RPGs defined

[Akiada]

Nothing on a computer or console qualifies as a real RPG to this old fart. A roleplaying game involves two or more people at a table with some books and dice. "RPGs" on the computer are just using the name as shorthand for "This game has some math in it, and you can dress up your dudes." Nothing wrong with that, mind you, and I'm not really sure why anyone would get worked up over semantics and nomenclature.
CRPG, JRPG, Hack n' slash, action strategy shooter with inventory management and a side of fries? All that matters is whether or not you enjoy it.

This is what I say when people start with "Game X is not a RPG!". No computer game/videogame has the same degree of freedom, the same possibilities of playing a role as a pen&paper, tabletop RPG.

So even Fallout 1&2 and other classic RPGs are "dumbed down" (something RPG elitists like to talk a lot) for the masses already.

This purely because of the limitations of the medium. A P&P RPG is rendered in words, in writing, in imagination. The DM can create any scenario and cater to anything his players pull. A game uses real physical resources and as such can't conjure up new shit on the fly like a P&P DM can. It can't generate fully-voiced voice actors with branching plots and such on the fly.

This isn't "dumbing down", it's "I can't do that unless you pull as super advanced AI supercomputer out of your ass to make up the entire game on the fly and still have it coherent in spite of that."

 

[imaloony]

The phrase "RPG" can be broken up into three simple words to help define it:

Really
Picky
Gamers

As you can see by this definition of it, these are games only played by the pickiest of picky gamers.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

An RPG is a Rocket Propelled Grenade. They are typically a shoulder-fired weapon that fire a shape-charge warhead, used against armored ground vehicles and choppers.

This is not actually entirely correct. An RPG in this context can fire any of a variety of rounds - shaped anti-armor charges are not the only or even the most common one available. In addition to HEAP (high-explosive armor piercing) you have HEDP (high-explosive dual purpose), thermobaric (a small charge used in conjunction with a flamable aerosol), fragmentation and so forth.

Also, the weapon is rarely used successfully against aerial targets as the lack of guidance system and very slow moving projectile (a few hundred miles an hour at the tube) make it exceedingly hard to hit a moving target in a combat scenario. It has been done of course, but for the effort expended even a heavy machine gun would prove more effective as an anti-aircraft weapon.

I know. I was just trying to be basic while making fun of the subject of the thread. But thanks for joining me in that with the extra info.

 

[JakobBloch]

RPGs are wargames wherein you control an individual defined by numbers so as to separate player skill/knowledge/ability and character skill/knowledge/abilty. It is not about choices, story or any of that bullshit. NetHack = RPG, Mass Effect = chest-high-wall-shooter.

Anyone agree?

That is a nice easy and manageable way to define a genre but it is ultimately misguided. It is an oversimplification used to try and fit something complex into small easy to understand terms. It is very tempting to do that and it is very easy just to accept this method because in general all the other genres are this easy to understand. Racing games, shooters, fighting games, manager games, sports games and puzzle games. These are all easy to define. Role-playing-games however is an entirely different beast. I think the reason is that the term was not created as a label for a computer game genre but as the name of a hobby completely distinct from computer games. What this means is that a CRPG should be defined as a computer game that most precisely emulate a true RPG (otherwise known as tabletop RPG or LARP for those into that sort of thing). As for stat-progression and the like: Well....

Character progression (as being distinct from character development) is part of most games out there. There are some notable exceptions (point and click adventure games for example) but in most games you character grows more powerful as you go along. They gain new powers, weapons or similar things. In your average RPG they usually use the system you mention to separate player knowledge from character knowledge. This is just an extension of the normal growing power of the protagonist and not the quintessential part of the experience. The quintessential part the RPG is the ability to shape who the character is through choices and decisions (and the resulting consequences). If a game does not have these parts it ultimately is not an RPG.