I am all for the rights of magic users, and will fight the courts for wider use of their powers. Let there be wizard-light in every street and bedroom. Let the children play "fireball toss." Let thieves pass invisibly, slitting throats in the noon-day sun. Let the hordes of summoned beast trample the land spurred on by their maniacal masters will! Yes, fight the oppressive hand of the magic-regulators, and let the magic power begin! Muahahaha!

In truth, maybe making a world too different then what we can understand/relate to might suspend our belief in the game world, thus making it a less enjoyable experience. Not saying it couldn't be accomplished, but it would take a lot more time and effort to do so I think. And time cost monies.

Hm. Off the top of my head, I would say that Pokemon handles world building pretty well. Sure, it isn't pure 'magic', but what we got is a world where nearly all animal life, save humans, possess powers that are being actively cataloged and researched. We also got beauty contests, fighting tournaments, a whole society that is focused on these creatures - it isn't lip service.

Come to think of it, wouldn't it be awesome if CDProject could do a Dresden Files RPG?

I think the hardest part about using magic in day to day situations, is I have yet to see magic used in a situation where it isn't a sledgehammer when a chisel is needed. It's very rare even in stories to see it used simply because it's treated as if all of the control used is keeping it from going out of control, not keeping the spell at a certain level of power.

While I say, you could use it to teleport crops after they've ripened, you couldn't use a spell to plow the land because it would be too much force for what you need. Even the situations KOCollins suggested seem more in line with just using what you have instead of forcing the control needed for real life things where you aren't using lots of power.

Actually, I would say that 4th-Generation My Little Pony uses magic rather extensively to good effect. Granted, not a videogame unless you including Fighting is Magic and My Little Investigations, but a good setting where magic is concerned. For example, the pegasi are responsible for controlling the weather by moving around clouds, and Rarity has a gem-finding spell for getting materials for decorating her crafts. As a unicorn, she also uses telekinesis to do her handiwork without the aforementioned hands - the other kinds of ponies don't have horns, so they settle with their mouths to get things done.

Basically, I feel that is a very good case for how a setting impacts how characters work when the rules for how they live are different. I also recommend checking out the Last Airbender. Except for the live-action movie, because that is total trash in my opinion.


My favorite settings that handle magic include:

Baldur's Gate II
Planescape Torment
My Little Pony (4G)
Terranigma*
The Dresden Files
The Last Airbender
The Witcher

*Not the spells that you cast. Rather, it was how the hero can resurrect the land, animals, and people, which is pretty magical in my opinion. It just felt epic to me, because most uses of magic that I see is for lobbing fireballs.

The primary reason for games not to go there - apart from the sense that the market doesn't want it - is that if you want to model the effects of widespread magic on society then you've got a LOT of work ahead of you, because it's going to influence everything, and those influences will create domino effects elsewhere, which leads to more changes, etc. Quite simply, most computer game teams don't have the story development manpower for a project like that (if they want to complete the game in any reasonable length of time, that is).

Some pen and paper RPG settings do go down that route, and the end result often looks VERY different from the standard quasi-feudal society that you get with most games. The Eberron campaign setting for D&D is probably the most comprehensive of those. It's also known for giving "Tolkien Traditionalists" a heart attack. ;)


Funnily enough, strategy games are more likely to incorporate the idea, implicity if not overtly, allowing the construction of things like "Animist's Guilds" in your cities/etc that are pretty clearly magic-based.

Legend of Korra, successor to The Last Airbender does a great job of showing elemental magic being used to power complex machinery, and how those without the ability to 'bend' often end up lower on the social ladder as progress leaves the 'have nots' behind.

I really enjoyed how Troika's Arcanum handled magic. The up and coming science and machinery plebs (and the industrious dwarves) in direct opposition to the older races who relied on and lived with magic. It was refreshing for magic users to be shunned and reviled as impediments to 'progress'.

I didn't like the magic (signs) in The Witcher series nearly as much as I loved the Alchemy in it. It has wonderful ties to Jekyll and Hyde and the game mechanics where fun to fool around with.

I really enjoyed how they took Avatar to the next logical step in that way, that was an all around solid show.
Honestly, I try not to think too much about game mechanics and its gameworld implications or else I'd drive myself crazy. Like once the character collects a heart from an enemy they just killed, how do they use that to heal themselves? They eat it? o.O
Edit: Okay, seems like someone else already figured out the last bit:
http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/2711104/Legend/

They fill it with color and hope it will last them until the next cycle...

Some cultures believe that eating the hearts of mighty beasts and foes would grant strength. Apparently the Kokiri is one society that believes in that, along with most of Hyrule.

One setting that I'm helping with actually has an (indirect) explanation to why magic isn't generally used in people's lives.

Last time people were playing with it, they completely undid existence. Pretty good reason to be wary!

It got better (sort of).

Isn't there a point where we should disregard abstract game mechanics? It's not like experience points exist in real life either.

One thing I didn't like about Ocarina of Time was how it said that the targeting system was actually being done by your fairy.

Hey, Navi needs to make a living too - 1 rupee per stalfos slain!

Well I have to say this has been a very informative discussion for me. Well maybe having widespread magic use might have been a tad to much to really fit into a game but what about magic infused items? It sounds like a lot of you find that as an acceptable solution to my question.

Well Aaron86 I think we can safely skip gameplay.

one of the games where magic is rare and it is explained why, is FFVI (SPOILERS BELOW)
magic came from creatures (espers) for whom magic was a natural thing, part of their body
sometimes there were couples with one parent a human and the other an esper, with their kids being magic using humans, the main character terra
but since the war of the magi, where magic was abused by humans, the espers left our world with only 1 human esper child remaining
(humans can also gain magic by use of magicte, which is basically the remains of a dead esper. But only a few people have access to such things)

(more spoiler below)
in FFVII however, magic IS common as people gain magic by attatching materia in their gear. materia (magic) is a common thing in their world. It is a byproduct of the massive energy production with mako (the planets raw energy).
anyone with a bit of cash can afford materia, and thus use magic
many find materia to be very complicated ( one of the main characters, barret, has no idea how to use it until cloud teaches him) and stick to guns and such
(as far as i have understood, materia gives magic because its basically lets you use part of the planets energy (mako))