dirtyharry50: I don't think so. The reason being that by definition the game is about role playing - you playing a role as a character in the world of the game. Even in party based games, generally speaking you are one of the characters although you may fancy role playing each one as you play.
How does a person step into the role of being something like a corporation for example? There is no 1 to 1 comparison there. A corporation is a large entity. It would be like trying roleplay you are a spaceship containing a crew of people or you are a city with a population. These are not living things like we are. They are groups of living things. We might as well role play being some inanimate object at this point. The point of role playing is to step into the role of a character, of someone else somewhere else. Once you abandon this, I don't think you are talking about an RPG anymore.
Zookie: I see your point but I think that you could use RPG mechanics for other types of games. A number of people of cited King of Dragon Pass, which I think is a good example (I never really thought of it like an RPG but I can see the elements in there).
But I disagree with you on this. I think that RPGs are all about characters and good stories, and in good stories character's do not have be people. Places, objects, and forces of nature can all make good characters in a story.
I think you could even play as an inanimate. For example I think you could make a interesting game based on The One Ring from the Lord of Rings. The Player plays the role of the Ring and the game would be to lure, corrupt, compel and manipulate others to have yourself (an inanimate object) brought back to Mordor to the hand of Sauron.
Lots of games do use RPG mechanics yes. Many TBS games come to mind.
I don't think we actually disagree. You are talking about characters, characters you would role play versus groups of characters on inanimate objects. Remember, I said inanimate. You are talking about a ring that has life, one you'd role-play, a ring capable of acting upon the world it finds itself in, that you find yourself in. This is not the same thing as attempting to role play the object, the ring itself as simple an inanimate ring or for this example it could even be a rock. No, instead you've created a ring that is a character - one that can be roleplayed by you.
Oh, and I thought the idea of there being some sort of story was a given. I agree, story is important whether the game comes with one or dumps you into a world to imagine your own.
