Roleplaying and Mental Health (Psychology)

[I'm A Banana]

Games teach things by repeated behavior (practice) and basic carrot/stick reinforcement (you loose, which is bad, or you win, which is good).

Any skill that you want the kids to "learn" from the game should be part of the victory conditions.

For instance, say you want "social skills" to be one of the benefits. They game should reward you for talking to other players, maybe even having a conversation with them, or trying to team up with them. The more you talk, the better you do (up to a point, of course -- you probably don't want to encourage spotlight-hogs).

One way RPG's do this is by having you play a character, and then having you work on a team with other characters. You have to describe what your character looks like, what he acts like, what his abilities are, and how others can help you in order to do your best. You can't just sit there and roll dice and be an effective player...you will loose.

I'd keep the mechanics simple. When going with simulationism, simplicity is also a byword for "abstract."

Say each kid has a character, and maybe also has a hand of, say, 5 cards that represent their "powers" or "attributes" or something. You can go with basic poker hands: the better the hands, the better the powers, but no hand starts off as a good hand. What makes it a good hand is when they combine their cards to make a "group hand" of five cards. In order to find out what cards they have, they need to talk and interact. If, amongst the "team" they can put together a royal straight flush or something, they'll win when compared to the other "team's" cards.

Of course, you'll want to keep the randomness in there so that one team doesn't just come up with the best hand and keep winning...

But yeah, basically, whatever you want to teach, have it happen over and over again as the prerequisite for victory, and if you don't do it, you'll loose. Math, writing, social interaction, whatever -- if you need it to win the game, you'll either develop the skill, or you'll keep loosing (possibly to the point of not liking the game, but that's a more subtle design issue).

 

[doctorhook]

Personally, I think you might have the most luck by creating your own game for this purpose. This way, you can start with something dirt-simple (and I mean SIMPLE!) and expose players/clients to progressively more complex elements as need be. Probably the last thing you want is for clients (or your dissertation) to get eff'd up by any confusing or frustrating rules.

Some suggestions as a starting point:

• Turn hit points into something tangible, like a stack of ten red poker chips.
• (In fact, you might be able to use poker chips to represent a number of things, like a "mana" or "strength" mechanic, or as a form of action point.)
• Start with very few stats to represent the most basic character types. I'm imagining three to five stats: health, strength, magic, and possibly a "miscellaneous"/action point stat.
• Don't include social stats to begin with. If you want to have players use a persona separate from their own, have predesigned "personalities" for the character to have, rather than relying upon an abstraction to represent a personality. (For example, have a "brave" personality, a "loyal" personality, and a "compassionate" personality, for starters. The simpler, the better.)
• Use d6s to begin with; they're common, simple to use, and familiar to everyone. When the DM is making rolls, make them in front of the players; you don't want clients to think you're being unfair.
• If you're going to include magical powers, again, keep it simple. Have an "attack" power, a "defence" power, and two or three "utility" powers, each with very specific capacities. (For example, utility A can make an object that you can carry fly for one turn; utility B can make up to one man-sized object invisible.) Let the player describe the appearance of the effect.
• Introduce new, more complex game elements (perhaps ripped straight from other games) as the player becomes more comfortable with the concept of roleplaying.

IMHO, by using a game with as few and as simple mechanics as possible, you'll be able to have more direct interactions with the players.

I have no idea whether or not my suggestions here are the least bit helpful to you, but hopefully they are. Best of luck to you with your dissertation!

 

[Starfox]

I'd have a VERY simple basic system, Like say; you have four attributes, Charisma, Dexterity, Intelligence and Strength. Make one of them strong; you always succeed at tasks using this attribute. Make one of them weak; you never succeed at tasks using this attribute. The other two are mediocre and go about as expected. Each player must have a unique strong attribute. Cooperate and make up for each other's weakneses.

But this might be too simplistic; I am in no way trained in psychology.

