I hate taking out the garbage, mowing the grass, or painting my house. It's not so much the work I mind, but the constant reminder of my work-a-day life's responsibilities. Nevertheless, I do it because I know it's only temporary. When the kids are in bed, my basement computer beckons, and I escape the chores. Sometimes the escape is the flashing guns of Unreal Tournament, other times the flashing esses of Watkins Glen International race track, still others the flashing tank cannon of the Operational Art of War, but by far the best reality displacement devices are the dungeons, wasteland villages, and space ship corridors of computer role-playing games.

Today's computer role-players have much to be thankful for: Diablo II, Baldur's Gate II, Deux Ex, Septerra Core (just kidding). There has never been a better time to take up falchion or flechette gun and romp through an alternate reality. But for how long will the romping stay good, what must CRPG designers do to ensure a strong future for the genre?

In short, they need to make me forget the trash, mow the grass, and paint my house. They need to keep and enhance that immersive edge they hold over the other genres. An obvious observation perhaps, but how best hold that edge?

I feel dialogue, combat and pacing, setting, and acting are the edge-holders. Let me explain.

First up, dialogue. Notice that I didn't say plot, story, or any other grand verbal machination. Until developers hire writers to pen their tales, I won't expect good story from a computer game. No, I'm talking dialogue, the simple interaction between characters. Too much CRPG dialogue is stilted, dead, and way too long. Case in point is anything from Squaresoft and parts of Baldur's Gate. We're here to play a game, folks, not study philosophy. Don't *remind* the players that they are reading. Trim the words, add a pinch of humor, and you'll keep a few more fans awake. Morte's passages in Planescape Torment is an excellent example of dialogue done right.

Combat and pacing. Take a turn-based RPG, put in too many battles, and it slows to a crawl. On the other hand, real-time combat glosses over the gamer's tactical options --and an order-while-paused feature is little more than a band-aid compromise. RPGs of the future need innovative systems such as Squaresoft's Active Time Battle, Parasite Eve's real-time/turn-base engine, and Septerra Core's­ time/turn-based hybrid. And while we are on pacing... it's all about peaks and valleys --bosses should be bosses, not pushovers, or any combat system losses its luster. You gettin' this down Monolith?

Setting. Role-playing games started in dungeons, but there is no need to stay there. So far the staying has paid off; Baldur's Gate sold over a million copies, and Diablo II and Baldur's Gate II are sure to amass figures equal to Britney Spear's income. Yet like Britney, I think the dungeon's allure will soon fade. The RPGs of tomorrow will certainly include dungeon crawls, but I think the next big game lies in the realm of Science Fiction. Perhaps Arcanum? Maybe Bioware's Star War's RPG? Or Interplay's Fallout Tactics? Who knows? But I know that sooner or latter gamers will tire of swinging swords and turn to flashing lasers.