There has to be costumes and bad acting.

"Oh, no, the tire is flat! I'm stranded far from home, don't know how I'll get this fixed, and I'm horny!"

"Hmm, what's this? A lady in a short skirt bent over the trunk of her car, digging around for tire changing tools? Good thing I happened along with this tow truck! And I'm horny!"

--------

But really, I'm flexible in my definition for CRPG (not that I really have one). I need a role, a story, and some sort of character progression. It's also important to be able to make decisions that result in effects beyond just your character / party. While combat is de rigeur for RPGs, it need not be THE main aspect of the game.

For me it's always about choices I can make and about feeling that I'm that wizard on the screen. :)

I agree, that's why I wrote it's a matter of preference since it doesn't alter a cRPG in any way. Although one could say that a 3D cRPG could be a more immersive experience, especially when it is coupled with an open world and free roaming. And the more immersive is, the more easier could be to jump in your avatar's shoes, especially if the player is of a younger age. My preference is the isometric view, preferably with pre-rendered 2D graphics ala Fallout or Baldur's Gate but this is not a requirement of course.

Yes, I think choices are a defining characteristic. They're the only ones (i.e., not all games with choices are RPG's) but they're necessary to make a game an RPG.

I also think that exploration is a defining characteristic. If you're on rails, that's not an RPG. The areas to explore don't need to be large, but there's need for freedom of movement within them.

Random number generation is not "traditional". (Twitch trumps RNGs anyway, because of pinball machines.) It's simply a method of action resolution. Many RPGs have randomizers which are supremely impractical for tabletop. An RPG can use randomized cards, or be completely deterministic, especially in the non-combat part. Add to this the fact that a majority of RPGs doesn't feature combat failure states in the plot, and it turns out that the RNG is basically irrelevant in these games.

Nowdays every game that has "combat and levelling up" is getting called called "RPG", but for me that's not nearly enough :)

For me the most important is that I want to feel that *I am* the protagonist of the story, instead of just "controlling a character".
That's said, for me a game becomes an RPG, it I can feel that it's *my* story. Minimal railroading, giving me the freedom to go wherever I want, and make *my* decisions (which will hopefully have consequecnes as well).

For example if a game does not allow me to create my own character, than I will have a very hard time thinking of it as an RPG, because that's not *my* character. That's just a character on the screen, and not "little me" :(

Hovewer I got no problems controlling a premade character, if I'm given enough freedom in the story to make it feel like *my* story, but I still prefer having my own char :3

Also, even though I love tactical combat, this is the least of my intrests in an RPG. As long as I have the feeling that *I am* the hero in *my* story, combat can be rock paper scissors for all I care :P

Expecting a broad consensus on things like this is kind of pointless, but it's fun to see what people come up with.

My definition is a game with customizable character stats and strong focus on story, dialogues and interaction with the environment. Combat is secondary. I also don't see the need of randomizing elements, super-convoluted formulas, dice rolling, etc.

For me, an RPG is a game that allows you to choose your own play style and make decisions depending on the character traits and abilities you want your character to have.

Dice rolls are a funny thing. They are the essence of the tabletop RPG, and there the random element they introduce is part of the fun. It's fun when one of the players manages some impossible shot thanks to a perfect roll, and it's fun when they fail utterly, as long as the DM can weave both well into the game. But the same random element is often tedious and annoying in a computer game. Blackguards is a great example. It's very good game, and I enjoyed it a lot, but still loosing some battles purely out of bad luck, and having to re-try the same fight multiple times got very annoying at times.

"roleplaying game"

Like the Stanley Parable where you play the role of Stanley or The Dig where you play the roles of all the crew, etc.

right?

no?

Oh, ummm....

I think the least common denominator would be "where you can choose things beyond what weapon you are going to kill baddies with."

I define a lot of aRPGs as "more complex shooters than an FPS, often being made in 3rd person."

I don't define RPG on the internet. People just put their definition onto those three letters and you'll discover that everything from Dungeon Siege to dating sims (mostly Bioware dating sims) are hardcore RPGs.

It has as many meanings as there are weirdos on the internets.

Speaking of... RPGs are kinda like porn, you'll know it when you see it.

Rocket Propelled Grenade

That's the joke I was making (trying to make) with my post.

When I use the term RPG, I mean something close to "game with a large independant universe in which you can have a character roam freely, interact freely, make their own decisions, and trace their own trajectory". That's a point of view which tends to exclude linear RPGs, or stats-based brawlers, and to include some space sims à la Elite, etc.

I don't see it as a definition, though. It's more a what-interests-me-in-roleplaying. When other people label some game as a RPG, my question is more "in which sense" (to check if it has the roleplaying elements that appeal to me) than "are you sure it is one".

The term, in itself, is too objectively blurry.

I think instead of porn, the right word here is obscenity.