Role-playing games (RPGs) are popular tabletop, computer, or console games where players assume the role of characters in a fantasy or science fiction setting. RPGs have become a billion-dollar industry with MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Maplestory leading the way. The origin of RPGs can be traced back to the early 1970s with tabletop RPGs, and Dungeons and Dragons became the first commercially available RPG. Computer RPGs developed a cult following in the 1980s, and Final Fantasy VII introduced RPGs into the mainstream in 1997. Today, RPGs continue to be popular with hundreds of titles released each year.
Role-playing games (RPGs) are tabletop, computer, or console games in which the player assumes the role of one or more characters, often in a fantasy or science fiction setting. Often, especially in console games, the player controls several characters that make up a party. Typical character occupations include wizard, cleric, barbarian, swordsman, archer, etc. Today, RPGs are a huge video and computer game genre, with over $1 billion US Dollars (US Dollars) in annual revenue worldwide. The latest movement in role-playing games has been towards massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, which has over 11 million subscribers (representing about 62% of the market), and Maplestory, which has such a number.
The origin of RPG can be found in the early 1970s with tabletop RPGs created by players. The first commercially available RPG, Dungeons and Dragons, was created by Gary Gygax in 1974 and has since been played by an estimated 20 million people and has sold over $1 billion worth of books and equipment. Starting out as a niche market, tabletop RPGs have acquired a cult following. In the 1980s, a moral panic emerged linking Dungeons and Dragons to Satanism and suicide, a belief that is the source of much humor among Dungeons and Dragons players to this day.
Beginning around 1980 with the release of Ultima for the PC, RPGs began to be developed for electronic media. In the long run, these would prove to be the most popular RPGs, outselling tabletop RPGs by a factor of 100 to 1. Computer RPGs developed a cult following throughout the 1980s. In 1987, the seminal console RPG, Final Fantasy, was released in Japan by Squaresoft, followed by a 1990 release in the United States. Final Fantasy would go on to become the most popular RPG franchise ever, selling over 85 million units worldwide. Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII, released in 1994 and 1997 respectively, are often cited as the best RPGs ever made.
Final Fantasy VII introduced RPGs into the mainstream in 1997, truly bringing the genre into its own right and making it an established part of mass media. Many hugely popular RPGs would be made in the late 90s and 00s, with the release of World of Warcraft in 2004 being another major milestone, propelling RPGs to a status of even higher popularity. World of Warcraft fell out of the teenage male and young adult market, as the game is widely played by middle-aged adults, teenage girls, and women. Such games provide a context for social interaction and cooperation, in contrast to more simplistic games that focus only on direct competition. The future of RPGs looks extremely promising, with hundreds of titles released each year on computers and consoles with ever-increasing graphics and computing capabilities.
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