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Theory, Central Concepts, and Inspirational Materials
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This textbook describes theory and practice in analog role-playing game (RPG) design that encourage specific transformative impacts in participants, including tabletop, live action role-playing (larp), and Nordic and American freeform. We describe three types of transformative RPGs: transformative leisure, therapeutic, and educational. We present our model of nano-game design, offering recommendations for designing transformative goals; framing activities such as workshops and debriefs; narrative and culture design. This interdisciplinary book highlights theories from role-playing game studies, peace and conflict studies, psychology, social psychology, sociology, counseling, anthropology, pedagogy, and several other fields. Key concepts include bleed, alibi, RPGs as transformational containers, immersion, identity, transfer, ritual, psychotherapeutic techniques, group theories, and educational theories. We emphasize psychological safety before, during, and after games, as well as strategies for cultivating transformational communities. Key topics include working with specific populations; crisis management; sensitive content and representation. Then, we discuss working with myth, symbolism, and ritual, narrative, and postmodern magic as methods for transforming the stories of our lives. We cover forms of culture within and around RPGs, as well working with conflict in scenarios related to politics, culture, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. We share thoughts around the use of RPGs to foster activism, advocacy, inclusion, and accessibility. Finally, we offer considerations for researchers studying transformative role-playing games, including academic argument, structure, theory, method, data collection, ethics, and other considerations. We introduce key methods, including Research through Design, ethnography, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The book closes with a summary of evidence-based research available on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects of role-playing games.
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This comprehensive guide explores Jean Piaget’s influential theory of cognitive development, as presented by Saul McLeod for Simply Psychology. It outlines the four developmental stages—Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational—detailing the key cognitive changes and learning characteristics within each stage. The article also explains essential concepts such as schemas, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration, offering clear examples and diagrams to enhance understanding.
Beyond theory, the resource includes practical educational applications, teaching strategies based on Piaget’s ideas, and critiques from contemporary psychological research. It also compares Piaget’s work with that of other major theorists including Vygotsky, Erikson, and Bronfenbrenner.
This publication is ideal for psychology students, educators, and researchers interested in developmental psychology and constructivist approaches to learning.
Source: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Author: Saul McLeod
Publisher: Simply Psychology
Date: October 21, 2024
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Role-play is an established tool in psychotherapy. Recent literature has indicated the similarities between live action role-playing (larp) and psychotherapy. In cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is one of the most widespread therapeutic approaches, Role-play is a tool for developing desired target behavior (Fliegel 2020). This also applies to so-called skills groups in CBT. One form of these skills groups is the Gruppentraining sozialer Kompetenzen (Hinsch et al. 2015). Some literature has highlighted the similarities between role-playing methods used in CBT-oriented skills groups and larp (Aschenbrenner 2013, Balzer 2008). A deficit in social skills is associated with a variety of mental disorders (Segrin 2001). The use of a CBT-oriented larp may therefore be helpful in the treatment of several mental disorders. A standardised form of CBT-oriented larp in the sense of a clinical manual does not yet exist. There is also no empirical evaluation with questionnaires of such a therapeutic larp yet. This article presents the implementation and empirical evaluation of a standardised CBT-oriented larp. This clinical case study was conducted with 6 patients with mental disorders.Participants were aged 30 years or younger and all had at least one affective disorder. Established clinical screening questionnaires were used for assessment. Data were collected in a pre-post follow-up design. The study shows that this CBT-oriented larp is feasible with people with mental illness. Qualitative data show good goal attainment and positive experiences among participants. Short-term positive developments were also found in the screenings. However, an empirical statement about the effectiveness of the larp is not yet possible; in the long term, the screenings even show negative trends. Participants were aged 30 years or younger and all had at least one affective disorder. Established clinical screening questionnaires were used for assessment. Data were collected in a pre-post follow-up design. The study showed that a CBT-oriented larp has positive effects on mental health, especially in the short term, and can be an effective component of conventional behavioral therapy in the long term.
