The Many Faces of Role-Playing Games

"The Many Faces of Role-Playing Games" addresses a longstanding problem in game studies: role-playing games (RPGs) have spanned three decades and many forms, from pen-and-paper tabletop play to live-action events, single-player digital titles, massively multiplayer online worlds, freeform games, and pervasive play, yet no widely accepted definition distinguishes them from other game types. The authors contend that existing definitions are either normative, too narrow, or so broad that first-person shooters and platformers would qualify. Their central aim is to derive a more discriminating definition by identifying features common across seven representative RPG formats rather than privileging any single mechanic such as quantified rules or random resolution.

The analysis finds that RPGs are distinguished less by one element than by a combination of features: an imaginary game world, player-controlled characters with developable traits, a game master role (or its functional equivalent), wide but abstractly handled interaction, and emergent narrative. Live-action games emphasize player enaction and adjudication by game masters, while digital forms offer broader interaction than most genres but remain bounded by content pre-built by designers. Compared with many first-person shooters and adventure games, RPGs grant considerably more freedom to revisit and explore the game world, a contrast that helps separate them from dungeon-bash shooters, double-blind war games, and certain adventure titles.

The authors propose a six-part definition designed to capture these forms, while acknowledging that its boundaries cannot be sharply quantified. Their conclusion situates RPGs as a distinctive game form whose open-ended, negotiable outcomes challenge influential accounts that define games through quantifiable results. They present the definition as provisional, subject to revision as new forms emerge, and argue that RPGs serve as a valuable limit case for testing general theories of games. The paper closes by suggesting that beneath their considerable diversity lies a potential unifying "one face behind the many."