I think the key in this is the "Playing" in RPG, as in active making choices and defining the role. For example if Your role is already defined too much (heavy story driven) then I would suggest that You are not really Role Playing, but just following someone else (game designer?) role play. So its alot about freedom to make choices for the Role imho.
A Deep Level of Immersion and Character Interaction
A World/Universe to Explore
A High Level of Character Customization
Room for Character Growth
Regular Challenges
Relevant Rewards that act as Landmarks or Trophies
I would love to find a game that mixes Character Customization of Playstation Home, the Immersion of Hard Rain and the Character Growth of Skyrim... all within a world as expansive as Eve Online.
Games such as The Witcher and Zelda are not RPGs at all IMO, but action adventures as others have expressed. I hated The Witcher, mainly because I was expecting to love it, then found I was forced to play some horrendously cliche lady boy from an 80s glam rock band =(
The Witcher is more of an RPG than most Bethesda games. There may not be a huge range to who your character can be, but at least their are choices, and those choices define which version of Geralt you are playing. You are right about Zelda though, no question.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
First and foremost, the ability to create your own character- the more control over looks, stats,abilities, the better. Then, as your character levels up, the ability to control the acquisition of new skills and the improvement of stats.
There may be a main storyline, or several minor storylines, but an open, nonlinear world to explore and exist in would be an important component as well.
If a player's character's actions influence or change things in the world… Wolof!
so… Skyrim!
_____________________________ "Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit"
Games such as The Witcher and Zelda are not RPGs at all IMO, but action adventures as others have expressed. I hated The Witcher, mainly because I was expecting to love it, then found I was forced to play some horrendously cliche lady boy from an 80s glam rock band =(
The Witcher is more of an RPG than most Bethesda games. There may not be a huge range to who your character can be, but at least their are choices, and those choices define which version of Geralt you are playing. You are right about Zelda though, no question.
I agree, anyone saying that the witcher series are not rpg obviously missed the mark.
Anyway for me i would add Drakensang and the Gothic series of games.
Dark Souls is semi RPG imo because it's more of a dungeon crawler RPG but what a game it is.
The Dark Souls story is pretty basic to be fare, dragon dogma is a pretty decent RPG as well.
IMO The Witcher 3 will blow all other sandbox RPG out of the water when it comes out.
I'm taking a tangent from perspectives presented. Opinions are my own, it's not like anyone else wants them :-)
I feel a role playing game is a virtual environment where a person (herein player) creates and controls a player-character (herein character) based on the individuality of the character's self.
The character is the puppet and an inhabitant in the virtual world. The player is the puppeteer, bringing life to the puppet.
The primary means of role play is the characters interaction with the world and its inhabitants (NPCs and/or other player-characters). The more the player develops the individuality of the character, the more in-depth the role play becomes.
An RPG provides:
a backstory for the world explaining where we are, and how the world exists around us.
NPCs that can interact with the character, based on the individuality of the NPC.
activity (things to do) that the character may chose to participate.
I consider developer provided storyline as appropriate in an RPG as a tool for providing activity. However, there are limits. Developer provided character response during storyline detracts from role play, because it displaces individuality created by the player.
When the developer puts words, feelings, or personality into a player-character, the character is no longer solely the creation of the player. Developer provided characters are an indication of an RPG with training wheels, designed for people who lack sufficient skill to develop and play their own characters.
edit:
I see little functional difference between a SP RPG and an MMO RPG other than existing in a world with other players and MMORPGs having technical limitations regarding changes in the world.
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
These days not much, seems every game claims to be an "rpg". RPG is just as misused and overused as MMORPG and needs sub-genres to truly define the experience such as action rpg's are rightly titled ARPG'S for example.
It doesn't matter what makes an RPG as much as it matters that they are defined more clearly so to promote certain types and differentiate them. I think this is important to maintain the integrity and respect of certain genre defining RPG's in general such as D&D, etc.., so not to stereotype the market and have negative effects on core genres beyond their demographic and to avoid comparisons.
Leveling up, gaining exp, character progression makes a RPG. Only gaining gear/weapons does NOT make it a RPG, it makes a a story driven gear grind.
Desperately want to go back to pen/paper style imagination of RPG's like UO/EQ or in this example, super mario RPG. So sick of "action style RPG's." Action style aka "twitch" is what has killed the genre for me.