In Cruel Optimism, Lauren Berlant asserts that “fantasy [can serve] as a life-sustaining defense against the attritions of ordinary violent history,” which is a statement that holds true for many queer role-players in TTRPG spaces (Berlant 2012, 45). Around the table, these worlds enable players to discover and render their identities legible in social utopian spaces and rehearse their performance for life outside of them. Through engaging with scholarship, autoethnographic writing, and cultural production surrounding TTRPGs, queer identity, avatars, and gender performance, this project asserts that TTRPGs function as safe spaces for becoming, due in part to the ability to create an avatar, or “flexible representational stand-in” for the self, that is queer and embodied through role-play (McMillan, 2015 13). This is achieved through tracking the author’s experience of discovering and forming their queer and trans identity through role-playing various characters and disciplining their function through related interdisciplinary theory across queer, feminist, and role-playing studies. Additionally, through utilizing additional ethnographic accounts and analyzing TTRPG-based media in theatre and actual play spaces, this project further establishes how the emancipatory potential in escapist TTRPG fantasy spaces can ultimately alter queer role-players’ engagement with material reality in a world adversarial to their existence and visibility, especially in light of the past few years.
The RPG concept bleed describes the spillover of physical states, mental states, physicality, values, opinions, and other similar concepts from player to character and vice versa. Over the years, numerous theorists have suggested several specific types of bleed, but how these suggested types stand in relation to each other has yet to be theorized. In order to create a foundation from which to better be able to study and conduct research on bleed, this article presents a conceptual model that places the previously suggested bleed types in relation to each other and to theories of identity creation in adjacent fields. The concept of the bleed perception threshold and the bleed complex of identity bleed is suggested as part of this model. The article then shows how theories concerned with identity creation from different fields such as psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience inform the model and how the model does not stand in opposition to them. Using the model and the presented theories as a starting point, the article makes suggestions about how bleed can affect a player’s sense of self.
Many psychologists, therapists, and educators have emphasized the practice of play, especially with enacted roles, as a site for learning and therapeutic growth. This article weaves together a plethora of theories from psychology, Counseling, and role-playing game studies in an effort to understand the nature of enacted roles, their relationship to identity, and their transformative potential. Challenging the notion that identity is a fixed, stable monolith, the article synthesizes four overall approaches to theorizing the nature of identity drawn from various theories: identity as a social construct, narrative identity, identity as psychodynamic, and identities as parts of a whole. The authors posit that these ways of framing identity can help role-players, designers, and facilitators better understand the multifaceted nature of selfhood. This work holds implications for understanding the enactment of characters in role-playing games, especially with regard to the transformative potential of the role-playing experience.
Throughout the article, we also explore the psychology of play from the perspective of therapeutic practices and modalities that exist outside of the discourses of role-playing games as a hobby or field of academic study. We will emphasize how role-play, identity shifting, narrative, and embodied enactment are present in many existing therapeutic processes to various degrees. Examples include psychosynthesis, Gestalt therapy, drama therapy, narrative therapy, Internal Family Systems, and person-centred therapy. We will highlight clinical therapists who use role-playing games to augment more traditional practices.
Furthermore, while role-taking activities are central to many human experiences throughout time, the article will emphasize benefits the imagination space of role-playing games, particularly with regard to prolonged perspective taking, co-creative improvisation, the alibi of fiction, and increased agency and empowerment. The article will also address limitations to the form that might interrupt its transformative potential, such as cognitive dissonance, identity defense, and difficulties with integrating these experiences within one’s life narrative after they conclude.
In this thesis I investigate the structure and system of emergent narratives in multiplayer participatory fiction with a view to resolving the perceived tension between the vision of the writer and the agency of the players to perform actions that are unexpected, and which may produce a narrative crisis that threatens the coherence of the experience. The nascent field of larp studies has an uneasy relationship with storytelling, and the terminology connected to it. Much of the literature exists as pre-theory (yet underpinned by more than twenty years of praxis)
The original contribution of this work is two-fold. I produce an object model which describes the (chaotic) narrative system, and I offer a method for interrogating the system in order to derive an understanding of its state.
Using a combination of autoethnography, systems modelling, and object-oriented analysis as well as discourse analysis, I present a series of case studies in which I consider the role of the writer in participatory fiction, and I survey the processes of creating and participating in larps.
I develop an extended narratological model which describes the distinction between plot (planned events), story (emergent), and narrative (events described after they have occurred.) I describe an approach to larp narrative design as a form of ontological engineering which I present as a framework and a method to support cultural practice. I describe the experience of participation and use the inherent subjectivity of this experience to illustrate the complexity and variables of a larp narrative system during runtime. I draw on this evidence to create an object-based model of the system. I identify underlying patterns and tropes in narrativization and suggest that there is a degree of observable narrative predictability. I offer a four-step process for interrogating the chaotic narrative system in order to derive a probable state and direction of the story in real time and using this to coherently resolve narrative crises.
I describe this process as Combat Narratology - the study of emergent narrative and its structure, performed under pressure in real time.
