Being a freelance developer, I often find myself going through periods in which I get almost no promising job offers, only to suddenly get inundated with a few good ones all at once. Such was the case last week when I received calls and emails regarding three separate positions in one day after a two week drought. On paper, all three look good. So good, in fact, that I would be hard pressed to come to a decision if I were to get more than one serious offer. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell how well I will take to any of the jobs until I pick one and run with it. I might end up choosing one that eventually disappoints while missing out on what could have been the chance of a lifetime.

This situation got me to think about online RPGs and how they invariably ask players to choose a job or class when creating a new character. Because classes are almost always linked to specific races (or character designs), changing one's profession after this step is rarely an option; once one has chosen his or her path, there is no turning back. My experience with Guild Wars highlights one of the main problems I have with this concept.

The first time I fired up my copy of Guild Wars, I spent a good amount of time deciding what type of character I wanted to play as, eventually settling on a Necromancer since specializing in the dark arts - dealing with black magic and manipulating the dead - sounded cool at the time. Plus, I felt that the character models for that class were more appealing. After playing for a while, I found that all I was doing was playing backup, which was fine, but I eventually wanted a more hands-on role in battle. I spent most of my time in Phantasy Star Online using magic to keep my party alive, so playing a supporting role was nothing new. However, if I wanted to, I could also partake in the bloodshed since my HUnewearl was not only skilled at magic, but had the ability to handle melee weapons. Unfortunately, Guild Wars, along with most other games in the genre, does not allow for such flexibility. Of course, I can select a secondary profession, but in the end, my character is still a Necro, so a quick death remains the most likely outcome whenever it has the temerity to switch to melee combat.

Should I not have the option to train my dark magic user to become a full-fledged warrior - to be able to completely change its profession without having to create a new character of a different race? Why must I drop my six-year-old character for a new one just because I simply want to swing a sword? One of the main appeals of these types of games is having the ability to "grow" a character. Unfortunately, my Necro cannot very well do that if it is stuck with a job that has long since lost its luster.

Restricting professions is an old-school standard that needs to be modernized. I like to think that if I worked hard, I can accomplish anything, including things that are supposedly inherently impossible. The characters that we invest hours into developing should have the same opportunity.