Computer RPGs

         There are a variety of computer games which are terms "role-playing". I am by no means an expert, but there are a few broad categories:

Single-Player Games

Most computer video or adventure games have a token character which the player is controlling. However, a game is sometimes termed "role-playing" if the character can gain experience, items, and other improvements over multiple sessions. I think it is called this because historically the experience and item gaining are inspired by tabletop RPGs.

Text-based Multi-user Games (MUDs, MUSHs, MU*)

The term MUD originally stood for "Multiple User Dungeon". The name comes from influence by the tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons and the computer game Zork. However, it has now come to generally mean role-playing games with an interactive command-line text-based interface. You log into a MUD server, then type in commands like "Pick up coin" or "Say 'hello'" or "Attack lion". The server then registers your command and sends a response showing what happened. The key is that there may be dozens or hundreds of other players on at once, and you can talk to them in character and trade with, fight with, or otherwise interact with their characters. MUDs are frequently free, developed and maintained by volunteers.

Graphical Online Games or MMORPGs

MMORPG stands for "Massively Multipler Online RPG", and generally indicates a game similar to MUDs but with commercial graphics. These are generally commercial games such as Everquest and Diablo.

         The advantage of open multiplayer online games is that anyone in the world can come and game with you. On any moderately popular game, there could be dozens of people online to interact with. Players can log on and log off at their convenience, and always find other people to play with. However, there are also a number of limitations of computer RPGs which limit them compared to the role-playing in various face-to-face games. While they may not be inherent, a number of commonly cited differences include:

• Like live-action RPGs, there is not necessarily a human referee on hand to deal with troublesome situations. This prevents many things which could be handled by human judgement calls in a tabletop RPG.
• The very feature of easy access to players means that there are not limits on players. Rather than playing with friends you know, there are totally unknown strangers. From playing, you don't know what country, what age, or what gender they are. This is an intriguing aspect to online play but also limiting to some people.
• The world has to deal with players appearing and disappearing essentially randomly. This is usually handled by the character disappearing from the world as well, which puts a considerable strain on suspension of disbelief.
• Especially because it is interaction with anonymous strangers, some abusive social issues can arise. There are often major issues over player-killing or PK (i.e. killing of a player character by another player character), as well as abusive language and harassment.
• Conversation is limited to typing speed which is considerably slower than verbal dialogue -- as well as lacking body language and intonation (though emoticons and other text-based tricks help with this).

         Here are some links for more information on computer RPGs:

• The Mud Faq
• Online Gaming Resource MUSH
• EverQuest (a popular commercial MMORPG)