I've just got a quick question - why are RPGs called RPGs? It's an acronym for 'Role-Playing Game'... why? Don't you play a role in Prince of Persia or in Tomb Raider? In fact, in many RPGs you are some sort of omniscient being controlling a party of people trapped to do your bidding forever... the only RPGs I would consider true 'Role-Playing Games' are games like Oblivion and Fallout 3, games where you actually play the role of a character in first person. So back to my original question, why RPGs?
Why Are They Called RPGs?
- Thread starter NeutralMunchHotel
- Start date
Recommended Videos
You tend to create your own role in RPG's.
You make your name, weapons, skills etc. The idea being that you create yourself in the fantasy world. As well as your own adventure.
In Prince of Persia you are given the character, you are not taking on the role, you are commanding him like a puppet. He is not you.
That is my assumption anyway. I have never been much of an RPG player myself.
You make your name, weapons, skills etc. The idea being that you create yourself in the fantasy world. As well as your own adventure.
In Prince of Persia you are given the character, you are not taking on the role, you are commanding him like a puppet. He is not you.
That is my assumption anyway. I have never been much of an RPG player myself.
In Prince of Persia you are just controlling the guy, while in a game like Fallout you make conversation choices, armor and weapon choices etc. that a person in that situation would of done. Your are playing the role of a guy in a certain scenario, not just taking him to point A to point B.
You dirty little NinjaMachines Are Us said:
I think what it means by it is like
You play a certain role of the character, like you can be a spellcaster or a warrior or a healer or a necromancer.
Whereas in Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia, you play a single character with traits only specific to them.
Your character in an RPG can be a mix of anything but your character in a FPS game is a pair of hands holding a weapon with no name.
I think i may have described that badly but i gave it a shot.
You play a certain role of the character, like you can be a spellcaster or a warrior or a healer or a necromancer.
Whereas in Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia, you play a single character with traits only specific to them.
Your character in an RPG can be a mix of anything but your character in a FPS game is a pair of hands holding a weapon with no name.
I think i may have described that badly but i gave it a shot.
Quoting myself from another thread here...
"People seem to assume that "RPG" means a game thats just that, a role playing game. A game where you play a role. As many people pointed out, if thats the case, just about EVERY game is an RPG. Here's the fact though, not every game is an RPG. Choose your own adventures aren't RPG's in the slightest, for example, because playing a "role" is only the most incredibly vague and baseline assumption of what an RPG is.
What makes a game an RPG is that there is some sort of character building aspect to it, usually handled with leveling, and that there's an adventure aspect to it. This is what the RPG genre is. Playing a character role is just what people have perverted it to mean because of the ambiguity in the name of the genre. In an RPG, you have a character. Either pre-made or one you made yourself. As you play through the game, you get to customize/advance this character's stats and customize their equipment. There's also quests to go on, and usually monsters to slay. These are the few things that have remained true to the genre from the beginning, JRPG or otherwise. Having dialogue trees or being able to choose what quests you go on is NOT inherent to the genre, its just something thats become commonplace in recent WRPG's and most JRPG's not made by Squeenix.
Going back to the very origins of the genre, you did very little outside of the main quest except maybe looking for specific ways to improve your character so you're better prepared to handle the main quest. And this wasn't because of limitations because of the systems. This was because you were there to play through the plot thought up by the DM. Sure, you'd have the odd opportunity to do what you want along the way unless he or she was railroading the plot, and you'd have your choice of how to handle the situation and potentially, but in the end you're killing monsters, gaining levels, and eventually going up against the big bad. This is whats at the core of the RPG genre. The typical open world style gameplay of current WRPG's is just a new direction some companies have been taking it. Doesn't make them any more or less an RPG than JRPG's are. So long as you can loot, increase stats, customize your equipment, and maybe save the country/world/whatever, it's an RPG.
By the way, I also want to pose the idea that "role playing game" doesn't necessarily even mean what people think it means. People assume it means playing a character role, but what if the original definition was more about, say, playing a role in a party? That was a big part of the original RPG's (ie. D&D) afterall. Each character had a role to play in the party, and without a proper balance the party would probably fail. So it was a very important factor in these games. Just a little food for thought."
