What Is An RPG?

I talk about my ideas on what features make a game an RPG. Hint: it's a continuum.

You might want to watch this short video too:

[occono]

An RPG is a Rocket-Propelled Grenade. Hope this helps everyone

[mszczesnik]

I remember all the discussions about whether we were or were not a true RPG when developing The Witcher games. It returned with every installment :).

[gigiroelant]

I really appreciate how your videos give an honest behind the scenes perspective without corporate talk or circular, empty buzz terms. It's refreshing. You're especially good at explaining game mechanics and the valid or perhaps more questionable reasons behind them.

[vast]

Gating: I always liked how Gothic handled gating. Almost all of the world was accessible from the start. The only gates where monsters and much higher level NPCs that you would have to fight or avoid. It was a very natural barrier, for most players passing those funnels only when they where ready.

[MythrilZenith]

Perfect example of logical soft gating - Legend of Grimrock 2 had a puzzle to enter the graveyard (an area just off the main central zone), but the only thing a player saw when they got there was a moving stone. The actual puzzle was explained in a set of notes the player found in the Archive, a sub dungeon beyond the sewers which required going like 2 zones in the other direction to get to.

If you knew the solution from a prior playthrough or somehow randomly guessed it you could get in early, despite the enemies being much stronger than a new player is typically equipped to handle, but I appreciated the fact that there was no arbitrary meta requirement like player level to get in.

[magickaddict]

Great video. Thank you Tim.
A game is an RPG
- Character Creation is a must
- Character Creation Choices must matter. Class, Race, Background, Skills, Birth Sign, Traits. Games must check these and change accordingly during gameplay
- Character Appearance does not matter
- How you act in-game should matter. Game should recognize to your choices
- Story should not be too dependent on player actions or character attributes
- Story has to be non linear. Go and do whatever you want. Tim prefers player driven stories and does not like story driven games.
- Multiple Endings should be expected based on what the player has been doing in game
- World has to be big enough to support exploration and player choice. Lots of side quests. A big world is important.

[o_o]

My favourite pseudo/borderline RPG is Crusader Kings 3. Certainly a strategy game for the most part, but it does a very good job at making you feel like the character through it's engaging events and systems. Difficult to get into and doesn't have a story in the traditional sense but after a while you can get some really engaging character narratives out of it. I'd recommend giving it a go. The only negative is it's dlc is annoying. It feels like the game is missing parts without them.

[mattparker]

3:42 YES! Not only to be a good character, but also an evil one. Which I think a lot of modern games are afraid of. Also of making actions have consequences.

[mindeyethemasterscreen]

My definition is a simple one I consider a game an RPG if it allows me to shape the playable character AND the narrative the character exists within.

[petehall]

I like the idea of "What is an RPG?" having multiple answers. Whether it's through dialogue choices, combat, stat building and character creation, or exploration, the most interesting RPGs I've played balance giving the player options to shape their own experience with the game and reacting to their agency. When that sort of back and forth between choice and consequence happens in compelling ways, even if the story doesn't have dramatic branches in how it unfolds I still walk away with the impression that it was malleable in some way.

[blingkong]

Hey Tim. Can you tell us about times you changed your mind, and or how your design or leadership philosophy has changed over time.

[VermHat]

When I describe cRPGs to people who don't know them I explain they're like fantasy novels, but the player and their character(s) has agency in the direction of the story, world, and what type of identity the main protagonist(s) has. Character customization, power progression, and player agency the game reacts to are must have features for my cRPGs.

[RazielIgor]

Most important thing in an RPG for me is that how much can you act in the game, it's supposed to be an role playing game after all. I don't like games that has like 10 dialogue choices but all of them are just another way of saying "yes".

I like RPG games with character creator and has multiple endings as you have mentioned, but if the game doesn't let me act the way I want to, I loose interest and stop playing that game.

[gankspanker]

A yt rpg reviewer, Warlockracy, talked about what is or isnt an rpg. He pointed out that a lot of rpg enthusiasts would make a list of things they like in rpgs then say a gane is or isnt an rpg based off that list.
I think your absolutely correct that a hard line "is, is not" for what an rpg is, is a fruitless endeavor. But at what point does say, Far Cry, become an rpg when that game series keeps adding in rpg-like mechanics while keeping the action shooting as its main gameplay focus.
Even more casual video game fans struggle when it comes to pointing at what games are and are not rpgs. Its a rather frustrating topic since pointing at a games genre is an easy way to know if you may be interested in playing it or recommending it to somebody.

[Dominichunter]

I pretty much agree with this definition. It’s all about the level of *ROLE-PLAYING* the game supports.

The reason I find this discussion so exhausting is because people are often dishonest with their arguments. You’ve got people trying to arbitrarily gatekeep a genre they like, then other people who are trying to exploit the prestige of that genre to claim any old game with numbers and levels is an RPG.

[biddlestone]

An RPG is an experience which allows the player to create or adopt a character who can make choices and those choices dramatically affect the character, the world they're in and the people that inhabit it. What gets included alongside that whether it be setting, main story, combat, companions, exploration, dungeons, puzzles, quests etc should only be extensions of this one main pillar (of eternity).

[HeadsetHistorian]

This was the most diplomatic way you could have approached this. Personally I agree on all points, great video!

[IMBREISGAU]

I completely agree. And I also have recently discussed (more like argued, really) what makes an RPG, an RPG.

I came up with a definition: It's an art medium (usually a Video game) that has underlying system that inspired directly from Table Top RPG and how it govern your gameplay.

Nowadays, "RPG" is a catch all term, any game that has floaty damage number are free to stamp their game with "RPG" tag. Especially when unique genrel like Immersive Sim make player behave like they're playing RPG.

[KidLudens]

One of my friends recently decided to try and get into RPG games. He's avoided them his whole life because he said he found them boring as a kid, and as an adult he's just stuck to genres he knows he likes. I love RPG's and so he asked me for some recommendations, but he said the 2 rules to any games I suggest are that they can't be turn based or sci-fi themed. As many of you know, this excludes a lot of games, especially the earliest RPGs because of the "no turn based" rule. It made me re-evaluate what I actually consider to be an RPG game. I think your definitions are great, and I do agree with them! It's just a pity my pal will never get to experience DragonQuest or Mass Effect because of his 2 rules. Oh well, each to their own I suppose :P

[lrinfi]

13:00-13:30 Drawing "a hard line in the sand about 'this is a RPG and 'this isn't' is doomed to fail.... Until you're not a RPG anymore." ;) (Couldn't resist.)

I agree regarding the continuum from the creative viewpoint and think the much needed public "debate" could be far healthier than it is. There are, indeed, many different kinds of RPGs: Choice and Consequence RPGs, e.g. those Tim most often has worked on in which the player creates their own character and makes choices that can subtly and, even, drastically change the game world itself; Prewritten Protagonist RPGs in which the player steps into the role of a preconceived/prewritten character the very same as an actor steps into a preconceived role, i.e. the Red Dead series, and can possibly "nudge" the character one way or another to get a slightly different ending for the character, but their actions have no impact on the larger game world itself that is not also prewritten; etc.; and even hybrid RPGs in which players step into a preconceived/prewritten role, but nonetheless are often presented with choices and consequences that affect the game world, i.e. The Witcher 3.

On the subject from a creative standpoint, I would contend only that we lack the lexicon to sufficiently differentiate games that fall along this continuum to avoid confusion and misleading marketing. What I believe has poisoned the debate is the "game must be all things to all people" mindset prompted by notions, e.g. "we have to pull the RPG crowd into our action game" or "we have to pull more action game afficionados into our RPG"...so we can sell more copies.