This paper introduces an ecological approach to the performance of live action role-playing, commonly referred to as larping. Ecology and ecological, in this context, are not used to explain our relation to nature and its protection, but rather our relationship to our surrounding environment and other subjects dwelling in it. The approach was chosen because it provides the study with a comprehensive and an inclusive way of looking at performances. Larps can be seen as performances from many points of view: it can mean displaying one’s skills in role-playing or in improvising; it can mean patterning one’s behavior to signify that of a fictional character; or it can mean keeping up a vision or expectations of a fictional character. In addition – and what is especially the focus of this paper – the performance of larping can be understood as completing or carrying out actions that constitute the activity called larping. To explain the ecological approach, this paper will first provide the reader with an overview of larps as ecologies, and then dissect the performance of larping into four steps that are essentially connected to each other in the ecology: information pickup, extraction of possibilities, choice-making and embodiment. To summarize, a larp ecology is a comprehensive interdependent systems where all the players and other organic and non-organic components of the game support each other. In this ecology, the players pick up information, extract possibilities for actions from that information, make choices on which possibilities to carry out and embody those choices by applying their bodily repertoire to the performance.
Accounts of trans people using role-playing games (RPGs) as a safer space to “try out” another way to be gen- dered can be found in numerous sites – from the memetic, to the anecdotal, to the academic. Using autoethnography and post-structuralist queer theory of performativity in combination with scholarly perspectives of RPGs as sites for potential- ly transformative experiences, I consider the ways in which live-action role-playing games (larps) might help trans peo- ple express, explore, and embody their subjectivity. I argue that despite there being a relatively small (though growing) number of larps designed to encourage players to consider gender and sexuality norms in society, there remains no larp that intentionally allows trans people (or those questioning their gender) to consider their gender subjectivity therein. Scholarly perspectives on larps suggest that they might provide a site for the simulation of complex socio-cultural dy- namics, a space to adopt different social roles, and the alibi and scaffolding to do so in a way that is validating with a community of like-minded role-players (Deterding 2018; Bowman and Hugaas 2021). I present examples of larps that, either by design or not, seem to have provided opportunities for gender role-play and transformative experiences for some trans players. I consider the possible limitations the embodied experience of larps -- as opposed to digital and table-top RPGs (TRPGs) -- might have in allowing such exploration for some trans players, particularly in potentially transphobic play environments. I argue howev- er, that the embodied nature of larps might also provide an opportunity to explore gender role-play in such a way that allows for the validation of more diverse physical and social gender presentations, as well as the rehearsal thereof in a safer space. I present accounts of trans people -- including my own autoethnography -- using role-playing games, larps, and other activities/ environments not necessarily consciously designed for the purpose of gender exploration as the basis for how this might be designed for intentionally in larps. I conclude by proposing to design a larp that could provide an opportunity to express, ex- plore, and embody non-normative gender, and I pose a series of questions that I believe such a design should seek to answer.
This paper extends theoretical work on small group dynamics in live action role-play (larp; Leonard and Arango 2013), honing in on three challenges larps face that are anticipated by our unique integration of roleplay studies with small groups research. These challenges are: relative group embeddedness, which can cause splintering and unfavorable social comparison when a larp is situated in a dense network of other larp groups; bleed of relationship dynamics such that in-character conflicts can foster intragroup tension (Bowman 2013), especially under conditions of zero-sum competition; and principled conflicts in which players disagree on core values, ideas, and goals of the larp itself (Wheelan 1994). We analyzed 17,371 survey responses to explore the role of embeddedness, socially competitive play, and regional play-style “fit” in explaining larp satisfaction. We discuss implications of these hypothesis-driven analyses, both for their scholarly and practical value.
This article examines the impact of physical presence on simulation and educational gaming. Through a meta-review of existing research, it reveals central issues that need to be taken into account when deploying physical simulations. On one hand, the method allows participants to experience events from a visceral first-person perspective. On the other, physical presence limits their vision to one viewpoint and removes tools that other media forms could use for additional exposition. As the environment is largely indexical, fewer elements require re-interpretation in order to fit the fiction, but they can likewise be disruptive, if too far removed from the expectations of play. To balance the play experience and the learning goals, physical simulations should deploy efficient briefings and debriefings. The former ensures that players have sufficient information for play and the right approach to it, while the latter ensures that the intended interpretation of the content and events remains dominant, so that the central learning goals can be ascertained. Physical simulations are revealed as an efficient and enjoyable, yet imprecise learning tool.
