Game descriptors are usually straightforward:
FPS/TPS: shoot stuff
Fighting: fight stuff in arenas
Racing: race stuff
Hack/Slash: rip apart organs with ease
Open World: free roaming in game world
Each of these quickly describe exactly what the style of game. However, I never understood what "Role Playing Game" meant. In a strict sense, every game has you play a role. The only thing I can figure is it was a trope that caught on based on D&D conventions. What's more, there are many subgroups to this genre alone. WRPGs, JRPGs, Dungeon Crawlers, Anime Fantasy Adventures (my descriptor for JRPGs that are drenched in anime tropes like Mana Khemia, Persona, etc). What made this harder were mainstream titles that claimed to throw in "RPG elements."
Where does that leave RPGs? When did that category start and why does it persist today?
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"Should I slice off your tongue or break your countless bones? Either way, I get paid; you'll bleed to death and die alone." - Blood Money