The term "RPG" is being abused

[Arr0nax]

So, what separates it from an open-ended action game with a good story? I'm not trying to nitpick too much, but having a health statistic or choice and consequence on its own doesn't make something an RPG, otherwise BioShock is an RPG, and I don't think anyone here would agree with that assessment.

Choices and consequences the defining element to call a game an 'RPG'?... lol no.

Roleplaying Game is a term whose etimology goes back to before the computer era. So you know, I'd use its meaning back then as a starting point before elucubrating about how statistics and classes define the genre...

A pen'n'paper roleplaying game can pretty much be played without any dice rolls and statistics...
What defines it is really just the fact you have an interactive story, in the person of the game master, who make the game world react and evolve in response to your actions and choices.

And... That's it. You don't need nothing more to make something a roleplaying game. It's really just about the degree of freedom and interactivity of the narration.
It's obviously useful to have a set or rules to guide the modelization of players actions, but it's not an obligation. And the mechanics can very well be hidden from the player.

 

[Arr0nax]

Here's another example: Battlefield: Bad Company 2's multiplayer. Levels are wide-open and large with often a choice of which objectives to capture, and how. I can sneak around the back and stealthily take a point, I can go on the assault, I can sit back and snipe, I can play as a medic to help my team, I can drive a vehicle to transport people quickly or just blow enemies up, and more. This is choice and there are significant gameplay consequences as a result [...]

That's where you forgot the social part. Again, returning to our etymological roots, Roleplaying means playing the role of someone, in the broadest acception of the term. And I don't think I would be exagerating if saying social interactions compose the most important part of one's "choices and consequences". Because who you are is mostly defined by who you interact with...

Yes, you have choice and consequence in a FPS, in a very limited dimension : it's limited to who and how you kill, and what happens then... You can't chose, to, say, leave the battlefield. So you're not really making role-defining choices. Just *technical* choices...

Again, returning to the origin of the term, when you play a pen'n'paper roleplaying game, your choices are way broader : you don't make just technical decisions

 

[John B.]

Fallout pnp was a role playing game, and look how well that turned out.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

All I can say is that to me those "diceless RPG" or whatnot are more like an interactive story than an RPG game.

I think both the dice and the interaction are important to an RPG and you can't really throw one out without getting a different genre.