Do you think The Witcher 3 is an RPG?

[Jumpin]

Sogreblute said:

RPG = Role Playing Game.
The Witcher 3 is a RPG because you can influence the story with your actions throughout the whole game. Do you want to be good, neutral, bad, chaotic, etc? Therefore you're playing a role. It's not gameplay wise playing a role it's more story wise you're playing a role. Now this doesn't mean games with different endings are RPGs, it means game where every action and every answer you give influences where you go and what happens throughout the entire game and not just one or a few sections.

Other RPGs everyone knows about like playing one character that you have difference classes with or playing with a party where everyone isn't the same and each plays a different role (or class) instead of just one person playing any (or every) class.

I've seen gamers and even developers call games RPGs where they literally aren't, such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. Those games do not fit any criteria to be call RPGs.

This is a common misconception. But RPGs are not games where dialogue choices yield unique outcomes (along with other mechanics like puzzle solving and such) that's actually adventure games. These are based on the old adventure books where you get to the end of the chapter and then are presented with options, and choose where to go from there which impact the outcome.

Roleplaying differs from adventure games in that role-players don't choose from a selection of options, but rather create their own outcomes; a collaborative storytelling experience. Pen and paper RPGs (like Dungeons and Dragons) took this idea and applied rulesets, stats, randomized events, boards (maps), and the story delivered by a previous designer (and player selected as a referee) or a Game Master (also called Dungeon Master).

RPGs are games that borrow mechanics from the old pen and paper RPGs (especially dungeons and dragons). In this case, the writer/game designer and refereeing are all programmed into the game.