Role-playing video game in the context of "Text-based game"

Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics (still images, animations or video) still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.

Due to their text-only nature, they sidestepped the problem of writing for widely divergent graphics architectures. This feature meant that interactive fiction games were easily ported across all the popular platforms at the time, including CP/M (not known for gaming or strong graphics capabilities). The number of interactive fiction works is increasing steadily as new ones are produced by an online community, using freely available development systems .

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single character with distinctive abilities that grow stronger as the match progresses. The objective is to destroy the enemy team's main structure while defending one's own. In some MOBA games, the objective can be defeating every player on the enemy team. Matches emphasize team coordination, tactical choices, and real-time combat. Players are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march along set paths toward their enemy's base, which is heavily guarded by defensive structures. Players can influence these units by eliminating enemy waves or supporting their own, affecting lane control and map pressure. This type of multiplayer online video games originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy (RTS); however, most of the traditional RTS elements, such as building construction and unit production, were removed in favor of a more focused player-versus-player experience. The genre blends elements of real-time strategy, role-playing, and action games, combining strategic depth with individual character progression and fast-paced combat.

The first widely accepted game in the genre was Aeon of Strife (AoS), a fan-made custom map released in 2002 for StarCraft, in which four players each control a single powerful unit and, aided by weak computer-controlled units, compete against a stronger computer. Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was created in 2003 by the Warcraft III modding community for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, with a map based on AoS. DotA was one of the first major titles to establish the core mechanics of the MOBA genre, serving as a direct inspiration for later titles, and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments were held. It was followed by two spiritual successors, League of Legends (2009) and Heroes of Newerth (2010), a standalone sequel, Dota 2 (2013), and other games in the genre, including Smite (2014) and Heroes of the Storm (2015).

Dungeons & Dragons (commonly abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast, later a subsidiary of Hasbro, since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail serving as the initial rule system. D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre.

D&D departs from traditional wargaming by allowing each player to create their own character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Master (DM) serves as referee and storyteller for the game, while maintaining the setting in which the adventures occur, and playing the role of the inhabitants of the game world, known as non-player characters (NPCs). The characters form a party and they interact with the setting's inhabitants and each other. Together they solve problems, engage in battles, explore, and gather treasure and knowledge. In the process, player characters earn experience points (XP) to level up, and become increasingly powerful over a series of separate gaming sessions. Players choose a class when they create their character, which gives them special perks and abilities every few levels.

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game.

As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (often in a fantasy world or science-fiction world) and takes control over many of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player online RPGs by the number of players able to interact together, and by the game's persistent world (usually hosted by the game's publisher), which continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game.

Paper-and-pencil games or paper-and-pen games (or some variation on those terms) are games that can be played solely with paper and pencils (or other writing implements), usually without erasing. They may be played to pass the time, as icebreakers, or for brain training. In recent times, they have been supplanted by mobile games. Some popular examples of pencil-and-paper games include tic-tac-toe, sprouts, dots and boxes, hangman, MASH, paper soccer, and spellbinder. The term is unrelated to the use in role-playing games to differentiate tabletop games from role-playing video games.

Board games where pieces are never moved or removed from the board once being played, particularly abstract strategy games like Gomoku and Connect Four, can also be played as pencil-and-paper games.

A multi-user dungeon (MUD, /mʌd/), also known as a multi-user dimension or multi-user domain, is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat. Players can read or view descriptions of rooms, objects, other players, and non-player characters, and perform actions in the virtual world that are typically also described. Players typically interact with each other and the world by typing commands that resemble a natural language, as well as using a character typically called an avatar.

Traditional MUDs implement a role-playing video game set in a fantasy world populated by fictional races and monsters, with players choosing classes in order to gain specific skills or powers. The objective of this sort of game is to slay monsters, explore a fantasy world, complete quests, go on adventures, create a story by roleplaying, and advance the created character. Many MUDs were fashioned around the dice-rolling rules of the Dungeons & Dragons series of games.

A melee (/ˈmeɪleɪ/ or /ˈmɛleɪ/) is a confused hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term melee originated circa 1648 from the French word mêlée (French: [mɛle]), derived from the Old French mesler, from which medley and meddle were also derived.

The 1812 tabletop wargame Kriegsspiel, and H.G. Wells' 1913 Little Wars, referred to the hand-combat stage of the game as a melée, or mêlée, respectively. The term was brought over to tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, and in turn to role-playing video games, to describe any close-combat encounter.

In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen by the player. Although often collected directly through touch, power-ups can sometimes only be gained by collecting several related items, such as the floating letters of the word 'EXTEND' in Bubble Bobble. Well known examples of power-ups that have entered popular culture include the power capsules from Pac-Man (regarded as the first power-up) and the Super Mushroom from Super Mario Bros., which ranked first in UGO Networks' Top 11 Video Game Powerups.

Items that confer power-ups are usually pre-placed in the game world, spawned randomly, dropped by beaten enemies or picked up from opened or smashed containers. They can be differentiated from items in other games, such as role-playing video games, by the fact that they take effect immediately, feature designs that do not necessarily fit into the game world (often used letters or symbols emblazoned on a design), and are found in specific genres of games. Power-ups are mostly found in action-oriented games such as maze games, run and guns, shoot 'em ups, first-person shooters, and platform games.