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<blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 5017730" data-attributes="member: 46713">I agree with your first point - most of these games didn't really have any roleplaying elements (imho, Ultima being the exception (among the games I recognize)).Regarding your second point:While MMORPGs provide an interface that would allow roleplaying, it's rare to meet players who actually do it (though I might have played on the wrong servers). Back when I was still playing in MUDs, there were several that expected everyone to roleplay and offered a separate 'Out-Of-Character' channel for anything else.That's the kind of setup required to call a MMORPG a 'roleplaying game' in the original sense.Regarding the complexity question of WoW vs. pen &amp; paper rpgs:Oni already provided an excellent counter-argument. The exceptional success of WoW over other MMRPGs was a direct cause of it's accessibility. All MMORPGs that came before were fiendishly difficult to get started with by comparison. I remember, it took me over half an hour just to figure out how to move my avatar in the first MMORPG I tried.In WoW it's super-easy to just start playing and you can easily reach two-digit levels without understanding much about the game.Consequently, what pen &amp; paper rpgs obviously need to become popular is dead-simple introductiory material that allows a group of friends to start playing right away. Once they're hooked, they'll be willing to invest more time to get and read the complete rules. Imho, the D&amp;D 4e starter box does a pretty good job in that regard.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jhaelen, post: 5017730, member: 46713"] I agree with your first point - most of these games didn't really have any roleplaying elements (imho, Ultima being the exception (among the games I recognize)). Regarding your second point: While MMORPGs provide an interface that would allow roleplaying, it's rare to meet players who actually do it (though I might have played on the wrong servers). Back when I was still playing in MUDs, there were several that expected everyone to roleplay and offered a separate 'Out-Of-Character' channel for anything else. That's the kind of setup required to call a MMORPG a 'roleplaying game' in the original sense. Regarding the complexity question of WoW vs. pen & paper rpgs: Oni already provided an excellent counter-argument. The exceptional success of WoW over other MMRPGs was a direct cause of it's accessibility. All MMORPGs that came before were fiendishly difficult to get started with by comparison. I remember, it took me over half an hour just to figure out how to move my avatar in the first MMORPG I tried. In WoW it's super-easy to just start playing and you can easily reach two-digit levels without understanding much about the game. Consequently, what pen & paper rpgs obviously need to become popular is dead-simple introductiory material that allows a group of friends to start playing right away. Once they're hooked, they'll be willing to invest more time to get and read the complete rules. Imho, the D&D 4e starter box does a pretty good job in that regard. [/QUOTE]

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