
William Hawkes-RobinsonEastern Washington University | EWU · Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
William Hawkes-Robinson
Interdiscplinary Bachelors in Recreation Therapy, Music Therapy, Neuroscience, & Research Psychology (nearing completion of). Previously acquired Associates in Computer Science (1998).
Research on the use of role-playing games as intervention modalities for educational, social, and therapeutic programs.
About
35
Publications
51,806
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Citations
Introduction
Introduced as the "Grandfather of Therapeutic Gaming" by professional peers and at conferences. Recreational therapist with background in recreation & music therapy, therapeutic recreation, neurosciences, research psychology, information security and computer science. Increasing research on therapeutic use of all role-playing game formats, music, bio-feedback and neuro-feedback. augmented, virtual, persistent, and other reality variants.
Additional affiliations
January 2013 - present
Rpgr.org
Position
- RPG Research Project Phase 1 - Preliminary Observation Group
Description
- Observational studies on role-playing games and their potential therapeutic and educational influences for potential use as therapeutic intervention and educational tool.
March 2002 - September 2002
SANS Institute
Position
- Microsoft's PPTP VPN Vulnerabilities - Exploits in Action
Description
- Vulnerability research experiments with VPN. Controlled lab experiments demonstrating in detail about attacks on the most common PPTP products. Results later integrated as de facto paper on this topic for the SANS Institute.
January 2002 - June 2003
The Computer Schools
Position
- Instructor
Description
- Instructed special needs students (ADD/ADHD, Asperghers, Autism), struggling in high school. Researched and developed curricula and software to help engage and address individual needs and helped them turn around their grades and behavioral issues.
Publications
Publications (35)
Based on the Hawkes-Robinson RPG Model, this is an updated Diagram of the Role-Playing Professional RPG Formats ranging from the Quintessential RPG to non-RPG with Fuzzy Distinctions between differences, Revision 20231112y PDF
In recent years, it has unfortunately become increasingly popular on social media, streaming media, and elsewhere, recommendations that when you know your player's play styles, you should match all players with the same play styles together in a group. For example, putting all of the combat-focused dungeon crawlers at one table that only provides a...
Background
The use of games for social skill development in the classroom is accelerating at a tremendous rate. At the same time, the research surrounding games designed for teaching social skills remains fragmented. This systematic review summarizes the current existing literature on social skill serious games for young people ages 5 to 19 and is...
DOI: 10.1177/10468781211031283
Background
The use of games for social skill development in the classroom is accelerating at a tremendous rate. At the same time, the research surrounding games designed for teaching social skills remains fragmented. This systematic review summarizes the current existing literature on social skill serious games for...
This document provides some observational views by the author about the unnecessary barriers to entry when introducing new players to role-playing games. This document was prepared as part of the planned programming for presentation and attendee discussion at the international researchers RPG Conference July 10th, 11th, & 12th, 2020. It was revised...
OVERVIEW This document attempts to summarize with a brief list the pros and cons of each role-playing game (RPG) format. The hope is that this differentiation between formats will improve the quality of future research studies and program planning for those professionals in various disciplines using these recreational activities as intervention mod...
Abstract
The now global growth in popularity of role-playing games (RPGs) is speculated to be the result of an evolution and convergence of many variables spanning decades. These variables include regional and global economic events, increased Internet services adoption, and socio-cultural changes. (citation pending) As RPGs have once again become...
an early sneak peak at some of the content within the upcoming "Role-Playing Game Professional Level 1 Training Workbook - For Recreation, Entertainment, Education, Healthcare & Therapeutic Professionals Using Tabletop, Live-action, Electronic, & Hybrid Role-Playing Games to Achieve Measurable Results.".
Attached is a PDF with some key excerpts fro...
Avedon's 1974 Interaction analysis has been very useful in explaining and developing role-playing games for various intervention goals. I created a "cheat sheet" that summarizes many pages of the concepts into one page, with specific notes for all role-playing game formats as per the Hawkes-Robinson RPG Model.
