Matt Barton of the excellent Armchair Arcade has just completed the second in a series of 'History of CRPG' articles, this one to be published on Gamasutra in a couple of weeks, and has posted a really interesting companion piece discussing how Computer RPGs are archetypically defined.

This explains: "I just finished my "Golden Age" article that covers the years between 1985 and 1993, and I've been thinking more about what makes a "CRPG" a "CRPG," and how different developers have modified the concept over the years. What I've noticed is that a few perennial questions really dominate the discussion, and even if I'm not sure where I come down on all of them, I think it's worthwhile to put them on the table."

He then wanders through a bunch of the staples behind CRPGs, one of my favorites being 'The General Store': "There are few CRPGs indeed that don't have some type of blacksmith that sells arms, armor, and adventuring equipment. Often enough, these will be the only types of stores in the game, which makes one wonder how the various towns and villages of the world manage to get by!" I dunno, I'm sure you can buy donuts in at least a few RPGs!