Tabletop Gaming and Intellectual Conceit

[Yora]

I think we need to write for a federal grant and conduct a scientific survey!

Maybe we can be the first RPG website to be published in a scientific journal?

I doubt it. I know of a couple of German graduation thesises on RPGs. I'm sure there have been some publications and you can't really get around mentioning websites when talking about RPGs in the last 10 years.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I also take into account actions performed IN game as well. It's probably not fair to do so but unfettered by conscious or ramifications most gamers would commit the worse type of bullying, harassment and murder at the drop of a hat. I'm sorry but roleplaying only goes so far and when it comes to that gamers are some of the most bloodthirsty and utterly sociopathic people that I know. Keep in mind I'm not talking about just them killing obvious enemies in combat, I'm talking civilians, presumably helpful NPC's, kids, animals.

I think this is a part of the issue. In what other hobby would you know that about people? It's only RPGs and writers groups that I'm aware of that routinely delve into fantasies. The closest to that sort of talk from sports fans would be talking about violence against the ref. Who is a real life person. RPGs give you a chance to show sides of yourself you couldn't under other circumstances.

And then there are Diplomacy players.

 

[Lwaxy]

The apparent lack of empathy does not equal sociopath. I'm on the autism spectrum. I seem to lack empathy lots of times. Often because I don't get the situation, especially body language. Other situations, I'm overdoing it with empathy... but that's not usually in gaming situations.

A lot of players I met, my groups or game meets/conventions, fall on the autism spectrum, them knowing it or not. Your "dark loner" type may be one of them. The guy who doesn't bath often enough, probably for sensory reasons, may be one of them. The couch potato with no other friends probably, too. You wouldn't know, as most people, if they are even aware, don't broadcast the fact.

When I started playing, almost all in the group were intellectual loners, outcasts not fitting into other groups, using RPGs as a mental exercise and/or as an escape from their often not too great lives. As the hobby spread, we started getting angsty people with the need to kill something, however fictional, well adjusted normal people who just wanted to live their own movie, book freaks wanting to delve into their own imagination and so on and so on... a really great variety of people. Getting groups fitting together could be difficult at all times.

The older we got and the more generations were spread out in the groups, the more normal the selection of people became. Now the groups include people barely able to catch up at school (who tend to get better due to RPGing, especially with maths and language), housewives, out of work people, miners, doctors, lawyers, school teachers, factory workers, cubicle workers, salesmen, scientists...

Still lots of intellect present, but as many average or even admittedly below average IQ people. We used to have a mentally disabled girl back in the 90s who still managed to play well enough so you hardly noticed. Still many players on the autism/AD(H)D spectrum, but as many who are, as we say here, Otto Normaluser. From extensive hobbyists to 4 times a year weekend players. From maths geniuses to people who can barely figure out their damage values without help (me, actually - discalculia ). From people who write for a living to those who can barely read their CS. As long as you have players willing to help others with their difficulties, it works out.

So maybe RPGs were once a super geek high IQ phenomenon. Not any more. The amount of loners vs social people is balanced out as well, with actually more people leaning towards being social.

It all depends on how you look for players, though, as I found there are people who would love to play but are intimidated by this outdated image of intellectual superiority, fearing to enter a group of wannabe Einsteins with their normal IQ. If you make it clear that everyone is welcome and don't tolerate those looking down on players unable to get the maths quick or try to tell others how to play, you may get the kid next door who can't get above C grades. And it may help him with real life skills, too.

 

[Yora]

In all the years I've been playing RPGs, I think I had one guy who would randomly stab NPCs for the lulz and he was a friend of a friend when we were 17 and still in school, when you really can't be too picky about who you play with.
On the other hand, I know a great number of people who play GTA pretty much for the single purpose of murdering pedestrians and who constantly get stuck in CRPGs because they randomly kill NPCs. And I never played any shoters online since voice chat has become common, but from what you hear there's a lot of sore losers who call everyone a fag and have sex with everyones mother.
Those seem a lot more looney to me. And football hooligans of course.

My theory would rather be that RPG-players are less inclined to kick such people out and are more tollerant of difficult people. That's why they might be sticking out a bit more.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

I categorically reject your assertion that most gamers are sociopaths.

Okay.

To be fair though you brought the word sociopath into play here not me, but you're right. Our experiences are obviously different. Let's just agree to disagree.

 

[jasper]

I been in various hobbies and other activities, RPG players fit in the bell curve just as well as train guys, the sca guys, the radio control guys, the AA guys, the military guys and console/pc gamers. Better educated no. But better educated people self select to better educated guys.
Lack of empathy same across the board of the hobbies, I met people thru D&D I would not allow in my house, the same with some crazy people in the SCA.
So to the OP. Yes, the smart person who playes RPG's is a stereotype.

 

[Zireael]

Well, I'd say that tabletop definitely requires Intelligence (note I didn't say above average), which leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy someone mentioned earlier.

I am more interested in the topic of graduation theses about RPGs.

 

[Yora]

I only heard of them by word of mouth by other students who knew the people who wrote them, but never read any myself. And those would all have been in German.

But this happened to show up when I put it into google: http://www.rpgstudies.net/
There's a suprising number of German ones on that list.
It's also terribly outdated, not covering the last 10 years when you probably have an even significantly larger amount of publications.

--

I like this one: Hirthe, Maria (1995). Bedeutung, Einsatz und Benutzung von Fantasy-Spielbüchern in öffentlichen Bibliotheken. Mit einer Darstellung von Sinn und Funktion von “Rollenspielen”. Hausarbeit zur Diplomprüfung für den gehobenen Dienst an öffentlichen Bibliotheken, Berlin.

"Relevance, application, and use of Fantasy-Game-Books in public libraries. With a description of purpose and function of Roleplaying Games. Paper for diplom-exam for the upper branch civil service in public libraries, Berlin. (Yes, in Germany keeping libraries stocked is serious business, being part of the special civil service employment system for judges, police, and soldiers.)

--

Also nice: Hübner, Martina (1995). Das Fantasy-Rollenspiel – ein kreatives Medium zur Prävention? – Sozialpädagogische Erwägungen zu einem Projekt des Jugendschutzes, dargestellt an einer Bildungsmaßnahme eines Kreisjugendamtes. Diplomarbeit Sozialpädagogik, München.

"The Fantasy Roleplaying Game - a creative medium for prevention? - social pedagogic thoughts on a project of child and youth protection, showcased on an educational project of the county child protection service."

 

[Corathon]

I'm involved in two gaming groups regularly. The members of these groups include a physicist, two chemists, a mathematician, a cartographer, a philosophy professor, among others. It does take a lot of education to be a member of these professions, but it also takes intelligence, IMO. Some of the other members don't have the degrees, but still work in fairly intellectually demanding professions. There are no dummies or dullards in the group.

You don't have to be smart to play RPGs, but IMO and IME, the average IQ of gamers is noticeably higher than 100.

 

[haakon1]

Hah! Yep, the number of times I've seen people give themselves 18 INT in those "what are your real life D&D stats" threads!

3 million Americans are (by definition) 99th percentile IQ.

Maximum # of D&D players worldwide was (circa 1984) 4.5 million.

So it's possible we're all 99th percentile. But it's unlikely.