Role-playing to experience marginalized lives impacts players and their communities for better and worse. Players may achieve greater empathy for marginalized people (Galinsky and Moskowitz 2000; Greitemeyer and Osswald 2010) or undergo meaningful psychological change via intentional and unconscious self-exploration (Bowman 2007). However, not all of these stories have a happily ever after. This article examines the ways in which such role-play as a marginalized character can also have unintended negative consequences. We relate this larp activity to the phenomenon of dark tourism, in which privileged individuals voluntarily enter disaster zones due to a mix of motives that include voyeurism and vicarious danger exposure, carrying with them a mixed bag of intentions and outcomes. This review aims to answer the following question: What are the positive and negative outcomes of role-playing as a marginalized character? We will explore individual and collective outcomes of this type of experiential learning and make recommendations for designers and players to better achieve desired positive outcomes and limit the negative ones. Our work draws on research from games studies, experimental psychology, pedagogical studies, and the emerging literature about the motivations and consequences of tourism that seeks to touch on pain, trauma, and even death (i.e., dark tourism).
Do role-playing games (RPGs) affect the player’s well-being? Several studies suggest that they might have an impact, but the topic of RPGs and well-being is usually only mentioned as a side note or curiosity. A clear, coherent picture on the topic of RPGs and well-being is missing. This review article aims to provide that picture by compiling the already existing knowledge in one place. I ask the questions: What can we learn from the already existing research? How should RPGs and well-being be studied? What questions need resolving? What can be gained from studying RPGs and well-being? RPG studies is a young academic interdisciplinary field of research, as is also the research of arts and well-being. They both are heterogeneous and related to a variety of academic traditions. They both are also dispersed, pragmatic, and until recently, scattered and lacking cohesive traditions or methodologies. Many basic ontological questions remain unsolved and the definitions of key concepts vary. They overlap in several discourses, such as the ones about (1) practices of sociodrama and replication therapy; (2) social, cultural, and digital capital; (3) leisure time research; (4) performance studies; (5) the topic of erotic role-play; (6) problematic vs. therapeutic gaming; and (7) health education. Previous research and practices focus mainly on live action role play (larp) and well-being, suggesting a positive impact. Online RPGs share their own traditions, but studies on tabletop RPGs and well-being are difficult to find. The studies are often case-studies or examine abstract topics such as human experiences. In these studies, it becomes evident that RPGs do indeed impact well-being. However, questions such as how, why, and what features in RPGs affect well-being remain unanswered. In addition, the research has mainly been executed from the perspective of either RPGs or arts and well-being. Interdisciplinary cooperation is the key to successfully diving into the world of RPGs and well-being. Doing so would offer both fields useful practices, interesting perspectives, new opportunities for publication and academic discussion. It would not only add knowledge about RPGs and well-being but offer perspective to the unresolved ontological questions of each field. Eventually, further study on RPGs and well-being could transfer into the usage of RPGs in the fields of well-being, health, and therapy in a similar manner that arts are currently being used.
Erotic larp is an emerging trend in the Nordic countries. Sexuality and socio-dramatic play have been combined in numerous ways in the past; what is new about this concentration of erotic embodied adult pretend play is that it is emerging from a culture of reflexive, critical, and bespoke design, as a tradition of art games. By studying 25 design abstracts of Nordic art larps from the last decade, this article seeks not only to map, classify, organize, and understand the phenomena of erotic larp design, but to discuss how norms of sexuality are reflected in the Nordic larp community through looking at how sexuality is thematised, described, signalled, and designed. The analysis in this article is rooted in game studies and informed by sexuality studies. In the design abstracts, we uncover how sexuality is thematised by the designers and signalled to the players, as well as how larp rules, mechanics, and expectations are designed for erotic role-play interactions. The article shows that a Nordic tradition of larps with design for erotic and sexual play has emerged during the 201 Os, how new larp mechanics scaffold erotic role-play in ways that give room for sexual arousal through layered alibis, and that these form of larps are inclusive of people of marginalised genders and sexualities, as well as of sexual kinks. The discussion also addresses the tension between liberation and oppression of sexuality in erotic larp design, as well as tensions around player agency and compelling game mechanics.
This research project explores the prevalence of violence and its facilitation in the popular tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Violence within the system’s 5th edition core rulebook, the Player’s Handbook (Wizards of the Coast 2014b), is analysed using textual analysis with insight from previous research on common violence motivators of heroism, hatred, and sensation-seeking curiosity. Overall, the study concludes that the D&D system facilitates playing violence, specifically through heroic motivation based on androcentric perceptions of chivalric fantasy ideals. This study also finds that the system spotlights combat over nonviolent interactions. Future research could investigate how participant agency may affect violence in similar traditional RPG systems, and why choosing violence in a no-consequence game could reflect real-world behaviours.
