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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9244355" data-attributes="member: 8461">That's not a role-playing game.Obviously, this will come down to definition nitpickery, and it's no coincidence that there are entire books dedicated to this question (see Jon Peterson's The Elusive Shift). That said, most use of the term &quot;role-playing game&quot; in the popular vernacular (as I've seen it) is typically understood to include the following characteristics:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">The game is structured with the expectation that players will run a single character across multiple sessions.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">That character will improve, within the context of the game's mechanical expression(s), over time.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">That there is a referee who oversees and arbitrates play.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">That the game's mechanics include a method of task/conflict resolution.</li>
</ul>In other words, there's more to a &quot;role-playing game&quot; than a game in which you simply play a role. The original Super Mario Bros. is a game, and you play the role of Mario, but it's not what anyone would call a role-playing game.Now, there are plenty of instances of games that operate under the label of RPGs which experiment with tweaking one or more of these, such as being designed for single-session play only, or doing away with a referee, etc. But for the most part, contemporary references to what constitute an RPG tends to involve the above points; Yoko Ono's game, by contrast, has virtually none of them, and so isn't what most people think of when they think of a role-playing game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 9244355, member: 8461"] That's not a role-playing game. Obviously, this will come down to definition nitpickery, and it's no coincidence that there are entire books dedicated to this question (see Jon Peterson's [I]The Elusive Shift[/I]). That said, most use of the term "role-playing game" in the popular vernacular (as I've seen it) is typically understood to include the following characteristics: [LIST] [*]The game is structured with the expectation that players will run a single character across multiple sessions. [*]That character will improve, within the context of the game's mechanical expression(s), over time. [*]That there is a referee who oversees and arbitrates play. [*]That the game's mechanics include a method of task/conflict resolution. [/LIST] In other words, there's more to a "role-playing game" than a game in which you simply play a role. The original [I]Super Mario Bros.[/I] is a game, and you play the role of Mario, but it's not what anyone would call a role-playing game. Now, there are plenty of instances of games that operate under the label of RPGs which experiment with tweaking one or more of these, such as being designed for single-session play only, or doing away with a referee, etc. But for the most part, contemporary references to what constitute an RPG tends to involve the above points; Yoko Ono's game, by contrast, has virtually none of them, and so isn't what most people think of when they think of a role-playing game. [/QUOTE]

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