The self-made irrelevance of the RPG by Eric Schwarz. Let me just start out by saying you should go read it. It talks about where "RPG's" have evolved from, in a simplified fashion, but to the point. I just want to add my thoughts that I believe this is the very reason I struggle with RPG's in general now. I remember reading the instruction manuals to figure out every last piece of the RPG I was playing. I would learn the gears and dials that made up the game and know how each one hopefully helped me out along the way. I enjoyed that aspect. Some are more complex than others, and some slowly ease the users into the mechanics of the RPG. Take FF VI for example, you learned to play the game before Espers ever showed up. Or FF VII, you didn't get materia until later. This is what I really struggle with RPG's now-a-days. Narrative is great and all, but it is just filler once you have seen it once. And it rarely affects the full gameplay. Whereas mechanics always do - unless they are broken. One of the most frustrating parts of new RPG's to me are the inherent lack of requiring I know what is going on. "They will ease me into it." (see FF XIII). I didn't play it very long. Why? because I never felt like I was playing the game. The mechanics changed - which meant new rulesets, which meant a different game.

On the flip side, there are RPG's that drop you into the deepest hardest to understand ruleset ever in one fell swoop. Surprise! RPG's have evolved over time and what is now viewed as 'the norm' has a HUGE barrier of entry for those that didn't grow up with it. So people will put it down. It is no wonder traditional ruleset RPG's struggle these days... as the number of people that grew up with them dwindles (moving on, lack of interest, not enough time to play a 100 hour epic, etc) and no one took their place, making the market smaller. Yet, new players that pick up RPGs find them complex and move onto something else. If you produce a game to fit one side of the market, the other side can't play it at all or finds it either lacking or to complex. Another thing with 'ruleset' games are I like to study the rules. I like to know how all the little gears affect me. But the only time to do that now-a-days is via an in-game tutorial (at best) seeming the manual has nothing but epileptic seizure warnings, game credits, and maybe a brief description of the starting characters... how useless! - I learned my rulesets when I couldn't play the game or had to go to the John. I can't do that now, so instead my gaming session has to turn into a 'rules learning' session and I wonder why I never make any progress in the game and eventually put it down. That or the interface never explains what all the dials do.. or they appear useless seeming as you tweak them, nothing different really happens. That is the joy of picking the right weapon for the job, or the right stat point, you see visibly that you are doing tons more damage. I think this is what hooked me on the ruleset of Borderlands (despite it not even being an 'rpg' right...) - pick up flame weapon, shoot flesh, it lights on fire, big fiery numbers pop above their heads... Brilliant! Anyhow, I feel like I have rambled off topic, but the important thing is the article had me thinking of RPG's as something easier to define, instead of the conglomerate mess of "you play a role". That is why I thought it was worth reading. What do you think?