Not sure why the OP decided they would act as the authority on this matter, but since we are all authorities on the matter:
Roleplaying absolutely has much to do with classes, e.g. the holy trinity. The original dice-roll RPGs were all about playing your race, alignment and class.
The additional element of "getting into your character" through back stories and pretending you "are" your character is secondary to the game but admittedly what nowadays is considered "rolepaying".
A true roleplayer takes his race and class seriously in the game, and how he communicates to others. Those using their online persona to flirt, spout off their own poetry, and hang out in inns, etc. sometimes are a bit off at playing their roles where it counts: being a good tank, healer, dpser, etc.
Those using their online persona to flirt, spout off their own poetry, and hang out in inns, etc. sometimes are a bit off at playing their roles where it counts: being a good tank, healer, dpser, etc.
In every MMO I've played, I've eventually abandoned the endgame fights because they simply stop being fun - beyond a certain point, I'm no longer playing my character, I'm just rationalizing what my character is forced to do to eek out a little more dps.
A true roleplayer takes his race and class seriously in the game, and how he communicates to others. Those using their online persona to flirt, spout off their own poetry, and hang out in inns, etc. sometimes are a bit off at playing their roles where it counts: being a good tank, healer, dpser, etc.
No wonder there are very few "true roleplayer".
In fact, i have yet to meet one in my almost 20 years playing MMOs.
It's not pen and paper, but it's pretty damned close. I think the main point was that it was a human telling the story, and not a computer giving "kill 10 rats" quests
No, it's not even remotely close. You can either play an MMO and do the things that an MMO requires to advance or you can stop playing the MMO and use the system to stand around and play out a story, but while doing that, you're not advancing. Unless you can RP and still get XP for doing it, it's not a true combination of the two.
Eh, overall they're quite similar.
In either system you were required to do something meaningful to earn XP. (Unless your tabletop DMs awarded XP for standing around town doing nothing meaningful.)
In either system if you choose to ignore the prepared story (DM) or quest (which is a prepared story) then you're going to get slightly less XP killing those goblins outside town because you won't earn the completion XP.
In terms of advancement they're really close (do something meaningful -> character progression.) It's other aspects, like how the story is told, that are where the main differences lie.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
It's not pen and paper, but it's pretty damned close. I think the main point was that it was a human telling the story, and not a computer giving "kill 10 rats" quests
No, it's not even remotely close. You can either play an MMO and do the things that an MMO requires to advance or you can stop playing the MMO and use the system to stand around and play out a story, but while doing that, you're not advancing. Unless you can RP and still get XP for doing it, it's not a true combination of the two.
Eh, overall they're quite similar.
In either system you were required to do something meaningful to earn XP. (Unless your tabletop DMs awarded XP for standing around town doing nothing meaningful.)
In either system if you choose to ignore the prepared story (DM) or quest (which is a prepared story) then you're going to get slightly less XP killing those goblins outside town because you won't earn the completion XP.
In terms of advancement they're really close (do something meaningful -> character progression.) It's other aspects, like how the story is told, that are where the main differences lie.
No it's not. Now granted, SWG was a bit different, but let's say you want to roleplay a bartender or a dancer or a musician that does not engage in combat at all. A PnP RPG, you can still advance, you can still get XP. In an MMO, you get virtually nothing. The best you can do in an MMO is play the game and arbitrarily tack on some RP elements. That's not similar.
A true roleplayer takes his race and class seriously in the game, and how he communicates to others. Those using their online persona to flirt, spout off their own poetry, and hang out in inns, etc. sometimes are a bit off at playing their roles where it counts: being a good tank, healer, dpser, etc.
No wonder there are very few "true roleplayer".
In fact, i have yet to meet one in my almost 20 years playing MMOs.
Actually, what's a rarity is a "true roleplaying game". One of the ones where everyone is expected to be in-character, all the time. Of course, that takes a company with standards and actual written policy enforcement...there aren't any of those in mmospace. Archaic concept, ejecting and canceling the accounts of unruly players for disruption.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Of course, that takes a company with standards and actual written policy enforcement...there aren't any of those in mmospace.
