That question kinda feels like the first time a teacher asked me the definition of time. I know what it is but have a hard time thinking of an ACCURATE definition.
*my answer was "time is the way we measure time", hehe 8th grade science teachers :mdr!: gotta love'em when they make you think*
A game based mainly in the imagination, that allows the players to take on the role of a being(s) unlike themselves. The players take on the personality (in an ideal game) and abilites of an imaginary character (unless your game is really wierd), which allows for situations and encounters too dangerous or outrageous for everday normal people to safely or sanely put themselves through.
I would also define roleplaying games as a rare cultural phenomenon. Unlike punk, grunge, 80's new wave, disco, reality TV, boy bands, B slasher movies and the Beatles, to name just a few, RPGs have staying power. 30-40 years after their inception they are still around as are the people who play them. Long after disco became a joke RPGs are still around.
And lastly RGPs are social gatherings. Akin to the camp fires of our ancestors and the stories they told. Millenium ago you had a Shaman leading the tribe in chanting and retelling of legends and past glories as well as combinations of the two. Today you have the DM, GM, Judge, storyteller or whatever they are called weaving interactive tales not unlike the ritual dancing and reenactments of past events our anscestors participated in long ago. Without battles and enemies to test ourselves against we turn to the imagination to stroke the ego and provide the stimulation toadys society cannot provide. I also believe that for some people it takes the place of a right of passage when you are finally let into the game everyone told you your to young to play.
And beleive it or not I am finally out of wind. ;)
DG X(
Marvel > DC