What Is A Role-Playing Game?
An Introduction to the Topic
A role-playing game, or RPG, is any game in which one or more players assume the role of a fictional character, and make decisions that impact a fictional environment.
Dungeons & Dragons is widely revered as the first role-playing game, and today is still considered the most prominent, but even D&D has its origins elsewhere: in European warfare. Jesse Spiro, in his 2004 film, The Dungeons & Dragons Experience, describes how during the late 18th century, the Prussian army developed a battlefield simulation game that would train young officers in tactics. This game used little more than a map, unit pieces, and dice to determine the outcomes of battles through a developed system of rules.[1] The origins of the dice used in games such as Dungeons & Dragons has been found in ancient Egypt, through a set collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1910.[2] The twenty-sided die from this set may be viewed here.
Dungeons & Dragons is widely revered as the first role-playing game, and today is still considered the most prominent, but even D&D has its origins elsewhere: in European warfare. Jesse Spiro, in his 2004 film, The Dungeons & Dragons Experience, describes how during the late 18th century, the Prussian army developed a battlefield simulation game that would train young officers in tactics. This game used little more than a map, unit pieces, and dice to determine the outcomes of battles through a developed system of rules.[1] The origins of the dice used in games such as Dungeons & Dragons has been found in ancient Egypt, through a set collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1910.[2] The twenty-sided die from this set may be viewed here.
Today, role-playing games are not limited to the fantasy genre, nor are they limited to the table-top format of Dungeons & Dragons. The increasing popularity of science fiction RPGs such as Bethesda's Mass Effect series, Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft, and even the creation of One World by Night, an international organization that promotes Live Action RPGs (more on this later), demonstrate the incredible growth witnessed in RPGs since Dungeons & Dragons first paved the way. Games such as Gearbox Software's 2009 release, Borderlands, combine the ever popular first-person shooter genre with the play style of role-playing games, and is referred to as an "original First Person Role-Playing Shooter."[3] Role-playing games are no longer constrained by genre or format, and this simple fact has allowed them to become more pervasive in mainstream society over the last few decades.
RPGs have greatly impacted the non-gaming world in ways that no one could have predicted. Savini et al. discuss on the website dndadoc.com that “everything from computer games to modern teaching theories and treatment[s] for PTSD” demonstrate the societal effect of role-playing games. They even argue in their trailer for the upcoming documentary that Facebook and online dating sites are more modern forms of role-playing.[4]
Foot Notes:
1. Spiro, 2004, 3:50.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012, accessed November 25, 2012.
3. Gearbox Software, 2009, accessed November 26, 2012.
4. Savini et al., 2012, accessed October 8, 2012.
RPGs have greatly impacted the non-gaming world in ways that no one could have predicted. Savini et al. discuss on the website dndadoc.com that “everything from computer games to modern teaching theories and treatment[s] for PTSD” demonstrate the societal effect of role-playing games. They even argue in their trailer for the upcoming documentary that Facebook and online dating sites are more modern forms of role-playing.[4]
Foot Notes:
1. Spiro, 2004, 3:50.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012, accessed November 25, 2012.
3. Gearbox Software, 2009, accessed November 26, 2012.
4. Savini et al., 2012, accessed October 8, 2012.
A fantasy scene, from 123RF.com