how one may perceive such, but you are correct.

Originally posted by eyelolled

Originally posted by MumboJumbo

It's an open question even though it's a closed form of answer for the poll, ironically.

You can interprete creativity in maybe cooking a recepy or other domains as it were or maybe if you're lucky at your work. Imagination is another kettle of fish, but can be related eg  Einstein:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Definitely think being around creative ppl rubs off. And just see what happens when creativity is achieved:

Tillman the skateboarding dog

valid point. I guess I was more implying the artistic side of things, or how one may perceive such, but you are correct.

Well, often kids are expected to grow out of their imaginations at some point as their expectations are modulated by real-world experiences, ie no bed-bugs/closet-monsters... or santa for that matter. However, imagination has lots to offer esp. in  game design (art & tech combined), and it's imagination that is still useful for game designer to see things both in b&w and in metaphor.

Creativity is really knowing/applying the/a field of knowledge, getting the new idea accepted and propagated in it -> hardwork and inspiration. Some ppl may be "brilliant" creative but leave no trace. And 100% agree, games should be designed to allow ppl to leave their traces... and this sort of experience to percolate BACK into a more creative RL. That's a good vision of game imo.