What an RPG means for me is that the gameplay is either turn-based or action based, has a numeral system such as the usage of experiance (exp or xp), that are used to obtain abilities or used to "level up" and gain numeral benefits such as unlockable abilities, dungeons, spells, or anything of that short of nature, also must have a hitpoints and ability points system, there could be more then one system. An RPG must have a decent storyline to back up with it so we know more about the world itself, the story that starts it all, and what is our purpose to fulfill.
We draw the line when we don't compare character developing and role playing as faceless-pointmen (aka F.E.A.R. game style), or having very limited say in what we are and why in the world we're even there.
RPGs is suppose to be about long-term development of your character. That despite all the changes in a game, the player is what still matters.
There's too much overemphasis of combat and combat mechanics, that the RPG side in RPGs no longer resemble them. WoW's a good example of it, if they didn't have transmorg (which took pulling teeth in itself) WoW would resemble LoL more today, since they're nerfing stats every expansion. After the next expansion I won't be surprised it'll be down to 3 stats only, and even that seems a problem for Blizzard. Stats are there for character development and piecing together what you want your toon to play as -- faster caster? Love larger crits? Mastery your cup of tea? Things that give MEANING to what your character is in that RPG world.
So RPGs for me is solidly the character development, since I've seen what the class and content design has become -- a literal tar pit of "I know better than you"; "shut up n00b!"; and stacking Mortal Strikes as a cheap means to bork healing for "faster kills" (arenas are a joke now, if it's not finished in 2mins it's "boring", so Blizzard takes every heal that's possible out to hurry it up, and careless how any healer feels -- then asks even after that, "why would you want to DPS, as a healer?"). -_-
I understand where the OP is going with this, because we all have an idea what RPG means but really don't have a consensus definition.
For me, the genre starts with D&D and all games which harken back to D&D are RPGs. Ultima is the quintessential RPG.
I realized a long time ago why I enjoyed Ultima, and it was because it was more like a BOOK than a MOVIE. World of Warcraft is closer to a movie. Old School RPGs are more like a book. The game world isn't realistic, characters and monsters and terrain are all represented symbolically, and there is plenty of room to PROJECT onto the character the details of WHO he is. So for me, an RPG is a game that primarily invokes a players imagination. Movie-like games leave nothing to the imagination and don't require the player to construct the scenario in their mind. And to that end I prefer these games be somewhat tactical and turn-based and have nothing to do with twitch. Again, its about telling a story. Yes, you are playing a role in ALL games but you aren't a "role-player" if there is no focus on WHO you are and WHERE you are and how your unique characteristics affect the outcome of the scenario. Just my opinion.
It might make sense to eliminate things that definitely have nothing to do with a game being an RPG or not. For instance, starting with something obvious, the camera style doesn't determine whether or not a game is an RPG. A game can be an RPG whether it is using the first person perspective, third person perspective or an isometric camera style. Less obvious are the existence of quests. In Half Life, the player has quests through out the game, but Half Life is not an RPG. If quests or missions figure into RPGs, there must be something specific about how the quests are implemented that make quests an RPG element.
And so on.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Let me give you a example of what the MMORPG world is like today....
What makes a better computer? Back in the old days, we strived for only high quality computers with as much processing power possible. Now today I go into a store and I see a ton of DESKTOP computers for sale for the same price my 2.4ghz computer was on sale, the only difference is, they are all now 1.8ghz computers and less. Laptops are selling by the millions at 1.2 ghz and less. I ask myself, WHAT? Who would pay 300 bucks for a laptop that is half the speed of a laptop I bought 5 years ago for 300.
In other worse, what makes a better computer, is knowledge.... When companies can go backwards with quality and make the same amount they did years ago. That explains the MMORPG world today. Why add housing? Why add high quality graphics? Why add RPG to the game anymore in some cases? These are things companies are now doing, and its up to customers to keep those RPG game companies doing better and not give half quality and charge twice as much.
If computers being sold 1.8ghz or less is any indication of the MMORPG market, its not going to survive... After all what happens when all those 1.8ghz buyers try to play a game that requires 3.2ghz or higher? They'll go right to F2P games which pander to 1.8ghz and less platforms, and then say to the rest of us that "GRAPHICS DONT MATTER", storylines don't matter, RPG doesn't matter. That's what!
