Thesis Plan
Central Research Question and Objectives
This research seeks to address issues of player investment in the current version of Dungeons and Dragons (even if it is determined that such investment is actually none at all), and how to best present these theories to an audience.
The central research question is thus: How do the key elements of character, setting and player agency function in relation to an emotional investment from gamers and how is that illustrated by reactions to changes and new versions?
Objectives:
· Establish a theorisation of gamer investment in order to account for different categories of objection.
· Discover player reactions to announced v4 and observe game play to cross reference.
· Address player investment in relation to corresponding theory through exegesis.
· Present ideas surrounding player investment through a piece of creative nonfiction that will allow theory to be accessed by a general reading audience.
Background
In August 2007, Wizards of the Coast announced the release of the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, due in June 2008 (Wizards 2007). Members of the player community immediately began voicing their opinion of the new version, based on both their own speculation and on the snippets of new content released with the announcement. These opinions ranged from very strong to barely interested, and were both positive and negative receptions to the new edition. This thesis seeks to investigate why players reacted in this way, by examining player investment in the game - why do players play this game, and what makes them feel that they have a right to voice an opinion concerning changes.
Dungeons and Dragons, as a roleplay game, needs to be contextualised through gaming theory. In contemporary game theory, Dungeons and Dragons is often cited as an influence for many digital role-play games (King, Harrigan). It therefore, still holds common ground with these theories, as the narrative elements of roleplay games remains, for the most part, the same. Theories concerned with digital gaming may be used to explore the function of games in society, and extended to include table-top gaming. It must also be noted that although digital games are popular, Dungeons and Dragons, with its pen-and-paper format, has endured since the late 1970s and still retains a playership numbered in the millions. In exploring what players feel they have invested in the game, it is possible to discover how it has endured in the digital age, although this will not be the focus of this research.
In particular, gaming theories that are concerned with the role of the self are important to investigate in terms of player commitment. The very nature of the roleplay game requires that the gamer take on a character in order to partake in the game at all, and as such should form a large part of player investment in the game. The PC (player character, each usually solely controlled by a single player), is the means by which the player identifies their role in the game. It is also the means by which the player moves through the game’s narratives and settings. The “self” of the character that the gamer plays is a subject that occupies a space, rather than simply an imaginary representation in a void. (Flynn, Burn, Fine.) Although many texts examine the player space of computer games, it is still possible to translate the experience to table-top gaming. The PC may be viewed as the equivalent of the avatar in digital games, although they possess more agency, due to the more open-ended content of table-top gaming. It should be investigated whether the investment of the Dungeon Master (who controls the game and all characters not driven by the players) differs to that of the players, especially in terms of character.
In contrast to a lot of contemporary gaming theory, focussed on digital games, Gary Alan Fine’s Shared Fantasy: Roleplay Games as Social Worlds looks specifically at table-top roleplay games. This sociology of gaming provides a term that neatly sums up the experience of playing table-top roleplaying games: Folie a Deux. Although taken from the psychiatric term meaning “shared madness,” Fine means it to describe a state of “shared fantasy,” rather than a shared psychosis. This refers, not only to the fantasy being communally built in the game setting, but to the social structure adhered to by gamers. The format of the game, in which gamers are divided into players and Dungeon Masters (referees), means that a recognisable social structure is in place, one that generally does not apply outside of the gaming environment. The idea of shared fantasy is built on a shared ideal of logic and reality. Most gamers will argue that a game must be realistic in order to be enjoyable. However, gaming staples such as magic cannot be considered as truly realistic. Realism in the gaming world is instead based on whether or not a character could cast a spell in a given time frame. This realism must include a shared logic, determining what should and shouldn’t appear in a fantasy RPG. This is a shared social understanding, an accepted fantasy built by the members of the social world. Fine’s ideas, although applied to gaming in the 1980s, are still relevant to contemporary table-top gaming. The same elements - character, setting and agency - are still present, and still represent the means by which players access common understanding of the game they share.
Gamers also share in a language often inaccessible to outsiders. This lends to a sense of community, not only in the immediate gaming group, but on the international scale. This is especially true with the rise of internet communities, something that is even supported by Wizards of the Coast (Wizards’ Forums). This in turn is a part of larger ideas concerned with fandom and investment (Jenkins, Hills) that can be translated to the specific game and its players. Unlike media such as cinema and books, gaming is already an interactive product, with consumers already actively modifying the official material. This is, perhaps, the point at which gamers gain the belief that they have a right to voice concerns over the changing of their media, as expected - evidenced by the Open Gaming License (Wizards 2000) - consumer-producers, rather than simply consumers. Theories of participatory culture and of fandom may support explanations of why gamers attach themselves to characters, and through them, the game itself, where they exert their own agency.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game of telling collective stories in fictional worlds (often based on locations and scenarios from the real world). One of the best ways to relate the gaming environment is to look into the imaginative and fantastical side of the game, where the characters exist, rather than simply the reality that the players inhabit. Creative nonfiction is a means to relate these stories as part of the reality of gaming, weaving the narrative with the more factual information (Cheney, Root). Not only does this allow for the crossing over of reality and fiction that is already inherent in fantasy role-playing, but makes the somewhat closed world of gaming accessible to non-gamers by presenting it in a narrative form. It also allows other gamers to have their points and ideas heard, without subjecting them to ridicule and degrading jokes (Mazzanoble). Shallow investigations into playing games do not appeal to either gamers or non-gamers.
Research Methodology
Theories on fan investment will support the application of gaming theory to actual game play and player responses. This will entail a reading of theories of both player investment and of game theory (which will include both gaming theory in general, and roleplay game theory specifically). Gamers may be considered fans of their game (as opposed to creators of the game) even though their role in production is more than with fandoms of static media, such as movies, so theories of fan investment and convergence culture can be applied to the gaming subculture.