The publisher defining and policing behaviour is horribly inefficient. If you to foster communities with that level of enforcement, I believe it has to be done as a community tool - cut back on the global chatting and instead give players the ability to create their own communities with officers who can police rules of behaviour of those who want to be a part of those communities.
(guild/corp structures are almost there ... I've never encountered a guild system I've really liked)
Of course, that takes a company with standards and actual written policy enforcement...there aren't any of those in mmospace.
The publisher defining and policing behaviour is horribly inefficient.
Precluded by that "Massive" word, yes. Works just fine in smaller scales.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
No it's not. Now granted, SWG was a bit different, but let's say you want to roleplay a bartender or a dancer or a musician that does not engage in combat at all. A PnP RPG, you can still advance, you can still get XP. In an MMO, you get virtually nothing. The best you can do in an MMO is play the game and arbitrarily tack on some RP elements. That's not similar.
From what I remember in UO, the bartenders at Serpent's Cross(Atlantic), Kazola's(Great Lakes) and the YMCA(Sonoma) did advance as they tended bar. They advanced their character's story. They were part of the progression of the story of the players of their server.
I highlighted that line in yellow, because I'm curious what you are looking for from roleplay. Are you looking for xp and character advancement? Also, your statement seemed a general one. Do you feel that those who wish to roleplay have to arbitrarily tack on roleplay in all MMOs, or do you feel there are some MMOs where roleplay is supported by design?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
No it's not. Now granted, SWG was a bit different, but let's say you want to roleplay a bartender or a dancer or a musician that does not engage in combat at all. A PnP RPG, you can still advance, you can still get XP. In an MMO, you get virtually nothing. The best you can do in an MMO is play the game and arbitrarily tack on some RP elements. That's not similar.
I guess you're talking about a specific tabletop RPG where bartenders received XP, leveled up, and gained bartender skills.
Certainly in most mainstream tabletop RPGs being a bartender would just be a purely role-played portion of the session, with any increase to bartender skills being similarly role-played.
...exactly like you might do on a WOW server where you role-play as a bartender and keep track of your drinks served and pretend your drinks taste better as you bartend more.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Not sure why the OP decided they would act as the authority on this matter, but since we are all authorities on the matter:
Roleplaying absolutely has much to do with classes, e.g. the holy trinity. The original dice-roll RPGs were all about playing your race, alignment and class.
The additional element of "getting into your character" through back stories and pretending you "are" your character is secondary to the game but admittedly what nowadays is considered "rolepaying".
A true roleplayer takes his race and class seriously in the game, and how he communicates to others. Those using their online persona to flirt, spout off their own poetry, and hang out in inns, etc. sometimes are a bit off at playing their roles where it counts: being a good tank, healer, dpser, etc.
Did the DM have the ability to grant in-game XP and rewards based on your roleplaying actions that fell outside of simple game mechanics? If not, then you're just wrong.
Yes of course he can.
Unrelated to NWN; but yes, we gave away gobs of /RPAs (five sizes) typically several times a day.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
No it's not. Now granted, SWG was a bit different, but let's say you want to roleplay a bartender or a dancer or a musician that does not engage in combat at all. A PnP RPG, you can still advance, you can still get XP. In an MMO, you get virtually nothing. The best you can do in an MMO is play the game and arbitrarily tack on some RP elements. That's not similar.
I guess you're talking about a specific tabletop RPG where bartenders received XP, leveled up, and gained bartender skills.
Certainly in most mainstream tabletop RPGs being a bartender would just be a purely role-played portion of the session, with any increase to bartender skills being similarly role-played.
...exactly like you might do on a WOW server where you role-play as a bartender and keep track of your drinks served and pretend your drinks taste better as you bartend more.
In a tabletop RPG, the GM has the option of granting XP for any damn thing he wants, you can have completely non-combat games where characters can advance, sitting around in a bar chatting. Is that an option in an MMO, or is roleplay just something that's tacked on while you play the same old game as everyone else?