A word of caution: Back in my teens (I am now 44) I had a pretty hurtful role-playing experience when I tried to play mind-games in role-playing. I had to face a dark side of myself and was pretty much disgusted. That made me shy away from role-playing games as a social instruction tool.

 

[Lord Ipplepop]

Many, many moons ago, I helped my mother take care of her foster kids after Dad died. Most of her kids had some sort of emotional or social issue that we had to deal with. One of the things that she used to assist them with life in the "real world" was The Sims, because you are required to have your Sim go to work, pay bills, eat, clean, make friends, etc.
After discussing it with their shrink (a former gamer), we decided that an RPG would be the perfect way to teach them how to interact with others, and do all of the things that we, as experienced gamers, do without even thinking.

With some research help, I threw together a world of late Roman/early medievel influence, using various "real" events and items and people for the players to encounter. The kids were told that I was taking things out of the history book, and they went off to "cheat" so that they could beat me at my own game (silly them).
As part of the various adventures, I made sure that the typical "see it/kill it/ steal their gold" was not always the best course of action. I threw in portions of Orcs needing to be rescued by the party (I tried it on a group later, only to have one of the players come in with a Paladin... man, was that screwy), or things not being what they seemed, or situations where each of the players had to step forward or allow someone else to be the center of attention. It was a bit more difficult to build adventures around then lesson of the week; however, the kids actually began using the lessons they learned in their OOG life.

They learned to think quickly and to see as much of the battlefield (so to speak) as possible at one time to asssit with their decision making; work with groups of people that you don't like or have nothing in common with; think before you act; studying and doing schoolwork can help you out of school; etc.
Their reading level also improved, because the books had words they had to look up. I also handed them The Hobbit, and the LOTR series, as well as Terry Brooks, Michael moorcock, Piers Anthony, et al to read.
Adding up die rolls, adding hit points, figuring out their final to hit rolls, etc also helped them improve their basic math scores.

The game that we used was 1ed. Other games that you can use would be:
Tunnels and Trolls (as basic as the game can get), GURPS, Shadowrun (4th ed... requires point buys, or use of sample characters).

If there is a very small group of players (no more than 2 or 3) a game that I was introduced to <mumble> years ago is called "Improv". No dice, no characters, no papers... the GM decides on a scenario, and the players decide how THEY would react, to which the GM reacts, to which the players react, to which...etc.

I wish you the best of luck on your paper.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

That's absolutely true that both work for problem solving. In fact gamist might work better if that is the sole goal (as the balance and cohesiveness of rules is usually better in a gamist situation).

Maybe simulationist is the wrong term. I don't want rules for every little thing...I want it to be immersive...more of a focus on characters with less of "feel" of playing a game to a degree. I'm starting to think a rules light system might be best.

You should beware using the terms of GNS/The Big Model/Yada yada yada. They are controversial within the game design community and they have little, if any, academic support.

 

[howandwhy99]

Not to be contrary, but hobby RPGs rarely have anything to do with reality. My suggestion would be to use roleplaying exercises from outside the hobby. Ones that actually deal with the real world rather than a fantasy one. Also, you may wish to select a number of different games to achieve different objectives. In non-hobby roleplaying, games/exercises are designed upon two different models: Convergent and Divergent.

Convergent game models are like most traditional RPGs, they are world exploring and teach role performance. They are all about solving problems, thinking of creative solutions, and learning through trial and error. Most Roleplay Simulation games are convergent designed games. If success matters, this is what you want.

Divergent game models are like Indie or Forge RPGs, they deal with self exploration and the trying on of different personalities. They are about discovering one's own desires and testing new ways of being. Most psychology-based roleplaying exercises are divergent designed games. Look especially to drama therapy and psychodrama therapists for exercises in roleplayed inner exploration.

Hobby games are really only going to help the kids in an ancillary way. It's not that pretending to be an elf in a fantasy world doesn't require some proficiency at problem solving, or allow for character exploration. But the lessons learned are only as useful as they relate to the real world. Which means pretending to be one's self in a simulated real world environment tends to be best.

