E-Book Overview
Since the release of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974, role-playing games (RPGs) have spawned a vibrant industry and subculture whose characteristics and player experiences have been well explored. Yet little attention has been devoted to the ways RPGs have shaped society at large over the last four decades. Role-playing games influenced video game design, have been widely represented in film, television and other media, and have made their mark on education, social media, corporate training and the military. This collection of new essays illustrates the broad appeal and impact of RPGs. Topics range from a critical reexamination of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, to the growing significance of RPGs in education, to the potential for ‘serious’ RPGs to provoke awareness and social change. The contributors discuss the myriad subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways in which the values, concepts and mechanics of RPGs have infiltrated popular culture.
E-Book Content
The Role-Playing Society This page intentionally left blank The Role-Playing Society Essays on the Cultural Influence of RPGs Edited by Andrew Byers and Francesco Crocco McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina LiBRARy oF CongReSS CATALoguing-in-PuBLiCATion DATA names: Byers, Andrew, editor. | Crocco, Francesco, editor. Title: e role-playing society : essays on the cultural influence of RPgs / edited by Andrew Byers and Francesco Crocco. Description: Jefferson, north Carolina : McFarland & Company, inc., Publishers, 2016. | includes bibliographical references and index. identifiers: LCCn 2016000395 | iSBn 9780786498833 (so cover : acid free paper) Subjects: LCSH: Fantasy games—Social aspects. Classification: LCC gV1469.6 .R65 2016 | DDC 793.93—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016000395 ♾ BRiTiSH LiBRARy CATALoguing DATA ARe AVAiLABLe ISBN (print) 978-0-7864-9883-3 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-2348-1 © 2016 Andrew Byers and Francesco Crocco. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Front cover images © 2016 iStock Printed in the united States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com To George R. Byers, who had no idea what he was getting me into when he gave me that D&D boxed set on Christmas 1981. —Andrew Byers To the Forge, my best and bravest adventuring party. —Francesco Crocco This page intentionally left blank Table of Contents Introduction 1 Part I. The Player’s Guide: The Psychological and Cultural Impact of a Game Genre The Satanic Panic and Dungeons & Dragons: A Twenty-Fiveyear Retrospective Andrew Byers 22 Psychological effects of Fantasy games on Their Players: A Discourse-Based Look at the evidence Andreas Lieberoth and Jonas Trier-Knudsen 46 Building the Culture of Contingency: Adaptive Choice in Ludic Literature from Role-Playing games to Choose Your Own Adventure Books Tim Bryant 72 Part II. The Tome of Knowledge: Playing to Learn in and across the Disciplines Raiding the Last Frontier: overcoming the Language Barrier in the eSL Classroom Timm Woods 98 “Do you want to be Dr. Frankenstein or edna Pontellier?”: How getting into Character enhances Literary Studies Jonathan M. Bradley 122 Playing Between the Lines: Promoting interdisciplinary Studies with Virtual Worlds Reneta D. Lansiquot, Candido Cabo and Tamrah D. Cunningham 143 vii viii Table of Contents Part III. The Book of Change: Enacting So