What if everyone from 2000 told every game company graphics don't matter and we should have games that are like EQ 1 and AC 1 only... There's a reason why quality of games keeps getting better, people want it. Lets keep this going until one day we can live in a box in our houses and call it a hologram game. Can we please not go backwards, but forward?
What if everyone from 2000 told every game company graphics don't matter and we should have games that are like EQ 1 and AC 1 only... There's a reason why quality of games keeps getting better, people want it. Lets keep this going until one day we can live in a box in our houses and call it a hologram game. Can we please not go backwards, but forward?
We can certainly do that AND still have things like books. The two are not mutually exclusive, and the role-playing adventure need not be relegated to a single technological path or medium. I believe there is still as much a market for an old school tile-based RPG as there was back in 1980 for the same reason I believe there is a place for a BOOK today the way there was 200 years ago. Your market-share may not be phenomenal but I'll bet someone would enjoy the diversion.
There are many elements to an RPG. It simply has to have enough of them to get the title 'RPG'. We tend to prefer different elements though, I have a love of story. That in turn has meant I am far happier with a themepark MMO which has good quests. It may be easymode and lack the flexibility of a sandbox but it still ticks the story box.
By definition of this site, a RPG likewise as an MMO can be any game coming from a studio that buys the big ad-space in the background and gives exclusive "interviews" (aka PR stunts) which generate clicks/visits. This package qualifies any game to get it's own forum and an overkill of features every other day, even if it is neither "massive" nor "roleplay".
You can as well ask "What makes an mmo?", since both terms RPG and MMO seem to have their own and often questionable definition to this site, which often times wasn't shared by the users and rightfully raised controversy.
What a role playing game makes got wonderfully explained in many ways over the years by dedicated gamers and visitors of this page. It never helped though, as you can see checking through the "game forums" to the left, finding many examples of what does NOT make an RPG.
A Roleplaying Game requires a level of imagination of a degree of imagination and flexability that has yet to be realized on a console or a computer. The closest that we see are the playing of power sets. A power set is basically set of predefined abilities that are brought together to represent a limited concept. This concept is given a name and a background, or perhaps one can be chosen from a limited choice of options, and then is allowed to travel in an "open" world that only allows for limited interaction choices.
This is not a failing of roleplaying games but the very nature of trying to use a computer to emulate a dungeon master. A cRPG (Computer Roleplaying), which is now called simple an RPG, can not and won't for many years, be able to be anything more then a poor immitation of a real RPG.
What is a real Roleplaying Game? It involves people in the same room (i.e.: a living room), talking and interacting without a computer (or smartphone). An obvious example would be AD&D but there are hundreds (possibly thousands) to choose from.
At this point, many of you may be thinking I am bashing on computer RPGS (or MMORPGS). I am not. I enjoy a good cRPG, such as Skyrim or WOW, but they are limited, dumbed down versions the real (orginal, non-computerized) RPGs. If you don't believe me, go down to your local game store and check them out. You can find unlimited gaming options.
A short example of unlimited options: I am involved in a real RPG fantasy game that has no magic in the world. I declared that my figure is a wizard. The game master said "sorry, no magic". I said "I think I am a wizard". The character is insane and everything he does he attributes to his "magic" powers. He is an effective character that actively contributes to the game. This belief directly affects how he interacts with the world and NPCs around him and how NPCs interact with him. If this was a character in a cRPG, such a declaration would be meaningless unless the game programmer had included it as an option (unlikely).
Some may say that in cRPGs you are playing a role. You aren't. Your not an actor, your not playing a role. Your moving a computer character and responding to limited, canned responses, such as:
A) Insult NPC
Ask about cult
C) Leave
These canned responses are the core difference between real RPGs and limited options of cRPGs.
For me an RPG is a game that either allows me to create a character that I can identify with, or pulls me into the character that I have been given to play in a way that makes me feel as though I am, in fact, that character.
A good RPG can make you feel like you are anybody. Games like the current Batman series for the console systems are a good example of this because even though you KNOW that you are not in fact "The Batman", the game forces you to think, act, and fight as though you were, and that in itself makes you feel like you could be the Batman even if you are in fact a 300 pound dude sitting in your underwear doing BH's in between saves.
