So you say what makes an RPG is the choice but not the stats?
How about an RPG game that has no choices? Take Shadowflare for example, that's a straight-forward RPG game. Yes It's an odd example but still. And Diablo too, it's prety much straight-forward, you don't get to choose, but you create your own character, so it's an RPG game. Because you can create your own character. And now quoting myself again(sorry for that):
And, what do actors do? Do they "act"? What is acting anyway? Having a role in a movie/play and playing that role? So by that definition can't you say "Acting" is "Role playing"? So "Role Playing" is playing a role that has been pre-defined. Actors don't get to choose their characters if they accept the job.
Actually, when you create a character, it's still a pre-defined character, just not defined by the developers, but you.
Actually I don't think I ever said I had anything against stats, in fact I think stats should stay. So basically my response to the OP is..."no", leaning towards "sort of".
I have nothing against stats in RPGs, and I know I said that having choice in an RPG is important, it isn't completely necessary. Being able to create your own character with their own personality is still role-playing, however, even by
that definition games such as
Halo and
HL2 still wouldn't be RPGs to me.
As for the name "role-playing game", the name is not very clear and can be applied to many things. Look at "action", what makes an action game (or movie)
an action game? Simply talking to someone, walking down a sidewalk, lighting a cigarette and petting your dog are all
"actions" so why isn't every game/film considered an "action game/film"?