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I'm abandoning my prior dissertation for clinical psychology, and I'm starting a new one.
I'd like it to be on a protocol of how to teach children (or perhaps socially impaired adults) a number of things using a roleplaying game.
These include (but are not limited to):
-social interaction skills
-problem solving
-improved math skills
-improved vocabulary
-emotional control
What game would be best for this? Factors I want to consider:
-free or licensable (or in print). I'm considering the SRD, but I also wonder if there are other games out there that would work. The SRD is helpful as I could include the actual rules in the dissertation. Are there other free systems that might work better? OSRIC, FUDGE, others?
-Easy to learn. I'd like it to be something that could be quickly picked up by the kids (adults) who may have other factors that limit their educational or intellectual levels.
-Stimulating. I'd like it to have some degrees pushing players to use intelligence, make hard choices, and become immersed in the setting/world.
As part of the protocol/dissertation, I might even include a "sample adventure" that I write as well.
Any and all information that you can provide would be wonderful. Your thoughts, any knowledge of roleplaying being used for mental health purposes, anecdotes of how it has helped people with mental illness that you've experienced or heard of, etc.
For example: Setting? Would it be better to have a more modern setting, a fantasy setting, or a futuristic setting?
How complicated do you want it? Some systems have more math to consider and many things going on at the same time, others have less.
Are there other concerns, such as violence or non-violence, etc?
Off the top of my head, though, I would recommend Star Wars Saga Edition. The fantasy is 'socially acceptable' for more people, the system is clean for the most part, and you can model it with movies first if necessary.
Not rightly a role playing game proper, and it falls down on the math skills bit, but something that might be useful for you to look at seriously in terms of getting folks to learn cooperative interaction:
Setting:
I'm thinking the setting isn't necessarily key, but I would like for it to not be modern, for a couple of reasons, though they basically all amount to one. I think it is useful to "step out of one's perspective" to get a new perspective. I'd worry that a modern setting would be too much like the real world, and I want a barrier there that's pretty obvious to all that this is a game and is not real.
One of my favorite techniques in therapy is to use metaphoric situations to guide decision making. The idea is to ask someone about how they would solve a situation that they have little or no emotional investment in and then apply that same process to their more difficult real life situation. So, either fantasy or sci fi. My personal preference is fantasy just because I like it more, but I wouldn't discount sci fi either.
Level of complication:
Well, I'd like it to be more simulationist and less gamist...I want them to work hard on characters and decisions, not to just be wargaming. I realize that this may require more complication, but also it might not.
As far as math goes, that's not too great of a concern. The less the better, BUT I'm depending on my options, I'm thinking anything that someone in junior high could handle is fine.
The biggest issue with complication is that I'd like it to be something that is easily learned. Either I could teach it in one group "session", or it could be figured out by reading it in say, an hour or so.
Violence vs nonviolence.
I'm not totally sure on this, but I think violence is ok. It's especially ok if it is relegated to violence against the supernatural. Nonviolence is also ok, but it still needs to be appealing.
Star Wars Saga Edition sounds good, except that I think it's too popularized. What I mean there is that I want the players to make characters of their own and there's a strong likelyhood that I'd see a lot of skywalkers, han solos, etc. Also Jedi are a bit of an issue there because of their moral code. I'd want players to have the flexibility to make choices as they would in the real world, without additional strictures that wouldn't apply in real life.
Umbran,
your suggestion looks like a good "one shot" game that would be really useful.
However, I'm looking for something that is more of an "immersed in a story for a while" roleplaying game, in which the players have the same characters for some time. I'm not looking for a fun "one shot" sort of game, although I do think that would be quite a possible option (I can see Og Unearthed as a very interesting and fun lesson in communication).
I'm shooting more for "growth over time" rather than a "one shot lesson plan" if that makes sense.
I have an autistic son who has a lot of trouble with things like imaginary play, social interation, lack of empathy and general trepidation of the unknown.
I have tried doing some roleplay with him, only recently breaking through a bit with the use of hand puppets to help him immerse himself into the story. Other sorts of things I was thinking of trying were to try to introduce "quests" that he would need to enlist the aid of another to complete, or to figure out ways to integrate some of his favorite TV characters and objects (he loves to hammer things) into the stories as a bridge to other things.
Part of my challenge is my son is only 6, and I can't really expect much of him at this age. I continue to gently introduce concepts to him, even ones you might take for granted like rolling dice. We made up a game called "Jellybean Roundup", where we roll a d6, write the number down, roll another d6 and then add the two results together, then usher that many jellybeans into the corral. When the game is done, you get to eat them, so there is incentive to participate.