MMO's provide you with the same feeling in a different way. They do this by allowing you to pick a person within a certain setting and then explore how you are going to BE that person completely on your own. The more an MMO allows you to do this, via customization, world size, and activities, the more engrossing it becomes.
Alternatively the more linear an MMO becomes with things like FLOTM's, Builds, required gear, etc....the less fun it becomes.
In either case it is choice that makes for a good RPG experience and so I would have to summarize my thoughts thusly, reserving of course the way in which that choice was delivered from game to game. That and a genuine interest in suspending disbelief in one way why allowing it in an entirely different way.
Like the Architect said in the Matrix, "99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level."
I think that means that you have to also want it to be a good RPG. In this fashion a flight sim is, in fact, an RPG as long as it makes the user, who wants to fly planes, feel as though they are flying planes.
Comments
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
A Definite Setting with Atmosphere
A Story with Choices and Consequences
A Deep Level of Immersion and Character Interaction
A World/Universe to Explore
A High Level of Character Customization
Room for Character Growth
Regular Challenges
Relevant Rewards that act as Landmarks or Trophies
I would love to find a game that mixes Character Customization of Playstation Home, the Immersion of Hard Rain and the Character Growth of Skyrim... all within a world as expansive as Eve Online.
RPG today means to the majority of RPG-players:
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.
The Witcher is more of an RPG than most Bethesda games. There may not be a huge range to who your character can be, but at least their are choices, and those choices define which version of Geralt you are playing. You are right about Zelda though, no question.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
First and foremost, the ability to create your own character- the more control over looks, stats,abilities, the better. Then, as your character levels up, the ability to control the acquisition of new skills and the improvement of stats.
There may be a main storyline, or several minor storylines, but an open, nonlinear world to explore and exist in would be an important component as well.
If a player's character's actions influence or change things in the world… Wolof!
so… Skyrim!
_____________________________
"Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit"
When I think rpg I think the original Neverwinter Nights.
1. Story and lore.
2. Character customization with manually inputting your stat points where you want them.
3. Immersion.
I agree, anyone saying that the witcher series are not rpg obviously missed the mark.
Anyway for me i would add Drakensang and the Gothic series of games.
Dark Souls is semi RPG imo because it's more of a dungeon crawler RPG but what a game it is.
The Dark Souls story is pretty basic to be fare, dragon dogma is a pretty decent RPG as well.
IMO The Witcher 3 will blow all other sandbox RPG out of the water when it comes out.
I'm taking a tangent from perspectives presented. Opinions are my own, it's not like anyone else wants them :-)
I feel a role playing game is a virtual environment where a person (herein player) creates and controls a player-character (herein character) based on the individuality of the character's self.
The character is the puppet and an inhabitant in the virtual world. The player is the puppeteer, bringing life to the puppet.
The primary means of role play is the characters interaction with the world and its inhabitants (NPCs and/or other player-characters). The more the player develops the individuality of the character, the more in-depth the role play becomes.An RPG provides:
I consider developer provided storyline as appropriate in an RPG as a tool for providing activity. However, there are limits. Developer provided character response during storyline detracts from role play, because it displaces individuality created by the player.
When the developer puts words, feelings, or personality into a player-character, the character is no longer solely the creation of the player. Developer provided characters are an indication of an RPG with training wheels, designed for people who lack sufficient skill to develop and play their own characters.
edit:
I see little functional difference between a SP RPG and an MMO RPG other than existing in a world with other players and MMORPGs having technical limitations regarding changes in the world.
These days not much, seems every game claims to be an "rpg". RPG is just as misused and overused as MMORPG and needs sub-genres to truly define the experience such as action rpg's are rightly titled ARPG'S for example.
It doesn't matter what makes an RPG as much as it matters that they are defined more clearly so to promote certain types and differentiate them. I think this is important to maintain the integrity and respect of certain genre defining RPG's in general such as D&D, etc.., so not to stereotype the market and have negative effects on core genres beyond their demographic and to avoid comparisons.
Zelda = Action RPG
D&D = Fantasy Table Top RPG
Borderlands = Shooter RPG
Final Fantasy Tactics = Tactical RPG
Gotta keep em' seperated.
Leveling up, gaining exp, character progression makes a RPG. Only gaining gear/weapons does NOT make it a RPG, it makes a a story driven gear grind.
Desperately want to go back to pen/paper style imagination of RPG's like UO/EQ or in this example, super mario RPG. So sick of "action style RPG's." Action style aka "twitch" is what has killed the genre for me.
