Industry attributes
Other attributes
A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which each participant of the game assumes a character role that is capable of interacting with the game's imaginary world. The game is played with the players actively describing their characters actions and thoughts with a "game master" to narrate and referee the gameplay. In video games, the role of the "game master" is automated as part of the game's scripted storyline, which tends to try and give the player as much choice as possible and to make those choices impactful, changing the unfolding of the story based on those choices, as happens in pen-and-paper RPGs.
Many RPGs are set in fantasy or science fiction environments, and many are based on the rules set in the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons. The majority of RPGs are played digitally or online as video games, however the RPG can still be a tabletop game or, in some cases as a live-action role-playing game (LARP). In the case of tabletop (or pen-and-paper) and LARP RPGs, the games involve the "game master" and the players developing characters, quests, side-characters, and the overall storyline arc, let alone accounting for how individual decisions impact the overall story. In video game RPGs, these elements are maintained as much as the technology allows through non-playable characters (NPCs), side quests, downloadable content (dlc), and the overall story arc which can be pushed into different branches of story based on player decisions.
Generally, the above elements can be included in various types of games which may, or may not, be considered a role-playing game (RPG). And, given the relative popularity and success of RPGs in video games, many of these elements have been smuggled into different game types to offer players an RPG-like experience in an attempt to broaden the audience of the video game. This has led to a drilling down on the definition, not to limit the RPG, but to more clearly define what can, and cannot, be considered an RPG. For something to be considered to be an RPG, it must have:
- Character development where a character gets intrinsically stronger as the player progresses. This can mean increasing health, earning experiences points, and distributing these experience points across character statistics or skills to create that intrinsic development. The character progression mechanism is found in the earliest RPGs, and some games have replaced experience points with gear progression, but this still provides the player with the experience of character progression.
- Combat experience, as many of the experience points (or gear) to progress the player's character are acquired through combat. This combat experience is, in turn, affected by these attributes, meaning the damage inflicted by the player's characters are based on its statistics (such as strength or agility). In this case, many do not consider the combat effects from items or player's mastering inputs to count to that progression.
- And the character should have a flexible inventory which consists of a variety of weapons, armor, spells, healing items, or other tools (often these tools are remixed or reimagined based on the setting of the RPG).
These elements can be remixed or remodeled or added to depending on the individual game's requirements. But these tend to be the essential characteristics of any RPG. They are present in tabletop RPGs, they are present in LARPing, and for a video game to be counted as a proper RPG, these elements have to be present.
There are, as noted above, three general types of role-playing games (RPGs). These are tabletop role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons), live-action role-playing games (LARPs), and video game RPGs. Each have their own history and development which have changed their characteristics over time (though they generally adhere to the above definitions) and each have enjoyed periods of popularity.
These are closer to improvisational theater, in which participants act out their character's role rather than describing them (as done in tabletop games) and generally are acted out in a real environment with the players costumed as their character with the appropriate props. Some venues may be further decroated to resemble a fictional setting. Depending on the LARP, conflicts can be resolved using a die roll or rock-paper-scissors, or else they can simulate combat with foam weapons or similar faux weapons. LARPSs can also vary in the duration and size depending on the event or game.
Traditionally known as role-playing games, tabletop and pen-and-paper (PnP) RPGs are conducted in small groups. These games were largely started with Dungeons & Dragons when it was created in 1974, and can include tabletop wargames played out with figurines, but generally require players to describe the intended actions of their characters with a "game master" (GM) giving the general story, describing the environment the characters are in, and determining the game system. Player's characters are designed by them, with varying races, character classes, character abilities, and statistics. These will dictate how a character progresses through engagements, with the decision often coming down to the roll of a dice. Tabletop RPGs have since been widely published with many different themes, rules, and styles of plays, but have overall decreased in popularity with the rise of computer RPGs, especially those with collaborative play features.
Generally referred to as RPGs, role-playing video games take the elements of the tabletop games and put them into an electronic format. Some of the earliest of these types of games emerged in the same year as Dungeons & Dragons with multi-user dungeons (MUDs) which were developed for large mainframe computers - such as those found at universities at the time - and allowed several players to play through an electronic dungeon through largely text-based gameplay. Since these early examples, video game RPGs have flourished in types, styles, and character although they always offer the player a chance to inhabit a character - either one they have created themselves, or one created for them - which they have a chance to change based on their desired gameplay through progression and the distribution of experience points across skills and attributes. Video game RPGs largely began as single-player games - as the limitations on networking and computing power of both home PCs and video game consoles limited their ability to move beyond single-player games - and multiplayer games - especially with the rise of high speed internet and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).
Another early split that occurred in RPG video games could be summarized as the west versus east split. This occurred as western RPGs featured a focus on character customization and free-roaming exploration, allowing the player to customize their character and determine the story through interactive dialogue. These RPGs have also bore a greater resemblance to turn-based tabletop RPGs with an emphasis on real-time combat. Typical titles of this type of RPG include The Elder Scrolls series, the Fallout series, the Mass Effect series, and the Baldur's Gate series.
Whereas, Japanese RPGS (JRPGs; also sometimes called Eastern RPGs or Light RPGs) often focus on cinematic narratives, memorable characters, and more linear gameplay. JRPGs, as the name suggests, were largely developed in Japan (although since it has become a recognized style of RPG developed anywhere) which were limited by the Japanese preference for consoles over PCs, and led to the development of preset players with a similar feel to visual novels or feature films and in which characters have limited customization in their abilities, equipment, and clothing but with a fixed personality and physical appearance. Typical titles in this type of RPG includes Final Fantasy series, Dragon Quest series, and the Pokémon franchise.
Besides the split between western RPGs and JRPGs, the development of RPGs in video games have further developed several sub-genres as different games have elevated different parts of the gameplay. The emphasis on different styles of gameplays have come about for various reasons, including games focused on co-operative gameplay, games focused on developing tactical, turn-based engagements, or games which preferred to focus on story over combat and exploration. As well, hardware constraints imposed upon developers by the platforms on which they released their games added to these considerations: for example, early computer games had to limit the amount of floppy disks used for a game as each added considerably to the overall cost of the game, which would impact sales, and thereby limit the amount of gameplay offered by a game.
