Freedom of Capability

Here is something I have been paying attention to as I play through RPGs and some FPSs. The idea of a building "Freedom of Capability". As you progress you gain more and more capabilities and the ability to use them. In Morrowind this is the whole game practically. You gain skills and employ them as you get progress. Like the ability to jump higher, run faster, or cast more powerful spells. Other games use unlockables in a similar way to reward the player.

In an RPG this concept allows the player to form a type of ownership of the character. I have played RPGish games that allow you to change your character, but ultimately the character is the same at the end. This is fine, but a bit of a dissapointment. I think the way to do this and allow characters (could be a person, machine, etc) to be built and owned by the player it may be desirable to have decisions influence character development in a non-recoverable way. Or at least make it very costly resource, time, etc to change to another path. One really good example is the vampire from Morrowind. It takes quite a bit of effort to change back and once you do you can never be one again. This type of destiny pathing entices the character to play the game again a different way.

So, the concept of Freedom of Capability is something many games do and in different ways. It makes sense as the character has other goals besides just finishing a level.