Once again someone has become (or apparently was for some time) persona non grata because of some terrible words or deeds. I'd never had any awareness of this person, but have seen over the past week a LOT of threads discussing. This lead me to wondering, is there anywhere someone outside of these insular community in-groups could find information about the controversial figures in various fandoms?
THREE-DAY WORKSHOP · TUE FEB 11 – THU FEB 13 • 7 – 9:30 PM. Ages 10 – 105. RPG Research at Spark Central Spokane: Becoming A Better Player: Character Creation for Fantasy Role-playing Games.
An archived article from 2010 was recently doing the rounds in Facebook RPG groups, here is more information on the topic and some of my relevant thoughts and experiences.
I recently received a private message on Academia.edu from a member informing me about a comic-book-culture-related topic he thought I would find of interest. Though I've been an avid role-playing gamer since 1979, I was never really hooked by comic books, graphic novels, etc...
I have a new hypothesis as to why the stereotypes about role-playing gamers have become stronger over the decades rather than being disproved over time (as all the research indicates). I call it a hypothesis of the "Role-playing Gamer Floater"...
I just sent the first two government representatives, on my extensive list, a form of the questionnaire about their views regarding role-playing games and gamers. Will see if they respond, and what the responses are like. The first I contacted were Washington state eastern Washington United States Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R), and United States Senator (for Washington) Patty Murray (D).
I was recently performing some general searching for any other research related to role-playing games that I might have previously missed, and found a few odds and ends. I'm posting links to what I found here. I will later go over them in more depth, analyze, and comment accordingly. Of course, the much larger list is here: http://rpgr.org/documents/list-of-other-rpg-research-projects
Another variable to consider when researching different RPG medium participants (LARP, Computer-based, Tabletop) is the physical health and conditioning of role-playing gamers...
Do different role-playing game mediums have either different correlative data or causal results?
If there are indicators that role-playing games have a causal impact on participants, attempt to determine if there are any differentiations in impact on test subjects between "heroic" and "evil" game campaign settings.
Tabletop role-playing games are generally speaking a cooperative play situation (of course there are exceptions). LARP and video-game-based "RPG" are generally competitive. Does changing tabletop RPGs to more competitive approaches impact any of the potential therapeutic value compared to "normal" cooperative role-playing gaming?
I'm getting ready to get a couple of new groups together, and was thinking about how to setup the seating and such. Here are some thoughts (additional thoughts from others are welcome)...
Two of the polls on rpg.net have been closed because they triggered transgender debate. No offense was ever intended, and the listed of transgender separate from male and female was meant to be inclusive not exclusive.
This is a copy of the posting I made on the rpg.net forum back around June 2012, regarding role-playing gamer stigma. It is a very long post. What have your experiences been with role-playing gaming, gamers, and any social stigma?
I posted a couple of (unscientific) polls on rpg.net related to the demographics of role-playing gamers. The first one is average income (in estimated annual United States Dollars), the other on current relationship status (married, single, divorced, etc.). This is specific to tabletop role-playing gamers.
I have had many conversations with folks about where this project is at, and where it is planned to go, and I have blogged a bit about the overall vision of the future, but now I need to write down the approximate road map of the next few stages that has been discussed with others but not written down until now...
Many thanks to John, the owner of Merlyn's in Spokane, for allowing me to setup the trifold brochure stand, with sign, with questionnaire, and drop box, at his store.
Since hearing that the folks in Israel claimed that WHFRP is less combat oriented than D&D 4th edition, I once again am trying to wade through the Warhammer rpg rule books, and will actually begin making some characters, though the whole setup of the game grates my nerves almost as much as World of Warcraft MMORPG does...
I bought the core rulebook and the Gaia Volume some time ago, but folks we not quite ready for learning yet another system.
The examiner.com posted an article about the RPG Research project.
Another important step in building momentum on the RPG Research Project is nearly complete...
On October 30th, 2011, I was having a discussion about the various bio-feedback and neuro-feedback experiments I have performed related to music therapy, and it occurred to me that the same technology could potentially help make it easier to develop a therapeutic modality with role playing games using the same equipment, at the very least to try to determine the recreation therapy goal of a state of "flow" more objectively....
We now have research facilities and new contact information available...
Using the examples of Vampire: Masquerade, and Werewolf, by White Wolf, the book provides some nice examples....
Assuming the Aristotelian belief in catharsis is true (there is some debate about the validity of catharsis in the psychology research world)...
Just a quick list of a few of the dependent variables to test over time.
If indicated viable from the research results of all the previous steps, define the requirements for a Game Master Therapist (GMT) or Game Master Instructor (GMI) in applying a role-playing game therapeutic or educational module.
Game Journal
Here is the audio recording from the SpoCon 2017 panel on "Cultivating Long Term Role-Playing Gaming Groups". Panelist included: Chris Bruscas, John Welker, and Hawke Robinson.
Just the general overview theory I have about participation in RPGs. These ideas will be tested as I work out more detailed hypotheses to test these concepts for validity...