To summarize, I think people get too caught up on the "role playing" part of the genre title. Any game can be a "role playing" game, so its important to consider what makes a game actually part of the RPG genre itself. Looting, adventuring, and customizing stats/equipment are essentially the core basis of the genre regardless of what RPG you're playing.
"People seem to assume that "RPG" means a game thats just that, a role playing game. A game where you play a role. As many people pointed out, if thats the case, just about EVERY game is an RPG. Here's the fact though, not every game is an RPG. Choose your own adventures aren't RPG's in the slightest, for example, because playing a "role" is only the most incredibly vague and baseline assumption of what an RPG is.
What makes a game an RPG is that there is some sort of character building aspect to it, usually handled with leveling, and that there's an adventure aspect to it. This is what the RPG genre is. Playing a character role is just what people have perverted it to mean because of the ambiguity in the name of the genre. In an RPG, you have a character. Either pre-made or one you made yourself. As you play through the game, you get to customize/advance this character's stats and customize their equipment. There's also quests to go on, and usually monsters to slay. These are the few things that have remained true to the genre from the beginning, JRPG or otherwise. Having dialogue trees or being able to choose what quests you go on is NOT inherent to the genre, its just something thats become commonplace in recent WRPG's and most JRPG's not made by Squeenix.
Going back to the very origins of the genre, you did very little outside of the main quest except maybe looking for specific ways to improve your character so you're better prepared to handle the main quest. And this wasn't because of limitations because of the systems. This was because you were there to play through the plot thought up by the DM. Sure, you'd have the odd opportunity to do what you want along the way unless he or she was railroading the plot, and you'd have your choice of how to handle the situation and potentially, but in the end you're killing monsters, gaining levels, and eventually going up against the big bad. This is whats at the core of the RPG genre. The typical open world style gameplay of current WRPG's is just a new direction some companies have been taking it. Doesn't make them any more or less an RPG than JRPG's are. So long as you can loot, increase stats, customize your equipment, and maybe save the country/world/whatever, it's an RPG.
By the way, I also want to pose the idea that "role playing game" doesn't necessarily even mean what people think it means. People assume it means playing a character role, but what if the original definition was more about, say, playing a role in a party? That was a big part of the original RPG's (ie. D&D) afterall. Each character had a role to play in the party, and without a proper balance the party would probably fail. So it was a very important factor in these games. Just a little food for thought."
To summarize, I think people get too caught up on the "role playing" part of the genre title. Any game can be a "role playing" game, so its important to consider what makes a game actually part of the RPG genre itself. Looting, adventuring, and customizing stats/equipment are essentially the core basis of the genre regardless of what RPG you're playing.
I'd say any RPG game, be it computer or P&P, has several core elements in it.
1. Story. Your character has some kind of background(defined by you or the dm/programmer) and there is an overall plot or successive plots to the game/scenario. Usually, though not always, the character(s) background(s) are tied to this story. Your character is given motivation via the story.
2. Improvement. PC and/or NPC characters improve during gameplay, increasing their stats, abilities, skills and/or equipment, usually in the form of exp, by using/training the stats/skills, by bying equipment using currency gained via killing enemies and completing quests.
3.Alternatives. You are given alternatives or you have the possibility of completing certain portions of the game in alternative manners. Your choices usually affect the game world in some manner, thought this effect can be anything from a widow finding peace to saving an entire continent from destruction.
4. Characters. You play one or more characters and can interact with NPC(s). This interaction can be combat, customer/shopkeeper relation, questgiving or comic effect. NPCs are different from each other at least superficially. No two characters (PC or NPC) are perfectly identical and most of the time have differing stats and skills.
1. Story. Your character has some kind of background(defined by you or the dm/programmer) and there is an overall plot or successive plots to the game/scenario. Usually, though not always, the character(s) background(s) are tied to this story. Your character is given motivation via the story.
