Why is it so hard to define what an RPG actually is?
>>737642318It's witcher 1,2,3 and pacman.
>>737642318RPG means "a boring game you have to imagine isn't shit". There is not a single rpg this does not apply to, nor is there a game which can be described in this manner which is not an rpg.
three key elements:>always progressing the character>flag based storytelling>combat is influenced by the twomass effect is a rpg and not a shooter
>>737642318What's your definition?
>>737642675If I like the game, it's an rpg.If I don't, it's called remove from account
>>737642318Because retards are incapable of learning, so if you logically explain what an RPG is they are going to do everything in their power to feign ignorance or simply refuse to understand.
>>737642318Because New Vegas faggots needed to redefine what an RPG is so they can complain about Bethesda.It's always fun when you ask a tranny what an RPG is and for them to mention everything that fallout 4 isn't only to return with "So I guess Witcher 3 isn't an RPG". You'll never see someone backpedaling so fast.
>>737642962You tell em, bro
If there's DICE ON THE SCREEN, it's rpg.
>>737643171Ok, now back into the bear
>>737642318How many grains of RPG sand makes an RPG Heap?
>>7376441933
rpg just means gay sex and annoying dialog you can't skip
It's not, /v/ just likes acting retarded for (You)s.
>>737642318TTRPGs, CRPGs, and the derivatives of them vary wildly and evolve over time
Because it includes "game", which is a paradigmatic case (as already noted by Wittgenstein) of a word difficult or impossible to define (certainly, all the usual attempts of referring to rule-basedness, leisure, etc, etc, fail: some more sophisticated definitions have appeared in the last decade or so that I don't think are obviously wrong). If we fix "game" then I think I could provide a pretty good definition without much trouble.Of course it doesn't match what people usually mean when they say "an RPG": it's not that it's undefinable, but that there's widespread disagreement. Different things. And that's because there are some very fundamental tensions, in particular the mechanical legacy from skirmish wargames that the first so-called RPGs are descendent of, as well as the implications of what "role-playing" literally means. After all, just about all the mechanical tropes, from levels to loot to bosses to dungeons, etc, etc, are inherently unthematic! It simply makes no thematic sense that e.g. a soldier with a decade of experience, after spending a week killing an occasional rat, suddenly becomes a hundred times more powerful combatant. If you take what's happening in the game per-mechanics as true, the psychologically realistic roleplay for the character would be to assume they are quickly losing their mind. Due to this tension, there's no natural grouping of games that has both of these, so the interpretation kinda split to one of mechanical legacy, and another of "roleplay".
>>737644507But these, while more definable, aren't clear-cut either! On mechanical side you could focus on the systems (dice, etc), but you could also focus on mechanics (levels, loot, etc), and people have been split on if it's about one, another, or both. Conversely, when it comes to RP, there's "playing a role" (you act out a tetrominos desire to fall down), and "mechanics that incentivize playing in-character", or the aesthetic of making choices, but without the necessity of those choices being psychologically realistic. And indeed, most games touted as RPGs are decidedly psychologically unrealistic, not just because of the conflict with mechanics, but also the writing: for example, doing a typical "quest" often pigeonholes the character to being a pathologically trusting altruist.So, you could say Crusader Kings is an RPG because it makes genuine effort into reproducing mechanically the sort of in-character decisions a medieval sovereign might face. "But that's not an RPG" one cries, shifts the focus to the aesthetic of decision-making, but then just about any game with choices and consequences is an "RPG".It's been a convoluted mess from the start, completely unlike well-defined and clear-cut genres like e.g. roguelikes (themselves a subgenre of RPGs). As said, if you forget about the "game" bit, it's not difficult to define subgenres, like roguelikes (like NetHack or UnReal World), or character-progression games (like DnD/derivatives), or "games-that-mechanically-facilitate-roleplay" (like Crusader Kings and A Legionary's Life) or games-with-that-dungeon-crawling-aesthetic (like Legend of Grimrock). And you could take one such definition and say "this is an RPG". It's definable just fine! But then there's a whole bunch of other games other people claim are RPGs.
>>737642318Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot. You're welcome.
>>737642318role playing game
>>737642318The definition has never changed, you're pretending it's confusing because you play some gay shit that isn't an RPG. If the definition changes it's because you wanted it to include "gay homo faggotry."
>roleplaying means character progression>roleplaying means skill checks>roleplaying means affecting the narrative>roleplaying means turn based combat>roleplaying means playing pretend in a sandbox>roleplaying means playing a rolewe'll get to the bottom of it by bump limit this time
In the course of my career as a vidcon specialist (my own coinage, spend it wisely), I have never seen such blatant and frankly sickening ignorance as that exhibited by the "people" (if, in fact, they are homo sapiens at all, as their intelligence implies elsewise) that claim that Zelda is not an RPG. There is nothing that Shigeru "Shiggy" Miyamoto could possibly do to make the vidcon any more of an RPG as it meets every single criterion for being one, particularly that it takes place in an imaginary realm with a fantastical beastiary, the damsel villain ratio is at or above standards, and that the core emphasis of the gameplay is on bedazzling all foes with impeccable swords and sorcery. Furthermore, this line of thought can be extended to all vidcons in which the player controls a character (hence, roleplaying), though I cringe slightly at the thought of such mundane vidcons as Madden being RPGs, as they do not even include exotic weaponry such as the tonfa.