Do many people make that mistake? It seems the division is between whether it means roleplaying a character in the game world or the associated progression system.
Many make that mistake. Just about every day we have someone in here who doesn't understand that MMORPGs are RPGs in the sense of every videogame RPG ever, not in the sense of tabletop role-playing.
Both are role-playing. Whether or not someone is more casual or hardcore about the role-playing shouldn't really matter.
Did the DM have the ability to grant in-game XP and rewards based on your roleplaying actions that fell outside of simple game mechanics? If not, then you're just wrong.
Yes of course he can.
Unrelated to NWN; but yes, we gave away gobs of /RPAs (five sizes) typically several times a day.
I'm talking about straight XP. Can you reach endgame without ever engaging in any combat at all?
Did the DM have the ability to grant in-game XP and rewards based on your roleplaying actions that fell outside of simple game mechanics? If not, then you're just wrong.
Yes of course he can.
Unrelated to NWN; but yes, we gave away gobs of /RPAs (five sizes) typically several times a day.
I'm talking about straight XP. Can you reach endgame without ever engaging in any combat at all?
If you play with a DM yes. We had scenarios where we didn't get a single point of combat XP, all XP was giving by the DM for roleplaying and good decisions at the right moment, mob XP was turned off for the module. The DM can set the parameters up as he wants, and also give out XP as he feels like, just like in pen and paper.
Fine, I'll give that to you in that one specific case. Now try to apply that to any other MMO.
I think that one of the real problems with role-play these days is that these guys (the developers) had to take a deep look at the basis for a lot of role-play, and came to realize that a lot of it was based on concepts that could possibly get them in dutch with society.
Take two steps back for a second and think about it.
The basis of most role play that we know of is to play a character based on that characters backstory.
Ok so you are an elf. What's the first thing that you know about Elves? That they think they are better than everyone else. So instantly you are an elitist and quite possibly a racist.
So you are a Paladin. What is the first thing you know about Paladin's? They are holy warriors. So now you are a fanatic, an elitist, and depending on the person talking about the situation, a pagan.
So without continuing on with those examples, they threw a lot of this stuff out. But along with it they also threw out alignment.
Now alignment wasn't thrown out for safety's sake, alignment was thrown out because of money. It's just easier (and more cost effective) to program a stack of quests that everyone can do than it is to program a specific storyline for each individual class and alignment in the game.
Really, when you think about it, just using the basics, for elf, half-elf, human, and halfling, warrior, cleric, mage, and theif, good, neutral, evil, and the chaotic and lawful adjustments of those titles, that's a HUGE amount of specific paths that no one, to this point, has been willing to address.
So what you end up with is no particular reason for any particular class and racial choice to mean anything other than what attacks you get. And so no wonder no one cares to try to roleplay. No one ever really explained to them that the reason the paladin gets to lay hands on himself is because he upholds a certain code of both chivalry and godliness.
In an MMO, everyone you run into is the same two alignments, chaotic good or chaotic evil, no matter how much they try to be anything else, because in the end, they are either going to help you get what you both want, or they are going to use you to get what they want, and pretty much the why and what for of the thing you are doing is beside the point.
Proper role play then, as I see it, would involve the game actually holding the player to a particular standard first. Not just supplying the tools and putting the burden on us, but actually creating paths to allow the player to succeed or fail in their chosen role. I believe that this would be a lot more rewarding on a sub-story level, and could provide many more hours of replay value where it done right.
But as things are now, all that is really happening is that an illusion of role play is being sold to you via literary and artistic allusion while the actual mechanics of role play are being ignored. Proof of this is how often the art and the stories change, but how little the games do.
First look around, almost no one refers to games as MMORPGs and more, not just MMO. The reason why is the player base now being drawn simply does not like elements that create good RPG in game mechanics, especially true difference in characters.
We have classes in MMOs today that run together. Eventually every class in an MMO get the same basic skills, Tanks gain DPS, DPS gain healing, Healers gain tanking stealth and so on... The reason is the general MMO public cries when someone else's character does something different than theirs. The same with race, now race is a skin that has little to no impact on game play or storyline.