I think what you meant to say was, "... a number of NON RPGs". For example: The Division
We draw the line when we don't compare character developing and role playing as faceless-pointmen (aka F.E.A.R. game style), or having very limited say in what we are and why in the world we're even there.
RPGs is suppose to be about long-term development of your character. That despite all the changes in a game, the player is what still matters.
There's too much overemphasis of combat and combat mechanics, that the RPG side in RPGs no longer resemble them. WoW's a good example of it, if they didn't have transmorg (which took pulling teeth in itself) WoW would resemble LoL more today, since they're nerfing stats every expansion. After the next expansion I won't be surprised it'll be down to 3 stats only, and even that seems a problem for Blizzard. Stats are there for character development and piecing together what you want your toon to play as -- faster caster? Love larger crits? Mastery your cup of tea? Things that give MEANING to what your character is in that RPG world.
So RPGs for me is solidly the character development, since I've seen what the class and content design has become -- a literal tar pit of "I know better than you"; "shut up n00b!"; and stacking Mortal Strikes as a cheap means to bork healing for "faster kills" (arenas are a joke now, if it's not finished in 2mins it's "boring", so Blizzard takes every heal that's possible out to hurry it up, and careless how any healer feels -- then asks even after that, "why would you want to DPS, as a healer?"). -_-
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
I understand where the OP is going with this, because we all have an idea what RPG means but really don't have a consensus definition.
For me, the genre starts with D&D and all games which harken back to D&D are RPGs. Ultima is the quintessential RPG.
I realized a long time ago why I enjoyed Ultima, and it was because it was more like a BOOK than a MOVIE. World of Warcraft is closer to a movie. Old School RPGs are more like a book. The game world isn't realistic, characters and monsters and terrain are all represented symbolically, and there is plenty of room to PROJECT onto the character the details of WHO he is. So for me, an RPG is a game that primarily invokes a players imagination. Movie-like games leave nothing to the imagination and don't require the player to construct the scenario in their mind. And to that end I prefer these games be somewhat tactical and turn-based and have nothing to do with twitch. Again, its about telling a story. Yes, you are playing a role in ALL games but you aren't a "role-player" if there is no focus on WHO you are and WHERE you are and how your unique characteristics affect the outcome of the scenario. Just my opinion.
It might make sense to eliminate things that definitely have nothing to do with a game being an RPG or not. For instance, starting with something obvious, the camera style doesn't determine whether or not a game is an RPG. A game can be an RPG whether it is using the first person perspective, third person perspective or an isometric camera style. Less obvious are the existence of quests. In Half Life, the player has quests through out the game, but Half Life is not an RPG. If quests or missions figure into RPGs, there must be something specific about how the quests are implemented that make quests an RPG element.
And so on.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Let me give you a example of what the MMORPG world is like today....
What makes a better computer? Back in the old days, we strived for only high quality computers with as much processing power possible. Now today I go into a store and I see a ton of DESKTOP computers for sale for the same price my 2.4ghz computer was on sale, the only difference is, they are all now 1.8ghz computers and less. Laptops are selling by the millions at 1.2 ghz and less. I ask myself, WHAT? Who would pay 300 bucks for a laptop that is half the speed of a laptop I bought 5 years ago for 300.
In other worse, what makes a better computer, is knowledge.... When companies can go backwards with quality and make the same amount they did years ago. That explains the MMORPG world today. Why add housing? Why add high quality graphics? Why add RPG to the game anymore in some cases? These are things companies are now doing, and its up to customers to keep those RPG game companies doing better and not give half quality and charge twice as much.
If computers being sold 1.8ghz or less is any indication of the MMORPG market, its not going to survive... After all what happens when all those 1.8ghz buyers try to play a game that requires 3.2ghz or higher? They'll go right to F2P games which pander to 1.8ghz and less platforms, and then say to the rest of us that "GRAPHICS DONT MATTER", storylines don't matter, RPG doesn't matter. That's what!
Part 2
What if everyone from 2000 told every game company graphics don't matter and we should have games that are like EQ 1 and AC 1 only... There's a reason why quality of games keeps getting better, people want it. Lets keep this going until one day we can live in a box in our houses and call it a hologram game. Can we please not go backwards, but forward?