This paper investigates the psychology of bleed-out, in which in-character dynamics spill over into out-of-character thoughts and feelings (Montola, 2011). We pair emerging neuroscience theory and research with classic models of emotion and motivation to examine the causes and consequences of this important larp phenomenon. Regarding positive bleed, hormones associated with trust and love may promote social bonding between players through shared in-character experiences (Kosfeld et al. 2005). Negative interpersonal dynamics could also develop, however, during antagonistic character interaction via “neural alarm bells” -- increased activation in brain areas associated with social rejection (Eisenberger, Leiberman, and Williams 2003). Such neural activity could in turn set off defensive aggression or social withdrawal (Twenge et al. 2001), behaviors that could bleed over into out-of-game interactions. The impact of these and other neuropsychological reactions on players’ behavior may be determined by the degree to which the line between self and character becomes blurred during play. According to Lankoski and Järvelä (2012), however, such blurring is a baked-in feature of human embodied cognition. Therefore, we propose that compartmentalizing “in-character” reactions requires immense self-regulatory control – a limited resource which is known to be depleted through many activities common to larp, e.g., effortful decision making and self-presentation (Vohs, Baumeister, and Ciarocco 2005; Vohs et al. 2014). Connecting self-regulatory resource models with bleed in this way is especially important since negative bleed-out can be a source of conflict in player communities (Bowman 2013). As such, we offer proactive solutions for those players or designers who wish to tailor a particular larp experience in order to avoid bleed-out, building on pre-existing best practices: informed consent, safe-spaces, and debriefing (Burns 2014; Atwater 2016; Brown 2016; Bowman, Brown, Atwater, and Rowland 2017).
Analog role-playing games provide an avenue for players to explore a diversity of experiences and self-concepts by playing out new roles in a co-created fictional reality. This article provides a theoretical framework for this process, discussing the nature of consensus reality as a force that can suppress forms of identity expression that individuals find authentic. We discuss how live action role-playing (larp) and tabletop games can provide transformational containers, where individuals can explore new ways of being, relating, and enacting beliefs through the experience of increased agency. As an example, we discuss our larp, Euphoria, which was designed as a role-playing game environment reflecting queer performance spaces within which participants can express gender and sexual identities that feel more authentic.
During narrative experiences, identification with a fictional character can alter one’s attitudes and self-beliefs to be more similar to those of the character. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) is a brain region that shows increased activity when introspecting about the self but also when thinking of close friends. Here we test whether identification with fictional characters is associated with increased neural overlap between self and fictional others. Nineteen fans of the HBO series Game of Thrones performed trait evaluations for the self, 9 real-world friends, and 9 fictional characters during functional neuroimaging. Overall, participants showed a larger response in the vMPFC for self compared to friends and fictional others. However, among participants higher in trait identification we observed greater neural overlap in the vMPFC between self and fictional characters. Moreover, the magnitude of this association was greater for the character that participants reported feeling closest to/liked the most as compared to those they felt least close to/liked the least. These results suggest that identification with fictional characters leads people to incorporate these characters into their self-concept: the greater the immersion into experiences of “becoming” characters, the more accessing knowledge about characters resembles accessing knowledge about the self.
This paper explores indexical symbolic enactment as a way to promote authenticity and inner balance through digital games. Drawing on research from cognitive anthropology, neurobiology, and psychology, the following presents an argument for why and how indexical symbolic enactment can impact us on a deep, unconscious level and contribute to personal transformation. It identifies four high-level guidelines that can inform existential transformative game design: (1) ritual theming (i.e., liberation, transformation, and commemoration/celebration); (2) metaphorical approach; (3) contextual mechanisms that promote a readiness for change and processing; and (4) psychological resonance. It then uses these guidelines as an analytical lens for a case study on the game Papo & Yo (Minority Media Inc., 2012). This analysis shows how indexical symbolic enactment can contribute to a game’s transformative potential and examines missed opportunities when design decisions emphasize gameplay considerations rather than symbolic congruency and psychological resonance.
Have you ever had a client who talks about Video Games, Dungeons and Dragons, Anime, or Comic Books? Likely they identify as a Geek.