Lets use Neverwinter as an example, specifically the Invocation system. Now since the character creation system has you selected a deity you will worship, this alone suggests that idea that each deity choice is represented differently in the Invocation system. Taking this a step further, Clerics, you would presume would gain some kind of advantage with this as well.
(This is an example of using game mechanics to create RP situations)
Yet we do not see this implemented. It is not do to complex game mechanics or programing difficulties. It is to the fact that the community would scream bloody murder if one Invocation system offered something they wanted and it was not the one they chose.
Wait however, in good RP fashion we could fix that, a player could through a series of quests change his faith. Nope the community would not stand for this because they could not do it with a token or buy a way to do it instantly, how dare we suggest they earn a change through character actions.
The issue with RP in MMOs is the fact that MMO gamers, on the whole, do not like the idea of consequences for actions and game mechanics that create real individuality. Those BTW are two basic tenants of good RP.
First look around, almost no one refers to games as MMORPGs and more, not just MMO. The reason why is the player base now being drawn simply does not like elements that create good RPG in game mechanics, especially true difference in characters.
We have classes in MMOs today that run together. Eventually every class in an MMO get the same basic skills, Tanks gain DPS, DPS gain healing, Healers gain tanking stealth and so on... The reason is the general MMO public cries when someone else's character does something different than theirs. The same with race, now race is a skin that has little to no impact on game play or storyline.
Lets use Neverwinter as an example, specifically the Invocation system. Now since the character creation system has you selected a deity you will worship, this alone suggests that idea that each deity choice is represented differently in the Invocation system. Taking this a step further, Clerics, you would presume would gain some kind of advantage with this as well.
(This is an example of using game mechanics to create RP situations)
Yet we do not see this implemented. It is not do to complex game mechanics or programing difficulties. It is to the fact that the community would scream bloody murder if one Invocation system offered something they wanted and it was not the one they chose.
Wait however, in good RP fashion we could fix that, a player could through a series of quests change his faith. Nope the community would not stand for this because they could not do it with a token or buy a way to do it instantly, how dare we suggest they earn a change through character actions.
The issue with RP in MMOs is the fact that MMO gamers, on the whole, do not like the idea of consequences for actions and game mechanics that create real individuality. Those BTW are two basic tenants of good RP.
I think people simply refer to MMORPG's as MMO's because
A) there's a disproportionate amount of MMORPG's outside of any other MMOG
MMO's started out as MMORPG's
C) people are lazy/stupid.
I don't know what MMORPG you are referring to where tanks, dps, and healers are interchangable, but that almost sounds, by definition, to NOT be an mmoRPG.
Referincing that classes get homogenized (I'm guessing you're coming from WoW) is pretty much a balance issue / game mechanic thing. People would like to NOT be picked because of what class they are, but rather what THEY can do with said class. There are many legitimicies to this argument, none of which even encroach on the idea of morphing tanks, dps, and healers to the level that you are referring too.
As well, it is silly to penalize someone for a race they picked for a number of obvious reasons. The first being, people don't know what classes they will like until they try them. To punish them flat out for something they don't know is not only bad game design, it's flat out silly. You could make the argument that it adds more RPG value, but then by that token, I could make the same argument that people shouldn't resurrect on death because that could add more RPG value. The basis of what constitutes good RPG value should NEVER circumvent good gameplay mechanics.
Comments
Not sure why the OP decided they would act as the authority on this matter, but since we are all authorities on the matter:
Roleplaying absolutely has much to do with classes, e.g. the holy trinity. The original dice-roll RPGs were all about playing your race, alignment and class.
The additional element of "getting into your character" through back stories and pretending you "are" your character is secondary to the game but admittedly what nowadays is considered "rolepaying".
A true roleplayer takes his race and class seriously in the game, and how he communicates to others. Those using their online persona to flirt, spout off their own poetry, and hang out in inns, etc. sometimes are a bit off at playing their roles where it counts: being a good tank, healer, dpser, etc.
