I've been chewing over the thought of responsibility for a while now. Not just for designers, but for anyone in the control category. I was wondering what you think the responsibility is of a designer when it comes to giving out information, allowing for advancements, or anything else of that nature.

Not to sway anyone into my way of thinking, but I always thought that there were a certain amount of givens for a situation, and as long as the designer created the opportunity for something to happen, it is up to the player to take that opportunity and make something of it. For example: In this situation, our given is that new towns represent new items and equipment for the party, the designer makes it known that there is a town (a town the player hasn't been to). I think it is fair to say that not stoping at said town before going to a cave is completely the player's fault. The fault, however, probably lies within the given. Not everyone thinks, "Oh, new town! Gotta stock up on better equipment, etc..." when they hear about another town. The situation changes depending upon the given, however.

So, how far does a designer have to go before it becomes the player's fault? Does he simply have to allow the town to be traveled to? Does he have to mention the town and nothing more? Does he have to have an npc suggest they stock up at the town before moving on? I'd like to hear some specific situations where you thought there was a design flaw like this, if you have any.

well I'd say that you'd only need to have them travel to a new town. Any rpg veteran knows that you always go to the shop to stock up on equipment. If you don't then you're new to the genre, and by this being rpg maker I would assume that we are all familiar with rpgs. If you're not then you wouldn't know about this game or what it is, and if you do buy it without knowledge of the genre, what are you thinking.

The designer must, imo, give at least a couple of pointers as to why the certain town even exists or at least a history of the town.

One thing that I see a lot in RPGs is that every town is important. Do you know of any games that just have towns with no purpose to the plot?

Towns for side quests, like Wutai.

mannnnnnnnnn i hated that one!(the side quest i meen)

You're missing the essential part of this. As pointed out by..erm... some anonymous guest above, what you always have to keep in mind is to what range of audience are you making this game for.

In this case, it mostly involves RPG veterans (assumingly), meaning that you can count more on the player to make the right decisions and raise up the bar for difficulty. Which means that it doesn't have to be blatantly obvious, but going into the other extreme is not a good idea either.

Just some thoughts.

I believe that when something is made essential, such as needing the new equipment from a new town in order to venture further, it is in that case the designer's responsibility to make it subtly known. I feel that in that particular situation, having the equipment be a requirement rather than a favorable upgrade, takes makes it feel predictable and too linear. Don't plan on my works being so simple to figure out.

@Ixzion, now that you mention it, I can't think of any unimportant towns, though I can recall a couple that were only there for amusement and not integral to much, if any, of the story.

Maybe in the beginning give out pointers, but I think constantly shoveling a character this way and that is tedious, and pointless.

Responsibilites-

dont just put something in there because you can; consider the fact that it may not suit the game, or that players may not like the additions that you find 'cool'

FF4 has a town or two that isn't important to anything, FF6 has 1 or 2 that only involve sidequests that could have been done in other towns. I rarely used the towns in Chrono Trigger, but they actually had history to them. Unimportant towns are rare because the first thing on the chopping block is something unnecessary.

didn't say whether they had to be important or not, but whether the BELONGED in the game

example: I found out how to make a tactical battle system, but my only game is a zelda kinda one. putting a tactical battle system in a zelda game would sound cool, but it isn't, in any way, a part of zelda tradition.

that was just a example, my 'responsibility' that i listed could fit into many things similar to what I mentioned.