Strange, you claim I am wrong, and yet, you talk about the beginning of D&D and yet, you mentionned its roots just like I was implying. D&D evolved from its roots to become a role playing game.
That's really debatable. In the 1e DMG Gygax tells the DM that players should engage in skilled play, indicating using player smarts. However, it also says, "As a general rule, the player will develop the personality and other characteristics of his or her personae in the campaign, and little or no DM interference is necessary in this regard."
Of course. Hence, "arguably."
And you're missing my point. As soon as D&D was about dungeon-delving (which is to say, from the very first), it was a roleplaying game. It couldn't be otherwise. The mere fact of controlling one minifig as "your character" made it so. You don't have to personally identify with the character or give them a personality to play the role (e.g. "fighting man" as opposed to "magic-user" or "cleric")—you just have to control the character/figure.
I respectfully disagree. Ever played the board game Space hulk? You control mini and you do not necessarily role play. We can each play a marine in a squad of four and one plays the xeno (gene splicers) and no role play will develop. Yet, it did at some point. At some point, some games evolves beyond their intended purpose. It happened with D&D. At first, palyers would switch "character" every session. It was only when the aspect of heroic figure entered that the concept of charcacter personae emerged as players would prefer to play the same figurine/charcter/role because of the leveling aspect. The role play was not the intended purpose. Just like the pilot on Battletech were not character but became such and the role playing game of battletech finally emerged. Three wargames evolved into rpg when the notion of leveling charcater came into the game. I wonder if there is a correlation or if it is only a coincidence.
Yes. When you play that game you are playing the role of a space marine. It's not a roleplaying game specifically, but it does have roles that the players play. There are a number of games like that where the lines are blurred. Contrast that with a game like Chess or Monopoly, where you really aren't taking on the role of a Knight or Thimble, even if the pieces resemble them.
Method acting is also roleplaying. It's just not the same kind of roleplaying. The difference between a game like Space Hulk or D&D with improvisational method-acting is just HOW you are playing the role.
I would argue that improv acting is something that you do in addition to roleplaying. It's an embellishment or an enhancement of roleplaying, but not a fundamental necessity to roleplaying.
