Is SL a RPG??

I have some questions. Me and my friends got in a debate about SL and about RPGs and stuff. I said that SL isn't an RPG, a Role Playng Game. A RPG would be like Runescape (sux) or guildwars (cool) where it is more structured enviornment. I say second life is no RPG. They say that SL is an RPG and all games that were ever created that have charecters that you play are RPGs. Answer these questions (lol):

- What is an RPG??

- Is SL an RPG???

- Are my dumbass friends right?

SL is not any sort of game, it is an open 3D environment.

If you choose to play games while in SL then you can, that doesn't make it a game.

No SL isn't an RPG.

One of the biggest parts of an RPG that allows it to encompass pretty much any game ever is that you have a "Role". You are Link and you need to defeat Ganon, you are Mario and you need to save the princess, etc. But in SL it's "You are....the person you made....and you need to do....whatever..."

Basically, you have no backstory unless you want one. So SL CAN be a roleplaying game, but only if you want it to be. Otherwise your character is just a manifestation of you in a digital world.

I can't vote because SL is in no way "way better" than an RPG.

They are different things, and I get enjoyment from both.

First life - isn't that a role-playing game?

As far as your question goes, it's not black and white. Where you are going wrong is to try to make a complex world fit a simplified set of choices. SL has MUCH more.

There are RPGs inside SL, and for some people, that's what they do.
There are also roles people "put on" in more or less serious ways that relate to their own way of playing.
There are people who are themselves and don't role play, although they look different than the way they look outside of cyberspace. And they aren't a few inches tall with the ability to fly in first life, in most cases, either.

Most people, I think, are themselves, with maybe a slight bit of role-play when someone notices they are, say, robots. I think the RP is just to match the appearance in most cases although for some it is more. I'm just myself and I do what I lik to do.

It is an RPG to some, and not to others. There is certainly a good amount of roleplaying going on within Second Life, and for some it provides a freedom to be or act out thier fantasies or whims.

But others obviously treat it as an extension of thier RL, be it business, creativity, or socializing as themselves.

So I would answer yes and no, depending upon who I was talking about.

Good answer

Whenever someone asks whether SL is a game I've always said that it depends on whose playing.

It depends how pedantic you want the definition to be, basically.

In the original sense of the word when it was coined - which was before computer games existed - an RPG was any game where you played a role other than yourself. In that case, SL is certainly an RPG, but so are a bunch of other computer games that don't fit the modern definition at all (eg, Super Mario World would be an RPG because you're playing the role of Mario)

In the modern definition of RPG, SL is not an RPG, because it does not perform any abstraction of skills. (Although people have built RPGs within it.)

* I put on my robe and wizard hat *

Mistell?

We all have our own little definitiions in our heads. So it's silly to argue over what something is or isn't because if I call the colour of the sky purple and you call it yellow. Then who is right and who is wrong? When it comes to semantics then it usually ends up being the majority that is right.

People say Second Life isn't a game. Yet we have a little avatar that we're supposed to empathize with. You stick an avatar in 3D studio and people will start to call it a game.

In some ways, an avatar/character that you can control forces you to roleplay.

I'd bet that 90 percent of the world's population would call Second Life a game. So if semantics and meaning is determined by the majority. Then Second Life is a game.

Also, anybody who says that Second life isn't a game obviously smells of cat pee and probably doesn't have any friends.

So you can't argue really.

I think this is one of the best explinatations of SL yet

Cat pee

hehe

"Also, anybody who says that Second life isn't a game obviously smells of cat pee and probably doesn't have any friends."

HEY!! I have lots of friends and they all smell like cat pee too. So there.

SL isn't a game because youc an make a living off it. some come to play some come to make money and there are tying to make friends.. so It can't be a game it have too low of limits to be called a 'game'

Sure, it could be. Just don't expect anyone else to play along with you.

and how many cats do you have?


you can make a living from playing Quake IV and WoW.

Cat, you can pee on me any day.

No. Hey, I think SL is "da bomb" too, but I would hardly call it a rocket propelled grenade .

I don't have any pets so don't go there..

I argee that SL is 'da bomb' and I think 99.9% will argee with you there o:)

Don't be silly. SL is a platform. Right now the platform it most resembles is the one constructed for the middle school spring musical. That platform was constructed of plywood sheets on top of empty 55 gallon drums with some insulation batting to muffle the sound of people walking on top of it.

Why do you ask? Do you require someone else's verification that SL is an RPG for you?
Or are you asking how many USE it as an RPG.

As far as I can tell the number of residents that RP are fairly small...relatively.

But if it's a serious question as to what 'bin' to put SL in I'd have to say no, it's not. It's a virtual platform that you do with what you want; RP, earn a living, meet with others, play...whatever.

I guess I just don't understand the point of the question nor why an answer of any kind is of any relevance.

With ducttape and tinfoil.

Oh yeah? Well,

* I put on my ballistic armor, holster my stealth pistol and hand an augmentation upgrade canister to the nearest medbot. *

rofl thanks I needed that!

Hugz Starax tight.