2. Improvement. PC and/or NPC characters improve during gameplay, increasing their stats, abilities, skills and/or equipment, usually in the form of exp, by using/training the stats/skills, by bying equipment using currency gained via killing enemies and completing quests.
3.Alternatives. You are given alternatives or you have the possibility of completing certain portions of the game in alternative manners. Your choices usually affect the game world in some manner, thought this effect can be anything from a widow finding peace to saving an entire continent from destruction.
4. Characters. You play one or more characters and can interact with NPC(s). This interaction can be combat, customer/shopkeeper relation, questgiving or comic effect. NPCs are different from each other at least superficially. No two characters (PC or NPC) are perfectly identical and most of the time have differing stats and skills.
It's not "role playing and game" or "role playing in a game" it is a "role playing game". Nothing to do with psychological role playing, unless you really want it to be. Nothing to do with real time action games, unless you really want it to be. It is a strategy and simulation game around developing and playing individual characters.
When the RPG was first coined, "role" meant CLASS. Nothing more. That's class as in playing a paladin or a rogue or wizard.
They might aswell have called it a Class Playing Game back then.
People eventually read "roleplay" in it and the meaning of RPG has changed and has become very muddled over time.
They might aswell have called it a Class Playing Game back then.
People eventually read "roleplay" in it and the meaning of RPG has changed and has become very muddled over time.
First of all, arguing semantics with no other actual arguments just makes you sound nitpicky.Gilbert Munch said:
Second, as to the actual question - They are called RPGs due to their origins in Tabletop Gaming. I'll assume you have a general idea of, say, Dungeons & Dragons and how it started. If not, go read it on the Wikipedia. Well, when they started moving it over to the gaming world (waaaaaay back before your time, I'd guess), the name stuck.
Semantics of the name aside, the term RPG generally implies you have a character that gradually improves over time through a certain upgrade system. This might require more or less input from the player. This defining characteristic is what sets the RPG genre apart and is what is usually implied under "RPG elements". This is also what initially differentiated the tabletop RPGs from their roots in Wargaming.
There are other common elements of the genre - Party based gameplay, expansive storylines, multiple choices, etc. But all that is optional. As long as you have a stat/skill based system inside which the character(s) can improve, it counts as an RPG, or at least an RPG hybrid.
But in the end, the name comes from its tabletop origins.
Now see I always thought it was ROLL PLAYING GAME. No wonder people always looked at me funny when I showed up with my dinner rolls and 20 sided dice.
Role (or Roll) Playing stems from dice, playing with rolls of the dice. As the long speach guy said, it involves leveling and stats, which help determine your results from these unseen rolls that decide many things, most obvious being damage and such. It just easily shifted to playing roles of made up characters, but as also said, really any game is a Role playign game in that definition.
Actually, according to wikipedia:veloper said:
--------------------------------------------
A role-playing game (RPG; often roleplaying game) is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters.[1] Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization,[1] and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines.[2] Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.[2]
Most role-playing games are conducted like radio drama: only the spoken component is acted. In most games, one specially designated player, the game master (GM), creates a setting in which each player plays the role of a single character.[2] The GM describes the game world and its inhabitants; the other players describe the intended actions of their characters, and the GM describes the outcomes. Some outcomes are determined by the game system, and some are chosen by the GM.[2] There is a variety of role-playing game in which players do perform their characters' physical actions, known as live action role-playing games (LARP).[3]
A genre of video game is also referred to as role-playing games. Although these games do not involve the playing of roles,[1] they take their name from the settings and game mechanics which they inherit from early role-playing games.[4] Due to the popularity of video games, the terms "role-playing game" and "RPG" have both to some degree been co-opted by the video gaming industry; as a result, games in which players play the roles of characters are sometimes referred to as "pen and paper" or "tabletop" role-playing games,[2] though neither pen and paper nor a table are strictly necessary.[2]
---------------------------------------------------------------
It has nothing to do with having a set "class", and games like World of Darkness and Gurps don't even have classes, asking the players to decide their own strengths and weakness. Combat isn't even required. An entire game built around diplomacy can be just as interesting as a hack and slash dungeon crawl (Which video games do far better anyway).