Being a geek can be seen as difficult for many; the social awkwardness, ineptitude, and judgment from others leads individuals to feel isolated in a world of their own. Geeks, by traditional definition, are passionate about anthologies and characters from a variety of fictional, fantasy, and virtual formats that are sometimes niche or unpopular, creating feelings of relatedness towards avatar experiences in an often otherwise lonely life.
Integrating Geek Culture into Therapeutic Practice: The Clinician's Guide to Geek Therapy is a comprehensive compendium of how Geek Therapy clinicians and scholars currently use a variety of games, media artifacts, and other geek culture items in therapeutic context and intervention. Even more important, the authors within this book are currently at the forefront of their research fields and are accordingly considered experts within the growing field of Geek Therapy clinical practice. Throughout the book, leading researchers within the field of Psychology, Communication Studies, and more have been able to provide clinical examples, research-based approaches, and specifics about how to utilize these items therapeutically - further enhancing the material and providing solid supportive guidance for clinicians. Clinicians reading this can develop further competence and understanding of the concepts found within their practices which will be helpful for their personal success and cultural competence to best serve their clientele.
These modalities have resulted in clients experiencing:
Reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms
Improved self-esteem
Richer interpersonal interactions
Greater social and school engagement and
Superior development of social skills and problem solving
These techniques are being used to improve overall psychological well-being across all ages, as well as focusing on the specific needs of targeted populations, such as those with ADHD, ASD, PTSD, and mood and anxiety disorders.
This article will cover the current literature pertaining to educational live-action role-playing games (edu-larp) and related phenomena. Though edu-larp is a rather recent development emerging from the leisure activity of role-playing games, various other spheres have emphasized the pedagogical value of role-playing as a method, including education, theatre, psychodrama, military, business, and health care. This literature review
will streamline the discourse surrounding games, simulation, drama, and role-playing with the recent development of edu-larp, emphasizing the various cognitive, affective, and behavioral benefits detailed in the research. The review will also discuss the challenges faced by edu-larp designers and instructors, offering possible solutions.
Much of the current research in the field of role-playing studies focuses upon the positive impact that games can have on the lives of participants. Analysis of the more negative social interactions within role-playing communities becomes necessary in order to establish a more complete picture of the psychosocial effects of these games. This research describes potential problems within role-playing communities in order to aid groups experiencing cohesion difficulties. This thematic, qualitative ethnography describes the types of social conflict occurring within role-playing groups and examines possible sources for their exacerbation. The study includes several types of role-playing from a phenomenological perspective, including tabletop, larp, and virtual gaming. Semi-structured interviews were collected from a selective sample of 30 international participants gathered from vastly different play cultures. While the types of games and methods of play contributed to conflict in some instances, striking similarities between the experiences of players across modes, cultures, and genres were observed. Emergent themes for sources of conflict included general problems inherent to group behavior, such as schisms, Internet communication, and intimate relationships. Other sources of conflict unique to the role-playing experience included creative agenda differences, the game master/player power differential, and the phenomenon of bleed, both in- and out-of-game. Potentially conflict-inducing play styles included long-term immersion into character, campaign-style, and competitive play.
Relatively few studieshave directly and rigorously investigated the psychological impact or dynamics of role-playing games. This chapter reviews the literature from other lenses such as play, role taking, media and games more generally, in addition to the nascent research on role-playing and LARP.
The chapter first explores role-playing from existing scientific frameworks, including developmental, cognitive, behavioral, motivational, clinical, and social psychology. After this we look to the subjective psychological interpretations of role-playing through various perspectives, including phenomenology, hobbyist theories, role-play studies, and psychoanalysis.
(PDF) Psychology and Role-Playing Games. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331758159_Psychology_and_Role-Playing_Games [accessed Jun 04 2019].
This article is a survey report of a study conducted between 2010 and 2011 exploring the views of role-playing gamers on how the role-playing hobby has influenced their social and mental development. A socio-pedagogical concept of empathic intelligence was chosen as the theoretical framework based on which a survey questionnaire of nine groups of questions was built. The survey that included both multiple-choice questions and open questions was taken by 161 Finnish active role-players and statistically analyzed. A control group of 106 non-role-players was used to examine the role-players' self-assessment of their own capabilities. The study showed that the views of role-playing gamers on their hobby and themselves are predominantly positive. The respondents reported that role-playing games had provided them with a good platform for experimenting with different personalities and social roles, and that they viewed the hobby as having improved various skills and traits such as creativity and imagination. The gender of the respondents was an important factor especially regarding the emotional responses evoked by the games, while the other variables played a minor role. Role-players viewed themselves as more imaginative but less socially adept than the control group. A more active reading hobby was perceived by the role-players as well. The results of the study suggest that the role-playing gaming hobby provides a good platform for the development of both personal and social skills, and that used correctly, role-playing games have the potential to be used to advance such development.