Depends on your decade.
Before computers, the definition of "role playing game" was not-at-all muddy. It meant roleplay.
Late 80s and beyond? A mixture, moving gradually away from immersive roleplay and towards 'character advancement' and graphic environments.
Now, not much roleplay (or roleplayers) left in the genre at all.
We can certainly do that AND still have things like books. The two are not mutually exclusive, and the role-playing adventure need not be relegated to a single technological path or medium. I believe there is still as much a market for an old school tile-based RPG as there was back in 1980 for the same reason I believe there is a place for a BOOK today the way there was 200 years ago. Your market-share may not be phenomenal but I'll bet someone would enjoy the diversion.
"What makes a RPG?"
By definition of this site, a RPG likewise as an MMO can be any game coming from a studio that buys the big ad-space in the background and gives exclusive "interviews" (aka PR stunts) which generate clicks/visits. This package qualifies any game to get it's own forum and an overkill of features every other day, even if it is neither "massive" nor "roleplay".
You can as well ask "What makes an mmo?", since both terms RPG and MMO seem to have their own and often questionable definition to this site, which often times wasn't shared by the users and rightfully raised controversy.
What a role playing game makes got wonderfully explained in many ways over the years by dedicated gamers and visitors of this page. It never helped though, as you can see checking through the "game forums" to the left, finding many examples of what does NOT make an RPG.
You are playing a role.
"If the Damned gave you a roadmap, then you'd know just where to go"
A Roleplaying Game requires a level of imagination of a degree of imagination and flexability that has yet to be realized on a console or a computer. The closest that we see are the playing of power sets. A power set is basically set of predefined abilities that are brought together to represent a limited concept. This concept is given a name and a background, or perhaps one can be chosen from a limited choice of options, and then is allowed to travel in an "open" world that only allows for limited interaction choices.
This is not a failing of roleplaying games but the very nature of trying to use a computer to emulate a dungeon master. A cRPG (Computer Roleplaying), which is now called simple an RPG, can not and won't for many years, be able to be anything more then a poor immitation of a real RPG.
What is a real Roleplaying Game? It involves people in the same room (i.e.: a living room), talking and interacting without a computer (or smartphone). An obvious example would be AD&D but there are hundreds (possibly thousands) to choose from.
At this point, many of you may be thinking I am bashing on computer RPGS (or MMORPGS). I am not. I enjoy a good cRPG, such as Skyrim or WOW, but they are limited, dumbed down versions the real (orginal, non-computerized) RPGs. If you don't believe me, go down to your local game store and check them out. You can find unlimited gaming options.
A short example of unlimited options: I am involved in a real RPG fantasy game that has no magic in the world. I declared that my figure is a wizard. The game master said "sorry, no magic". I said "I think I am a wizard". The character is insane and everything he does he attributes to his "magic" powers. He is an effective character that actively contributes to the game. This belief directly affects how he interacts with the world and NPCs around him and how NPCs interact with him. If this was a character in a cRPG, such a declaration would be meaningless unless the game programmer had included it as an option (unlikely).
For me an RPG is a game that either allows me to create a character that I can identify with, or pulls me into the character that I have been given to play in a way that makes me feel as though I am, in fact, that character.
A good RPG can make you feel like you are anybody. Games like the current Batman series for the console systems are a good example of this because even though you KNOW that you are not in fact "The Batman", the game forces you to think, act, and fight as though you were, and that in itself makes you feel like you could be the Batman even if you are in fact a 300 pound dude sitting in your underwear doing BH's in between saves.
MMO's provide you with the same feeling in a different way. They do this by allowing you to pick a person within a certain setting and then explore how you are going to BE that person completely on your own. The more an MMO allows you to do this, via customization, world size, and activities, the more engrossing it becomes.
Alternatively the more linear an MMO becomes with things like FLOTM's, Builds, required gear, etc....the less fun it becomes.
In either case it is choice that makes for a good RPG experience and so I would have to summarize my thoughts thusly, reserving of course the way in which that choice was delivered from game to game. That and a genuine interest in suspending disbelief in one way why allowing it in an entirely different way.
Like the Architect said in the Matrix, "99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level."
I think that means that you have to also want it to be a good RPG. In this fashion a flight sim is, in fact, an RPG as long as it makes the user, who wants to fly planes, feel as though they are flying planes.