Editing Role-playing game (section)

===Electronic media===
{{main|Role-playing video game}}
[[File:Screenshot-Falcons-Eye.png|thumb|An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game ''[[Falcon's Eye]]''.]]
Tabletop role-playing games have been translated into a variety of electronic formats.<ref>(Tychsen 2006:75) "A major source of inspiration of computer games of all genres is role-playing games. Being of a somewhat similar age as computer games, Pen and Paper Role Playing Games (PnP RPGs), a specialized form of table-top games (TTGs) involving multiple participants interacting in a fictional world, have influenced not only the Computer Role Playing Game (CRPG) genre [6], but virtually all types of computer games..."</ref> As early as 1974, the same year as the release of Dungeons & Dragons, unlicensed versions of it were developed on mainframe university systems under titles such as ''dnd'' and ''Dungeon''. These early computer RPGs influenced all of electronic gaming, as well as spawning the role-playing video game genre.<ref name="Barton" /> Some authors divide digital role-playing games into two intertwined groups: single-player games using RPG-style mechanics, and multiplayer games incorporating social interaction.<ref name="Barton" /><ref name="Yee">Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329.</ref><ref>(Tychsen 2005:218) "CRPGs can be separated into single- and multiplayer categories..."</ref>

====Single-player====
Single-player role-playing video games form a loosely defined genre of computer and console games with origins in role-playing games such as ''Dungeons & Dragons'', on which they base much of their terminology, settings, and game mechanics.<ref name="Barton" /> This translation changes the experience of the game, providing a visual representation of the world but emphasizing statistical character development over collaborative, interactive storytelling.<ref name="Tychsen2006CollaborativeNarrative" /><ref name="Crawford" />

====Multiplayer====
[[File:God Wars II screenshot of dungeon with MUSHclient plugin.png|thumb|Typical MUD interface for ''[[God Wars II]]'']]
{{main|Online text-based role-playing game|Massively multiplayer online role-playing game}}

Online text-based role-playing games involve many players using some type of text-based interface and an Internet connection to play an RPG. Games played in a real-time way include [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]]s, [[MUSH]]es, and other varieties of [[MU*]]. Games played in a turn-based fashion include [[play-by-mail game]]s and [[play-by-post game]]s.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) combine the large-scale social interaction and [[persistent world]] of MUDs with graphic interfaces. Most MMORPGs do not actively promote in-character role-playing, however, players can use the games' communication functions to role-play so long as other players cooperate.<ref>(Heliö 2004) "Even if a game does not support active role-playing, as most of the massively multiplayer online role-playing games fail to do (Dark Age of Camelot and others), experienced role-players may adopt the mindset and take advantage of the game's communication functionalities, and start to role-play. This, however, requires the willing support or at least acceptance of the other players – any one of us can act like a prince, but if the others won't play along, it does not constitute role-playing."</ref> The majority of players in MMORPGs do not engage in role-playing in this sense.<ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Eladhari |first1=Mirjam P |last2=Mateas |first2=Michael |year=2009 |title=Rules for role play in Virtual Game Worlds Case study: The Pataphysic Institute |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3x99c2zt |conference=Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference |pages=1 |access-date=12 December 2009 |quote=However, the majority of players in MMORPGs do not role-play at all, but self-play, that is, play as being themselves without adopting a fictional role.}}</ref>

[[Computer-assisted gaming]] can be used to add elements of computer gaming to in-person tabletop role-playing, where computers are used for record-keeping and sometimes to resolve combat, while the participants generally make decisions concerning character interaction.