MarkB
Legend
To me, computer games have taken the debate out of this topic.
When it comes to tight, clearcut rulesets...you can't beat Computer Games and MMOS.
The only real place that RPGs have left to compete is around the DM.
I don't get this viewpoint. You seem to be coming from an assumption that a successful tabletop RPG can and must compete against computer games, that in order to be viable it must differentiate itself from them right down to the ruleset.
I'm not sure where that comes from. Computer games, even RPGs, even MMOs, provide a very different playing experience than tabletop RPGs, regardless of ruleset.
I've played and enjoyed RPGs with highly codified rulesets, and others with much lighter and looser rulesets. I've also played plenty of computer games. And for me, at least, computer games don't provide the same experience or scratch the same itches that even the most tightly-ruled tabletop RPGs do.
I don't think there's any need for tabletop RPGs to take their cues from computer RPGs. But neither do I see any need for them to make an effort to deliberately differentiate themselves from computer RPGs. The medium does that just fine.