Asking for RPG recommendation

Post Reply New Topic

Hi,
I'm the father of a 12 year old Aspie boy. We homeschool. I want to get a good RPG to help teach social skills etc. His game experience is mostly with Nintendo - Mario Kart series of games and Animal Crossing. Advice? Sims 3 has been recommended to me by Gamestop store nearby, but I don't know anything about it?

Thanks,
Dad in Berkeley, Calif

-

I will start by saying that RPGs are a lot of fun, and I have spent hundreds of hours on them, but I do not see how they are going to teach social skills. In fact, I would think just the opposite. Real people do not react in the same way as computer game people who generally only have a couple of possible variables in their responses. People are complex and video game NPCs are not so much

Well I'd recommend a tabletop RPGs, like D&D. This learned me alot of social skills and working in groups.

It's a great way to immerse in a fantasy world (special interest) and train to work together given the right game leader.

Let me elaborate I guess. I assumed you were asking for video game recommendations. There are many RPG board games such as that described above. These could be helpful as much as doing any activity with a group can be.

RPGs can be fun and involve critical thinking, but I really don't know of any that could teach social skills. However, for what it's worth, when I was a kid I learned Elizabethan English pretty quickly from Dragon Warrior, haha.

Ah, I created a little confusion.
I've played lots of video game RPGs too, but none have really helped me to enhance my social skills. So what I suggested in the theme of learning-by-doing is the tabletop kind.

Even though tabletop RPGs can be as helpful in as any group activity, it does however adds a practicing enviroment which isn't directly a problem in daily life plus if there is a special interest for fantasy it could be a nice way to deal with the world at young age.

Indeed I have fond memories of being that one "outsider kid" invited to the table.

Sarcasm?

Not at all.

I don't know about social skills, but Nintendo stuff is very shallow in general. If you want to get him thinking and expand his imagination, I would use the following path:

1) Diablo 2 (yes, it's not an RPG and it's a dumb game, but bear with me)
2) Fallout 1 (Diablo 2 was a gateway drug toward it)

Fallout 1 used a similar isometric perspective but was a much, much, much deeper and more interesting game. It is one of the very few games where the world truly reacted to who your character is and what they do. It was a great implementation of a living world, and one, that I would argue, has not been yet surpassed.

Of course, the interface is dated by now, but it still holds a certain style. Other games have surpassed Fallout in graphics, but the engine that makes the world work, is responsible for dialogue and various interactions, is still unsurpassed.

This version of Fallout should work on modern systems: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/fallout

Does anyone have experience with Sims? Thanks for all your thoughtful replies.

Yes. Clean your house, go to work, sleep, repeat

It might teach you how to make a schedule.

Have to agree with everyone else. I love RPG (and I've played a fair many, including several MMORPG). But I never learned social skills from them. I did learn some odd things, like gems for enchanting and herbs for potions and online socializing / etiquette (such as kiting, camping, train to zone).

I missed out on D&D (seriously thought it was satanic for a ridiculously long time). But many of my online friends have experience. I don't know how much social skill it will foster. From what I can tell, those that play tend to be a similar group - geeks. (And I say that as a complement). Geeks tend to have their own social interactions that sometimes differs from mainstream. Though I will say D&D is a great way to find a group of people that share interests, which could lead to real friendships. Though I have no idea how to find a D&D group.

Social skills would probably be best benefited by an MMO. You deal with real people for the most part and the games are almost unplayable for the most part by yourself. Kal Online, 2moons, etc. are all great free titles (which make all their money by rigging the game so that it's easier for people who don't mind blowing $50+ a month on ingame items to be the best players).

As far as traditional RPGs go people who play them behave way differently in real life. In RPGs I am an absolute kleptomaniac, I steal everything I can get my hands on! I also kill anyone whose existence doesn't benefit me. In real life I never steal anything from anyone and I've never even given anyone a black eye...so obviously I'm learning diddly squat from playing RPGs.

The Sims is more up your alley as far as single player games go. I'm not a big fan of it personally but that might just be because I'm an adrenaline junkie.

I would especially not recommend an MMORPG because many people get sucked on them and actually instead of developing a social life, get addicted to the game. Yes, they will interact with the people on the games, but never face-to-face. I think that RPG video games can teach critical thinking skills and develop other cognitive functions, but I don't think any of them are really good at developing social skills.

Perhaps, see if there is a game club (board games, card games, tabletop RPGs) and take your child there. While at first, the child may not like the games, I think he will begin to enjoy them and make friendships along the way.