Is The RPG Game Vanishing?

Community General Discussion
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Role Playing Game (RPG) originally meant a game of imagination where people sat around a table and used rule books and character sheets plus dice to go on a fantasy adventure with a group of friends. It was slow methodical and proceeded at a leisurely relaxed pace. A D&D session could take an entire Saturday or Sunday or both. Accompanied by laughter and snacks and drinks. And of course much good natured drama. With the key word being Fun.

Then came computers. People started playing Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Games,
MMORPGs. Which to a degree retained the game-play as the original irl style with similar game mechanics. But in a new digitized virtual reality environment. The computer became the Game Master, and instead of a group of friends sitting around a table. Now a player could join hundreds or perhaps thousands of other players to go on adventures with. Over the internet.

Then came the MMO. Massively Multiplayer Online Game: any online video game in which a player interacts with a large number of other players. Over the internet. This acronym changed the concept of the mmorpg and as mentioned could be any type of online game.

From first person shooters, to racing or farming simulators. These days it seems that the
Role playing Game has been diluted by the deluge of non-rpg games. Watered down to a point that it no longer holds the original game-play mechanics. And it is hardly identifiable as an traditional RPG format.

The way many of these MMO games are played is as a frantic chaotic rush. No real thinking, But a mad twitch-based dash to the end. The Adventure aspect has been lost
to the adrenaline fueled competitive race.

This could be the reason some Wow players feel it is necessary to rush through levels. reaching end game as fast as possible is all vital to these speed racers. If they can afford the price, they get character Boosts, etc. They feel a frantic urgency in getting to end game. The Role Playing experience, no longer matters to them.

This demonstrates that the original meaning and game-play style of the Role Playing Game is not even understood by many new generation gamers.

Will this eventually lead to the Traditional Role Playing Game falling into obscurity? Will the “Spirit” of the Role Playing Game be lost to the new generation of gamers? Instead replaced with an obsessive, compulsion driven need for constant fast action in the shortest amount of time, delivering instant gratification?

Edit: I have realized from some of the replies, that people may not understand my opinion. So here is a video explaining the history of the RPG game. This might help, and its entertaining; Note: the history starts at 0:32

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they make RPG video games

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TTRPGs are still going strong. There’s one for just about any interest — D&D, Pathfinder, Traveller, Champions, the list goes on. And if there’s not a group near you that meets face to face, you can find a group on your virtual table top of choice, like Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds.

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I mean they aren’t mainstream because they don’t have a big audience but there are still a lot of traditional rpg games to play so no they will never go extinct as long as people play games.

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Dungeons and Dragons and other 20D system spin-offs have had an unprecedented rise in popularity over the last few years. They are still gaining in population in the younger generations.

I don’t know if this is what you meant by original but Dungeons and Dragons has been around since the 1970s.

In the video game market, RPGs are among the most popular every year.

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If the OP is asking: Will the role playing game genre eventually go out of style, go the way of the horse and carriage. Yeah It may. Computer gaming started with some very basic stuff like donkey Kong, Mario Brothers, Asteroids, Pong etc. As Technology improved role playing video games came into existence. Developed and became what we have now.

Today people (Players) are leaning towards fast paced, play for 15 minutes then do something else type of experience. Specially in the realm of mobile gaming which appears to be taking over younger gamers attention.

A large majority of modern gamers do not play single player rpgs or mmorpgs any more.
So, it remains to be seen how long mmorpgs will survive.

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Yeah, like seriously. The new young generation of players just don’t have the patience or attention span to be involved with mmorpgs. They either play Call of Duty or just don’t even play games. They are too addicted to their cell phone social media apps.

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ChatGPT, is that you?

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Too long. Didnt read. But from the first paragraph, im not sure you know ehat youre talking about.

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With the response D&D got when the company tried to change the terms so they’d have like an 80% slice of profits from people using their IP, I’d say RPGs are far from finished.

WoW seemingly has a big presence because no one else has tried to take the MMORPG market by storm.

There is a big potential to make lots of $$$ if someone can make a new MMORPG that’s good and addicting.

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The world is shrinking to suit collectively waning attention spans.

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Would you consider Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy RPGs? Because they sold really well, and the former was game of the year. If anything, seems to me RPGs are making a huge return. They’re just not the traditional turn-based that I grew up on.

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I think the op was alluding to the blurring of the line between pure rpg online games and a generalized and bastardized versions of mmos. Seemingly most mmorpg today are mutated versions of what they were originally, very few new mmorpgs worth mentioning have been released. The existing mmorpgs that still remain that are worth playing has dwindled with World of warcraft and FF still holding the line. But how long will these two hold gamer’s attention is unknown.

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Attention deficit in all it’s glory!

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I personally don’t feel that WoW or it’s community’s transition from a RPG to an e-sport is really indicative of rpgs in general dying off. Wow doesn’t really offer a RPG experience anymore, so people looking for that have simply moved on to other games that do.

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World of Warcraft was never meant to be an RPG as you described.
It started its life as “whatever Everquest is”, and started being “whatever it is that gets the company publishing what they want”.

In the general case:

What peeps dont understand now is that the “woke party” is not actually a “popular” thing, it is more like a “media pushed thing”, so catering to it is ruining your business. There is no actual money there.

Meanwhile, the comrads in the second least liked and more lied about country in the US:

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All the old books still exist. They didn’t go away.

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No? If anything I would say RPGs are probably at their most popular point ever. Just about every game on the market now has some sort of RPG aspect to them now. The biggest game of 2022 was an RPG lol.

I mean, the RPG aspect of WoW has been dying a slow death but they are still insanely popular.

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Okay gonna break this down bit by bit…
“A game of imagination” within the confines and rules of the DM & associated rulebook for whatever game you’re playing.

“sat around a table” LAN party anyone?

“used rule books and character sheets plus dice” computer RPGs also do this. It’s just coded into the game, which means players have to follow them. The rules of the game are what they are, explicitly stated or not. Something is either doable, or not. Unlike real world games, where they are open to interpretation and alteration.

“a fantasy adventure with a group of friends” doesn’t have to be. There’s no hard requirement for you to play it with friends. Not really my thing, but I imagine there’s some niche gaming stores around where you could find random people to play with. You could probably become their friend over time, but they don’t have to be your friend to play with you. Same with MMORPGs. Nothing stops you playing the game with a group of friends, other than the ease of not doing so. I.e. it’s a lot easier to find random replacements for content in an MMORPG than some real life game. Kinda like how I could play a card game online easier than I could in real life.

“slow methodical and proceeded at a leisurely relaxed pace” again, same as previous point… not a requirement. There’s not a “minimum time spent” requirement. It probably wouldn’t be fun, but nothings stopping a group from speed running a campaign or whatever.

“A D&D session could take an entire saturday or sunday or both” I’m not sure what the point of this is. Are you saying you could play D&D all day, or even for multiple days straight? Modern RPGs you could do the same, or more. Don’t even have to have schedules line up with friends.

Basically, you are comparing spending the afternoon with close friends with… not doing that. Has nothing to do with tabletop RPGs vs MMORPGs & modern RPGs

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Yeah, Tried running a dungeon finder group lately?