In our opinion, computer RPGs are in a strange place right now. Pretty much every game with leveling mechanic calls itself an RPG these days. We play those games traveling through awesome worlds, maxing out our stats, and grinding XP at every opportunity. But over the years this has become more mundane than enchanting.
Our team look back with nostalgia at our pen and paper RPG memories. Back then, gaining XP was only a part of the fun, and truly becoming the characters was the bigger and more meaningful part of the experience. Sometimes role playing could stand in the way of solving the quest at hand, but we’d identify ourselves with our characters and they felt more alive that way. Video games are different. We can’t expect players not to fight giant spiders just because their character has arachnophobia. That way they will miss out on precious loot and XP. And they know the game will penalize them for it as it becomes more difficult. So if we want players to actually roleplay, there need to be special mechanics that will encourage them to do so. That is why we have created something that we call the Taint System.