Diagram for the RPG Formats portion of the Hawkes-Robinson RPG Model. This portion of the RPG Model is meant to help gain, at a practical level, better understanding about which activities are role-playing games, and which are not role-playing games. These are fuzzy boundaries really, but there are some extremes that we can establish consensus abou...
Revision F, As presented at National Annual ATRA Conference by RPG Research & RPG Therapeutics. Diagram Summary & Relationship to Role-playing Game Interaction Patterns and RPG Formats according to the Hawkes-Robinson RPG Model at http://www.rpgtheories.com & http://www.model.com
RPG = Role-playing Game
ERPG = Electronic RPG
CRPG = Computer-based...
This diagram developed between 2004 to 2019 in parallel with the Therapeutic Recreation / Recreational Therapy various Ability models and is loosely based on some of those concepts, but in context of role-playing game development and advancement for players and game masters as facilities. This draft was In preparation for the 2019 RPG Conference at...
Slides from the Hawkes-Robinson RPG Model (2004-2019) as part of international RPG Researchers talk broadcast, Tuesday, June 25th, 2019. Helping visualize the various components and fuzzy boundaries of what is, and is not, a role-playing game. Talk recording available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/27899401 (only available to Patreon supporter...
This document provides an overview of the origins, evolution, debate, and current applications relevant to the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), also known as Stages of Change (SoC) and relevance to role-playing games. It includes some of the debate about the viability, or argued lack thereof, for programs based on the TTM in any setting. The paper als...
The approaches discussed in this document can be applied to all RPG Formats in various ways, with different strengths and weaknesses presenting in each format: Tabletop, Live-Action (LARP), computer-based (including solo, multiplayer, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), etc.), or solo adventure books/modules. Ideally a mix of all 4 format...
This tersely written paper includes background information and a few example program plan overviews from
the Therapeutic Recreation / Recreation Therapy (TR) perspective, utilizing both regular & adapted
versions of all 4 role-playing game formats: tabletop (TRPG), live-action (LARP), solo adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure books (CYOA), & compute...
Video with voice over to this presentation available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WsTnYmRRFM This is a shorter summary of the 2 hour presentation. This was created for The 2016 Living Games Conference http://www.livinggamesconference.com/role-playing-and-simulation-in-education-conference-hub/ http://www.rpgresearch.com Research studies o...
Session provided background and research information about the effects of role-playing gaming in all forms upon participants. It addresses the many inculcated concepts in popular culture regarding role-playing games and gamers, and presents the existing relevant research.
All formats of role-playing gaming are discussed, including Choose Your Own A...
January 26th 2016 PNWATRA Conference, Portland, Oregon. Pacific Northwest American Therapeutic Recreation Association Using Therapeutic Recreation and Role-Playing Games as Component in Individualized Education Program (IEP) for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Schools. Presentation Slide Notes
Presented for "Super Science Saturday" at WorldCon 73 in the exhibition hall. Providing a summary overview of 10+ years research on the effects of all forms of role-playing games: tabletop, live-action, choose your own adventure, & computer based. Includes summaries of Mission & Vision statements, more than 20 project goals, existing and planned pr...
WorldCon 73’s ”Super Science Saturday” requested I submit an 8’ x 4’ research summary poster for the August 2015 conference. This is a reduced (due to file size restrictions of this website) resolution of the full poster. Full size available on the www.rpgresearch.com website. This summarizes research, program plans, and other information spanning...
The presentation from April 11th, 2015 "The Therapeutic and Educational Uses of Role-Playing Games (RPG) as Intervention Modalities for Individuals and Groups from the Therapeutic Recreation Perspective" at Seattle Children's Hospital for the Washington State Therapeutic Recreation Association (WSTRA) 16th annual conference. The live version of thi...
