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There was recently a post bemoaning the lack of "real roleplaying" in the current RPG community (specifically in the D&D Adventurers League), suggesting that, since some point in its history, more thought is now given to combat and dice and less focus toward acting in character.
I'm very new to roleplaying, and my only D&D experience is with 3.5e (when I was completely new) and 5e (the rules of which I have studied a fair amount).

How, if at all, have the different editions of D&D changed their focuses on dice-rolling and character-based roleplaying? I'm looking for answers in terms of the rules or advice given in the rulebooks or other official sources.

RichardJ
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    I think it's a great question, but I'm not sure it's a great fit for this site's Q&A model. It seems like a good answer would be a long article on the history of different phases of the RPG industry. (Which I'd love to read!) – nitsua60 Sep 19 '15 at 13:58
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    That said, maybe I'm too narrow-minded: check out mxyzplk's amazing answer to http://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/29367/23970. – nitsua60 Sep 19 '15 at 14:21
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    "Long articles" are well within our site's abilities to handle (e.g. see the counter-cystarchy answer). I can imagine both long and short answers to this, all within sizes our site can handle. – doppelgreener Sep 19 '15 at 15:46
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    This might seem like a simple matter, but it isn't. It's extremely broad and very much a matter of debate. If you want to hear people's thoughts, you're probably looking for a discussion forum such as one of these rather than a Stack. If you want to ask how something more specific within something more specific has changed (such as the "DM guidance" within "D&D editions", as in the question nitsua60 mentioned), that might be something we can help with. Something as broad as this current question is better off where discussion can roam freely, though. – SevenSidedDie Sep 19 '15 at 23:26
  • I've edited the question to try and make it more narrow in scope while still asking what I want to know; please let me know if you feel any other changes are still needed – RichardJ Sep 20 '15 at 09:06
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    This is still going to be based on opinion and argument rather than fact and references. May I suggest you ask on a discussion forum instead? While this question might not work here, it will work fine as the beginning of a conversation on a site made for discussion. – SevenSidedDie Sep 20 '15 at 20:09
  • Why can't this be answered by fact and references? I mean, we'll have to delete some questions from the mooks that refuse to follow the site rules, but this seems directly parallel to the GM-fiat-over-the-editions question. – mxyzplk Sep 21 '15 at 12:39
  • Now having said that it would help if you explained what problem you're trying to solve here... Are you just curious about RAW history of gaming? Or are you looking for validation about how RPing has changed over the years, or how it's more problematic in organized play? – mxyzplk Sep 21 '15 at 16:04
  • It is just pure curiosity, so I guess a discussion forum is more suitable. It'd be interesting to see how the rules have advised on this at different points in history but that can always be answered on a forum too. – RichardJ Sep 21 '15 at 19:04
  • This would be broad and opinion-based because it's going to depend on individual play styles. Even within a fairly current system, like DnD 4E, some groups focus more on RP and some focus more on dice and combat. Perhaps some way you could rephrase it to ask about a change of focus in the rules? Or restrict the question to demo games from the publisher or something like that? – DCShannon Sep 24 '15 at 22:31

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