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The ‘JRPG’ label has always been othering
(www.polygon.com)
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Yes, while I am open to the idea that defining a genre by nationality could be discriminatory, it seems Japanese RPG designers have done everything they can to cultivate the distinct tropes and stylings of that genre (including perhaps some latent misogyny and othering of their own).
People don't refer to every game from japan as "Japanese game". You could argue that Death Stranding is an RPG, but no one would think to call it a JRPG.
But, I'm open to see more arguments why it is a discriminatory, it's not outside the realm of the possible or anything and perhaps I haven't thought very deeply about it.
I have, in fact, talked to people who are insistent that any RPG made in Japan is a JRPG and any game not made in Japan isn't. They argued that Dark Souls is a JRPG. They were entirely serious.
Did they also argue that a hot dog is a sandwich?
That would be a ridiculous position to hold.
A hot dog is clearly a taco.
Amusingly, Dark Souls seems to have spawned its own mini-genre, with people now calling games "Souls-likes".
I've met such people before.
I disagree with them though, as the tropes and presentation of a game are more pertinent to genre labels, than is the nationality of its creators. There are many western-made JRPGs, and there might even be Japanese-made WRPGs as well.