Plot is not a prerequisite for a fun game. Chess is one of the oldest games in existence, and its plot is as detailed as Rogue’s plot. Rogue says “Get the Amulet of Yendor!” Chess says “Capture the enemy king!” The difference is that Rogue’s players must frequently defend that simplicity of purpose from detractors.
This is not the part where I tell you that you are simply unimaginative and unsophisticated and Roguelikes are just too intellectual for you to understand, because they are not, but when we say that we do not mind the lack of plot—when we say that we imagine plots and grow attached to our little ‘@’ character anyway,
we are not lying to you. It is not a “cop out”. We mean it.
All your examples come from DoomRL, a game termed a
coffeebreak Roguelike, and Sil, one other relatively new game. As you stated that you are avoiding fantasy, and
all of the Roguelikes that are staples of the genre are fantasy, I can only suppose that you have not played them. Some of them even have
plot elements like characters and multiple endings.
You
are addressing important points. Game balance is probably the most important part of a Roguelike, because it is as random and unpredictable as it is, and it is something game developers work to get right. Plot is definitely something that should not be ignored too. The 7DRL competition was made to explore new possibilities like that.
No one of us will think you deficient if you decide that you do not like Roguelikes, and, yes, the genre is not perfect. We do need to be thinking about improvements, and we should not turn a blind eye to problems, but please remember that this a community of hobbyists, and do not compare their work with big-budget games—or compare their hobby with flipping a coin and ‘dumb luck’. I know you can understand that, with all the care that has been put into developing them and all the enjoyment that we have had playing them, telling us that we may as well be flipping nickels is rather cutting.
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