I thought you were both saying the same thing, that you are defined by your primary skills, that there's some kind of special bonus applied because your character has presumably spent many pre-game years learning and honing those skills, but that you can still learn other skills even though you'll probably always be an amateur/hobbyist level.
Nope, I am saying you can be an expert at more than one thing... you will always be jsut a hair better at one of those things, but that you still become an expert at something new...
He is saying you can only ever be an expert at the one thing.
OK. In that case I agree with you.
The primary purpose of a user-generated forum poll is to reflect the views of the user who generated it.
Yes- dynamic character development, please! I am sick of being pigeonholed in RPGs. I seriously hope the game lets us switch roles if possible.
But it would make sense if some roles or skills are harder for us to learn depending on what we've done in the past. For example, it might be harder for an anarchist Rockerboy to all of a sudden become a Corporate, or learn a corporate skill. It would make sense, however, for a Solo to easily learn Fixer skills.
I still support the idea of player choices having an impact on skill development. This way you have flexibility in character developement, but the game is also logical.
I'm not necessarily saying that a person can't be skilled in more than one thing, but I think that one "thing," that Special Ability that defines a Role, traditionally, is what sets apart your character from another.
I think the best example you provided was the Media war correspondent. Credibility and Combat Sense.
I am of the opinion that even if an experienced Media has the cojones (or lack of sense) to go in to a hot zone, they don't have the same situational awareness as a Solo (hence, the Media being out in the open, trying to get their scoop, when a mortar round falls on their head.)
Tech support. Which is a mild form of Social Engineering.
That is: trying to get people to do what you want them to do. Like realizing there is not an "Any" key on the keyboard. >_<
Which is why special abilities are ranked from 1-10, and are (or should be) much harder to raise....
Yup
I pity you.... that job has to suck sooooooooo hard....
It's not so bad; I'm pretty good at it.
Every now and then, though, there's that ONE caller that makes me want to drink myself blind.
So far, I still have my sight.
Hmm. I could maybe get behind that. Post-character generation, certain skills open up to you (in a logical fashion,) depending on what you've already done. Yeah, I agree; I don't see an anarchist Rocker suddenly becoming a Gordon Gecko overnight. (A David Geffen or a Sean Combs, maybe, but only after having dealt with the business side of the industry for a long period of time.)
The only difference between an anarchist rocker and other rockers are that the anarchist chooses not to buy into the system........ and even then it's not Universal, as the Beastie Boys, Johnny Rotten, David Byrne, Trent Reznor, Rob Zombie, all will quite amply prove.
Hip hop and rap artists who start out with an anti-establishment message avery bit as hardcore as punk rockers, and are also prone to selling out and entering the corporate world. Master P, Sug Knight, Snoop Dog and Sean Combs (or whatever the fuck they are calling themselves these days), Kanye West, Jay Zee...
It's not that learning the skills is any harder for them, its that most of them got famous as one trick ponies and lack the dedication or even interest in doing anything other than making the music. Rage Against the Machine simply does not care about anything but their music and their message...
The trick, which so few manage to accomplish, is how to make that anti-establishment message a viable profit earner... Beastie Boys managed to do this, but very few other punk rockers or rappers can maintain that level of integrity and still remain that influential or profitable.
I mean, Prince, Bono, and Madonna may never have been anti-establishment in anything more than the most self serving veneers, but they know how to make music (even if its not to your taste), they know how to sway a crowd, and they know how to make money... and while their messages may not be anti-establishment (which is in no way required to be a rockerboy, all that is required is that you actually HAVE a message beyond let's party and fuck), they have most definitely had their own messages and worked tirelessly to put them out.
Um, I am not sure what you mean, I was just giving an offhand example 
Well, if you're saying that it's possible for a Rockerboy to become a Corporate IRL, then I agree. That's why I said "anarchist" because I wanted to convey the idea of that person being someone who wouldn't "buy into" it.
Btw, how do you create a poll on this forum?
Well, if you're saying that it's possible for a Rockerboy to become a Corporate IRL, then I agree. That's why I said "anarchist" because I wanted to convey the idea of that person being someone who wouldn't "buy into" it.
Btw, how do you create a poll on this forum?
Um, I am not sure what you mean, I was just giving an offhand example
Well, if you're saying that it's possible for a Rockerboy to become a Corporate IRL, then I agree. That's why I said "anarchist" because I wanted to convey the idea of that person being someone who wouldn't "buy into" it.
Btw, how do you create a poll on this forum?
Right but you were saying it would be harder for an anarchist to do so.... but its not, it's not a matter of difficulty, it's a matter of personal integrity. Not that I believe anarchists really have any integrity, because integrity requires discipline, no discipline with anarchy...
And because anarchy is a non-sustainable position, and there are very few punk rockers out there who could actually survive in a world without law.... but that's a different conversation.
+1 Haha
I have this awful image in my head of giving improptu concerts as a rockerbiy, xcepts it's basically a guitar ehero rip-off...
*shudder*
Oh, okay. It's believable that someone would flip-flop on their beliefs if they're that kind of person, but it's not believable that someone could learn a skill from an area which was not previously in their consideration. Well, they could, depending on the situation and person. But games tend to be hyperboles in regards to these matters, so it's easy to imagine that a character might have exceeded a point of no return for a skill.
But we don't have to have a point of no return.
The way I was thinking about it was this- depending on character actions, some skills become harder to level. Then the character can perhaps perform other actions to ease that burden.
Here's what I wrote in another thread:
An option could let the player develop and progress skills by interacting with the world, and also through their gameplay choices. For example, if the player uses stealth to achieve an objective, then it's easier for the player to advance stealth-related skills. Or if the player chases people around with a bazooka-flamethrower, then it's harder for the player to increase their charisma related skills. This doesn't mean the player can never level up certain skills, this just means it might require relevant action to do so.
For example, if you a pay a fine (or bribe) for chasing people around with a bazooka-flamethrower, then charisma skills take 1 point to level up instead of 2 points.
I think it makes skill progression and character development a dynamic process, and not just doling points to skills. But I am also wary of suggesting this because it's too specific, if that makes any sense.
That's the idea, however. Really, I'd just like a system where player actions impact skill progression and development. I also wouldn't mind if this is implemented in a harder mode or whatever.
Only if you are the hippie kind of anarchist. Me I prefer the bomb chucking kind.
Me I prefer the bomb chucking kind.
“Anarchy wears two faces, both creator and destroyer. Thus destroyers topple empires; make a canvas of clean rubble where creators then can build another world. Rubble, once achieved, makes further ruins' means irrelevant.
Away with our explosives, then!
Away with our destroyers! They have no place within our better world.
But let us raise a toast to all our bombers, all our bastards, most unlovely and most unforgivable.
Let's drink their health...
then meet with them no more.”
Away with our explosives, then!
Away with our destroyers! They have no place within our better world.
But let us raise a toast to all our bombers, all our bastards, most unlovely and most unforgivable.
Let's drink their health...
then meet with them no more.”