For me, I enjoy a lot of complexity in a game, beyond just the combat system. Combat systems, for the most part, ARE the heart of most RPG style games. For me, I want Maeva to be more of a virtual world before it's an "RPG". I feel that with a lot of RPGs, especially multiplayer ones, the focus is almost solely on character development, experience and equipment. I usually find the worlds to be lacking in depth, like they're just built around the need for endless hordes of baddies. I miss old dungeon crawl elements like traps and puzzles. I want the focus of Maeva to be on "adventure", on discovering new places and creatures that create new and unique situations, which then must be solved with different methods. I'm not opposed to levels, if you have any sort of character development, people are going to brag about their characters, because no matter what, someone is going to spend more time than someone else, and thus, end up with a better character. My solution to that is to offer enough other interesting aspects of the game so that the focus is drawn away from just character development.
I agree that character customization is key to a real "role playing" game. If you're going to have a "character" dedicated to you, it should be YOUR character, not just one you pulled out of a box of duplicates. I think this goes both for appearance and for playing style. I don't want every mage in Maeva to be the same, nor every fighter. They'll be around for similar purposes, but their methods may be totally different. A fighter trained in slashing weapons is going to focus more on dealing as much damage as quickly as possible, while a fighter who is skilled in polearms may take a more defensive stance in battle and focus on keeping enemies at bay.

I think people have a very broad understanding of the word RPG. I can respect games that call themselves an RPG but really have no roleplaying elements at all. Their definition of RPG pretty much is related to a medival fantasy setting, which is definitely a misnomer, but it doesn't have to mean the game is terrible.

There needs to be a balance between gameplay and realism. Too much gameplay leads to hokey explanations of in-game events. (All players start with a "stone of ressurection", because it's inconvient for people to die) Too much realism leads to boring or frustrating gameplay. (You died, you're dead, you'll never come back, deal with it) Remember that it's a game, it's supposed to be fun. No, most itallian plumbers can't jump 5 times their own height, but who doesn't love kicking turtle shells at angry mushrooms?

-A good background story (I mean people need a reason to play an rpg right? That's why it's called a Role Playing Game)

You need no story to play a role :P. Roleplaying is about the player creating a story about their character. A good well defined setting does help a lot though.

-Levels (This makes people go around bragging about their levels. Unless it's fairly difficult to get to the next level.)

Bragging rights is one of the big rand easy rewards you can give to a player. This is easily seen in all the old arcade games in which there was no real end and you just played in an attempt to get as high a score as possible and possible get on the high score list. Though I don't see the point of bragging about level in an RPG since it tends to be more about how much time you have to waste rather than any kind of talent but people seem to like to brag about it anyway :P. However I have yet to see any RPG really make it hard to level up just various degrees of time needed to invest to do so.

-Complicated Battle System (unless it's turn based then the BatSys should be about speed rather than complexity)

Unless you make it turn based you can't really have a complex battle system since you're not really giving the player time to think out their options and they are limited by how quickly they can use the UI to carry them out. With time being limited you can't really make it too complex without making it impossible for the player to manage. When it's turn based speed isn't an issue at all since the turns should move at the rate the player completes them so they have as much or as little time as they want.

They think it's fantasy type game where you go around defeating monsters/bad guys, gain levels, do quests, go to different areas of the world, etc.

Yes, and there's hundreds of games produced which follow that same basic formula. It's sort of become some new definition of RPG. I guess "Adventure" just isn't cool anymore, RPG seems to be the keyword. "Adventure" seems to have the connotation of the old point-and-click adventure games like Space Quest or Full Throttle I think.

Whenever I think RPG I break it down in my head.. Role Playing Game, which makes me think that any game that allows you to play a role of a person in the game would be an RPG

Hehe, by that standard, Half-Life and Doom are RPGs, you're just playing the role of a gun-toting hero. It pretty much comes down to the fact that most "RPGs" are about monster smashing and levelling, not about roleplaying, which can still be fun, however shallow it may be. (Dungeon Siege: Your neighbor was killed, go kill anything that moves, and if it doesn't move, make it move and then kill that too)

As leveling just being time investment, that's all any game is going to be. Even games that don't involve a progressive character, playtime = practice and practive makes someone better at it. If the argument is that in RPGs people aren't "getting better" at anything, then improve the depth of your combat/experience system. Make defeating newer more powerful enemies require more thought and strategy rather than a bigger sword or thicker armor.

Oh DerDragon, I honestly thought I put "except for RTS, shooters, and other action games," but I didn't put it in there, obviously. I think ahead of myself too much.

Theodis, there are a select few games. Hm.. for example Space Station 13 basically gives you a role to play out. You don't gain levels or anything, but you are playing the role of a person on a research station with a job, duties, etc. The game is obviously tainted by the amount of open-endedness, specifically the amount of violent things you can do. All in all though, you're supposed to be playing a role, right?

Theodis wrote:

Tainted by openendedness :P? Isn't that what roleplaying is all about in the first place?

You're not really supposed to break down a wall and kill people you work with.

"Captain, here's those reports you wanted.."
"Thank you, Johnson. Go check on Officer Jones."
"Yes, sir."
:: Guy with some random tool comes in and starts hitting people in the head with it ::
"Johnson! No! Security, this intelligent man has gone off his rocker after performing some engine maintenance duties onboard!"

I'll edit my first post.

I guess so, but we're kind of getting off topic.

In all reality, people on a research station are supposed to be scientists, not belligerent, pyschotic idiots. People that do that don't really have roleplay in mind, they're not sitting there thinking 'Hey! I'll pretend i'm a belligerent pyscho this round! Whenever someone calls my name, i'll charge at them with a sharp object!'