The question is not what makes an RPG and RPG, but what you want to hear what makes an RPG an RPG. There are in essence a few different definitions of what an RPG is.
A Role Playing Game is
1. A game where you play a Role(proper Role Playing definition) and the actions you choose will have an impact on the fictional world in. The stats are only a mechanical means to determine the outcome of actions to determine the experience of the game. The Experience in question is more than just killing things faster.
2. A Game where your character can "Level up" or progress and become stronger over the passage of game play.
These are 2 primary definitions used. Only 1 of them has any concrete value on being Role Playing and that's number 1. Role Playing as it properly is requires NO MECHANICS OR RULES. It require a teamwork effort my the Game Master and Players to create an entertaining piece evening with the only input of the players being through the action of there Avatars.
A old gaming secret(though it's not really) of the industry and GM's is that the rule books are not needed to play.
Why 2 don't stand up. 2 does have the parts that pretty much RPG's do have. The problem breaks down in that in 1. Is that there is no input from the player to Role Play. In which the experience can never change. Role Playing again is about Experience(ie not the leveling points) that the player receives through the choices of actions. When there are no presented actions that have any effect on the game play experience then there is no RolePlaying.
However.... that is the heart of RolePlaying. We are referring to computer(as in CPU) games here. The definition as language has been bent to fit a genre of game. How would the original Dragon Quest 1 be classified? Considering that the inspiration of Dragon Quest was pretty much Ultima and D&D. And Ultima was inspired by D&D. The first computer iterations of the RPG were both inspired by D&D. So how do you classify DQ? well it was classified as RPG because it was meant to portray a computerized version of the Avatar traveling the world and doing quests to save it. No one is going to go back in time and call the fore fathers of cRPG not RPG. It was a limited tech back in the time.
Today however the the path's have split. The Ultima Path or WRPG and the FF/DQ Path. Consider this do Japanese play PnP RPGs? yes, but it's not as big in NA or EU. So in Japan the heart of the RPG is well cRPG of DQ and FF. Where is in America and Europe you will find CRPG developers who actually play PnP roleplaying.
So consider this. Chris Taylor who helped develop the original Fallout and those who went on to make various D&D CRPG actually still play PnP RPG. Where as the FF Developers don't really play PnP RPG's?
The answer. I know how much people HATE hearing this, but JRPG are not RPG. They are fantastic form cinematic experience.
Not to toot my own horn here, but I have been a proper Pen and Paper Game Master, Dungeon Master, Story Teller or what ever you want to call it for about 15 years. I hand around both RPG forums and obviously here which would be cRPG forums.
Don't forget though. I'm a PnP RPG elitist snob. I still enjoy JRPG, but I don't expect an RPG experience I expect to be entertained like i'm reading a book or watching a movie.
Squilliam: On Vgcharts its a commonly accepted practice to twist the bounds of plausibility in order to support your argument or agenda so I think its pretty cool that this gives me the precedent to say whatever I damn well please.