The original theory of psychodrama proposed by Moreno in 1921 has been adjusted and re-interpreted by several authors over the last three decades. This resulted in the proliferation of techniques whose definitions and contexts of application are unclear and poorly documented in the literature. The purpose of this review was three-fold: (1) to identify the psychodramatic techniques currently used for research and clinical purposes, (2) to extract and create a list of core techniques which are consensually used by psychodramatists, and which reflect the main principles of the Morenian theory of psychodrama, and (3) to propose an operationalised definition of the core psychodramatic techniques identified. To achieve this, a systematic review was conducted, according to the PRISMA guidelines (Moher et al., 2009). The search was conducted between June and September of 2012 in the main electronic databases (e.g., PubMed, Embase, PsychINFO) and using the following keywords: “psychodrama,” “group psychotherapy,” “experiential psychotherapy,” “Moreno,” “intervention,” and “techniques.” Fifty-six techniques were extracted from the 21 papers selected for review. Of these, a preliminary list of 30 techniques was selected, which was reduced to a total of 11 core techniques: soliloquy, double, mirror, role reversal, resistance interpolation, sculpture, social atom, intermediate objects, games, sociometry, role training. The credibility of this final core list was first checked with an expert in Morenian psychodrama, and later discussed with a network of 22 European psychodramatists to ensure full consensus. Overall, this review provides a contemporary framework for psychodramatists that reconciles the current approaches to psychodrama with the core techniques proposed by Moreno, and updates the definitions of these techniques, by merging the interpretations of different experts in the field. To have a list of core techniques which is consensually accepted from an international point of view is paramount not only for future research, but also for training purposes. The implications of this review for clinical practice are also discussed.
Most people modify their ways of speaking, writing, texting, and e-mailing, and so on, according to the people with whom they are communicating. This fascinating book asks why we 'accommodate' to others in this way, and explores the various social consequences arising from it. Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT), revised and elaborated over the past 40 years, has been applied to a wide range of situations, from families to courtrooms, and from media to hospitals, by means of diverse methodologies in many disciplines, and across numerous languages and cultures. Bringing together a team of experts, this book demonstrates how the theory can help us towards a greater understanding of interpersonal communication in a multitude of contexts. Finally, it examines the principles of the theory, identifying a range of avenues along which research can move forward in future. A fascinating account of how and why we modify our way of speaking, texting, and e-mailing, and so on, according to the people with whom we are communicating. An invaluable resource for those already invoking Communication Accommodation Theory in their work, and for those yet to realize its potential. Furthers our understanding of interpersonal communication, and is of real significance to those studying new applied contexts, from families to courtrooms, and from media to hospitals.
It is not unusual for computer games to include romance, but most games treat romance as a narrative theme rather than as an integrated part of gameplay. In this article I investigate the gameplay experience in the game Dragon Age, a single-player game that allows players to actively engage in romance. Based on an investigation of blog and community comments, we argue that this sometimes will create an experience that is similar to the “bleed” effect in non-computerised role-play, and that the player to some extent shares emotions with his or her character.
Fun is often seen a necessary gratification for recreational games. This paper studies two freeform role-playing games aiming to create extremely intense experiences of tragedy, horror, disgust, powerlessness and self-loathing, in order to gratify the self-selected group of experienced role-players. Almost all of the 15 interviewed players appreciated their experiences, despite crying, experiencing physiological stress reactions and feeling generally ―bad‖ during the play.
In its fully revised second edition, this book is devoted solely to the study of sociodrama, a group learning process that provides practice in solving problems of human relations through action while uncovering the commonalities among people, allowing the thoughts, feelings, and hopes of all who participate to rise to the surface. This insightful guide helps participants in group work to come to a new understanding about themselves, each other, and the world at large by providing a living laboratory for practicing new and more satisfying ways to approach problems, clarify values, express feelings, and practice new behaviors. The theoretical and practical guidance offered in this book will help management and staff trainers, educators, psychotherapists, sociologists, theatre artists, pastoral counselors, and others in or planning on joining the help professions to provide a vital modality for energizing even the most passive groups.
