What defines a RPG?

[Jumpin]

Player2 said:

Okay, I've messed enough with people's minds.

There is not a thing that defines a videogame as a RPG.

What exists is a compendium of "traits" that people perceive as "RPG elements". Stats, character developement, the narrative that Khuutra mentioned and more. Not everyone agrees about all of those elements being RPG-ish, which is a bad start. To make things even worse, the presence of all of them isn't required for a game to be considered a RPG.

There are plenty of games that have RPG elements, and not all of them are RPGs. We can't deny that Devil may Cry have RPG elements. HP and "MP" upgrades, being able to choose which attacks to learn, etc. When we consider a game is a RPG, then?

When the RPG elements present in a game stand out more than everything else. And this is subjective. This is why Castlevania DoS is a 2D action adventure plataformer, but people may argue about it being a RPG. It depends on where people put he bar.

I agree with your statement; and as a simple definition to add - it would be the dominance of RPG traits in the game over other gameplay elements.