For those discussing #InteractionPatterns, especially in the context of #RPG, here is a refresher on my adaptations of the Avedon 1974 Interaction patterns as applied to typical uses of all 4 formats of role-playing games: #TRPG, #LARP, #CRPG, #SABM (Solo Adventure Books & Modules). This illustrates the typical interaction patterns found in these r...
A slowly developing handbook of practice for suggested uses of all forms of role-playing games to use for therapeutic interventions from the recreation therapy discipline. This book is based on the formatting of the Recreation Therapy Handbook of Practice. This is only a hypothetical initial rough draft, mostly intended as a Request For Comments to...
A presentation at Eastern Washington University, for the ”People With Disabilities” Therapeutic Recreation course under the instruction Professor Emily Messina, this was the presentation portion of the course assignment. There is a much more detailed connected essay under similar title, with WHO ICF / ICD codes and more information.
A presentation at Eastern Washington University, for the "People With Disabilities" Therapeutic Recreation course under the instruction Professor Emily Messina, this was the presentation portion of the course assignment.
This is the shorter version of the essay associated with the presentation slide show on this topic.
A presentation at Eastern Washington University, for the "People With Disabilities" Therapeutic Recreation course under the instruction Professor Emily Messina, this was the presentation portion of the course assignment.
This is the longer version of the essay associated with the presentation slide show on this topic, it is less polished and unfini...
The report was written based on research undertaken to determine if there was any empirical evidence supporting or refuting the media's various negative claims about the supposed harmful effects on those who participate in the cooperative, social, recreational activity of role-playing gaming using the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game system, and if pl...
J.R.R. Tolkien often wrote about his affinity for the environment, trees, and his dismay at
the destruction of so much that he held so dear. “Every Tree Has It's Enemy, Few Have an Advocate” (Letters #241). Tolkien manifests a means of defense/revenge in the form of the Ents and the Huorns. Tolkien created characters that in his view defended the d...
Further developing the possible applications of role-playing gaming for therapeutic and educational interventions, in this essay for youth and adult populations.
Role-playing gaming (RPGing) is a cooperative recreational activity with many variants. There was a considerable amount of negative press in the 1980's about a specific fantasy role-playi...
Brief overview of the history of role-playing games. Overview of the social and media backlash against role-playing games, the role-playing game industry, and the beginnings of the social stigma developed towards those that participate in the recreational activity. Some potential therapeutic benefits, and some existing research supporting the poten...
This article build further upon the previous essay on the possibilities of using the recreational activity known as role-playing gaming for potential therapeutic interventions. Later articles continue to build upon this premise with increasing detail.
This essay provides a brief history,and overview of the potential therapeutic value of the cooperative social recreational activity known as role-playing gaming, and provides some general suggestions for potential development towards using this activity for controlled therapeutic interventions. Later essays on this topic build further upon these id...
A comprehensive peer reviewed research paper on the vulnerabilities of Microsoft's implementation of the virtual private network technology known as Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). Explains the use of the technology, published vulnerabilities, and exposes previously unknown/unpublished vulnerabilities. This paper was later turned into the...
Questions
Questions (2)
Using role-playing games to treat traumatic brain injury video and supporting documents and details.
I am continuing ongoing research related the the therapeutic use of role-playing games in various forms, and for different populations as detailed on rpgresearch.com.
As part of the research, always trying to find those that have actually tried using RPG's as a treatment approach.
Psychotherapeutic role-playing, gestalt therapy's chair work, and Psychodrama are somewhat well known, but do not have the same distinctive levels of structure (defined rules, "character sheet", character "advancement", etc.) as RPG, a key difference. The definition of clearly established rules, and usually a more significant form of abstraction between the participant and the participant's "character", create a bit more of a "buffer" between self and other.
So with that in mind, how many of you have used, or are aware of someone using, some form of tabletop, live-action (LARP), or computer-based RPG as a treatment intervention modality?