(Academic) Writing on RPGs

[Kwalish Kid]

w00t!

I'll be teaching the class next year! I'll post the details in a month or two once the information makes it through the registrar's office.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Love the thread! Wish I could take the class! I mean, I've been in the hobby 30 years or so, but there's always something to learn.

Wait... If the 4th edition PHB is on your required textbooks list... That means it's going to cost at least $50... And for a hardcover textbook of those dimensions, probably closer to $130. Great, you just killed D&D!

Heh- I've had classes where a single textbook was a couple of hundred dollars, and have spent nearly a thousand bucks on books for a single class. Multiply that times 4-6 classes...

 

[I'm A Banana]

So it will focus on how and why communication happens.

The whole Online vs. In-Person dichotomy should be an interesting one for discussion.

Possible discussion points:

• How has the move to online play in RPG's affected the group dynamic of the activity (one gaming group running their 'own' game, with heavy house rules, vs. an online play arbitrated by a computer with a universal experience and a keyboard instead of a voice)?
• Slang. The use of language to distinguish an 'inside group' of players and an 'outside group' of everyone else.
• Social dynamics. DM-speak vs. Player-speak. Authority and moderation and leadership.

Some seeds for you, anyway.

 

[S'mon]

You might also try tracking down the four issues of Interactive Fantasy by Hogshead Publishing. It was an attempt to do a sort of academic journal about RPGs some 12 years ago. Some interesting articles in there.

I only have 1 issue, but well worth reading. It started as Inter*action, it had to change name to Interactive Fantasy due to a legal threat.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Here's a question that might be a point of interest in the class:

How do perceptions of the RPG hobby differ from country to country? Here in the USA, its a hobby for social outliers* (called "nerds" by some), and (like many entertainment subcultures) had been associated with declining moral values and even "Satanism."

But from what I understand, there are countries in which neither stigma attaches to the hobby.

*There is also the matter that members of certain groups are more likely than others to be involved in the hobby, like students and military personnel.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

Writing on RPGs reduces their resale value.