Interviews with gamers, from both the international and local communities, and observations of game play will construct a narrative of player investment that will be understood via theory. Defining “real” investment is best achieved by talking to players and investigating their personal reactions to the current and new game. Questions will aim to determine the nature of the players’ viewpoints to changes and their perceived reasoning behind this reaction, leading to establishing an understanding of the relationship players feel they have with their game.
This will include an online sampling of eight-ten people, chosen based on the content and quality of their previous online posts. Coherence (use of proper English, as opposed to internet slang) and already stated positions on the issue of newer versions of the game will be a determining factor in approaching members of this sample group. A sampling of eight-ten players will not be too large for the scale of this investigation, but will also allow a range of responses - both a range of different ideas, as well as a collection of attitudes that may back each other up, rather than conflict. Online participants will be given a list of questions to respond to, rather than conducting direct interviews. This will keep the structure of the investigation coherent and on track.
The sampling of the local community will consist of seven-eight players, chosen from the two groups I already interact with. This will allow a contrast between playing styles, and character choices, highlighted by the dual membership of some players, which may demonstrate single players having multiple investments. Interviews with the local community will be semi-structured, allowing for more focus on what players see as important. In contrast to the online interviews, face-to-face interviews may be better controlled by time - interviews will run for approximately one hour apiece.
Creative production (a piece of creative nonfiction) will be formed to articulate information gathered in above process, in a way that a reading audience will be able to access. As previously stated, the creative nonfiction method appears best suited to the subject matter, as the structure of the game itself caters for the interaction of reality and fiction. The final product should allow non-gamers access to the subculture, while also catering to a gaming readership.
Reflections on the gaming culture and game play will be included in the creative nonfiction process, alongside what is drawn from interviews, drawn from my own day-to-day experience as a gamer. This is relevant, as these moments may not be recalled during the interviews and also provides a greater insight into the nuances of the subculture - actions that are natural to gamers and therefore not thought about.
Ethics: This research looks into fan investment, and as such, will require talking to gamers about how they feel in regards to their game. As the creative production will be voicing these opinions, each member must understand that they are being recorded and might be quoted or paraphrased, however, these opinions will not be used against them. Each member will have the opportunity to choose if they wish to withdraw a statement made, and whether or not they will be named, or if they prefer an alias. In the case of the online participants, interviewees will be referenced by their already chosen username, allowing for anonymity as far as the “real person” is concerned.
Facilities and Resources
· Texts of critical resources exploring theories of gaming and investment.
o Already accessed.
· Creative non-fiction works, exampling the interweaving of narrative and fact.
o Some have already been accessed, but it would be helpful to locate one that also spoke about gaming, to inform a greater idea of how to address the issue.
· Gaming communities (internet and local) and gaming environment.
o Both communities have already been accessed, however not in direct relation to this thesis. Ethics clearance is required to further progress in this part of the investigation. The gaming environment refers to actual game play, which will produce a different outlook to one that is achieved without playing.
Significance
Although the subculture remains large (an estimated 3 million players engaging in Dungeons and Dragons games every month [Waters]), there is not much focus on table-top gaming in contemporary game theory. Such theories use table-top gaming as a background to digital games, rather than investigating it as a gaming genre unto itself. This exegesis will be working in this gap in gaming theory. On the creative side, fictional texts surrounding Dungeons and Dragons seem to fall into two categories - general audience based, and often portraying a negative subculture, or a more accurate observation that is only accessible by gamers themselves. I hope to navigate somewhere between the two.
Time Schedule
May
Continued investigation into gaming/investment theory.
Interviews formulated.
Presentation.
June
Continued research.
Conduct interviews with players.
Map out thesis.
July
Draft exegesis.
Draft creative production.
Each work may feed off the other, as such, both need to be written “simultaneously.”
August
Drafting and editing of thesis.
September
Finish drafting.
October
Editing both exegesis and creative production.
October 31st
Thesis is due.
References - MLA Style
Burn, Andrew. “Playing Roles.” Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006. pg 72-87.
Cheney, Theodore A. Rees. “Openings: Dramatic and Summary Methods.” Writing Creative Nonfiction. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2001. pg 10-34.
-- “Authority Through Realistic Details.” Writing Creative Nonfiction. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2001. pg 35-58.
Cooke, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Players Handbooks, Dungeons and Dragons v.3.5. Renton: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.
Fine, Gary Alan. Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1983.
Flynn, Bernadette. “Games as Inhabited Spaces.” The Games Issue: Studying Computer Games as Media. Ed. Helen Wilson. No. 110 of Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy. Brisbane: University of Queensland, 2004. pg 52-61.
Harrigan, Pat, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin, ed. Second Person. Massachesetts: MIT Press, 2007.
Hills, Matt. Fan Cultures. London: Routledge, 2002.
Jenkins, Henry. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamer: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2006.
King, Brad. Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture From Geek to Chic. California: McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003.
Mazzanoble, Shelly. Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress. Renton: Wizards of the Coast, 2007.
Root Jr, Robert L., and Michael Steinberg. The Fourth Genre. Michigan: Longman, 2001.
Waters, Darren. “What Happened to Dungeons and Dragons?” BBC News Online. 26 April 2004. BBC. 13 April 2008. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3655627.stm>
Wizards Community: Dungeons and Dragons. Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro.
Wizards of the Coast. “Open Gaming License.” Wizards of the Coast: d20 Gaming System. 2000. Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro. 20 March 2008.
< http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/OGLv1.0a.rtf>
-- “GenCon Thursday Blog.” Wizards of the Coast Events. 16 August 2007. Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro. August 2007.
< http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=welcome/conventions/gencon07-thursday>