Do you RPG?

I recently got into a discussion with a few of my students about the nature of computer role-playing games (RPGs). He was arguing that Diablo II was simply the best RPG ever, and I found myself disagreeing with the very idea that Diablo II counts as an actual RPG. I know that "action RPG" is the label for its section in Best Buy, but the more I think of it, the more it seems a misnomer. I realized that he and I had two vastly different definitions of RPG. Mine stems from my time spent playing pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons as an adolescent where you actually pretended to be someone else.

The way I see it, there are three components which qualify a computer game as an RPG:
1. Character generation and skills.
2. Flexibility in plot effected by character choice
3. Multiple outcomes

1. Character generation and skills.
When you create a character, do you have to make choices in terms of skill or ability sets or values? As you increase in level do you further specialize or develop these? Do your choices ultimately affect the strategies you utilize to play the game?

2. Flexibility in plot effected by character choice
Is the plot rigid and linear, or does your character's background, choices, or skills affect the events of the game? Can you form alliances with other non-player characters in the game which effect events? Can you acquire various henchmen who affect what you can or cannot do? Can you be good or evil (and does it make the game different)?

3. Multiple outcomes
Based on the choices you make during step 1 or step 2, does the game change in some significant way?

Looking at Diablo and Diablo II from this perspective, it really does seem lacking. Sure you can play a different class which radically changes how you play the game. The Necromancer in Diablo II, for example, essentially creates a lot of other soldiers to do his fighting for him. He's the general, as opposed to the grunt. It's been awhile since I played either game, but there never seemed to be a heck of a lot of flexibility in quests or npc interactions. The wealth of items you receive, the combining of them in unique ways, seems to be where the most flexibility stems.

So what is the best RPG out there?

Well Neverwinter Nights was hailed as one of the best (I haven't got the sequel yet). Obviously character creation has a phenomenal effect on your strategy throughout the game. In the original campaign, the plot is incredibly linear. You're offered the infrequent specialist quest depending upon your skills. No matter your personality you can acquire any of the possible henchmen. A choice between good and evil really does not effect the final confrontation. The subsequent expansion modules (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark) made improvements in the second and third aspects. The linear plot still moved forward, but how you played the game (and with which companions) effected the final epilogue. I feel that the Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which uses the same engine as NWN) does a better job of creating a somewhat flexible plot. Being evil and having "influence" on your companions ultimately does have a larger effect on the game.

I've only had one experience with Massively Multiplayer On-line RPGs, and that was City of Heroes during its first year of release. While it has an absolutely tremendous character creation system which greatly effects your strategy, it never really has an impact on the plot. My magic-based hero still fought the same set of bad-guys as he levelled through the various areas. As a Hero, you couldn't be evil, and you didn't really have options with how you interacted with NPCs. Very few on-line players, in my experience, made any significant attempt to play the role or part of their characters (the exception being the number of men who played female characters). While they've since created lots of specialized quests or missions (area-specific, task force, and limited-time events), most characters can access all of them (eventually) as they work their way through the game. It's incredibly fun, but it doesn't seem like an RPG to me.

The best RPG in recent memory, in my opinion, was Arcanum. You had tremendous flexibility in your character with abilities, skills, magic or technology based powers, and good or evil. Your choices greatly affected your companions. Some technology-based folk would not join you if you were a magical person. Some characters would not join you depending upon your goodness. If you performed actions which made your companions unhappy, you had to find them things to improve your relationship. In the larger plot, your choices radically effected the final confrontations.

Those of you who do RPG (in either the real or virtual worlds) what do you think of the state of "RPG" games?