Role-playing games around the world: A brief look at the history of role-playing games and the genre's effect on the entertainment industry

Abstract

Role-playing games have been paramount in the continued evolution of both the video game entertainment industry and computer development. This paper seeks to showcase its importance by tracing the genre‘s origin as an alternative to chess, to its mainstream debut in 1974 with Dungeons & Dragons and its eventual move onto the computer. Role-playing games generally featured many rules and required a considerable amount of math and pre-planning to play. This made the genre a perfect fit for computers and the public would see the first computer role-playing game release in 1981. Thanks to its computerization, the genre managed to gain popularity in Japan with the release of game called The Black Onyx in 1984, resulting in a role-playing game boom across the country. Japan was at the forefront of game development in the 1980s, largely due to Nintendo success with their video game console; the Famicom. Thanks to the popularity of the Famicom, computer role-playing games managed to cement themselves into Japanese video game culture largely due to three large franchises: Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Pokémon which remain popular to this day. Final Fantasy and Pokémon also managed to garner considerable amount of international appeal, showcasing the genres continued importance in the future of entertainment.