What is an RPG? Now I know, and you will too

[Shadenuat]

In what cRPG can you enslave nations with necormancy though?

It's used as an example in many places, but there has never been a crpg where you can actually do that. (Please note that strategy games are not rpgs. No, not even age of wonder)

I want to enslave nations with nekomancy

 

[Sacred82]

GTA 5 might just be the best RPG out there then.

since we're mostly dealing with the subset of fantasy RPG's here I couldn't care less about what GTA is trying to achieve

those who are asking for a modern times RPG need look no further tho

 

[anvi]

An RPG game is a game defined by escapism. The kind that really sucks you in, the kind that has believable and very detailed characters that you can play pretend with. You can be doing some meaningless routine crap in an RPG game and yet the whole world is reacting to it, some dudes are patting your back, some are showing you their dicks, but they're doing something, making you feel important, feeding into your ego.

All that effort pondering something and that is the best you can come up with? Dumb ass. Also this topic is dumb too.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

I've always said (for the last few months) that RPG's are games about world building that you're supposed to immerse yourself in.

Everything else is squad based tactics with Elves.

Anything that's squad based tactics will be closer to an RPG than something that's sole notable feature is some arbitrary definition of a built world. World building is, like playing a role, something that can be applied to practically anything, squad based tactics is neatly defined.

 

[anvi]

Lets all figure out what the meaning of life is. Personally I think it is that which has meaning to ones self yet perhaps not unto others, but if it means something to ones self then it is ok and dat is teh meaning of lief to you and other ppl migth also have something like that for themselves unto themselves persay, for ones own ego needs, as such.

 

[Sacred82]

squad based tactics is neatly defined.

and not as RPG

let's postulate the following:

1) RPG's evolved from strategy games which played out on a larger scale.

2) RPG's started as a hybrid between squad based tactics and theatrical roleplaying

3) There are therefore at least two types of games that can claim to be (C)RPG's

I'd prefer to call the ones that have more emphasis on world building as the "true RPG's" because they offer something that is rarely achieved in other games, the simulation of a different world - note that according to this definition GTA might not count with its real world places (but also due to a questionable bias of ego stroking vs. verisimilitude). Tactical games can come almost entirely without the world building, much less the effort of creating a fictional world. The difference between a grand wargame and a squad tactics game is also more of a question of scale, while the difference between a wargame and a theatre piece is huge.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

squad based tactics is neatly defined.

and not as RPG

let's postulate the following:

1) RPG's evolved from strategy games which played out on a larger scale.

2) RPG's started as a hybrid between squad based tactics and theatrical roleplaying

3) There are therefore at least two types of games that can claim to be (C)RPG's

I'd prefer to call the ones that have more emphasis on world building as the "true RPG's" because they offer something that is rarely achieved in other games, the simulation of a different world - note that according to this definition GTA might not count with its real world places (but also due to a questionable bias of ego stroking vs. verisimilitude). Tactical games can come almost entirely without the world building, much less the effort of creating a fictional world. The difference between a grand wargame and a squad tactics game is also more of a question of scale, while the difference between a wargame and a theatre piece is huge.

You can make a squad based tactical game and have it not resemble an RPG, such as the Worms series, but it's quite difficult to make something that's obviously an RPG without squad tactics. A popular slight deviation is where there's only one person in your squad, having a squad of one, and its these squad-of-one deviations which cause most of the problems when people suggest something isn't a 'real' RPG.

Simply having a world could be anything from a survival game to an adventure game. Most other genres use only the single character within their world, but as soon as any game has a squad then it's, by default, more RPG'ish, because your squad won't be identical clones (another reason why Worms couldn't be viewed as RPG), and as soon as you have varied characters you're emulating the whole point role-playing, and the whole point of character-based tactics.

Quick edit: And by having to create varied characters you're automatically developing a world, lore and etc.

 

[ProphetSword]

Indeed, but first you need to define what is an RPG.

I just did that.

No, what you have done is define why someone plays an RPG. You haven't defined what an RPG actually is. Go back to the drawing board and try again.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

What is an RPG?

