Have you heard of firefall by red 5 studios?

http://www.firefallthegame.com/

Watch the developer trailer it actually makes it look somewhat promising that someone is making a MMO that doesn't use the same semi turn based combat with skills.

I dunno ... I see what ovoon is saying. As a disclaimer, I've not played EvE, but I agree it that simply having stats doesn't necessarily make an RPG. To me, an RPG the stats are intimately tied to some sort of character progression and are part of some story or quest. It's stories and questing in combination with character progression and stats that I think make an RPG an RPG. Something can borrow "RPG-elemnts" and still not be an RPG. If its simply that your crew gets more experience, that's just a veterancy mechanic used in RTS and other games for awhile. Upgrading your ship if you have one, etc ..., again would seem like a reasonable mechanic without necessarily invoking the RPG moniker.

Again, it depends on how it's handled. And since I haven't played it, I can't say for sure.

Well... for me what makes all MMO's not RPGs is that I rarely encounter anyone playing a role.

I never meet a mighty warrior from the Highlands... I just meet a guy controlling the avatar of one, and he's crunching numbers like a high school mathlete at the Nerd Olympics before he attacks the next computer controlled threat so that the outcome will be guaranteed free of surprise.

A role player would be like an actor, and inhabit the body of the character, talk like the character and make decisions as a character. There are a few actual role players here and there, but they are more the exception than the rule.

So, in my opinion, there are no "role playing" games on the market, nor have there ever been any.

And EvE still kicks 6 shades of ass. :-)

When i grow up, I wanna be a spaceship.

"RPG" means different things to different people.

Especially Game Company Marketing Execs

The other end of this spectrum is that role-playing occurs any time you aren't playing yourself. So simply by having a character that can shoot fireballs out of his hands, or can use a lightsaber, or whatever, you're role-playing, even if your character makes all of the decisions that you would.

Heck, I've seen plenty of tabletop roleplayers who were just playing themselves with armor and a sword, in a different setting. And rolling lots and lots of dice.