In today's gaming field there are very few games which do not have some kind of role play aspect to them. Gone are the days of Pong and Tetris, simple little games to sap countless hours of your time. In a FPS you are the soldier fighting his way through the D-Day landings. One day you could be the international sleuth trying to solve the murder case, the next you're trying to outrun rampaging zombies that just wanted to invite you to dinner. Start to play an RTS and you're.. well in an RTS you're God I guess. Games are about escapism, getting away from the tedium of out mundane lives and being someone else for a few hours. In short, role play.
The few games out there without some kind of role play aspect seem to be trying very hard to convince people that they are not games. They are educational, brain expanding masterpieces that everyone should buy and bask in their glory, or aids in fitness or some other aspect of life enrichment.
So what actually is an RPG these days? To me I always see it as a plot or character driven game. One where the main point of the game is not to kill aliens or solve riddles, but where these are merely a means to unravel the story and develop your character.
The RPG, as with all genres of game, is evolving and right now is undergoing a real change. Now for the first time it appears to be shifting back to its table top roots placing a much larger emphasis on the choices, both tactical and moral, that you and your character make. Where as before your decisions might lead to a different item being picked up or at most lead to an alternate ending now deciding to make a cutting remark to your in game peers could cause a chain of events that alters the entire course of your game. Later you are held accountable for your earlier judgements as NPCs start to treat you differently or different side quests open up to you depending on whether you have been the epitome of goodness or an utter git.
Of course there is still the old vanguard. Square-Enix's Final Fantasy series, long the unquestioned ruler of RPGs, is still alive but perhaps not all that well. Their latest instalment, Final Fantasy XIII (ever the imaginative title), has incurred several slating reviews. Whilst still rating very highly overall (82% according to the good people over at Metacritic) the series's throttle hold on the market is undoubtedly beginning to slip. It was held up for its extreme linearity, far more so than an previous FF game. In a market where games increasingly rely on choice this game has none, not even about whether to go left or right as you are forced to follow the laid out path. However, in this game the plot is king. Every five minutes you will incur a cut scene and something will happen, breaking up the long stretches of walking into nice manageable chunks so you don't get bored and constantly immersing you in the lives of all six main characters. This is a video with game.
Now take something from the new wave, games like Fable II or Fallout 3. In all of these you are constantly questioned, making moral choices that will affect how others in the game see and react to you. The plot is almost secondary, instead it is character here that counts and they are yours to mould, from the colour of their hair to whether they eat live chickens. In Fable II you could get through the main plot in a few hours, just find the Heroes of Strength, Will and Stephen Fry and be on your way. Instead you spend your time trying to woo the local lads and lassies, buying and fixing up a house to become a property magnate or trying to join cults of the damned. You want to fully explore the world, take yourself off the beaten track and see what there is to be seen (and earn all of those damn achievements to boot). Fallout 3 expands the idea even more, the main plot only covers a small portion the whole map and the rest is just left there for you to explore at your leisure.
By using a single main character rather than some kind of party system, you feel more connected to the character and put yourself in their shoes. You can even chose to make them look like you if you want. These are games based on character development, living a life how you chose to. However, this high degree of freedom means that the main playable character has little personality shown, not even having voice acting in most cases. It is up to you, Mr or Ms Player, to put that on yourself and become the character. However I generally find that it just makes the character rather boring and I find myself thinking about them as some empty, soulless sprite.
There are now games appearing that seem to be trying to bridge the gap between these two, games where plot is still key but where you are given more freedom to effect how the characters of the game turn out. In the example of Mass Effect there is a main plot which is rather substantial on its own but is enriched by doing side quests and exploring the expansive world. They make the experience more real and involved but are by no means necessary for a rich and fulfilling gaming experience. There are several minor judgement calls in most conversations and a few cases where your previous action can result in plot junctures that even reach into how the sequel game pans out.
So. What does this all mean? Is the classic RPG dead? I don't think so. There will always be people, people like myself, who just want to sit down and be immersed in a world and a story that's all already there. Then again, by including so many decisions it is nearly impossible to play any two games exactly the same vastly increasing re-playability and making for a more interesting game. Like it or lump it, RPGs are changing. Perhaps one day we'll just be plonked in a fully formed world and be told to get on with it but until then it'll be interesting to see what games crop up.
