What does "RPG" mean to you?

[Digglett]

Turn-based combat and experience levels are common in RPG's but should no longer be criteria to rigidly define them.

Typically I play older RPGs, or older set up RPGS (turn base stuff on DS), so that is what defines RPG's to me personally. Of course there is other criteria, but I'm not sitting here for 6 hours typing out what all and every RPG is defined as.

[Therastos]

When talking about video game RPGs, I like to think there are two categories:

1) Ones that focus on playing-in-character. While you obviously have limited freedom due to lack of human dungeon master, they can still try to accomplish this by hiding the lack of actual choice, discouraging metagaming, and reminding you that your choices actually did matter. For example, Planescape: Torment has such huge number of dialogue choices that it's not feasible to start figuring out which answer gives the greatest benefits you're when asked "What can change the nature of man?". The Witcher has such shades-of-gray morality that correct answers don't exist and unless you want to pick choices by random, you have no choice but to pick them in-character. It also tends to kick you in the balls and show you the consequences of your actions, making all the future choices feel more important. Writing/story also needs to be good enough to distinguish the game from your average dungeon master, there must not be any glaring plot holes that would make suspension of disbelief difficult, and characters and events need to be something you care about (and that mostly comes from good writing).

Planescape: Torment and The Witcher are the most successful ones in this category. There are a couple of others, but most so-called "RPGs" don't even try. For example, Mass Effect series has such bad writing that suspension of disbelief gets very hard, there aren't many meaningful moral choices, dialogue doesn't properly allow to define the personality and motivations of your character, there isn't much consequence and it actually encourages you to NOT pick in-character responses (there are benefits in staying true to the paragon/renegade path). Since their design actually goes against playing in-character, I can't really call them RPGs.

2) Ones that focus on complex statistic and skill systems and their effect on combat and other actions. This includes games like roguelikes and all the oldschool D&D-based games. If we're very generous, I guess even some action-combat based games like Mount and Blade or Skyrim (the older ES-games qualify quite easily) could be included, but that's as far as this definition can go. They need to FOCUS on the importance of statistics, stat checks, equipment/skill systems, complex combat-calculations and other such things.


Then there's a third category: Games that focus on social aspect of beating challenges set by DM (the game) with your friends. This includes MMOs, MUDs and other such games, but we already have names for such genres.

[-Zait-]

Elder Scrolls games

[yeast]

To me, an RPG means a game where whatever you play as gets better.

I consider games like Monster Hunter, Terraria and Zelda to be RPGs.

Edit: and improving whatever you play as helps the player overcome otherwise impassable obstacles.

[Moucalgeon]

Rocket Propelled Grenade?

Which goes BOOM = Yay

[melodramocracy]

Growth games.... basically just about any game where your character gets more powerful as he progresses, without simply acquiring more powerful weapons. You having a vast amount of control over how that growth goes also helps fill the definition for me.

The games also tend to be immersive, primarily story driven, and rather time consuming by their nature.

[Kaeskalol]

Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт.

[Adp]

RPG : Role Playing Game

So you take on a role that is not your own in the world of a game and advance that role through a beautifully detailed adventure full of twists, turns, heartbreak and joy.

[cFortyfive]

Planescape: Torment

Thanks for giving me a nostalgia seizure.
Anyways personally I'd add a compelling storyline to that - everything else to me personally is either an action rpg, an asia grind rpg or a mmorpg.

[Deleted]

Roleplaying game where i assume a role, like a soldier in battlefield 3.


Nah, more like stats and shit.

[Dezerte]

Combination of story/quests/exploration and leveling/loot/stats/skills.

[Faerillis]

Ok Link's Adventure is an RPG and Skyward Sword has more RPG elements than most other LoZ games but Legend of Zelda is not an RPG.

That aside I consider "RPG" to mean any game with significant development of a character based on your choices of gameplay/dialogue/actions and normally include gearing, leveling and abilities. This does cut out a lot of JRPGs and traditional RPGs like Final Fantasy, Tales of..., etc... I refer to these as Digital Tabletop Games, as they have levelling, gearing and all those common practices but lack the actual element of playing a role.

[Zeek Daniels]

RPG to me means a well told story. Actions have consequences, character development not only story wise but how the player invests in the character to mold the character to play the way he wants it.

[Icebear]

A bazooka (Rocket-Propelled Grenade).

[Xeones]

Ok Link's Adventure is an RPG and Skyward Sword has more RPG elements than most other LoZ games but Legend of Zelda is not an RPG.

That aside I consider "RPG" to mean any game with significant development of a character based on your choices of gameplay/dialogue/actions and normally include gearing, leveling and abilities. This does cut out a lot of JRPGs and traditional RPGs like Final Fantasy, Tales of..., etc... I refer to these as Digital Tabletop Games, as they have levelling, gearing and all those common practices but lack the actual element of playing a role.

They lack the element of creating a role. Some of the well written JRPGs have me associating with the character in such a way that I feel I am playing their role.

Edit: The rocket comments are a bit beyond old now. Wasn't clever with the first person who said it and still not clever with it getting spammed every few posts.

[Clockwork Pinkie]

RPG. Role playing game: Being able to select a role as you play "hero" saving the world. Yea there's RPGS where you can't really pick a class, not my flavor unless it's a really badass story.

[Verdugo]

RPG. Role playing game: Being able to select a role as you play "hero" saving the world. Yea there's RPGS where you can't really pick a class, not my flavor unless it's a really badass story.

Developers should stop focusing on the bolded part.

[Stir]

Developers should stop focusing on the bolded part.

This, this, this... So many times this! I am SO incredibly happy that someone else actually voices this opinion!

It makes for absolutely rubbish story-telling, and we've all been there, done that, and played the invincible superman at some point or other... Really shallow.

A roleplaying game is...

Roleplay is the act of... Acting out a story that is, as of yet, unwritten. It is a mixture between improvised theatre and improvised creative writing, one might say.

Well; that is roleplay. A game is a competitive type of entertainment. So a roleplaying game is improvised theatre/creative writing with a competitive element.
Basically, a roleplaying game is a game where you take the part of a character in a story, and as you progress through that story, the story itself develops and unfolds. From the perspective of the player, the story has not yet been written; it is unfinished. The player plays the part of a (main) character in this story, and works towards the completion of this story through a series of competitive events.

[Modify]

annoying text that i do not want to read

[Xeones]

annoying text that i do not want to read

Then why are you on forums for an MMORPG?