Online communities more important than in-game interactions to get into RPGs

[aia_2]

I found this abstract very interesting:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10468781221119829

The author is giving more importance to forums and online communities than interaction at the table for those who approach for the very first time an RPG...
This aspect may bring to some conclusions like:

• Rules are not easily accessible/understandable (?)
• Experienced DM and players do not adequately support new comers (?)
• Online communities have a model more friendly to the eyes of newcomers (?)

I will not buy the whole paper but i might be worth to have a look at it...

 

[TwiceBorn2]

Interesting find, but talk about a tiny sample sample size... two "experts" and five D&D 5E noobs. I'm not saying their observations aren't valid (I haven't read the paper, just the abstract), but in the absence of a much greater sample size, the results evidently are very limited and insufficient for making wider generalizations.

 

[Yora]

When you're at the table, you're already introduced to RPGs.

 

[Art Waring]

I think when they say that its easier to learn online than with a playgroup, it may have depended on the small sample group they were using for the study.

Depending on the group, it can be really easy to learn to play, or nearly impossible. My first introductions to D&D were really bad, the players treated new players like expendable red shirts or FNG's. They never taught me anything, I had to learn by marching into the abyss.

In out home game, we really like introducing new players to the hobby, and we are always helping them to understand their characters and how to play.

That said, there are a myriad of online resources to learn to play these days, wish we had these when I started playing...

 

[Smackpixi]

I found this abstract very interesting:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10468781221119829

The author is giving more importance to forums and online communities than interaction at the table for those who approach for the very first time an RPG...
This aspect may bring to some conclusions like:

• Rules are not easily accessible/understandable (?)
• Experienced DM and players do not adequately support new comers (?)
• Online communities have a model more friendly to the eyes of newcomers (?)

I will not buy the whole paper but i might be worth to have a look at it...

The abstract doesn’t actually say any of that.

“The results showed that for some novices explicit in-game training was required to learn their role at the table, but socialization could come more quickly for novices who took extra steps to gain experience by engaging in the wider distributed and virtual community through online forums or viewing streamed actual-play D&D games.”

Some people need in-game training to understand the game. People who engage with the wider community learn more quickly. There is nothing here. Looks like a student paper in which they demonstrate comprehension of methods, but do not advance human understanding in any way.

 

[Morrus]

Different people learn in different ways. For some, learning at the table works; for others, watching live streams or reading articles works. For others still, it's a mix of methods.

 

[Reynard]

I think "learning to play" means different things in different circumstances. There is "understanding the game procedures" and there is "figuring out character generation" and there is "getting along and working together at the table" and... I think active play groups, forums, YouTube talking heads and actual play streams all contribute differently to different areas of "learning to play."

 

[Yora]

When people understand the game better by hearing it explained by someone else instead of having it explained by you, maybe you're just not that good at explaining.

 

[aia_2]

Different people learn in different ways. For some, learning at the table works; for others, watching live streams or reading articles works. For others still, it's a mix of methods.

It could also be a matter of age... Young novice players are more comfortable in the online world to better understanding/searches than aged novices. In any case i do see the relevance of online tools: the socialization within a group of a TTRPG passes also by a step done in forums or online searches... This is smtg that for a person aged like me is outstanding (not in the negative sense! Simply because i would have never had such idea if i were to learn agame at the table).

 

[MGibster]

Because I started gaming in the pre-internet days, my first introduction to roleplaying games was sitting down with some friend who already played them. But since I'm not a Luddite, I have used YouTube to watch some actual play of games like Vampire 5th edition, Call of Cthulhu, and a few others just to get a general idea of how the game play works and it's been fairly useful.