Hit points

Why does everybody create games that use hitpoints??!?!? Because it's easy, I suppose. But what real-life conflict has anything resembling hit points? I can't think of one. Certainly not physical fights. Injury is either minor or debilitating. Injuries cause changes in the ability of the attacker.


Another thing that hit points takes away is the mystery of a new opponent. If you are fighting someone you haven't seen before, you have no idea what they might be capable of. You might not know if an attack you just landed had any serious effect. You might not know for sure if an opponent is killed or knocked out. The "hidden power" that every anime hero possesses isn't there!


What happens in a RPG fight against a new opponent? "Whoa, he's got a million hit points!" or "Whoa, he's level 120! (As I can see by the numbers above his head)" We need numbers and names to be written above an enemy's head? Or your attitude might be, "He'll be tough because he's a boss (As I can see by the word 'Boss' in his name)" or you might just fight and let him kill you once to see what he's like, 'cuz you can just rez and fight him again. RESURRECTIONS?.. I know you don't want to throw away a player's hard work, but there's gotta be a better way....


What happens in a more natural conflict (such as a physical fight)? You don't see any numbers, so you look for more subtle signs. He's 250 pounds of pure muscle. or He's really energetic. or he doesn't seem nervous, maybe he's done this before. Caution and estimating your opponent are completely missing from traditional RPGs. The result of your attacks is also judged by more subtle signs (I mean, not really subtle, but more subtle than a flashing sign over your head). And fighting has more serious consequences, so you need to study and estimate unknowns.


Adding subtle signs that can be seen on the screen and adding more serious consequences for your actions might be very difficult to do well, but those changes will drastically improve the game's quality.