EDIT:

You should beware using the terms of GNS/The Big Model/Yada yada yada. They are controversial within the game design community and they have little, if any, academic support.

I've done tons of research these last few years and I've found no academic support whatsoever for GNS or the "Big Model". It's strictly hobby-based internet theorizing.

 

[ArghMark]

True20 is fairly easy to digest, if still a print product. It can do pretty much any setting with a relatively high level of lethality. I find its just loose enough with the rules you can bend them easily, and tight enough that munchkinism doesn't set in.

Would you prefer more of a game and less of a story/role playing session? Hows about board games with the groups? There are non-competitive or games which the players don't work against each other.

 

[howandwhy99]

If this is really to be the thesis for your Ph.D., if you haven't already you should do some research about the future for roleplaying in psychology: (link) The author, Robert J. Landy at NYU, is probably the biggest name in the field of Drama Therapy in the States that I know of today. He has a number of very good books on rolepaying and the design of roleplaying exercises. (I assume by your user location you're in MN or MA for schooling, so the U.S. is appropriate). Where roleplaying is really going through the roof academically though is in Australia.

After reading through the thread (I tend to respond to the original posts) I think typical, non-d20 D&D is your best bet. It is "simulationist" under the Forge ideology and pretty simple for the Players. Good DMs require practice to really gain some proficiency however. But you said that will be the therapist, right? Director is the typical therapist's role in psychological roleplay. Also, well designed game modules are the most important element for you to focus on the objectives you wish the players to accomplish. D&D does only have the 4 main roles in truth, but I can't imagine you are asking for other roles based upon your previous answers. It isn't a character explorer like an Indie game, but the rules are totally unnecessary for the players to be knowledgeable of in order to play. (check out the latest "Game Transparency" article at WotC on the hobby theorists coming back around to old school design). While convergent designed games like most hobby RPGs place a lot of work on the GM, it does offer your self-described "immersion" requirement.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

I want to thank everyone who has contributed to helping me since I last posted.

I've been busy looking into the articles I've pulled up.

Also, I've been searching the forums here and at WotC for threads on DMing/GMing with kids.

I'll have a separate post up in the next couple of hours that compiles these links.

Also, I ordered the following books for resources:
Kobold Guide to Game Design 1 Kobold's Guide to Game Design, Vol. 1 (PDF) [KGGD1e] - $14.95 : Kobold Quarterly, http://www.koboldquarterly.com/

Kobold Guide to Game Design 2 Kobold's Guide to Game Design, Vol. 2 (PDF) [KGGD2e] - $14.95 : Kobold Quarterly, http://www.koboldquarterly.com/

The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art (Paperback)[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Role-Playing-Game-New-Performing/dp/0786408154/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=ITX01JD4CTO52&colid=3PXMVKW0UQA5V"]Amazon.com: The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art: Daniel Mackay: Books[/ame]

Gaming As Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity And Experience in Fantasy Games (Paperback) [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Gaming-As-Culture-Identity-Experience/dp/0786424362/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I7EC3TC17FK0J&colid=3PXMVKW0UQA5V"]Amazon.com: Gaming As Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity And Experience in Fantasy Games: J. Patrick Williams, Sean Q. Hendricks, W. Keith Winkler: Books[/ame]

Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds (Paperback) [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Shared-Fantasy-Playing-Social-Worlds/dp/0226249441/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=ILZLG7I7AT37B&colid=3PXMVKW0UQA5V"]Amazon.com: Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds: Gary Alan Fine: Books[/ame]


If anyone knows of other books that could help me in my endeavor, please, don't be shy about posting them! Thanks.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

The other threads are up!

Compilation threads on gaming with children:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...playing-children-kids-compilation-thread.html

Roleplaying with children / kids - Wizards Community