In every MMO I've played, I've eventually abandoned the endgame fights because they simply stop being fun - beyond a certain point, I'm no longer playing my character, I'm just rationalizing what my character is forced to do to eek out a little more dps.
No wonder there are very few "true roleplayer".
In fact, i have yet to meet one in my almost 20 years playing MMOs.
Eh, overall they're quite similar.
In either system you were required to do something meaningful to earn XP. (Unless your tabletop DMs awarded XP for standing around town doing nothing meaningful.)
In either system if you choose to ignore the prepared story (DM) or quest (which is a prepared story) then you're going to get slightly less XP killing those goblins outside town because you won't earn the completion XP.
In terms of advancement they're really close (do something meaningful -> character progression.) It's other aspects, like how the story is told, that are where the main differences lie.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
No it's not. Now granted, SWG was a bit different, but let's say you want to roleplay a bartender or a dancer or a musician that does not engage in combat at all. A PnP RPG, you can still advance, you can still get XP. In an MMO, you get virtually nothing. The best you can do in an MMO is play the game and arbitrarily tack on some RP elements. That's not similar.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Actually, what's a rarity is a "true roleplaying game". One of the ones where everyone is expected to be in-character, all the time. Of course, that takes a company with standards and actual written policy enforcement...there aren't any of those in mmospace. Archaic concept, ejecting and canceling the accounts of unruly players for disruption.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
The publisher defining and policing behaviour is horribly inefficient. If you to foster communities with that level of enforcement, I believe it has to be done as a community tool - cut back on the global chatting and instead give players the ability to create their own communities with officers who can police rules of behaviour of those who want to be a part of those communities.
(guild/corp structures are almost there ... I've never encountered a guild system I've really liked)
Precluded by that "Massive" word, yes. Works just fine in smaller scales.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
From what I remember in UO, the bartenders at Serpent's Cross(Atlantic), Kazola's(Great Lakes) and the YMCA(Sonoma) did advance as they tended bar. They advanced their character's story. They were part of the progression of the story of the players of their server.
I highlighted that line in yellow, because I'm curious what you are looking for from roleplay. Are you looking for xp and character advancement? Also, your statement seemed a general one. Do you feel that those who wish to roleplay have to arbitrarily tack on roleplay in all MMOs, or do you feel there are some MMOs where roleplay is supported by design?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I guess you're talking about a specific tabletop RPG where bartenders received XP, leveled up, and gained bartender skills.
Certainly in most mainstream tabletop RPGs being a bartender would just be a purely role-played portion of the session, with any increase to bartender skills being similarly role-played.
...exactly like you might do on a WOW server where you role-play as a bartender and keep track of your drinks served and pretend your drinks taste better as you bartend more.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Good troll LOL. I'll bite though.
I disagree. :PUnrelated to NWN; but yes, we gave away gobs of /RPAs (five sizes) typically several times a day.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
In a tabletop RPG, the GM has the option of granting XP for any damn thing he wants, you can have completely non-combat games where characters can advance, sitting around in a bar chatting. Is that an option in an MMO, or is roleplay just something that's tacked on while you play the same old game as everyone else?
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Both are role-playing. Whether or not someone is more casual or hardcore about the role-playing shouldn't really matter.
I'm talking about straight XP. Can you reach endgame without ever engaging in any combat at all?
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Fine, I'll give that to you in that one specific case. Now try to apply that to any other MMO.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
I think that one of the real problems with role-play these days is that these guys (the developers) had to take a deep look at the basis for a lot of role-play, and came to realize that a lot of it was based on concepts that could possibly get them in dutch with society.
Take two steps back for a second and think about it.
The basis of most role play that we know of is to play a character based on that characters backstory.
Ok so you are an elf. What's the first thing that you know about Elves? That they think they are better than everyone else. So instantly you are an elitist and quite possibly a racist.
So you are a Paladin. What is the first thing you know about Paladin's? They are holy warriors. So now you are a fanatic, an elitist, and depending on the person talking about the situation, a pagan.
