Presentation at Living Games 2016 on how research on RPGs can inform larp practice.

1. What Larp can Learn
from RPG Studies
José P. Zagal (presenter) and Sebas@an Deterding
University of Utah & University of York
Presented at the Living Games Conference
May 20, 2016, Aus>n, TX

2. Disclaimer
“What Larp can Learn from RPG Studies”
aka - Reasons for you to roll your eyes and ignore me (Jose)
Not an experienced larper (I’m here to learn)
But…
I’m a game scholar with a reasonable amount of experience
I’m an avid game player (videogames, boardgames, tabletop RPGs, etc.)

3. Back Story
Special Interest Group (SIG) for Role-Playing Game Studies
Mailing list (roleplaying@digra.org)
Lively Discussion (second half of 2012) about:
Teaching a class on RPGs…what should I include?
What is the “canonical” literature regarding roleplaying?
People don’t cite/reference properly and forget/ignore earlier work!
Why the hell don’t we have a textbook for all this?
(www.digra.org)

4. One year later…

5. Workshop: Roleplaying Game Studies – A Handbook
Bunch of scholars who wanted to work together to write a book that:
Consolidated scholarly work in RPGs
Integrated RPGs across their different forms
(this would be the textbook!)
Slides presented:
h_p://www.slideshare.net/dings/digra-2013-rpg-handbook-workshop
Further Info:
h_p://rpghandbook.tumblr.com/

7. 2016
• Past few years…
• S. Bowman, D. Hitchens, J.T. Harviainen, D. Schules, M. Chen, J.
Hammer, E. MacCallum-Stewart, E. Torner, D. Simkins , P. Williams, J.
Peterson, D. Jara, K. Schrier, I. Knowles, T. Castronova, R. Bienia, S.
Björk, W. White, J. Stenros, A. Brown, A. Trammel, and more….
• Plan, outlining, wri>ng, reviewing, revising the book
• To be published by Routledge in 2017

8. “What Larp can Learn
from RPG Studies”
aka
What we’ve learned over the years as we’ve worked on this book…

9. “What Larp can Learn
from RPG Studies”
aka
What we’ve learned over the years as I’ve worked on this
project…
(that may be of interest to people interested in larp)

10. RPG Studies?
• Role play
• Role playing
• Role playing games
• Role players
• Communi>es of role players
• The “ar>facts” of role playing
• Role of roleplay in society
• Role of roleplay in culture
• Uses of roleplay
• Meaning of roleplay
• Anything, everything of roleplay
Loosely understood as the analysis, cri>que, examina>on, study of…

11. RPG Studies (in the book’s context)
4 “commonly accepted” forms in popular discourse
1. Tabletop Roleplay
• D&D, Shadowrun, Amber, Call of Cthulhu, etc.
2. Computer Roleplay
• Ul>ma, Wizardry, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Fallout, etc.
3. Live ac>on Roleplay
• Treasure Trap, Mind’s Eye Theatre, Monitor Celestra, etc.
4. Mul>player Online Roleplay
• Ul>ma Online, World of Warcran, Everquest, EVE Online, etc.

12. RPG Studies (in context of academia)
Role play has been studied in/by many disciplines
1. Sociology
2. Educa>on
3. Economics / Business
4. Literary Studies
5. Theatre / Performance Studies
6. Psychology
7. Communica>on
8. Etc.

13. RPG Studies

14. RPG Studies

15. RPG Studies
(Tabletop) (CRPG) (MORPG) (Larp)
Educa>on
Psychology
Etc.

16. RPG Studies
(Tabletop) (CRPG) (MORPG) (Larp)
Educa>on
Psychology
Etc.

17. The Good News

18. 1. Your problem may have been solved elsewhere
Example 1
People do I effec>vely
deal with troublemaker
players in my larp?
Warning: Your problem may have a different name, may be described using
different terminology, and the terminology might be used to mean different things.
Deviant behavior has been studied
for many years in MORPGs.
- Player psychology
- Different kinds of solu>ons
(social, technical)
- Study of effec>veness

19. 1. Your problem may have been solved elsewhere
Example 2
How can I be_er
design and conduct
debriefs for players?
Pyschologists have been studying
how to manage emo>onally charged
situa>ons using roleplay for years.

20. 1. Your problem may have been solved elsewhere
Example 3
The press always talks
crap about our games
and some>mes parents
are scared of lesng
their kids par>cipate.
Communica>on scholars have
studied how and why moral panics
happen, what role the media plays,
and how they have been neutralized
or defused.

21. 1. Your problem may have been solved elsewhere
Example 4
Making commercial
larps is complicated,
especially because of
the volunteer culture
we have.
Economists have studied economics
of fan labor, and possible
exploita>on of players in MORPGs.
Larger Larps may have to struggle
with same issues fair pay, poli>cal
economy, when is something fan
labor, exploita>on, etc.

22. 2. Larp is very flexible
How?
So many different forms, styles, varia>ons.
Why?
Lack of common/shared mass produced ar>facts (e.g. D&D manuals)
Ar>facts onen ground/stabilize evolu>on and change
“Messy” origins – “We invented it at the same >me as everybody else”
Warning: Flexibility has its own challenges.

23. 2. Larp is very flexible
What does this have to do with the other forms?
Easier to innovate
Easier to “steal” innova>ons and design solu>ons from other forms
Like what?
Mechanics, storylines, systems for
character crea>on, systems for managing
players, for tracking things, etc.
This has been
happening for years,
but shouldn’t it be
MORE widespread?

24. The Bad News

25. 3. We are our biases
Some>mes the same language is a different language -> Harder to share
E.g. There are different understandings for “immersion”, “safety”,
and “security” across tabletop, computer, mul>player online,
and larp.
Everyone generalizes about roleplaying (large) from the perspec>ve of
their primary "genre" (small) of roleplaying -> Harder to understand
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
Cogni>ve bias is difficult to overcome
Warning: Gesng the benefits discussed may be harder than you think.

26. Summary
1. Learning from your “cousins” and academics can help you be_er
understand what you do
a. Solu>ons to problems
b. Ideas and innova>ons to explore
c. A different perspec>ve can provide insight into your own (subtlety, nuance)
2. The flexibility of larp (in play and design) is an asset
a. Borrow freely from anything/everything
b. Easier to “stand on the shoulders of giants”
3. Reflect upon and be aware of your biases
a. They might be gesng in your way in ways you haven’t no>ced.

27. Thank you & Contact Informa@on
José P. Zagal
University of Utah
Jose.Zagal@Utah.edu
Images used in this presenta>on are the property of their respec>ve owners.
Their use here qualifies as fair use under US copyright law for educa>onal purposes and cri>cal commentary.