I find that by the time the debate reaches this level of semantics, nothing productive is forthcoming. But, I'll take snowram's definition. I remember listening to a video game podcast where the "what is an RPG?" debate came up, and after a few parameters came out, the moderator said, "so is Call of Duty an RPG?" because it had stats, and progression mechanics, the "RPG mechanics", which had been the underpinning of every definition. Maybe that's the true RPG renaissance, a lot of the mechanics that were once only found in RPGs now are standard in every genre of game.