 

[anvi]

An RPG is any game that has deep character building and an inventory.

 

[aweigh]

personally speaking to me if the combat involves things like having a dodge roll-button, usually 10/10 times game is not rpg

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

An RPG is any game that has deep character building and an inventory.

Character building yes, but don't put inventory in the same emphasis, because most similar games have inventories of some kind or other, from survival games to adventure games. What makes RPGs distinct is that the inventory should form part of the character building, so you can just leave it at character building.

 

[anvi]

It is irrelevant if other games have inventories, they have to have both those things I said to be an RPG. That's how a definition works. And it can't just have character building, otherwise shallow bullshit like Firewatch could be confused with an RPG. If a game has both those things, I am fine with it being called an RPG, even if I don't like it.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

It is irrelevant if other games have inventories, they have to have both those things I said to be an RPG. That's how a definition works. And it can't just have character building, otherwise shallow bullshit like Firewatch could be confused with an RPG. If a game has both those things, I am fine with it being called an RPG, even if I don't like it.

Firewatch doesn't have character building...

 

[Zombra]

What is a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and tomato?

First we must ask ourselves, why do I eat a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and tomato? Because it provides the energy necessary to sustain life.

Therefore, any substance or activity that sustains life is a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and tomato.

 

[anvi]

It is irrelevant if other games have inventories, they have to have both those things I said to be an RPG. That's how a definition works. And it can't just have character building, otherwise shallow bullshit like Firewatch could be confused with an RPG. If a game has both those things, I am fine with it being called an RPG, even if I don't like it.

Firewatch doesn't have character building...

Well it asks 3 questions at the start which affect 1 conversation later on, and I am sure some millennials somewhere will call that character building.

 

[moraes]

There is no point in searching for a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a game to be called a cRPG, as one will always find an exception. Rather, it's best to start from some arbitrary game that's considered a cRPG and search for "family resemblances" and hereditary links in its development history that takes us to other games of this kind, that way we can have an idea of what the genre is without having to define it precisely.

 

[Mark Richard]

Are there gravestones with amusing inscriptions? If so, it's an RPG.

 

[Sigourn]

Favourite definition I've heard so far is a representation of a pen and paper RPG in video game format.

I would tweak it like so:

"A cRPG is a videogame that purposely imitates in any way or form a pen and paper RPG."

This way:

- Classic RPGs obviously fit.
- JRPGs fit.
- Deus Ex fits.
- Skyrim fits.
- Generic first person shooters don't fit.

There has to be intention in making an RPG, first and foremost.

 

[Space Insect]

I would tweak it like so:

"A cRPG is a videogame that purposely imitates in any way or form a pen and paper RPG."

This way:

- Classic RPGs obviously fit.
- JRPGs fit.
- Deus Ex fits.
- Skyrim fits.
- Generic first person shooters don't fit.

There has to be intention in making an RPG, first and foremost.

But Doom imitates PnP and dungeon crawler style level building and architecture. I assume it was on purpose. Does that make Doom an RPG?

 

[Barnabas]

I've always known this

 

[Sigourn]

But Doom imitates PnP and dungeon crawler style level building and architecture. I assume it was on purpose. Does that make Doom an RPG?

It is one thing to use your skills as a level builder in DnD (or your PnP game of choice) and translate that into your game, and another to purposely attempt to craft a dungeon crawler. Doom just isn't a dungeon crawler, that isn't its purpose.

By the way, when I say "purposely imitates", I really am trying to say "it does it because it wants to create an RPG", not simply "because it's good".

 

[Jacob]

the sims is my favorite rpg

 

[Western]

For the sake of argument, i'm wondering what people see as more of an RPG, a roleplay dedicated NWN server with a DM, or the best of the Infinity Engine games or Troika games.

 

[Jacob]

For the sake of argument, i'm wondering what people see as more of an RPG, a roleplay dedicated NWN server with a DM, or the best of the Infinity Engine games or Troika games.

maybe it's just me but your post seems to imply that Icewind Dale is the best IE game and ToEE is the best of Troika