I'll be watching with interest what you come up with.
edit: sorry, missed my whole point. Each person with a disability like this is different, and not any one system is going to fit right in. What ever you end up going with would need to be flexible. I have looked at things like "Game of Shadows" and "Stuffed Heroes" (I think that's the name) before but they are difficult concepts for him to grasp.
Last edited by Festivus; 8th May 2009 at 06:26 PM..
I'm not sure why you'd care about free or licensable; you're pretty clearly fair use due to the project's educational character.
__________________ All role playing advice is given without knowledge of you and your group. Only you and your group knows what is fun for you. What you are doing is not badwrongfun. My advice is offered based on what I think might be fun for you to try.
"Art is the demonstration that the ordinary is extraordinary." - Amedee Ozenfant, Foundations of Modern Art
"I already have a place where I can get little recognition for my accomplishments, advance at a very slow pace, and have to work hard to eke out minimum rewards for my efforts. It's called work." - toberane.
I'd like to see a straight, basic data psych profile of the gaming community. All the journal research I've found so far is marred by horrendous methodology, ambiguous hypotheses and, in at least two articles, a completely blase conflation of solo offline computer gaming with group tabletop gaming, as though the two activities are essentially identical.
That doesn't answer the OP much, but it riles me to read studies claiming that TTRPers are predominantly depressed or autistic social retards, because the sample only comprised teenagers who spend days playing Neverwinter Nights alone in their bedroom.
I find this idea absolutely fascinating. I was a psychology major in college, so I'm quite interested in hearing about your findings. I've heard a ton of anecdotal stuff, both pro-RPG and anti-RPG, and I've long wanted an empirical study of the effects of TTRPGs. I wish I could make some suggestions, but I've only played a few systems thus far. Of them, I'd suggest D&D 4e because it's relatively easy to learn, but of course it tends to be more combat-heavy. It also has a number of published adventures that might make things easier for the people actually running the experiments; which, if you can get some assistants, I would highly recommend.
I have an autistic son who has a lot of trouble with things like imaginary play, social interation, lack of empathy and general trepidation of the unknown.
I have tried doing some roleplay with him, only recently breaking through a bit with the use of hand puppets to help him immerse himself into the story. Other sorts of things I was thinking of trying were to try to introduce "quests" that he would need to enlist the aid of another to complete, or to figure out ways to integrate some of his favorite TV characters and objects (he loves to hammer things) into the stories as a bridge to other things.
Part of my challenge is my son is only 6, and I can't really expect much of him at this age. I continue to gently introduce concepts to him, even ones you might take for granted like rolling dice. We made up a game called "Jellybean Roundup", where we roll a d6, write the number down, roll another d6 and then add the two results together, then usher that many jellybeans into the corral. When the game is done, you get to eat them, so there is incentive to participate.
I'll be watching with interest what you come up with.
edit: sorry, missed my whole point. Each person with a disability like this is different, and not any one system is going to fit right in. What ever you end up going with would need to be flexible. I have looked at things like "Game of Shadows" and "Stuffed Heroes" (I think that's the name) before but they are difficult concepts for him to grasp.
Very helpful. Thank you for sharing this.
My brother has Asperger's Syndrome, so I have some understanding of what you're talking about.
Jellybean roundup sounds like a fun game for a kid. I may play that with my son (age 3.5) to get him to understand dice!
And, maybe I need to create multiple levels at which the game could be accessed? One of the great things about RPGs that I've found is that they work for 6th graders as well as adults...though the play rarely looks the same. I wonder if I could have a "microlite" version as introductory as jellybean roundup and work all the way to something more complex (like d20 materials).
In fact, having multiple "levels" might be a good way to cover multiple populations with different ability levels. It might also be a good way to balance "learn in one session" with "complex system of immersion"...by graduated levels.
I'm not sure why you'd care about free or licensable; you're pretty clearly fair use due to the project's educational character.
Well two reasons, really.
The first is that my school is more likely to approve of the dissertation the less they have to fear (including irrational fears) about getting sued.
The second is that if this program becomes something that can actually help people, I'd want to make it available publicly (moreso than just as a dissertation from the database). If that was the case, I'd get it published, and once this happened, it might fall out of fair use. (Not that I'm trying to get rich off of this idea, but if it becomes something that can be used by professionals or parents, I'd like there to be a way to get it to them, and I do believe in being paid for hard work...which this will certainly be as well).
I'd like to see a straight, basic data psych profile of the gaming community. All the journal research I've found so far is marred by horrendous methodology, ambiguous hypotheses and, in at least two articles, a completely blase conflation of solo offline computer gaming with group tabletop gaming, as though the two activities are essentially identical.
