What constitutes as a RPG?

[Ihoe]

Nice strawman, I never said sandbox == RPG (that's quite ridiculous, and would make GTA and RPG series, then again, see my very first post in this thread...), but I think I'm getting the picture here.

 

[snip]

 

While I see the appeal of games that tell you what to do, when to do it, where to do it, and who to do it to, for everything that there is to do in the world, and occasionally indulge in them myself, I also enjoy freedom. Fallout 3 (and by extension, Oblivion, though I find it far less interesting) gives me that, and yet, it still had plenty of stories--if you paid attention, anyway. Why go to the Chryslus building? Well, there was this guy at Moriarty's, or perhaps, my child character just loves cars, and is hoping to find a pristine example inside, or at least some information. I don't need to be dragged by the nose everywhere I go. Doesn't mean I'm not still playing a role-playing game.

 

A role-playing game needn't always provide the entire story set in frikkin' stone. It's okay to leave some of it a mystery, or better, up to the player to create. That is, after all, the entire point. D&D--and, by extension, the entire RPG genere--would be nothing, would not even be here today, without the imaginations of its players. By Kalfear's standard, D&D's not an RPG. It has no story, it is merely a setting (and hell, the original didn't even provide that!), a framework, a set of mechanics. It's up to the DM to provide the story. I've been involved in lots of roleplays. Some of the most memorable came out of just such a setup.

 

[snip]

I heard there Were some Hardcore Role Players at Bethsoft Forums that would simulate their character's voice in their head, as they thought it would make them "hard core". I don't know about hard core, but they should be hard headed as they are busy imagining things.

 

especially, when asking Fallout 3 players (or Fall Out 3 to be illiterate), they even tend to imagine their characters thoughts, which brings them to PURE AWESOME ROLE-PLAY . :woot:

 

but it's mostly a matter of taste. we cannot constitute what is a RPG because a Game is created first to create a base for this genre (Braunstein). they (them) didn't make a genre out of thin air. the first saw a series of games, and categorized them in genres which would Generalize What it is All About, not what it should be, making a paradox if combined with my last post which I disagree with now.

 

[disagrees with Kalfear]

[Thor.]

Meh thoughts i have a hard enough time imagining my thoughts :turned: :whistling: , Anyway as long as there is Cheese in the game i am fine with it, now that makes it a rpg :biggrin:

 

lol

 

Well anything with a good story and role play elements makes it a rpg.

 

Fable 3 is going to be epic.

 

I don't know if its going to have cheese though??

 

Its to bad the pc version has been delayed.

 

http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/08/02/fable-3-pc-delayed-with-no-new-release-date/

 

sigh.

[Maharg67]

A good rpg has a good character construction ability and has a character or characters who evolve, interact with the game environment, with NPCs, with other player characters in some forms of RPGs, who learn, gain resources and meet various challenges which they hopefully overcome.

 

In other words a good role playing game is like playing the role of an actor. The basic character is created as in a part in a movie and then one also become, in a sense, the director of one's character, being able to make many choices to decide the 'movie life' of that character. One becomes both the character actor and the limited director along with being you, yourself, the human game player.

 

Realism, a wide series of choices, an good interactive quality and some other factors are very important.

 

I was not sure what kind of RPG you meant, as in forum or in the coumputer game sense, so I generalised.

[DarkZerker]

RPG...ah yes. I have ABSOLUTELY NO experience in gaming other than just casual gaming and competitive Team Fortress 2 so let me try and break this down for both my sake and everybody else.

 

RPG: Roleplaying Game. In a literal term, roleplaying is when a person takes a role of somebody OTHER than the real person and plays in a non-linear world which was first coined by D&D. Game is well...a game. So the term roleplaying game would mean a player is dropped into a non-linear world with a character that you create or at least control the way YOU want to.

 

(Quick note here: Non-linear does include sandbox games but they don't allow customization or real genuine roleplaying.)

 

So we know what an RPG is so...what makes an RPG a real genuine RPG? Well many things changed over the years and from what I can tell, this is the key points that make an RPG an RPG.

 

1. Customization - This is a newer function for RPG games but it's individualized RPG games even more. It means you could customize your character either from scratch or from different preset characters. Either way, your character would never have a duplicate unless you're modeling a character from an NPC.

 

2. A World or Sandbox - For the newer games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, heck ever since 2000~, the RPG world had a real world that interacted with the player. Such as, if you kill somebody, there will be consequences, whether it be small like in GTA(easy run away) or big like in Oblivion(yes...I don't want that 1000 gold bounty).

 

3. The ability to play in the shoes of your character - So give your person a personality or a back story. Roleplaying means playing in the shoes of your character...or in Fallout's case, the power armor of your character. So that would mean the ability to create a genuine character that seems very well integrated into the game world.

 

4. Immersion - Feel like this world is living and breathing with minor details creating a vast and open space that has endless possibilities.

 

Er yeah...

[Ghogiel]

hard question.

 

Dunno. If anyone listened to the Bethesda podcast, Todd Howard isn't even sure what a rpg game is any more. and he basically makes them all day long

 

ever since oblivion came out, and people were like, it's a fps with swords not a rpg, or something to the sorts of dumbing the rpg elements down, I wasn't sure what rpg was. All I knew was that Ob was definitely an rpg even in the classic DnD sense of rpg.

 

My answer is: I don't know what rpg is, but i know it when i play it :biggrin:

[DELiSH]

To the OP.. Almost all games are RPGs. It's just that RPGs traditionally have been pigeonholed as games where the protagonist must kill stuff, gain experience, collect loot and grow powerful. Typically accompanied by a main quest and numerous side quests.

 

However any game where you play a role is an RPG. I like to limit the definition to those traditionally thought of as RPGs and not include those shooters and other games which would qualify in the strictest sense.

 

It's the spirit of the law, not the letter, which provides the fairest judgment. This also goes for defining the nature of an RPG.