When did the "C" drop from CRPGs and when did "TT"RPG spring up?

[dbolack]

RPGs played on a computer used to be called CRPGs and D&D was an RPG.

IME? Final Fantasy is the tipping point for this.

 

[chuckdee]

Could it be because of the ascnedance of consoles?

 

[Reynard]

IME? Final Fantasy is the tipping point for this.

Final fantasy isn't a CRPG.

 

[kronovan]

I'm going to agree with those who've already said the "C"drop was mostly due to RPGs on PCs and game Consoles becoming more mainstream. At least more mainstream than Tabletop RPGs. I'm early into my senior years, but even in my social circles RPG means a PC/Video game to most of my friends & aquaintences.

 

[dbolack]

Final fantasy isn't a CRPG.

Um? Okay?

 

[Reynard]

Um? Okay?

That's not an insult. Final Fantasy is a different genre. JRPGs existed with and stayed distinct from CRPGs for decades and did not impact the transition from CRPG to.ARPG and "just RPG."

 

[Kromanjon]

There need to be some kind of list of all different kinds of RPGs by this point.

J - Japanese
TT - Tabletop
T - Tactical
A - Action
C - Computer

What am I missing?

 

[Reynard]

There need to be some kind of list of all different kinds of RPGs by this point.

J - Japanese
TT - Tabletop
T - Tactical
A - Action
C - Computer

What am I missing?

I think you got them all, except the weird fact that there are two kinds of Action RPGS: Skyrim, versus Diablo. ARPG players seem to be very protective of the term for games like Diablo, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn and so on.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't think anything changed, and CRPG and TTRPG were always in use. If you say RPG without the qualifier, it depends on context and your audience. CRPGs started being called just RPGs because the people talking about them mostly ONLY played CRPGs, so there was no other kind of RPG that mattered to them much.

 

[cl3ver]

RPGs played on a computer used to be called CRPGs and D&D was an RPG.

At some point computer game journalism dropped the "C" and called CRPGs simply RPGs. I guess this was in the 90s or so? Yet when the tabletop rpg industry started getting traction again, instead of adding using CRPG again, the writers added TTRPG, which doesn't seem as practical or efficient. It's more letters and there was already a term in place.

So now the original hobby has to have a special signifier while the offshoot hobby has "stolen" the original name., which seems backwards to me.

I don't know where I read it, and I could be wrong*, but I thought I read somewhere that the game company marketing departments back then leaned on the journalist to drop the "C" to make the coverage seem more legit. Was that a thing? Or was it just laziness that later on was compounded by the ignorance of those who had no idea there was an older hobby that already had that name?

*Definitely "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet" territory.

That is so funny you mention that because a small piece of me cringes every time someone says TTRPG... even within a DnD/PF community. Whenever I hear RPG I generally am just relating it to the topic at hand... i.e. computer games, table top games. But I am generally just an "RPG" guy despite anything. I know that's low on the list of important issues but it's still something that I think about from time to time. lol.


Cheers!