Oh, I was playing in the 80’s but my experience’s always been the same : each party is unique.
People come with their own experiences and expectations and that’s what makes the game fun… or such a disaster 😉 It’s always a work in progress, but since RPGs are about human ressources, they can be easily improved (or should be).
As far as I can tell, since nothing is set in stone in a roleplaying game. It’s more about the fun and the will to reach common goals while having fun. 🙂
I feel extremely restricted by the linear perspective of computer / board games.
Say I decided to ignore the campaign and I wanted just to be rich because being rich is cool. So I create my own business and sell camels full time, and it’s not easy… 😉 Well I did something basically like that in Polaris (I completely ignored the campaign, granted 😛 ). I can’t in World of Warcraft. Or rather, I can earn money, but it’s not a business. If you get my drift.