Role playing games have become immensely powerful in the last decade or so. One of the reasons for this is the prevalence of the Internet. It has grown to such an extent that there are hundreds of millions of people on it, who participate in online activities of all sorts. In addition, the speed of the Internet has improved as well. Where once the common connection was a 56K dial-up, nearly everyone now has some form of DSL or cable. Combined with the growing power of computers, mainly in the RAM and processing capacity, people can now play sophisticated, console-quality games on their computers, and the speed of the Internet lets them play with other people. For this reason, role playing games have become incredibly popular among many gamers.
Unlike action, adventure, sports, and other types of games, RPGs are long and enduring. You can play as the same character theoretically for years, constantly improving their statistics and attributes, as well as meeting new people and engaging in whatever missions the particular RPG requires you to complete. There are some RPGs in which only a single person plays, but the ones that you play online are known as massively-multiplayer online role playing games, or MMORPGs. One of the best ones known to the masses is World of Warcraft, as that does happen to be the most popular RPG on the Internet.
RPGs can provide a deeper level of game play and storytelling that other games cannot achieve. However, they definitely move more slowly than other kinds of
computer games, and you have to bear with them before they start to get really exciting. There are some people who cannot get enough of this though, so for these kinds of people, RPGs are the ideal games that let you step out of your own life and into the being of another character.