Character aggrandizement is for nerds.

Borderlands has been the source of much discussion lately in my circle (or at least it used to be prior to the recent release of Left 4 Dead 2) and as such I had planned to write a reflection of sorts on it. I wanted to write said reflection because I considered Borderlands a rather important game. You see, while it's a first person shooter through and through, it layered over the FPS with some very well built character aggrandizement components, which is significant because it represents the merging of two of my favourite genres - shooting games and role-playing games. Now, aggrandizement and role-playing are far from synonymous, but aggrandizement does constitute the major mechanical feature of RPGs, so this is still considered a blend of genres.

But the more I thought about why Borderlands was special in this way, the more I came to wonder whether this is actually an important accomplishment.

Aggrandizement is prevalent in RPGs because most RPGs have no skill-testing action component. When a character is in combat, there is no direct interaction that allows the player to aim an attack; the player merely tells his character who to hit. Because the player's skill cannot be tested to determine the success of the attack, the game instead uses the character's documented statistics to determine a probability and degree of success. Only...this is a video game, isn't it? The player's skill CAN be tested, the game just needs to be built as a shooter, or other form of action game, instead of a typical RPG.

I don't mean to put video RPGs down. They aren't usually trying to win fans on their gameplay; rather they are judged on their stories, so it doesn't really matter if they are little more than interactive books - that's exactly what I (and hopefully other RPG players) want from them. But if we're out looking for a mechanically superb video game, then aggrandizement, if there is any, has to take the back seat to some kind of fun, flowing action - and if you're asking me, that action needs to be shooting.

But aggrandizement is still worthwhile in any situation where getting new stuff equates with a meaningful change in gameplay. The funny thing is, most games already do this. Even in the most straightforward PC shooter I can think of - Half-Life - you still load up with a wide variety of guns over the course of the game that unlock more and more options and strategies for you to use against a variety of foes.

So Borderlands isn't monumental. It still rocks though - it does the shooting, and because of the aggrandizement emphasis it has, it creates a lot of variation in the ways you can play, much more so than other shooters.