I'll of course be doing my own literature reviews, but if you have these materials still, I'd be interested in you pointing me to them (flawed as they may be). They might be very helpful in developing my own ideas.
One of the challenges I have in the lit searches is finding "roleplaying" as a game but not as "roleplaying therapy" where you take on the role of a family member, bully, or whatever else.
And yes, I'm specifically going to be ignoring all computer gaming materials. This is about face to face tabletop gaming.
AND, I can't promise my research will be perfect, but I am actually more interested in gaming than psychology overall...so this research is being done by a gamer/psychologist. Hopefully being a part of the community will give me some insight that these prior studies you mention lacked.
I find this idea absolutely fascinating. I was a psychology major in college, so I'm quite interested in hearing about your findings. I've heard a ton of anecdotal stuff, both pro-RPG and anti-RPG, and I've long wanted an empirical study of the effects of TTRPGs. I wish I could make some suggestions, but I've only played a few systems thus far. Of them, I'd suggest D&D 4e because it's relatively easy to learn, but of course it tends to be more combat-heavy. It also has a number of published adventures that might make things easier for the people actually running the experiments; which, if you can get some assistants, I would highly recommend.
How are you thinking of coding the data?
Well, I'm not sure if I'll have "data" per se...at least not for the dissertation itself. I may, though.
The idea is to develop a way of using a system, grounded solidly in the literature...so I'll be reading up on everything related to mental health and roleplaying first. After that, and once I find a rules system, I'll develop instructions for how to implement it, along with guidelines to "troubleshoot". I'm assuming that if the game has a GM/DM that that person would be the acting therapist (which might mean a parent if a parent is playing this game with his or her children).
I'm not looking to do my own research of the gaming population per se. While I WILL very much need to read up on those materials (and you'll likely see some threads from me over the next few months on interesting articles I find), I won't be measuring gamers vs non gamers or somesuch.
If I go beyond dissertation level with this (or maybe I would do this for the dissertation as well, I'm not sure yet) the way to measure it would be to have three groups (at least).
I'd want a population of people from which to draw (and defining that would be part of the challenge) and would use standard measures to assess severity of symptoms (there are tons of measures out there).
Then there would be a "treatment group" of my protocol, a "waiting list group", and a "alternate treatment group". After my protocol's treatment was done, I'd compare the stats.
But, that's a long way away, and I'm not sure it's necessary for the dissertation itself. The dissertation would be about creating the product. Further studies would be about determining whether it was any good or not.
Sounds very interesting. Will you also be developing a profile or metric to determine for whom this kind of therapy would be contraindicated?
Have you considered using a card based, as opposed to dice based, rpg, such as the Marvel SAGA system? Granted, there may be licensing issues with that particular game.
__________________ "Now in the dark world where I dwell ugly things and surprising things, and sometimes little wondrous things spill out at me constantly, and I can count on nothing."
Sounds very interesting. Will you also be developing a profile or metric to determine for whom this kind of therapy would be contraindicated?
Have you considered using a card based, as opposed to dice based, rpg, such as the Marvel SAGA system? Granted, there may be licensing issues with that particular game.
I would definitely be remiss if I didn't develop who it might be contraindicated for, good point.
I'd certainly be willing to consider a card based rpg, though I don't know anything about Marvel SAGA. I wouldn't consider a collectible card game, but if it uses cards instead of dice for resolution, I think that would be fine. Deliria has an option for that (not that I'd consider that as an option either).
Another option for the use of such a system might be exposure therapy. Very generally, exposure therapy is gradual exposure to stimuli that a person fears or finds unpleasant (disgusting) so that a learned emotional response (e.g. fear of something) can be extinguished.
There would be a potential application for this in, say, a "Dungeon of Terror", designed somewhat like the old school dungeons. I'm using D&D as an example here, but please don't take that to mean that D&D is the system I'd decide upon for the actual dissertation.
The dungeon would be designed with multiple levels, the further down one travels, the more intense the facing of the fear is.
I find the World of Darkness rules fairly simple (at least the basics - there are always complex corner cases), but again you have the problem with the usage.
Perhaps the easiest is to make up your own system? Then you can make it as simple or complex as you like.
An idea would be for it to use d6's, if you want parents and other "non-gamers" to use it, without having to go out and buy a set of dice.
You also mentioned you were worried about getting lots of Luke's, Han Solo's, etc from using the Star Wars system - but you don't have to let the players know what the system is called. If you want to change it even more, throw out/change the parts that doesn't fit and use it in a fantasy setting.
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