Papers by Jeremy Hall Spence
This thesis will explore how tabletop role-playing games use a three-part game system in order to... more This thesis will explore how tabletop role-playing games use a three-part game system in order to construct player experience, and how such a system complicates the traditionally very clear divide between player and game that much of the current game studies' literature suggests. To do so, it will look at how the three main units of the Dungeons and Dragons game system: the rules, the dungeon master, and the players, each function independently to shape the game experience, but also how each unit of the system limits the control that the other two units possess over the game. The thesis will primarily be drawing upon literature from the field of game studies, both concerning video games and tabletop role-playing games, but will also employ theorists from broader disciplines. It will utilize the anthropological works of Victor Turner in order to understand tabletop role-playing games as a social ritual, possible worlds theory, as described by Marie-Laurie Ryan, to discuss the multiple fictional worlds that exist simultaneously within games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Michel de Certeau's views on power, in order to analyse the power relations between the three units of the game system. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Rowan Tulloch, for his patience, wisdom, and advice. Without him, this thesis could not have been possible, and I thank him for steering me in the right direction, while allowing me enough room to make this thesis my own. I also wish to thank my ever-patient family and my ever-supportive friends, who gave me the drive to see the work through until the end. Thank you all. Dungeons and Dragons works in a three-part system, which has become a standard feature of the tabletop role-playing game (hereafter TRPG) medium. Nearly all TRPGs use this system of rules, game master and players, and it is in part due to this system that the medium is able to offer a unique play experience. Unfortunately, much of the current or past major literature in games studies implies that games are a two-part system, consisting only of the player and the game. Typically, proposed definitions of games or game models assume the relationship between the player and the game as a binary. Jesper Juul's discussion of the classic game model states that a good definition of a game needs to describe the relation between the game and the player of the game, and seeks to establish a definition that can encapsulate the standard model for creating games that "has been constant for several thousand years" (2003, p.30). While Juul's model does also point to broader culture as a third influence on the game model, he primarily examines the relationship between the game and the rest of the world in terms of how the game is separate from ordinary life (p.34), and analyses the system of the players and the game without consideration for other actors within that relationship. As such, in his definition, TRPGs are situated as not entirely games, and are instead classified as borderline cases due to the existence of a dungeon master, who can interfere with the fixed rules that are usually enforced by the game system (2003, p.40). Similarly, discussions of game spaces, 1 such as game design theorists Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's controversial concept of the magic circle (2003, p.93-99), or Henry Jenkins' "Game Design as Narrative Architecture" (2004), reinforce the idea that there only games, which are traversed, and players, who do the traversing (Jenkins, 2004, pp.121-122; Salen & Zimmerman, 2003, p.95). Even though Jenkins mentions Dungeons and Dragons, he implies that the dungeon master is an extension of the game, and begins the game by designing the game space (p.4), he does not consider that in such a game, the game space is not just the creation of the dungeon master, but is instead a product of the complicated interaction between the rules, the dungeon master, and the players. As a more recent example, debates over Ian Bogost's idea of procedural rhetoric have continued this trend, as Bogost posits that game rules can have a significant role in constructing meaning, and Miguel Sicart argues that it is the players who construct the game's meaning, not the rules (Bogost, 2010; Sicart, 2011; Skolnik, 2013). However, both these positions again imply this dichotomy of game and player, the only difference being which one is responsible for the construction of meaning. In all of these discussions and debates, there is rarely a consideration for gaming systems that do not follow a binary system, or what difference such a system might make to the theory being applied. As such, this thesis will demonstrate how TRPGs complicate the idea of games as binary, and how the change from a two-part to three-part system alters the player experience. Players of TRPGs state that they receive more narrative control and agency over the story when compared to computer role-playing games (hereafter CRPGs), and that TRPGs offer them increased flexibility and choice (Cover, 2010, p.45). This is because TRPGs, through their game system, are able to offer their players real narrative agency, or control of the story, as opposed to psychological agency, or the mere feeling of control. (Cover, 2010, p.47; Hammer, 2007, p.73). In addition, the three-part game system forms the basis for a unique form of social interaction between participants, which TRPG players list as another key feature of the medium (Cover, 2010, p.45). The research aims of this thesis are twofold: Firstly, to show how the three-part game system typically employed by TRPGs results in a different player experience to video game systems. The effect of the TRPG system on the game experience goes beyond simply splitting the roles traditionally performed by the game into the rule system and the dungeon master. It creates a power dynamic between the three roles, as each has a unique form of control over the game, but also has its control held in check by the other two. Secondly, to clarify why examining games using a binary game model is not always sufficient. A binary game model such as the one proposed by Juul lacks the ability to adequately explain games such as Dungeons and Dragons, as evidenced 2 by Juul placing their status as games as borderline because the rules do not constitute a fixed system (2003, p.40). Instead of stating that TRPGs are not games because they do not fit within a definition designed for video games, this thesis aims to show that it is the strict dichotomy of player and game that requires correction. Given their niche but growing interest, TRPGs have for the most part escaped the notice of academia, and in particular the field of game studies. However, there are a few notable exceptions, such as Sarah Lynne Bowman's The Function of Role-Playing Games (2010), and Jennifer Grouling Cover's The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games (2010). Bowman's work looks at the many unique benefits that TRPGs offer players. The three main points of this work are that roleplaying games form a group's sense of communal cohesiveness through shared storytelling (p.79), sharpen problem-solving and teach new skills (pp.102-103), and offer a space for the enactment of personas (pp.153-154). Bowman explores these points through ethnographic research, interviewing nineteen participants to gain an insight into their experiences with various role-playing games. The participants state frequently how role-playing games have helped them in some manner, either repairing strained relationships (p.61), developing mathematical skills (p.109), or allowing them to express parts of their personality that they would not outside of the game world (p.169), in ways that video games could not. Like Bowman's work, Cover's book is an ethnographic study employing interviews with players of TRPGs, though it seeks to examine the construction of story in TPRGs rather than examining their psychological effects, and does so from a combined a literary and games studies viewpoint. Cover's work encompasses a wide range of topics, from the greater degree of immersion TRPGs provide (p.106), to how players author the events of the game (p.124), to an analysis of the broader social culture of TRPG fans (p.148), and so provides a useful starting point for any inquiry into TRPGs. The scope of this thesis is focused on a deep look at the Dungeons and Dragons game system as representative of TRPG systems as a whole. Though it is only one of many tabletop role-playing games, it is both the first published TRPG and the most popular to date. In addition, as the first published TRPG, it can be seen as the progenitor of the medium, as subsequent TRPGs have all been influenced by Dungeons and Dragons' unique rule systems. Therefore, the thesis will use Dungeons and Dragons as representative of the most common three part TRPG system, as it is the basis for all other TRPG systems and the game that all other TRPGs exist in context to. There also exist several different editions of Dungeons and Dragons, including the unofficial edition, Pathfinder. While the rules do differ over these different editions, the general principles of
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Papers by Jeremy Hall Spence