Forum:'Tabletop' RPGs not given the identity they need in the Central Wikia categories

Before I start, I'd just like to point out a couple of background facts:
 * 1) The first commercial 'role playing games' were 'tabletop' games (like Dungeons & Dragons).
 * 2) Computer RPGs came along later, but have become so popular that many people mean 'computer role playing game' when they say 'role playing game'.

So we now have a situation where the term 'RPG' has been 'hijacked' by computer RPGs in the eyes of many people.

But this does mean that the original RPGs (the tabletop RPGs) are a lot harder for people to classify. Wikia has a number of wikis dedicated to these 'classic style' RPGs, but the way they are categorized is inconsistent. And I don't think that Gaming Wiki promotes them is a way that helps visitors find a game that is both a RPG and a tabletop game.

At the moment some wikis (like the Forgotten Realms Wiki) are listed under 'Tabletop' while other wikis are put into 'Tabletop RPG'. That category is more accurate, but less used. And the Gaming portals ignore the Tabletop RPG category. The current set up means that tabletop RPG wikis are either dumped into RPG (which is technically correct, but buries them in with computer games) or Tabletop (which again is technically correct, but buries them in with non RPG games).

I think that all of these games should be moved into the Tabletop RPG category (and taken out of the RPG category or the Tabletop category). I also think this category should get its own portal on the main Wikia Gaming portal.

I'm even tempted to propose that the RPG category becomes a 'root category' with computer games moved into a Computer RPG category (just to make it clear that they are not traditional RPGs.

I also think that the tabletop portal, itself, is confusing and that we should switch to using more descriptive categories (like the Board Games category) for all tabletop games that use a board.

I think there is a lot more interest in computer RPGs than any other type of gaming, but if we are going to have a Gaming Hub and not just a Computer Gaming Hub, I think that the non-computer games need to have less ambiguous signposting.

And wikis based on Tabletop RPGs are currently one of the things that are very difficult to find here. David Shepheard 22:01, 25 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a good idea to me. I'd vote for it. -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 1:06 PM PST 20 Mar 2009