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[Poll] Which kinds of games are RPGs?

Which kinds of games of RPGs?


  • Total voters
    70

ItsChon

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
RPGs are cool and all, but IDK how anyone can focus on playing video games when something as sacrilegious as homosexuals getting married en masse is currently going on in our society.

:troll:
 

troupeg

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I'm of the opinion that if there is: Leveling up, Stats, and Equipment that matter in a significant way, then it is an RPG.

Note: when I mean significant, I mean it actually matters for the gameplay and if you did not use them, you can't win, not like... say, Call of Duty where you level up, have weapon stats and equipment load outs but every single thing is just as viable as the rest.
 
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Davaris

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I am reading a good book called Swords & Circuitry ATM. In it there is an interview with the creator of the Might and Magic series. He thinks computer RPGs have been mislabelled and only pen & paper games with a human game master can be an RPG. Until human level AI is developed, all we have on computers are strategy/adventure games.
 

Roqua

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YES!
You are very generous in your descriptions with the term rpg and rpg elements. Polls for a community that are mostly low-knowledge general gamers has no bearing on what something is.
 

DraQ

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I found this poll to be too long and as such I didn't read it.

For me the matter is simple:
  • an RPG is that in which the concept of character's role is handled systemically...
  • ...and the systems involved are applied to the PC(s) - weak definition.
  • ...and the systems involved are used as broad framework to define characters, both PC(s) and NPCs in general - strong definition.
:obviously:

It's the same as with other games - a racing game must have racing mechanics, an RPG must have role-playing mechanics, etc.
 

Bocian

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Doom is RPG because you play a role of a marine that fights demons. Character progression is finding new weapons on your way.
:terminate:
Edit:
CYOA/ rpg hybrid (Age of Decadence)
Also, fuck you.
 
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theSavant

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It's the same as with other games - a racing game must have racing mechanics, an RPG must have role-playing mechanics, etc.

Even a racing game is a role playing game, because you slip into the role of a player, who developes over time by upgrading his car, racing skills, etc. These are all roleplaying mechanics.

Eventually the whole problem lies in the word "Role Playing" itself:
When I played an "RPG" for the very first time it was a medieval fantasy setting with swords, sorcery, level upgrades, monsters. So I associated every medieval fantasy game with swords, sorcery, level upgrades, monsters as an "RPG". But that's not how it is. Because "RPG" is everything. What we need is another definition for games in these settings, such as "Sword & Sorcery Game" or so.
 

DraQ

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It's the same as with other games - a racing game must have racing mechanics, an RPG must have role-playing mechanics, etc.

Even a racing game is a role playing game, because you slip into the role of a player, who developes over time by upgrading his car, racing skills, etc. These are all roleplaying mechanics.
Playing a role is not the same as having roleplaying mechanics.

In virtually every game you play *some* role. In an RPG the role you play itself is variable and subject to the mechanics.
Unless racing skills in your racing game are codified in-game and can be developed in different ways yielding different gameplay, it's not an RPG.
 

Jason Liang

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I would say that most driving games support competitive multiplayer, whereas typically rpgs have been single player or, if online, multiplayer cooperative.

Another reason why American Truck Simulator has rpg elements, since it is single player only with no competitive multiplayer mode.
 
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The problem with most of the attempts to define RPGs is that they completely forget to take into account the historical changes of how the term was used. You can't simply start from a core idea like "role playing" or "stats-driven gameplay" and then make a definition from there that encompasses every game that was considered an RPG in some point in time.

As we all know, the term "RPG" comes from tabletop roleplaying, which is very different from basically every video game that is considered an "RPG" by this or that definition. Computer role playing games were never exact simulations of tabletop RPGs. They were inspired by them. For example, in tabletop RPGs your possible actions are not limited in a predefined set of actions - you can do whatever you want as long as it is physically possible in the setting you are playing. CRPGS don't do that.

In essence, crpgs were from the beginning hybrids, a mix of tabletop rpgs and computer games. And as the genre evolved, different subgenres emerged. Dungeon Crawlers, Tactical RPGs, Story-heavy RPGs etc are the result of combining elements taken from tabletop RPGs, other videogame genres, and even linear storytelling media. "RPG" is just an umbrella term for games that have been inspired by D&D in one way or the other, which is the only "true" RPG.

The bottom line is this: There is no point searching about what constitutes a true RPG, all RPGs are hybrids, and we should just treat "RPG" as an umbrella term for several diverse subgenres with no precise definition.
 

M. AQVILA

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^Then the definition by troupeg "Leveling up, Stats, and Equipment that matter in a significant way..." is good enough for such an umbrella definition.

The only true RPGs are the likes of the Baldur's Gate series and Fallout and Fallout 2 however.
 

Shadenuat

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The important part of roleplaying is your ability to create a role (your character), not just play some role.
 

Serus

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This poll is really stupid and biased. You ask "which kind of games are rpg" and then call some of the options you personally like "rpg" and others you don't with other terms. That's not suggesting anything, not biased at all, no sir.
The poll is useless and also retarded. And i won't even comment on particular stupid categories, there are several.
Voted only one option, kingcomrade.
 
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theSavant

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Playing a role is not the same as having roleplaying mechanics.

In virtually every game you play *some* role. In an RPG the role you play itself is variable and subject to the mechanics.
Unless racing skills in your racing game are codified in-game and can be developed in different ways yielding different gameplay, it's not an RPG.

There... see? You say it yourself: "in every game you play some role". Nothing else says "Role"-Playing-Game. Literally. That's why calling a game a "Role-Playing-Game" is dumb. Every game falls into this "genre".

Unless racing skills in your racing game are codified in-game and can be developed in different ways yielding different gameplay, it's not an RPG.

Come on. In many racing games you can "develop your skills" your car by spending points into how brakes, steering, speed, maneuvrability etc.
And then you even have the different "character classes", by means of sports cars, casual cars, etc.
And all this influences the outcome of the game: if you don't spend any points in anything, you lose (i.e. in Need for Speed 4 or Porsche it was so). So you even have choice and consequences.

Proven: Racing game = RPG
 

Kruno

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Doom = blobber RPG
Star Control = blobber RPG
Mario Golf = blobber RPG
Sonic = blobber RPG
Infinitron = blobber RPG

All of the above games have stats of some kind, therefore they are RPGs by the modern definition.
Also Assassin's Creed = blobber RPG
 

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