1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Role-Playing Game Studies
This Handbook provides a comprehensive guide to the latest research on role-playing games (RPGs) across disciplines, cultures, and media in one single, accessible volume.
Collaboratively authored by more than 40 key scholars, it traces the history of RPGs, from wargaming precursors to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons to the rise of live-action role-play and contemporary computer RPG and massively multiplayer online RPG franchises, like Baldur’s Gate, Genshin Impact, and World of Warcraft. Individual chapters survey the perspectives, concepts, and findings on RPGs from key disciplines, like performance studies, sociology, psychology, education, economics, game design, literary studies, and more. Other chapters integrate insights from RPG studies around broadly significant topics, like worldbuilding, immersion, and player-character relations, as well as explore actual play and streaming, diversity, equity, inclusion, jubensha, therapeutic uses of RPGs, and storygames, journaling games, and other forms of text-based RPGs. Each chapter includes definitions of key terms and recommended readings to help students and scholars new to RPG studies find their way into this interdisciplinary field.
A comprehensive reference volume ideal for students and scholars of game studies and immersive experiences and those looking to learn more about the ever-growing, interdisciplinary field of RPG studies.
1. The Many Faces of Role-Playing Game Studies José P. Zagal and Sebastian Deterding SECTION I: DEFINITIONS 2. Definitions of “Role-Playing Games” José P. Zagal and Sebastian Deterding SECTION II: FORMS 3. Precursors Jon Peterson 4. Tabletop Role-Playing Games William J. White, Jonne Arjoranta, Michael Hitchens, Jon Peterson, Evan Torner, and Jonathan Walton 5. Live-Action Role-Playing Games J. Tuomas Harviainen, Rafael Bienia, Sarah Lynne Bowman, Simon Brind, Michael Hitchens, Yaraslau I. Kot, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, David W. Simkins, Jaakko Stenros, Ian Sturrock, and Xiong Shuo 6. Single-Player Computer Role-Playing Games Douglas Schules, Jon Peterson, and Martin Picard 7. Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games Mark Chen, Jon Peterson, and David W. Simkins 8. Text-Based Role-Playing Games Jessica Hammer and Paul Czege SECTION III: DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES 9. RPG Theorizing by Designers and Players Evan Torner 10. Game Design and Role-Playing Games Staffan Björk and José P. Zagal 11. Theatre and Performance Studies and Role-Playing Games Sarah Hoover, David W. Simkins, Sebastian Deterding, David Meldman and Amanda Brown 12. Sociology and Role-Playing Games J. Patrick Williams, David Kirschner, Nicholas Mizer, and Sebastian Deterding 13. Psychology and Role-Playing Games Sarah Lynne Bowman and Andreas Lieberoth 14. Literary Studies and Role-Playing Games David Jara and Evan Torner 15. Learning and Role-Playing Games Jessica Hammer, Alexandra To, Karen Schrier, Sarah Lynne Bowman, and Geoff Kaufman 16. Economics and Role-Playing Games Isaac Knowles and Edward Castronova SECTION IV: INTERDISCIPLINARY ISSUES 17. The Impact of Role-Playing Games on Culture Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Jaakko Stenros, Staffan Björk, and William J. White 18. Documented and Actual Play in Role-Playing Games Shelly Jones 19. Worldbuilding in Role-Playing Games Karen Schrier, Evan Torner, and Jessica Hammer 20. Role-Playing Games as Subculture and Fandom Esther MacCallum-Stewart and Aaron Trammell 21. Immersion and Shared Imagination in Role-Playing Games Sarah Lynne Bowman 22. Players and Their Characters in Role-Playing Games Sarah Lynne Bowman and Karen Schrier 23. Transgressive Role-Play Jaakko Stenros and Sarah Lynne Bowman 24. Sexuality and the Erotic in Role-Play Ashley ML Guajardo and Jaakko Stenros 25. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Role-Playing Games Adrianna Burton, Aaron Trammell, and Katherine Castiello-Jones 26. Power and Control in Role-Playing Games Jessica Hammer, Whitney Beltrán, Jonathan Walton, and Moyra Turkington
Biography
José P. Zagal is Professor at the University of Utah’s Division of Games. He has edited and authored numerous books and articles on game ethics, games education, game design, and more. He most recently co-edited Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons and co-authored Seeing Red: Nintendo’s Virtual Boy. He was honored as a Distinguished Scholar by the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) and named a Fellow of the Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA) for his contributions to games research. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of DiGRA’s flagship journal Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association (ToDiGRA).
Sebastian Deterding is Chair at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London, UK. He serves as founding Editor-in-Chief of ACM Games: Research and Practice and co-editor of The Gameful World. He has been an RPG player and designer for more than 30 years, and has published ethnographic portraits of the German pen-and-paper RPG subculture.
