I thought of something else that could contribute--there's a large segment of people who think rpg = fantasy as well. Zelda has a lot of overlapping fantasy elements common to rpgs so people see/play the game and that misconception leads them to believe it's an rpg based solely on those elements.

I thought of this because I was recently talking to an older coworker of mine about games. She and her boyfriend are into rpgs, mainly WoW. I mentioned how Final Fantasy XIII was coming out soon and it had a cross-console release so she might enjoy it. This is completely impossible to my brain, but she didn't know Final Fantasy was an RPG series. Why? Because all the trailers and such had all futuristic/science fiction elements to it. She thought it was some sort of shooter. Had they shown more of the fantasy side of the game it probably would have been more recognizable. It's entirely possible that many gamers who aren't hardcore or have only played the biggest name titles for the new or the last console generation may very well share this admittedly unthinkable [to me] misconception.

RPGs are more mainstream but gamers who play the genre as a whole are still very much a minority, it seems. It's very possible that the genre is incomprehensible to people who don't play them, just as video games in general are incomprehensible to nongamers. They just don't 'get' it in the same way those of us who grew up playing RPGs do.

~DragonHeart~