The expanded and revised second edition begins by showing the reader how to structure sociodrama sessions, how to facilitate the accomplishment of group goals through action, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls of sociodrama directing. It also includes the historical and theoretical foundations of sociodrama so that the practice of sociodrama can be placed in larger context. The second part of the book focuses on the use of sociodrama in a variety of settings, including the work place, the school, the political arena, psychotherapy, and spiritual settings. This section also provides methods of marketing sociodrama and essays by other well-known sociodramatists from around the world. Students, scholars, and educators in the social sciences and the arts, as well as business professionals, will findSociodrama: Who's in Your Shoes?an invaluable guide to this effective learning process.
Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) have increased in popularity as a hobby and allows multiple people to play together online or in person. Group activities such as TTRPGs have been used to improve social skills and mental well-being Although there is qualitative and anecdotal studies and reports about the efficacy of the therapeutic application of TTRPGs, no related studies have employed quantitative measures or mental health screening tools. This study explored whether intentionally introduced cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) delivered through the medium of TTRPG groups could positively affect social skills, reduce anxiety symptoms and behaviors, and enhance the mental well-being of participants. Data was collected from May 2020 to February 2021 using the Social Phobia Inventory, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Skills Inventory, and Group Satisfaction Scale and debriefs with participants. The study was completed virtually. All the groups showed an average decrease in self-reported anxiety; one of the therapeutic TTRPG groups decreased in self-reported social anxiety, while the others remained the same. All of them showed improved social skill scores and the participants were very satisfied with the overall group experience, thus suggesting that their needs were met.
Background. Role-playing game (RPG) is a term that covers a series of forms and styles of games that involve, in some way, the creation, representation and progression of characters who interact in a fictional world under a system of structured rules. Its applications and effects on human behavior and mental health are, however, still an underexplored area.
Methods. A scoping review was performed on the literature about RPGs as a therapeutic tool or prevention strategy in psychotherapies and mental health, highlighting studies’ populations, forms of RPG and interventions used. To that, a systematic search in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, BVS/LILACS databases and grey literature was performed.
Results. Of the 4,069 studies reviewed, 50 sources of evidence were included. The majority was published as of 2011 (78%) in journals (62%) and targeted therapeutic uses of RPGs (84%). Most interventions used computer (50%) or tabletop RPGs (44%), mostly with cognitive and/or behavioral (52%) therapeutical approaches and targeting adolescents (70%).
Conclusion. The findings suggest a potential use of RPGs as a complementary tool in psychotherapies. However, only 16% of the studies included were experimental. We identified considerable heterogeneity in RPGs definitions, outcomes and interventions used, preventing a systematic review. Thus, more empirical and well-designed studies on the application of RPGs in mental health are needed.
Research shows that social connectedness is decreasing and loneliness increasing in the United States, subsequently resulting in a health crisis due to the anxiety and depression these attributes can cause. There is evidence that clinicians have difficulty treating individuals experiencing social anxiety and there is need for intervention strategies that lower treatment barriers. There has been scant research recognizing the use of table-top role-playing games to incorporate when treating social anxiety. The current manuscript describes a year-long group using Dungeons and Dragons in a therapeutic setting and explores perceptions from participants who experienced this group. Core concepts of the model and lessons learned from the developers are described for clinicians who hope to incorporate such a model. Participants described increased confidence in social situations, particularly with boundaries or making mistakes. Secondly, the skills practiced in the game were transferred into real-world experiences. Implications for future research and limitations were described.
Narrative Therapy: Making Meaning, Making Lives offers a comprehensive introduction to the history and theory of narrative therapy. Influenced by feminist, postmodern, and critical theory, this edited volume illustrates how we make sense of our lives and experiences by ascribing meaning through stories that arise within social conversations and culturally available discourses.
What does it mean to be transported by a narrative?to create a world inside one’s head? How do experiences of narrative worlds alter our experience of the real world? In this book Richard Gerrig integrates insights from cognitive psychology and from research linguistics, philosophy, and literary criticism to provide a cohesive account of what we have most often treated as isolated aspects of narrative experience.Drawing on examples from Tolstoy to Toni Morrison, Gerrig offers new analysis of some classic problems in the study of narrative. He discusses the ways in which we are cognitively equipped to tackle fictional and nonfictional narratives; how thought and emotion interact when we experience narrative; how narrative information influences judgments in the real world; and the reasons we can feel the same excitement and suspense when we reread a book as when we read it for the first time. Gerrig also explores the ways we enhance the experience of narratives, through finding solutions to textual dilemmas, enjoying irony at the expense of characters in the narrative, and applying a wide range of interpretive techniques to discover meanings concealed by and from authors.