So without continuing on with those examples, they threw a lot of this stuff out. But along with it they also threw out alignment.
Now alignment wasn't thrown out for safety's sake, alignment was thrown out because of money. It's just easier (and more cost effective) to program a stack of quests that everyone can do than it is to program a specific storyline for each individual class and alignment in the game.
Really, when you think about it, just using the basics, for elf, half-elf, human, and halfling, warrior, cleric, mage, and theif, good, neutral, evil, and the chaotic and lawful adjustments of those titles, that's a HUGE amount of specific paths that no one, to this point, has been willing to address.
So what you end up with is no particular reason for any particular class and racial choice to mean anything other than what attacks you get. And so no wonder no one cares to try to roleplay. No one ever really explained to them that the reason the paladin gets to lay hands on himself is because he upholds a certain code of both chivalry and godliness.
In an MMO, everyone you run into is the same two alignments, chaotic good or chaotic evil, no matter how much they try to be anything else, because in the end, they are either going to help you get what you both want, or they are going to use you to get what they want, and pretty much the why and what for of the thing you are doing is beside the point.
Proper role play then, as I see it, would involve the game actually holding the player to a particular standard first. Not just supplying the tools and putting the burden on us, but actually creating paths to allow the player to succeed or fail in their chosen role. I believe that this would be a lot more rewarding on a sub-story level, and could provide many more hours of replay value where it done right.
But as things are now, all that is really happening is that an illusion of role play is being sold to you via literary and artistic allusion while the actual mechanics of role play are being ignored. Proof of this is how often the art and the stories change, but how little the games do.
My two cents.
First look around, almost no one refers to games as MMORPGs and more, not just MMO. The reason why is the player base now being drawn simply does not like elements that create good RPG in game mechanics, especially true difference in characters.
We have classes in MMOs today that run together. Eventually every class in an MMO get the same basic skills, Tanks gain DPS, DPS gain healing, Healers gain tanking stealth and so on... The reason is the general MMO public cries when someone else's character does something different than theirs. The same with race, now race is a skin that has little to no impact on game play or storyline.
Lets use Neverwinter as an example, specifically the Invocation system. Now since the character creation system has you selected a deity you will worship, this alone suggests that idea that each deity choice is represented differently in the Invocation system. Taking this a step further, Clerics, you would presume would gain some kind of advantage with this as well.
(This is an example of using game mechanics to create RP situations)
Yet we do not see this implemented. It is not do to complex game mechanics or programing difficulties. It is to the fact that the community would scream bloody murder if one Invocation system offered something they wanted and it was not the one they chose.
Wait however, in good RP fashion we could fix that, a player could through a series of quests change his faith. Nope the community would not stand for this because they could not do it with a token or buy a way to do it instantly, how dare we suggest they earn a change through character actions.
The issue with RP in MMOs is the fact that MMO gamers, on the whole, do not like the idea of consequences for actions and game mechanics that create real individuality. Those BTW are two basic tenants of good RP.
=============================
I have a soap box and I am not afraid to use it.
I think people simply refer to MMORPG's as MMO's because
A) there's a disproportionate amount of MMORPG's outside of any other MMOG
C) people are lazy/stupid.
I don't know what MMORPG you are referring to where tanks, dps, and healers are interchangable, but that almost sounds, by definition, to NOT be an mmoRPG.
Referincing that classes get homogenized (I'm guessing you're coming from WoW) is pretty much a balance issue / game mechanic thing. People would like to NOT be picked because of what class they are, but rather what THEY can do with said class. There are many legitimicies to this argument, none of which even encroach on the idea of morphing tanks, dps, and healers to the level that you are referring too.
As well, it is silly to penalize someone for a race they picked for a number of obvious reasons. The first being, people don't know what classes they will like until they try them. To punish them flat out for something they don't know is not only bad game design, it's flat out silly. You could make the argument that it adds more RPG value, but then by that token, I could make the same argument that people shouldn't resurrect on death because that could add more RPG value. The basis of what constitutes good RPG value should NEVER circumvent good gameplay mechanics.