When I started this blog, I had what I thought was a huge dilemma on my hands. How to properly spell the word, roleplaying? I know I know… I’m a dork. But the word roleplaying can be spelled or abbreviated in several different ways: roleplaying, role playing, role-playing, or abbreviated as RPG (role playing game). Honestly, they are all correct. But for the sake of consistency throughout the blog I wanted to spell it, tag it, and promote it all the same way.

I did a lot of keyword research online and I found out some interesting information. Most search engines prefer to separate the word to role playing. This typically refers to the actual act of role playing, whether it is game or non-game related. The single word, roleplaying, seems to be the preferred method of spelling by most tabletop publishers. However, I did find instances of each different way of spelling the word being used by publishers.

The abbreviation, RPG, is the most common way to spell it as far search engines are concerned. This is due to the fact that RPG is an abbreviation for several different things, such as role playing games or rocket-propelled grenade launchers. It also tends to be associated more with video games than tabletop roleplaying games. If you did a search on the keyword rpg, you would most likely find a lot of video games sites with a smattering of tabletop roleplaying games and a few other site-types.

In the end, I chose to spell the word as, roleplaying. My influence to do this was primarily due to two factors. One, most major roleplaying games spell it as one, non-hyphenated word. For example, Wizards of the Coast and White Wolf Publishing consistently spell it roleplaying in their game books and websites. Two, if you do a search on the single, non-hyphenated word, roleplaying, you will find primarily tabletop roleplaying games. That is my bread and butter, so I chose to go that route. As soon as you start to branch into role playing, role-playing, or RPG, you’re entering primarily video game territory. Although for years I’ve consistently referred to tabletop roleplaying games in my verbal speech as “RPGs”, I’ve found that when discussing tabletop roleplaying games online, “Roleplaying” is the way to go.