I tend to view this question as having a spectrum answer, rather than just a Yes/No judgement.
The purest expression of role-playing and the inspiration for RPGs as a video game genre is the Tabletop RPG (Dungeons and Dragons and the like). In a game like D&D, you have (within the constraints of the rules and system) complete control over how your character develops in terms of skills/abilities and you have (within the parameters of the setting that the game master creates and the limits of the rules/system) complete control over what your character says and does.
As far as video games go, I'd say that the more that a video game does to replicate this experience, the more of an RPG that it is; the farther removed from this experience that a video game is, the less of a role-playing game it is.
The purest expression of role-playing and the inspiration for RPGs as a video game genre is the Tabletop RPG (Dungeons and Dragons and the like). In a game like D&D, you have (within the constraints of the rules and system) complete control over how your character develops in terms of skills/abilities and you have (within the parameters of the setting that the game master creates and the limits of the rules/system) complete control over what your character says and does.
As far as video games go, I'd say that the more that a video game does to replicate this experience, the more of an RPG that it is; the farther removed from this experience that a video game is, the less of a role-playing game it is.